Friday, July 17, 2009

Marriott Opens Hotel in Chevy Chase


Marriott opened a new Courtyard hotel this week in Chevy Chase Maryland, furthering Marriott's domination of the local hotel market. The 226 room hotel, at 5520 Wisconsin Avenue, is two blocks north of the Friendship Heights Metro near the DC border. Developers began a $35m rehab of the old Holiday Inn Hotel just last summer, with architects / designers OPX stripping the rectangular tower down to its shell, making structural repairs and rebuilding within a year.

The new Marriott Courtyard is designed to meet the Gold LEED standard set by the U.S. Green Building Council, using low-VOC materials, solar-powered trash compactor, a reflective roof, and HVAC systems that don't use ozone-depleting refrigerants. Very cool. In addition, "100 percent of its energy" will be provided from wind power through the use of renewable energy credits by purchasing energy through an alternative provider, which in turn sources energy from an assortment of wind farms. Michael Ward, VP of Development at Grosvenor, said the hoteliers expect the alternative energy to cost the hotel an estimated $6,000 per year in increased charges.

Designed as one of Marriott's "refreshing business" concepts, the hotel replaces the traditional check-in desk with "welcome podiums" (an inn-convenience?) and business-oriented lobby. The hotel was purchased in 2004 by Grosvenor Americas, managed by Bethesda-based Hospitality Partners, and operated by the Courtyard, a sub-brand of Marriott.

The original hotel was built in 1970; the new Marriott comes online at a propitious moment, with the opening of Wisconsin Place, a large mixed-use project, now beginning to open for business.

Chevy Chase real estate development news

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the facade, especially at night when driving into the city from Bethesda. It breaks up the monotony from the surrounding buildings and breaks away from the typical Washington, DC area renovation jobs. Job well done!

cat-a-lyst said...

There has been a very positive buzz around DC on this hotel's opening, and I am impressed with the hip forward-thinking design, something DC could always use more of.

Anonymous said...

Perfect timing (and a perfect fit) for the new development on this swanky stretch of Wisconsin Ave.
Great look!!

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