Convention Center Hotel Update

i have no doubt that getting a hotel would be good for DC. but I wonder whether having more tourists in the neighborhood would be good for PQ residents. won’t there just be more touristy restaurants at the expense of residential amenities?

Washington Times had a big story on how the convention center has hurt local retailers:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070909/NATION/109090031/1002
and
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070909/NATION/109090032/1002

Still don’t see why they can’t augment the former convention site with hotel space. Is there some law preventing condos, retail, AND hotel space on the site? I mean, condo sales are still strong, but hotel occupancy is pretty weak. Does a mega hotel make any sense given the current economy? Mixing hotel space with retail, residential, AND office would guarantee foot traffic at all hours, which is what city life is supposed to be about.

If the government needs to be this deeply involved in order to get a hotel built, well, maybe that means there’s no market for the hotel. This is not exactly an area like low-income housing where we need the government to save us from ourselves.

Yikes, I really hope this happens. That area needs as much growth and investment as possible to continue to become safer and nicer and fulfill its potential. That site would be great for a mixed-use complex like the Willard complex (hotel, restaurants, retail, office space…).

Well there’s definitely a need for it. I work for a farily large organization that has a annual conference with thousands of attendees. The meeting comes to DC every 3 or 4 years, and I’ve been told we won’t use the new convention center because there aren’t enough hotels in the area immediate area to house staff and important guests. They end up holding it in Dupont Circle or Woodly Park instead.

Its insane to have such a large convention center with so few hotels servicing it. If the city is losing convention center revenue becasue of it, I think they should try to remedy the situation.

As for tourists in the neighborhood, they annoy me as well. But I understand that we will have to co-exist since there aren’t enough residents in the area to make us a viable economic force.

Steve Pearlstien has an interesting argument against a ginormous Hotel on that site. It’s in the post Business section. A good read.

Too bad the National Harbor in Prince George’s County will kill any effort to make the Convention Center in DC the area’s top convention host.

I thought the private sector would have filled the void and built a large hotel around DC convention center, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Didn’t conventional wisdom (pun intended) relegate convention centers too urban planning hell in the 1990s? They’re only a successful business in places like San Diego, Miami and Las Vegas.

the article JNo 12:23 references can be found here (A Bad Idea’s Slow but Merciful Death).

thanks JNo!

If I recall correctly, Roadside Development released plans to construct a hotel on the premises of the forthcoming O St. Market project (the one with the new Giant). I’m sure that whatever ends up going in there won’t be as large as what was envisioned for the Convention Center, but it’s something.

I’ll also say that the Washington Convention Center is one of the few I’ve seen that doesn’t have a prominent hotel near it. How much that hurts the Conv. Center, I don’t really know.

Construction costs are rising but that affects all property types… the hotel market is dead in DC… we won’t touch anything hotel related with a 10 foot pole.

Please email the mayor to build it on land they already own (old conv. ctr).

I like the idea of a few smaller hotels. Personally, I don’t like really large convention hotels.

Anyone here about the W Hotel going into the Hotel Washington? I read an announcement was imminent.

“Please email the mayor to build it on land they already own (old conv. ctr).”

Then what was the purpose of constructing a new convention center in Shaw? The idea, of course, was to spur business development and growth in the neighborhood. Instead, the effect has been–not much. A few restaurants, a few galleries, and still a lot of blight. Having a large hotel–or a few smaller hotels–immediately within the vicinity of the convention center could go a long ways towards keeping a sizeable portion of the pedestrian foot traffic in and around the area. Instead, at the conclusion of every day, the conventioneers disperse throughout the city, most of them to neighbohoods not called Shaw.

I understand the argument behind the rising costs of construction, but this is a project that never should have taken this long to get going.

wash times not examiner

thanks Si. 😉