Convention Center’s Marquis
1 05 2009Convention planners number one complaint about our cities conference facilities has always centered around a lack of hotel rooms on site. Well all that is about to change with the construction of the planned Marriott Marquis directly connected to the Washington Convention Center. Check out these new renderings of the behemoth, which will weigh in at over 1,100 rooms. Take that National Harbor!
Architect Cooper Carry definitely did a good job breaking up the facade into different materials and sections which down plays the fact that this thing takes up an entire super block, the street facing retail will also help make sure this building isn’t a block killer.
Night time rendering after the jump…
That corner brick section of the building looks similar to the current building that is on the site, though we don’t think it is an actual preservation job in the works.
[Rendering: Cooper Carry]
it is a preservation of the building on the corner. the plans were presented at a community meeting last year, and the developer let us know that the corner building is landmarked, so they won’t be tearing it down.
Fingers crossed it breaks ground this year as planned…
I hope the “street facing retail” is something a little more inspired than the ubiquotus one floor multi-unit bays that are in every new apartment/condo building and some new office buildings. I understand the economic rationale for such easy-to-swap-out units, but its really just the urban equivalent to a strip mall.
Looks great and I’m so glad the handsome corner building is saved.
Let’s hope the bond issue gets done. I think Golman is leading the charge on that.
Very nice. Love the greenroof tucked on the corner!
has anyone noticed the exterior of the Convention Center being used as the office building for the new show “Lie to Me?”
I live in the Whitman Building behind this - I hope it doesn’t mess up the view south!
Lets hope there will be a variety of densely packed smaller retail spaces– that’s key to making a block interesting enough that passersby will want to explore it. These massive retail spaces that take up half the ground floor that are so prevelant in DC are barely better than no retail at all.
Lets also hope that the retail will also be better managed than the retail at the Convention Center!
when will they actually start construction
To add to my last comment– smaller retail spaces are more affordable as well, which is important if we want to attract local retail. Otherwise we can just look forward to another CVS, Starbucks, or bank branch.
Agreed on the need for smaller spaces that attract more (and diverse) buisinesses). Judging from the renderings, however, I think that we are looking at a hotel that has more than one entrance to its hotel restaurants, a la the hilton on H.
It is good for the neighborhood to have so many eyes on the street, however, so I am more or less happy with this situation.
I don’t think we can blame the convention center for not having it’s retail space occupied, there just isn’t the demand yet, but as more people come to the area, they will be able to fill the store fronts the ring the convention center, this hotel will certainly help speed those things up.
I remeber reading that gronud breaking was going to be the end of this year, so I imagine it will be finished by 2011?
Incidentally, I made a post about the convention center’s retail today. I think there is existing demand for retail in the area. The convention center’s not doing any active marketing of its vacant retail currently. None. And the convention center is in litigation with some of its current tenants, which surely doesn’t help its image as a prospective landlord.
Maybe the demand is not for the type of retail that would fit into the convention center, the best business that would work around there is something the residents of the area would use.
It looks gorgerous. US buildings are always attractive for travellers, at least for me. I have been to the US for conferences, each convention centre is so well-designed. Hope this one inside is also a surprise.
The national harbor Gaylord Hotel is still bigger than the new hotel at the Washington Convention Center, so how can somebody say “Take that national harbor”….lol National Harbor has 2000 rooms, this new hotel will only have like 1100 hotel rooms!!! Which is bigger??? “NATIONAL HARBOR”
[…] millions of dollars in subsidies from stalled city real estate projects to publicly finance the huge planned convention center hotel. Included in the list of projects that would loose out on funds are the Southwest waterfront and […]
[…] week the DC Council voted to expanded public financing for the 1000+ room Marriott Marquis across from the Convention Center. The first of two necessary votes would commit $272M in public money to the project, which is up […]
Ha! Lower the rent and people will sign leases. The convention center is on the very edge of downtown; it’s a desirable location with a lot of high-income neighbors as potential customers. If the convention center really cared about renting the space, they would.