Marriott Wardman Park

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wardman Park Annex and Arcade
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Marriott Wardman Park Tower on a sunny summerday view from east.jpg
Wardman Tower Condominiums, formerly part of the hotel
Marriott Wardman Park is located in Washington, D.C.
Marriott Wardman Park
Location2600 Woodley Road NW, Washington, D.C.
Coordinates38°55′30″N 77°3′13″W / 38.92500°N 77.05361°W / 38.92500; -77.05361Coordinates: 38°55′30″N 77°3′13″W / 38.92500°N 77.05361°W / 38.92500; -77.05361
Area2.7 acres (1.1 ha)
Built1928; 94 years ago (1928)
ArchitectMihran Mesrobian
Architectural styleColonial Revival
NRHP reference No.84000869[1] (original)
100003945 (increase)
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJanuary 31, 1984; 38 years ago (1984-01-31)
Boundary increaseMay 10, 2019; 2 years ago (2019-05-10)

The Washington Marriott Wardman Park was a hotel on Connecticut Avenue adjacent to the Woodley Park station of the Washington Metro in the Woodley Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The hotel had 1,152 rooms, 195,000 square feet (18,100 m2) of event space, and 95,000 square feet (8,800 m2) of exhibit space. It opened in 1918 and closed in 2020. The owner filed for bankruptcy in 2021 and the property is currently in the process of being sold for redevelopment.

The Wardman Tower wing was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 31, 1984.[2][3]

History[]

The original Wardman Park Hotel, in 1922, before the addition of the Wardman Tower.

Built between 1917 and 1918 by local developer Harry Wardman and designed by local architect Frank Russell White, the Wardman Park Hotel was an eight-story, red brick structure modeled on The Homestead resort in Virginia.[4] The hotel was the largest in the city, with 1,200 rooms and 625 baths. It was nicknamed Wardman's Folly, due to its location far outside the developed area of Washington.[4]

It opened on November 23, 1918,[5] just days after the Armistice with Germany ending World War I. No elaborate opening festivities were held since public gatherings were illegal during the 1918 flu pandemic. The hotel was hugely successful due to the housing shortage caused by the growth of Washington, D.C. during World War I.[4]

In 1928, the hotel was expanded with an eight-story, 350-room residential-hotel annex designed by architect Mihran Mesrobian. That building, now converted into condominiums, is the only surviving portion of the original Wardman Park, known as the Wardman Tower, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Wardman was forced to sell the hotel in 1931 due to the Great Depression, and the hotel was acquired by Washington Properties.[4]

Before the United States' entry into World War II, a British spy named Cynthia operated out of the premises as she spied on the Vichy French Embassy. At night, she would visit her lover, an embassy employee whom she had compromised, and steal secret documents, transporting them back to the hotel and photographing them in a lab she had set up in her room.[6]

The hotel contained a full service drug store/pharmacy; the pharmacist was known as Doc Wardman. There was also a U.S. Post Office and shops in the basement, including a butcher, grocery store, and dry cleaner that was stocked even during World War II.

In the late 1940s, the Olympic-size swimming pool was used by the 5th Marine Reserves, who were taught how to swim with their clothes on.

The first televised broadcast of NBC's Meet the Press took place in 1947 in the Wardman Tower, where host Lawrence Spivak was a resident. Other shows broadcast from the hotel include The Camel News Caravan, The Today Show (Frank Blair segments), and The Arthur Murray Dance Program.[7]

In 1953, Washington Properties sold the hotel to Sheraton Hotels.[4] Renamed the Sheraton-Park Hotel, the hotel shifted its focus from longer term residents to overnight guests.[4] Substantial additions were made to the property, including large new ballrooms and the 1964 addition known as the Motor Inn and later known as the Park Tower.

In August 1962, Army Special Forces soldiers trained by rappelling down the side of the hotel.

New main building of the hotel, completed in 1980.

In the late 1970s, construction began on a modern replacement hotel immediately adjacent on the property. It opened in 1980 as the Sheraton Washington Hotel as which time the original building was razed.[4]

In 1998, following a protracted lawsuit against Sheraton by the hotel's then owners, John Hancock Insurance and the Sumitomo Corporation, Marriott International took over management of the property, renaming the hotel the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. In 1998, Thayer Lodging Group of Annapolis, Maryland, purchased the hotel for $227 million and spent another $100 million on renovations.[8]

In 2005, Thayer Lodging Group sold the hotel to JBG Smith and CIM Group for $300 million.[9]

JBG planned to convert a portion of the hotel into luxury condominiums and construct a 200-unit condominium building on a 16-acre (65,000 m2) lot adjacent to the hotel.[10] JBG also said it will demolish the hotel's parking garage and main ballroom, and spend $50 million to renovate the guest rooms, add dining space, build a new fitness center, and improve the exhibition and meeting space.[11] Marriott, which managed the hotel, had the right to veto the conversion of hotel rooms into condos if revenues on the remaining hotel section fell below a specified number.[12] Hotel revenues declined significantly during the Great Recession, and Marriott exercised its right to stop the conversion of the hotel into condominiums.[12]

On November 20, 2008, while giving a speech at the hotel to the Federalist Society, United States Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed. He lost consciousness but was talking when he was led away to George Washington University Hospital.[13]

In 2014, JBG constructed an apartment building on the western portion on the site designed to mirror the historic Wardman Tower. It was first named Wardman West, but was later renamed The Woodley. The apartment building was sold for a record-breaking $920,000 per unit.[14]

In 2015, JBG renovated floors 3-8 of the Wardman Tower into 32 luxury condominiums, while the first and second floors remained part of the hotel business.[15] The project was financed by a $54 million investment from North America Sekisui House LLC (NASH), the North American division of the largest homebuilding corporation in Japan.[16] One of the condominium units sold for $8.4 million.[17]

In January 2018, JBG Group and CIM Group, which had owned roughly equal interests in the hotel, sold a controlling interest in the property (66.67%) to Pacific Life, with JBG and CIM each retaining 16.67% ownership.[18] In February 2020, CIM Group sold its interest in the hotel.

