New Marriott Almost Ready In Potomac Yards' National Gateway

Developer JBG reports that construction of their Renaissance Arlington Capital View in Potomac Yards is nearing completion and should be ready for an April 2011 opening. Matt Blocher of JBG describes the 300-room hotel, designed by Cooper Carry, as having "the soul of a boutique hotel with the location and amenities suited for business and leisure in and around the nation’s capital."

Situated at 2800 South Potomac Avenue in Arlington, Va, the hotel will offer 17,354 s.f. of flexible event space, including a gigantic ballroom and 13 smaller "break-out" rooms. Banquet and meeting rooms will be outfitted with cutting edge event technology like smartphone applications that enable lighting and audio adjustments, which could become a problem when bored-to-death audience members at the annual pharmaceutical conference learn how to hack into the system and implant inappropriate pictures into the power point presentations. Enhanced networks for cell phone and internet connectivity will allow business conference attendees to efficiently adjust their fantasy football rosters amid stuffy status meetings. It's expected that the hotel and the developing Potomac Yards center will serve as a hub for business travelers; with it's convenient proximity to the offices of PBS, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and IBM, as well as government agencies such as the Pentagon and EPA, and Reagan National Airport, it will surely see an increasing load of visitors upon its official unveiling.

Included on site will be 5,000 s.f. of retail at the corner of 29th and Crystal Ave, a 5,000 s.f. restaurant inside the Renaissance Hotel, and an Illy-branded coffee shop. A below-grade parking garage with 522 spaces will eventually connect the Renaissance Hotel to the separately operated but co-planned and developed 325-room Residence Inn. Both hotels are expected to be the first LEED certified hotels in Arlington County, each with a landscaped green roof and various other sustainable features. The hotel-complex is an important aspect of the expansive 15 acre, 1.5-mile-long development strip being dubbed the "National Gateway at Potomac Yards" which is set to feature 2,848,000 s.f. of office, residential, hotel, and retail space. The project is expected to exceed some $1 billion by the time of completion. "National Gateway" is being developed by the Meridian Group.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Archstone Ponders More Residential for National Gateway

Of all the large-scale projects in development at the National Gateway, Archstone-Smith's "luxury residential towers" in Potomac Yard has been the least talked about - despite the 1.5 million square feet of LEED certified office space currently going up in the same neighborhood. Now the developer is seeking an "extension of time to...submit a building permit for two land bays and park concept design plan" from the Arlington County Board at their April 25^th meeting.Archstone acquired a large swath of the Meridian Group’s National Gateway project for an undisclosed sum in May 2007 with the intent of bringing 691 residential units to the site. But Archstone has yet to move soil in their 135,402 square foot parcel bounded by Jefferson Davis Highway, Potomac Avenue and Crystal Drive, nor has an architect been formally linked to what is being called the “Archstone National Gateway,” though permitting records indicate that they have taken on Tishman Speyer as a development partner. 

"We’re still in the drawing stage, but we should have something by the end of the month as far designs and proposals go," said Joshua Custer, Archstone-Smith's Marketing Coordinator. In all, planners hope for an eventual 1500 residential units with the recently opened 386-unit Camden apartments and 479-unit Eclipse condominiums, which began sales in 2005 and still have nearly 100 condos left to go. Ouch.

As for other adjoining pieces of the National Gateway pie, Camden Property Trust has already delivered there, while another nearby parcel was sold off to Marriott International for development under their Renaissance and Residence Inn brands is already well into construction.

For Meridian’s part, they are well on their way to realizing the 1.5 million square feet of office and 200,000 square feet of restaurants and retail included in Phase I of their National Gateway. That project is set to deliver this coming November.

Washington DC real estate news

National Gateway Developer Sells Hotel Portion to Marriott

Meridian Group, which is developing the massive National Gateway project just west of Reagan National Airport with partner Archon Group, has decided to sell the 2-acre plot in the project zoned for hotel use to Marriott International, which is planning to place two hotels (a Residence Inn and a Renaissance) on the site with a total of 625 rooms. No sales price was disclosed, nor is there a known timetable for the hotels to be built. Progress is being made on the National Gateway project, a mixed-use development slated for the Potomac Yard area along Route 1 between Crystal City and Alexandria, with Meridian and Archon reportedly ready to break ground this Spring on one of the project's office buildings, with completion targeted for 2009. When finally built (no final completion date has yet been set), the overall National Gateway project - which also includes developers Comstock and Camden Realty – will cost over $1 billion and contain 2.2 million sf of office space, 1,550 apartments and condo units totaling 880,000 sf, the two aforementioned hotels, and retail space totaling 210,000 sf, including a Harris Teeter grocery store. Arlington Virginia real estate development news

National Gateway Project To See Additional Office Towers

The National Gateway project, the mixed- use development slated for the Potomac Yard area along Route 1 between Crystal City and Alexandria next to Reagan National Airport, appears to be moving forward to its next phase, with this week’s announcement by developers The Meridian Group and Archon Group that they intend to develop an additional six office buildings with over 1.6 million sf of space to join their already planned two 12-story office buildings (440,000 sf, including a 45,000 sf health club) Meridian and Archon expect to start construction on the first two office buildings later this year, with completion targeted for 2009. When finally built (no completion date has yet been set), the overall National Gateway project - which also includes developers Comstock and Camden Realty – will cost over $1 billion and contain the above office space as well as another seven office buildings totaling 2.2 million sf, plus1,550 apartments and condo units totaling 880,000 sf, retail space totaling 210,000 sf ,and a 625-room hotel.