[Photo of Franklin School by Mark Kortum]
As essential as hotels are in a city like D.C. that has such a connection to tourists, not all planned hotels make it past the drawing board. Sometimes those coveted pieces of real estate go to more permanent residents and other times, there are completely different plans in the works. Regardless, the ghosts of room service that never existed and unfulfilled hotel bar plans are present all over the city. Here's a quick look at three recent locations whose hotel visions never came to fruition.
Location: The Patterson Mansion, 15 Dupont Circle NW
Hotel Dreams: French Quarter Hospitality planned to turn the $26 million Dupont home into a boutique hotel.
Where It All Went Wrong: The Historic Preservation Review Board shot down the idea of tearing down the Mansion's annex and building something new in its place.
What Is It Now: The Patterson Mansion is en route to becoming 90 micro-units, although they still have a significant portion of the approval process ahead of them.
Location: The Franklin School, 13th & K Street NW
Hotel Dreams: Douglas Development made the short list to redevelop the historic building and both Kimpton Hotels and Gemstone Hotels & Resorts said they'd be willing to partner with the developer. Michelle Obama even made it into the background of one of the renderings.
Where It All Went Wrong: Douglas Development lost the bidding war.
What Is It Now: Developer Eastbanc will turn it into an art museum called the Institute For Contemporary Expression
Location: The 1700 block of N Street NW
Hotel Dreams: The six boarded up rowhouses looked to
Where It All Went Wrong: The Historic Preservation Review Board eventually shot down the idea. Neighbors testified that a hotel in that location would negatively affect local institution, The Tabard Inn.
What Is It Now: The rowhouses will become sixty-nine condos and go by the name N Street Condominiums. Construction will start this summer.
· All Patterson Mansion Coverage [CDC]
· All Franklin School Coverage [CDC]
· Follies No More: Sixty-Nine Condos Coming To N Street [CDC]