Hotel Developments in Washington, D.C.
 

I wanted to share some hotel developments in Washington, D.C.

First, Donald Trump has expressed interest in opening a luxury hotel in Washington in the Old Post Office Building:
http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/po...hotel/179423/1

This hotel would probably have some of the best views in Washington.

According to the article, Virgin Hotels and SLS are also looking at jumping into the Washington market.

Second, the Loews has ended their partnership with the Madison, so presumably Loews is also looking for a new hotel in Washington.

We were supposed to get a 1 Hotel, but it is apparently going to become the "nicest Hilton Garden Inn in the country":
http://dcmud.blogspot.com/2011/08/on...to-become.html

Also, renovations continue on the famed Watergate Hotel building. I'm sure one of those hotel operators mentioned above will jump on board this project, it's an amazing opportunity:
http://dcmud.blogspot.com/2011/07/wa...ove-ahead.html

But it makes me wonder about where exactly the others plan to build. DC is fast becoming saturated. Perhaps at the new CityCenter site downtown? I was a bit surprised that a prime location and proposed fancy building is becoming a Hilton Garden Inn--I would think a more luxurious brand would have jumped in there.

Other developments in the last two years: the new W has been open about two years now and is lovely. Four Seasons got Bourbon Steakhouse, which has received amazing reviews. Another restaurant opened underneath the West End Ritz-Carlton called Ris (named after the chef, not the hotel) that has also received fantastic reviews and has delicious food.

Moving Thread to the FT Washington, D.C. Forum.
Obscure2k
Moderator
Luxury Hotels

What's new here?
There's not one "development" in your post.
The Donald postulating about opening a hotel in DC certainly doesn't count.

I thought a Marriott Marquis was already under construction at 9th and Mass? Is there going to be something else at CityCenter?

Indeed there is--after spending years as a particularly ambitious sort of real-estate vaporware, it's on its way to being one of the biggest hotels in the District.

The CityCenter development is a few blocks south on the site of the old convention center, but it won't include a hotel until a second phase of construction begins.

i had read that there is consideration of hotel construction on NE new york ave. not a nice place to stay at the moment as all that'sthere is many low cost hotels and fast foods.

disney recently procured rights to a very large piece of land at national harbor(6 miles south of dc). that may be on hold, as the people they probably had to bribe to start the construction process are now on their way to serving hard time.

about 5 years ago or so, there was talk of extending metro rail service from the the green line station in anacostia down the anacistia(295) to national harbor. there is currently a heavy rail line from new carollton to the douglas bridge(south capitol st) to oxon creek(blue plains). i have never seen a train on the tracks between blue plains and s. capitol st. the new anacostia trolley is using this right of way . i think it will run from the green line station to the new buildings(homeland security) at st. elizabeths.

It's about general developments. Feel free to ignore the thread if you have nothing to say.

"I thought a Marriott Marquis was already under construction at 9th and Mass? Is there going to be something else at CityCenter?"

Duh, stupid of me not to mention this in the original post! Construction is well underway there for what will be one of the largest hotels in DC. And I believe they are constructing two additional Marriott's within blocks of the convention center, as opposed to the earlier plans which called for a larger Marquis hotel. There is also a Marriott Courtyard Hotel currently being constructed in Foggy Bottom.

"The CityCenter development is a few blocks south on the site of the old convention center, but it won't include a hotel until a second phase of construction begins."

Yup. But when the second phase gets built, it will be a great opportunity for a luxury brand to build a new property in the heart of downtown.

Not to nitpick, but the articles about a hotel at City Center seem to be more of the variety of "city planners are saving this space for a hotel" than they are "corporation X is committed to building a hotel at City Center."

This is especially worrisome given the news that conference bookings are down 50% over last year.
http://www.bizjournals.com/washingto...s-in-2012.html

my understanding is that the gaylord convention center(national harbor) is fully booked for 2 years. i do realize this is in pg county, but it is not that much further from center city than far NY ave, ne.

the next two items in the national harbor build out is the outlet mall, and then the disney(like in walt) complex.

if i owned a hotel company, i would watch that development and figure it into my calculations before building a 1000+ room hotel in center city.

Slightly off-topic, I know, but a big +1 to RIS at 23rd and L Streets NW. See her website at www.risdc.com

Marriott is committed to building a Marquis hotel (I believe it will be the third in the country after New York and Atlanta), as well as a second Courtyard hotel (IIRC).

