With all the T’s crossed and the I’s dotted, the District’s long-awaited convention center hotel is set to break ground early next month. The project is nearly a decade in the making and will provide nearly 1,200 hotel rooms with direct access to the convention hall — a big attraction and selling point the venue is currently lacking.
Gregory O’Dell, president and CEO of the Washington Convention and Sports Authority, said having that many hotel rooms at the center will reduce transportation costs for conventions that now pay for shuttle service to get their attendees from downtown hotels to Mt. Vernon Square.
There’s still a ways to go though — the $516 million hotel isn’t slated to open until April 2014.
