After months of stalled negotiations, the District of Columbia has struck a deal with Marriott to build a 1,150-room hotel across the street from the new convention center, clearing the way for further development in the Shaw neighborhood, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced Monday.
The hotel is considered by District officials to be essential in making D.C. a competitive convention center destination.
The Marriott Marquis will be built on Ninth Street NW between Massachusetts Avenue and L Street on land owned by the District and developer Kingdon Gould III. Gould will trade his 60,000 square feet of land for the 57,000 square feet the District owns at the old convention center site.
The Washington Convention Center Authority will issue bonds to pay for the District’s $134 million share of the project, which will be repaid over a 30 years using tax revenue from the hotel.
The hotel will break ground in a few months and be completed in 2011, Fenty said.
Officials hope the deal will spur developers to move forward with plans for the Shaw neighborhood.
“I really do believe that developers have been sitting on the sidelines waiting to do something here until this was announced,” said Bill Hanbury, CEO of the Washington, D.C. Convention & Tourism Corporation.