In March 2020, the hotel closed temporarily, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 22, 2020, the hotel ownership notified the workers' union of its intention to potentially close the hotel permanently.[19]

On September 3, 2020, Pacific Life petitioned in a Delaware court to dissolve its ownership partnership with JBG. The two companies resolved their dispute on October 2, 2020.[20]

On October 6, 2020, Marriott sued Pacific Life (which owned 80% of the property) and JBG Smith (which owned 20%). Marriott claimed the two companies were intentionally failing to invest contractually obligated capital in the hotel to force the property to close so it could be redeveloped, cheating Marriott of fees to be earned from its long term management contract.[20]

In October 2020, JBG Smith transferred its ownership stake in the hotel to Pacific Life, as the value had been reduced to zero.[21]

On January 11, 2021, the owning entity, Wardman Hotel Owner LLC, a subsidiary of Pacific Life, filed for bankruptcy and announced the permanent closure of the hotel and the severing of the management contract with Marriott.[22]

Residents[]

The Wardman Tower building was home to several politicians and other public figures, as follows:

Events[]

The Marriott Wardman Park hosted many annual events including:

The hotel was included in the rotation of cities in which the American Contract Bridge League holds North American Bridge Championship tournaments.[25]

The annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board was held at the Marriott Wardman Park for nearly 60 years.[26] It was moved to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in 2015.[27]

In March 2017, Cvent, an event management company, ranked the Marriott Wardman Park at 87th in its annual list of the top U.S. hotels for meetings.[28]

References[]

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ "Every floor plan is different in Wardman Tower condos". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  3. ^ "Wardman Tower Looms Large as Washington, D.C., Landmark - Tnemec Company, Inc". tnemec.com. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/84000869_text
  5. ^ Clabaugh, Jeff (June 24, 2020). "Marriott Wardman Park may close for good". WTOP-FM.
  6. ^ MCINTOSH, ELIZABETH P. (1998). "Sisterhood of Spies". Naval Institute Press – via The New York Times.
  7. ^ DiLiegro, Allison. "Washington Marriott Wardman Park: Tales from a Presidential Residence Full of WW II and TV History". Storied Hotels.
  8. ^ Hedgpeth, Dana (September 23, 2004). "D.C.'s Biggest Hotel May Be Sold". The Washington Post.
  9. ^ "DC Hotel Owner Says Its Ch. 11 Case Belongs In Delaware". Law360. February 3, 2021.
  10. ^ O'Connell, Jonathan (April 13, 2012). "What's Going On With...Construction at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel?". The Washington Post.
  11. ^ Hedgepeth, Dana (July 4, 2005). "New Owners Have Plans for District Hotel". The Washington Post.
  12. ^ a b Castro, Melissa; O'Connell, Jonathan (October 5, 2009). "What's Behind JBG's Convention Hotel Lawsuit?". American City Business Journals.
  13. ^ "AG Mukasey collapsed in 'fainting spell,' official says". CNN. November 21, 2008.
  14. ^ Banister, Jon (June 25, 2020). "Marriott Might Close 100-Year-Old Wardman Park Hotel". Bisnow Media.
  15. ^ "Japanese investor partners on Wardman Tower condos". American City Business Journals. February 28, 2014.
  16. ^ Sernovitz, Daniel J. (February 28, 2014). "Japanese Investor Partners on Wardman Tower Condos". American City Business Journals.
  17. ^ Daniel J., Michael Neibauer (May 10, 2017). "At $8.4M, Wardman Tower condo nearly sets record for most expensive ever sold in D.C." American City Business Journals.
  18. ^ "JBG SMITH Properties 2017 Form 10-K Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  19. ^ "Union to employees: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel may close after storied, 102-year run". WJLA-TV. June 23, 2020.
  20. ^ a b Maake, Katishi (October 6, 2020). "Marriott sues Wardman Park hotel owner, alleging a lack of investment in the property". American City Business Journals.
  21. ^ Maake, Katishi (November 3, 2020). "JBG Smith transfers its ownership of the Marriott Wardman Park in D.C." American City Business Journals.
  22. ^ "Owner of DC's Wardman Park Hotel files for bankruptcy". WTOP-FM. January 12, 2021.
  23. ^ Winkjer Collin, Andrea (2010). Mr. Wheat: A Biography of U.S. Senator Milton Young. Bismarck, North Dakota: Smoky Water Press. p. 290.
  24. ^ "DC Collaborative Selected to Be Beneficiary of AnimeUSA Auction" (Press release). Anime News Network. November 6, 2012.
  25. ^ "Past NABCs". American Contract Bridge League.
  26. ^ "Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting 2014". World Resources Institute.
  27. ^ "94th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB)". World Resources Institute.
  28. ^ Neibauer, Michael (March 28, 2017). "Six D.C.-area hotels land in Cvent's top 100 for U.S. meetings". American City Business Journals.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""