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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Parking structure to become Marriott hotel

The Colonial Parking structure sandwiched between Old Main and the 1959 E St. building is slated to become a Marriott hotel next spring, the developer said last week.

Allstate Hotel LLC and Marriott International Inc. plan to convert the six-story parking deck into a hotel with more than 150 guest suites, Mike Tyler, the spokesperson for the developers, said.

Years of legal battles have stalled the project, but Tyler said demolition permits “seem imminent.”

“We’re working on trying to get our permit to demolish it now,” said Mike Tyler. The permit is expected to be delivered by early to mid-September, and demolition will last approximately two months followed by construction, he said.

The site, located at 515 20th St., originally received approval for construction in 2006 by the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustment. A lawsuit from a member of the Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission, however, halted the progression of plans.

Then-ANC Commissioner Dorothy Miller filed the suit, telling The Hatchet in 2007 that “the street cannot take any more traffic.” In her brief filed with the D.C. Court of Appeals, Miller said the hotel would create an unbalanced amount of commercial traffic in an area containing many private and University residences.

In 2008, the D.C. courts ruled against Miller and approved of the development.

Now, Allstate Hotel LLC says it is awaiting the issuance of the demolition permit, and hopes to complete the project by April 2012.

With the project moving forward, current ANC chair Rebecca Coder stressed that former ANC Commissioner Miller filed her suit on an individual basis, adding that cases are never brought forth by the ANC as a whole. Nonetheless, Coder said she hopes the construction team will be mindful of those living in the Foggy Bottom community.

“Any time there’s construction, we like to see the developers work with the community to ensure that it has the least amount of impact on the [community’s] quality of life,” she said.

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