New Rooms in Courthouse by Marriott

Donohoe Construction, under the authority of Donohoe Hospitality, (who is in cahoots with Donohoe Development) has just started to pour the concrete footings for the 176-room Marriott Residence Inn at 1425 N. Adams St. in the Courthouse section of Arlington. The 10-story, all-suite hotel will be branded as one of Marriott's extended stay residences.

The visionaries behind the National World War II Memorial, international architectural firm Leo A. Daly, took the design role for Marriott. You might also know them for the project they did for KPMG in McLean, or for The Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville. Daly-architects had no trouble grasping the vision for Marriott's newest addition to Arlington, and have designed the simple 132,000-s.f. hotel with clad in brick and architectural precast concrete.

In addition to topping off the Courthouse Plaza section of Clarendon, the Residence Inn will bring a wealth of meeting space to the table as well as a "high-end" restaurant to the corner of Clarendon Blvd and N. Adams Street. In total, about 9,500 s.f. of retail are planned for the ground floor along that intersection, with the still unnamed restaurant having 5,500 s.f. at its disposal. The new hotel will further Smart Growth objectives by adding mixed-use development three blocks from the Courthouse Metro station. And as if being part of a "smart" urban plan weren't enough, Donohoe Development has also incorporated a "smart," environmentally conscious design for the building, including about 26 LEED points for features such as the increasingly popular green roof; hopefully just enough for LEED certification.

Donohoe (and its innumerable subsidiaries) will also provide streetscape improvements to the area, including a water feature and public art around the hotel, as well as myriad practical improvements to the crosswalks and sidewalks. The new Residence Inn should be dropping off pillow mints as early as the summer of 2009.