WASHINGTON, DC—By the time the Walter Washington Convention Center opened in this city’s historic Shaw neighborhood in 2003, initial planning had already begun for a large hotel that would be built adjacent to the Convention Center.
Like other major convention facilities around the country, the 2.3 million square-foot Washington Convention Center would be better able to compete for large conventions and exhibitions, if planners knew there were hundreds of new, first-class hotel rooms to house their attendees available in close proximity—if not connected—to the Convention Center. Such a hotel would also contain a significant amount of its own meeting space, both to supplement the meeting space in the Convention Center proper and to enable the hotel to host separate meetings and events.
Given the complexity of financing such a large-scale project—complicated by ups and downs in the economy—and the high barriers to entry for any project of this magnitude in the nation’s capital, progress on the hotel proceeded erratically.
Fast-forward to late last year when ground was finally broken on the block-long site of what will be the 1,175-room Washington Marriott Marquis. Completion of the $520 million building, a public/private partnership between the Washington Convention and Sports Authority (WCSA), a public agency; Quadrangle Development Corp.; Capstone Development LLC; and Marriott International, is scheduled for early 2014. When completed, the Marriott Marquis will be the largest hotel in the District of Columbia. In hindsight, the years-long struggle, mostly on the part of the WCSA, is an object lesson in the fortitude municipalities frequently need to muster in order to get these mega-projects off the ground.
“A request for proposal for a hotel went out as early as 2001, so we’ve been working on a convention center hotel for a long time,” WCSA president & CEO Gregory O’Dell told HOTEL BUSINESS® last month.
Of the $520 million cost, the District and the WCSA are providing $206 million with the remainder being raised by the development partners. In addition, Quadrangle and Capstone have negotiated a 99-year lease for the land, which is owned by the District and the WCSA.
In return for the large public investment, backers of the project cite the financial benefits it will bring to the community. The hotel is expected to have a $50 million-$100 million annual economic impact for the city on top of the Convention Center’s $400 million economic impact, according to O’Dell. In the short-term, the project will also create up to 1,600 good paying construction jobs for the community and, once construction is completed, up to 1,000 hospitality jobs at the hotel.
In addition, it will help ensure the long-term viability of the Convention Center. “Planners prefer to house attendees in a convention center hotel. It’s convenient, there’s less likelihood of attendees being distracted by activities going on in other parts of the city, and it saves on shuttle bus services, which can be costly and complicated logistically,” O’Dell explained.
The 100,000-square feet of flexible meeting space planned for the Marriott Marquis includes a 30,000-square foot grand ballroom, two 10,800-square foot junior ballrooms, each divisible into smaller units, as well as an 18,000-square foot indoor event terrace, and a 5,200-square foot rooftop terrace. “We were careful to make sure that the hotel’s space dovetailed with the Convention Center’s space,” O’Dell reported, adding that planners booking convention centers in recent years have been demanding more meeting and event space—as opposed to exhibition space—giving the Washington complex a competitive advantage.
Marriott International has been a long-time supporter of the project. Not only does Bethesda-based Marriott have a large presence in the Greater Washington, DC, market, but as company chairman & CEO J.W. Marriott, Jr., pointed out at the groundbreaking ceremony, the location has special significance for him personally. “Our company began in Washington more than 80 years ago with a restaurant that my parents opened just up the street,” he said. The company uses the Marriott Marquis brand to identify particularly large group houses. The Washington hotel will be the fourth Marriott Marquis after New York, Atlanta and San Francisco.
In the same way the New York Marriott Marquis helped turn around the faltering Times Square district 26 years ago, local officials are hopeful the Washington Marriott Marquis will help spur the revitalization of the Shaw neighborhood.
Existing hotels in the area share the same hope. Despite nominally being competitors, they view the eventual arrival of the Marriott Marquis as a positive development. “We’re delighted,” said Vinh Nguyen, general manager of the 50-suite Eldon Luxury Suites Hotel, which is located directly across from the Marriott Marquis site. “Up to now, the Convention Center hasn’t been able to reach its full potential because of the limited number of hotels in the immediate area.”
The Shaw neighborhood can only benefit, Nguyen continued. “Marriott’s around-the-clock marketing team will undoubtedly help bring renewed focus and attention to this area of the city,” he noted.
Both Quadrangle Development and minority partner Capstone Development are locally based and have existing ties to Marriott. Quadrangle has the development of five other full-service hotels to its credit, though none are as large as the current project. These include the JW Marriott in Washington, DC, and the Marriott in nearby Bethesda, MD, as well as two Hyatt properties and a Hilton.
Capstone’s experience has been more in the select-service arena, having developed Courtyard by Marriott hotels in Atlanta and Arlington, TX, as well as a Hampton Inn in Brunswick, GA. It does have one full-service resort on its resume—in Myrtle Beach, SC. Capstone, however, was founded by Norman Jenkins, a long-time former Marriott executive.
The hotel will be connected to the Convention Center by an underground pedestrian connector that crosses 9th St., as well as by street-level cross walks. “The underground connector means people don’t have to worry about inclement weather,” O’Dell noted.
The hotel is being designed by Cooper Carry Architects and TVS Architects, both of Atlanta, GA. TVS was responsible for the Convention Center as well, which will help ensure a continuity of overall design and materials.
Two features set the design apart. Using a top-down construction approach, the hotel will rise 14 stories above ground and 94 feet below ground, meaning that most of the meeting space will be below-grade. Secondly, the design incorporates an historic building that was already on the site, the Samuel Gompers AFL-CIO headquarters, known as the Plumbers Building. Plans call for the historic structure to function as a kind of boutique hotel-within-a-hotel.