City to Seek Proposals for Convention Center Hotel

WASHINGTON, DC-Mayor Anthony Williams will announce a request for proposals this week for a mammoth new “headquarters hotel” for the new Washington Convention Center, slated for completion in 2003. The hotel, which will likely be developed on privately owned land, is expected to contain upwards of 1,100 guest rooms and a 35,000-sf ballroom.

The new hotel is just part of the city’s vision for big changes that will come when the present Washington Convention Center is phased out. A task force unveiled its plans last week for the 10.2-acre site that will be made available once the current center is demolished. The group, which visited several cities as it researched alternatives, created plans for a three-million sf mixed-use development including apartments, a luxury hotel, shops, a museum and open space.

According to the task force’s report, the development–bounded by New York Avenue NW, 9th, 8th, and 11th streets–will attract more than $400 million in private development capital and draw up to three million people a year. The task force presented three alternatives for developing the site, all of them including mixed uses but in different combinations, carrying an overall price tag of up to $900 million.