As a star point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers or as a businessman with millions invested in the nation’s capital, Earvin Johnson has long been welcomed by Hilton Washington staff as “Magic.”
Now that he’s part-owner of the landmark Dupont Circle-area hotel, those 700 employees call him “Mr. Johnson.”
“I went from Magic to Mr. Johnson,” he said Thursday during a press conference announcing the change in ownership. “I kind of like that.”
Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds, a joint venture of Johnson and Los Angeles-based Canyon Capital Realty, has joined forces with Lowe Enterprises to purchase the famed hotel at 1919 Connecticut Ave. NW for $290 million. The group is pledging to invest more than $100 million in a “head-to-toe” upgrade of the 1,119-room facility and its 110,000 square feet of meeting space, including the largest-in-the-region International Ballroom.
The project’s partners said the restoration is critical if the hotel, which averages 72 percent occupancy, is to remain competitive. In its current state – stuck in the 1970s in some cases – the Hilton is threatened by the National Harbor project in Prince George’s County, they said.
“This city, while not all the way there, really has a lot of momentum right now,” said Mayor Adrian Fenty, who participated in the announcement. “This is a statement project.”
The Hilton renovations will include updated guest rooms, reconfigured meeting rooms to accommodate smaller groups, “extensive modifications” to the gym and pool areas, installation of a new spa, construction of a coffee bar and, perhaps, an upscale restaurant.
Michael Balaban, president of the eastern division of Lowe’s real estate group, said the partnership with Canyon-Johnson offers an “exceptional opportunity building on the heritage of a magnificent hotel which has been a part of the urban fabric of Washington for the past 50 years.”
Both Lowe and Canyon-Johnson are already heavily invested in the District. Lowe, for example, is currently developing the massive CityVista mixed-use project in Mount Vernon Square, while Canyon-Johnson is behind Onyx, a 266-unit residential tower near the new Washington Nationals’ ballpark.
