City planners will take up a proposal by a DC property development company to bring a hotel built in 1926 back to life in Old Town Alexandria.
Meeting next week, the City Planning Commission will examine plans by DC-based CAS Riegler to renovate the former Hotel George Mason, at 699 Prince St., now an office building, as well as adjacent 114 S. Washington, currently a parking garage. The building at 699 Prince St. is considered one of the best examples of Colonial Revival architecture in the City.
Plans call for the garage to be demolished. In its place are plans for a four-story hotel. In all, there will be 42 rooms at that 114 S. Washington address and 99 rooms at the 699 Prince St. address. The two locations, separated by a private alley, will operate as one hotel.
RENDERING COURTESY OF CITY OF ALEXANDRIA
Each location would include its own restaurant; the Prince Street location would have rooftop dining as well. The Prince Street location’s first-floor restaurant would be 3,300 square feet; and the rooftop restaurant would be 3,000 square feet. Plans also call for outdoor dining in the alley separating the two buildings. Valet parking is planned with parking at Tavern Square at 418 Cameron St.
CAS Riegler will donate nearly $50,000 toward the City’s affordable housing trust fund, $30,000 for a bus shelter, $10,000 toward the Capital Bikeshare fund and more than $7,000 for public art, per City guidelines.
The location was the former home, for 20 years, of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which moved its headquarters to nearby 333 John Carlyle St. The 48,500-square foot building was sold in March to CAS Riegler for $13.2 million according to City property records.