As the fallout from the recession continues on, one of the big disappointments to me has been Starwood Capital's new hotel brands not being able to get off the ground.
Don't get me wrong - I'd rather see them delay, or cancel the projects rather than have them half completed, or open to 20% occupancy, although a lot of it is based on things that are out of Starwood Capital's control - outside financing, outside developers, etc.
One project seems to still be on the drawing board though - the 1 Hotel Washington DC. The last I've heard about it was in December of 08, when a local DC blog posted pictures of the demolition of the existing building that was on site, add to that the banners surrounding the site still advertising the 1 Hotel, the developer (Perseus Realty) still having the project on their website and the architect, Chad Oppenheim posting more and more pictures of the project on its website - I thought it was a very good indication that out of all the 1 Hotel projects, this one was going to be built.
There is an article in today's NY Times talking about the hotel boom and bust in Washington DC, and I quickly scanned it for any mention of the 1 Hotel (while noticing that the W Washington DC had the main story picture), sure enough, it was mentioned in one of the last paragraphs:
And the site of the 1 Hotel, a planned "eco hotel" from the Starwood Capital Group, remains an empty lot, a year after construction was scheduled to begin. A Starwood spokeswoman said the hotel is expected to open in 2011
Perseus Realty's site still claims a 2010 opening, which, if the site hasn't even broken ground yet, i find close to impossible, but I'm really pleased to see that some activity is still occurring with Starwood's 1 Hotel brand.
For anyone who is watching the news about hotel occupancy, tourism and business travel - this story in the NYTimes also sheds light on some interesting facts. Washington DC is the only major city in America where occupancy, daily room rate and revenue per available room is up vs the same period in 2008. Obviously since Washington DC is the center of US Government - travel to and from Washington shouldn't exactly decline - in fact, it would increase due to both the new presidency as well as those needing to do business with the government in their attempt to turn the economy right side up.
I've had these pictures on my desktop for months now - never got around to posting them, but here are the new images that have been posted for the project from Oppenheim's website, showing some interesting details about the project. For example - even though it looks like a square from the outside, the hotel is actually an "L" shape. There is a lot being done to make the outdoors look indoors - greenery and shrubs, and the hotel is has "three 11-story volumes, connected by glass enclosed verticlal gardens".
Since Oppenheim was supposed to be the developer of the 1 Hotel prototype - I wonder if this is the design that the majority of 1 Hotels will take?
andrew@alconic-inc.com
Andrew Calvo is a 26 year old Commercial Real Estate Advisor in New Jersey. I live in Tinton Falls, NJ. This blog is about my passions - primarily hotels, commercial real estate, and development, etc.
Since I have been in High School Ifve had numerous jobs, but the field which has always interested me is Real Estate, Hotel Development and Construction. I consider myself a zealot in that area - I try to absorb as much as I possibly can, take the experiences that I learn, or read about and use them in my life.
www.passionsofazealot.com/2009/04/12/1-hotel-washington-continues-on-and-pictures 
