Georgetown’s Graham hotel is in for a makeover (with high tea)

Rooftop of The Graham Hotel
The Graham Hotel’s rooftop bar and restaurant, which offers 360-degree views of Georgetown, the Potomac River and the national monuments, is popular with both hotel guests and locals. (Courtesy The Graham Hotel)

The Graham Hotel, a 57-room boutique hotel near the C&O Canal in Georgetown, has changed ownership for the third time in the past 10 years, and will undergo renovations that will include the lobby, guest rooms and expanded dining options.

D.C.-based Friedman Capital, whose other hotels include The Watergate and Glover Park Hotel, has acquired The Graham for an undisclosed sum, though it does say because of the pandemic ravaged hotel industry, it was able to buy it for roughly the same price it last traded for five years ago.

The hotel sold in 2016 for $37 million.

Friedman Capital said it will end the hotel’s affiliation with Hilton’s Tapestry Collection, a management takeover that took place in 2018, in favor of its own hospitality arm Anasazi Group.

In addition to renovations and expanded dining options, The Graham, at 1075 Jefferson Street NW, will add high tea on the weekends, a unique experience Brian Friedman said he wants to bring to D.C. after visiting London with his family.

“As a local firm, we’re confident we offer a high-touch experience that national brands won’t be able to provide,” Friedman said.

Some of the Graham’s rooms and suites have private terraces, and it includes the Frank Sinatra suite, named after the rumored hotel regular. It originally opened in 1962 as the Hotel Monticello.

Its rooftop bar and restaurant, with 360-degree views of Georgetown, the Potomac River and the national monuments, is popular with both hotel guests and locals.

In addition to the Glover Park Hotel and Watergate, Friedman Capital owns historic properties in Charleston, South Carolina, and has affiliations with other historic properties in Los Angeles and San Diego as well.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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