Official Groundbreaking of Ballston’s First Extended-Stay Hotel
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The Residence Inn
by Marriott Ballston at Founders Square |
Joined by hospitality and community leaders, The Donohoe Companies, Inc. officially broke ground on The Residence Inn by Marriott Ballston at Founders Square, a 150,000 square foot complex that will include the 11-story hotel and 1,800 square feet of retail space located on the ground floor. The 183 all-suite tower will be the first extended-stay hotel in the heart of the Ballston neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia. The hotel is slated to open in the second quarter of 2013 and will be designed for LEED© silver certification. The hotel will be managed by Donohoe Hospitality Services LLC of Washington, D.C. RevPAR is up by 7% over last year at Marriott, and the new hotel will primarily cater to business travelers, with room rates in the middle to upper-middle range of what Marriott typically charges.
The hotel will be next to the new DARPA headquarters building and front on North Quincy Street directly across from the planned Mosaic Park. The building will have ground floor retail at the north section fronting a pedestrian plaza. Guest amenities will include a pool, fitness center, laundry facility, business center, and hearth room and parking will be provided on two levels below grade.
Capital One provided $36M in construction financing for the hotel. It's the first hospitality construction loan the firm has completed in the D.C. area this year, they say, primarily because it remains cautious about hotel deals. “Donohoe really drove this deal for us,” remarked Michael Sleece of Capital One. “For this product type, it's all about sponsorship and location.”