The San Francisco Marriott (Fourth Street, near the Moscone Center) was given the 'Marquis' designation a while back. There's also a JW Marriott Marquis in downtown Miami.

I don't believe that is correct. The Marquis is at 9th and Mass, not the old convention center (City Center).

Glad to see this is moving forward. That corner has been empty since I moved to DC, in such a prime location.

Also, I see little chance that the Old Post Office is going to become a hotel anytime soon. It is still full of tenants that would need to be relocated.

WaPo had an article yesterday that Marriott is going to put a Residence Inn and Courtyard right next to the Marquis at 9th and Mass.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...PdK_story.html

Another 500 hotel rooms in that area is going to make it that much harder to get a hotel at CityCenter.

Per the Post, "Executives at Hilton Worldwide are negotiating a deal with developers of CityCenterDC to build a 370-room Conrad hotel downtown, according to sources familiar with the discussions." So the Convention Center might not be cornered by Marriott -- after all, there are three international hotel operators headquartered in town.

Also new since this thread was updated: zoning approval was recently granted and groundbreaking will occur this year on a new 278-room Intercontinental Hotel at the Wharf, on the Southwest Waterfront. (The ANC also just approved an Element and Aloft a block away, but those aren't "luxury.")

Disney sold the land back to the developer. The county's new casino will likely (but not definitely) end up at National Harbor, on the land between the Beltway and the existing development.

i do not think there is any available land between nat harbor and the beltway. the casino will go south and east of the current development. roscroft interests are trying to get government to buy and convert the raceway to a park. if the gambling competitior to mgm wishes to do nat harb, they will have to unload arundull mills.(only one casino allowed for each entity in md)

The proposed MGM development at National Harbor is the "Beltway Parcel," along the Beltway but north of the existing retail.

Lovely, a casino complex in scenic PG County. Gamblers can take odds on their chances of being shot or carjacked on the way down... :rolleyes:

i see where you are talking about. between harbor and national avez

Most new casinos in the U.S. are sited in less than desirable places; whether it's because of their constant search for jobs of any type or just the lack of community opposition it turns out to be the path of least resistance for casino developers. Yet I'm not hearing of casinogoers getting shot or carjacked on the way to the casinoes in Cleveland or Columbus or Detroit. This one will probably do just fine too.

Separating out the native American casinos......

Most casinos are done as a tourist alternative catering to an untapped market. One example is the Mississippi coast. You have Florida and Texas so casinos would draw people there. Same with Atlantic ity...with so many beach towns they needed to do something different to set them apart. With niagara falls.. Casino on American side to attract tourist money.

disney is now long gone. the casino at national harbor needs one final approval and then goes in. the outlet mall is now under construction on the south east corner of oxon hill rd and harborview. the site is the former estate called salubria. this was a separate purchase and is outside the original national harbor purchase. considerable road construction activity for the outlet mall. (85 upscale stores). last i heard, no walmart the mall.

Cheap land was the only possible rationale I could think of. Nat Harbor is waaaay down in the boonies (i.e., No Metro and separated from the majority of DC by Anacostia), and not in the nicest of areas (PG). There's definitely nothing else around there to draw anyone down that I can think of.

the 3 players in the national harbor casino wars put up over $2 billion and close to 3 billion to win the rights to the nat's harbor casino.

I've been there (by car). You could say it is quite remote for being so close to DC.

Cheap land, beltway access, and access to a bunch of convention-goers who don't want to make a lengthy trek into DC all seem like reasons why the location makes sense from a casino-business perspective.

It's cheap land not just on the Beltway, but right on I-95, with a built-in captive audience, in the wealthiest metro in the country, surrounded by other jurisdictions that will never legalize casino gambling (not just DC, but Virginia and MoCo). Sounds like a great bet to me, so to speak.

the townhouses are being built out. only about 100 lots left of 1000 at the start. there are none available. a cheap town house is 600-700K. and the nicer ones get well over a mil. i cannot believe they sell. 3 or 4 stories, and NO ELEVATOR!!!!!

10 min from NH to the capitol. upper Gtown to capitol at mid day takes about 30 min. could just take the metro from Gtown to the capitol???? the one the rich people would not allow.

Discussions continue with Conrad for the CityCenterDC hotel site, now slated to break ground in 2015. It'll join an A-list of retailers.

Interesting article from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum about the DC Old Post Office Building, mentioning plans to turn it into a hotel.

http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/museu..._PO_Model.html