Today in Pictures - Marriott Marquis

It hardly seems like a year since the Marriott Marquis broke ground next to the Convention Center. Construction crews have now finished digging and are now building back up, as evidenced by the photos taken last week. The 1,175-room, 15-story Marriott, headed by Quadrangle Development and Capstone Development, will feature an underground tunnel to the convention center and more than 100,000 s.f. of meeting and ballroom space, 25,000 sf of retail, and 385 parking spaces. Two more Marriotts will be built to the north. Hensel Phelps is the general contractor.









Washington D.C. real estate development news. Photographs by Rey Lopez.

Convention Center to See More Marriotts

If all goes according to plans, three Marriotts will eventually be built on 9th Street NW, immediately west the Washington Convention Center at the convergence of Downtown, Shaw, and Mount Vernon Square. Although one notable hotel - the Marriott Marquis - is currently underway and set to complete in 2014, two more Marriott hotels are being conceptualized just north of the Marquis, at the foot of the Shaw Historic District.

The parcel in question, north of the Marquis construction site, running along 9th Street between L and M Streets, NW, bears six boarded-up storefronts. Around the corner on L Street a large co-op and two good-sized row houses have sat shuttered. The 1,175-room Marquis aims to fill a void in convenient hotel options for conventioneers upon completion, and although the new hotel will be the second largest in the District, original plans for the Marquis, by joint-development team Capstone and Quadrangle, were even bigger, calling for a 1,400 to 1,500-room hotel spanning L Street, and spilling into the blighted area to the north. The idea for one hotel, connected by a pedestrian bridge, was scrapped years ago, before the Marquis broke ground in November of 2010. But now, current plans by the same developers for the Marriott-owned land between L and M Streets call for the revival of increased hotel space in the form of two new Marriotts: a Residence Inn and a Courtyard Marriott. 

A source from Capstone says that building two additional hotels will “meet the city’s original goal for the convention center of 1,600 total rooms.” Marriott has not given a reason for building three hotels instead of one, but varying price points is likely a factor, as all three Marriott brands are targeted to different customers. The zoning process for the two additional hotels has not begun, says Norman Jenkins, president and founder of Capstone, and subsequently, “a start date has not been solidified.” However, the future plan is to “retain all of the boarded buildings that front 9th Street and incorporate them into the hotel," giving the redevelopment a “really neat old/new look.” As for the boarded-up real estate on L Street – the co-op at 919 L Street and the two row houses – the goal is to demolish them, if granted approval. 

The recent demotion of a few “non-contributing structures” (i.e. non-historic buildings) at the northern parcel of land created a small amount of space to be utilized as parking for an influx of construction workers for the next three years at the Marquis site.  Capstone was mum on where the development team is in the entitlement process, however, no permits have been applied for with the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), so it seems Marriott's 2nd and 3rd hotels on the site will arrive well after the Marquis is finished. 

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Groundwork Gets Underway at Convention Center Marriott

Construction crews could begin preliminary groundwork as early as next week for the Convention Center's newest addition, the 1,175-room, 15-story Marriott Marquis, a project headed by Quadrangle Development and Capstone Development. The Washington Convention & Sports Authority (WCSA) announced earlier today that it will provide limited early access in order for developers to orchestrate initial site remediation work including: "removal of underground storage tanks, demolition of the Erhlich Building, erecting fences, placing signage around the site and readying the area for construction."

A more ceremonial and celebratory start to construction will soon follow, says Gregory A. O’Dell, Washington Convention and Sports Authority President. "The Authority and the District are finalizing the documentation and preparing to close on the bonds as we anticipate a groundbreaking within the next 30-45 days," he explains. Once construction begins, a build-out of 42 months is anticipated, placing the delivery date in the spring of 2014. While this is not the official groundbreaking, convention center authority spokeswoman Chinyere Hubbard confirms that this is indeed the beginning of construction and an indication of nothing but green lights going forward. There are "no further legal obstacles", says Hubbard, who notes that the WCCA board will officially approve the financing bonds tomorrow.

The soon to be active construction site is bounded by Massachusetts Avenue and L Streets, NW. Because of District height limitations, the massive hotel is burying much it's square footage beneath the earth, so the first order of business for contractors is to dig a giant hole and start building back up to ground level. Progress above ground might not be visible for almost a year after construction starts. Upon completion, the building will feature over 100,000 s.f. of meeting and ballroom space, 25,000 sf of retail, and 385 parking spaces. The plan also calls for a below grade tunnel (vehicle and pedestrian) connecting the hotel and Convention Center. The hotel will become only the third Marquis in the country. Developers and District officials hope the already impressive Convention Center will be a world-wide attraction now that an accompanying state-of-the-art, large-scale hotel is on the way.

Last year, Mayor Adrian Fenty signed the New Convention Center Hotel Amendments Act of 2009 that authorized Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and the issuance of bonds, to fund up to $206m in construction and operational costs. Private developers will pick up the remaining portion of the estimated $550 million total cost. With JBG's spat over the project and ensuing lawsuit now ended, today's announcement means the project is officially moving forward.

Washington DC real estate development news