Hilton Worldwide has reached a deal to open a 195-room Homewood Suites less than a block from Nationals Park’s, one of a handful of new hotels in the works by the stadium.
Hilton is teaming up with a development group including Bethesda’s Englewood LLC, which plans to develop the 11-story hotel at 50 M St. SE. Englewood and its affiliate, KGC 50 M LLC, acquired the site in May for $13 million from MR Ballpark 6 LLC, a partnership between Monument Realty and Lehman Bros.
Englewood conceptually envisioned building a hotel on the site soon after acquiring it but has spent the months since shaping the project details. Englewood President Ken Finkelstein said he believes the brand will be a strong fit for the area, drawing on sports enthusiasts, out-of-town visitors and those in town on business.
Finkelstein also believes that the hotel stands to benefit from the potential D.C. United stadium at Buzzard Point.
“The Homewood Suites by Marriott is a very strong brand,” Finkelstein said. “This kind of a hotel, an extremely strong hotel, is a good fit for Washington in general and for this location specifically.”
In addition to the planned Homewood Suites, the Buccini/Pollin Group is developing a 168-room Hampton Inn & Suites by First and N streets SE and Grosvenor Americas and Skanska USA Commercial Development Inc. have teamed up to develop Square 701, which is slated to include a 170-room hotel. A little further away, The Wharf is slated to include a 278-room Intercontinental Hotel.
Even with those projects in the works, Finkelstein believes there is still more hotel demand than there is existing supply and the demand will only grow in the years to come.
The hotel is slated to include a mix of studio, one- and tow-room suites. There will also be about 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space along M Street across from the Navy Yard Metro entrance.
Construction on the new hotel is slated to begin later this year or in early 2015, with an opening in the second quarter of 2016.
