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Washington Business Journal
The DSF Group has changed its plans to build a 65-unit condominium project in Old Town Alexandria and instead will construct a boutique hotel.
The privately held Boston real estate investment company is going in front of the Alexandria Planning Commission April 3 to seek approval for a 107-room hotel with a restaurant, wine bar, day spa and valet parking.
The plan is to convert the 100-year-old building at 1520 King St. into a wine bar and build a Kimpton-branded hotel on the land surrounding it. DSF will keep another historic facade, separate from the building, as the exterior of part of the hotel.
DSF has a signed agreement with San Francisco-based hotel management company Kimpton Group, but the deal isn't final, according to both DSF President Josh Solomon and Kimpton's East Coast director of sales and marketing, Paige Dunn.
"The condo market is not great, and the building is perfect for a boutique hotel," Solomon says. "We were approached by a number of hotel folks who had suggested the idea, so we explored it."
Two years ago, DSF won the city's approval to build the condos. It bought six parcels that are worth $10 million, according to Alexandria real estate assessments. DSF was in the design phase when the company decided to switch to the hotel.
"The benefits are not only bringing the hotel to Old Town but also increasing the commercial tax base," says DSF's attorney, Cathy Puskar, of Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley, Emrich & Walsh.
DSF must still be bullish on the long-term housing market in the area because the company is constructing two residential towers in Northern Virginia, a 173-unit high-rise in Alexandria called the North Hampton Two and a 269-unit high-rise in Arlington called Halstead at Arlington.
Kimpton has earned a reputation in D.C. for attracting customers and continues to add hotels in the area.
There are seven Kimpton Hotels in D.C., including the Hotel Palomar, Hotel Monaco and Hotel Rouge, and three Kimpton Hotels are expected to open in the next six months in Arlington and Alexandria.
Kimpton is already running the historic Morrison House Hotel at 116 S. Alfred St., a property that ING Clarion bought last April for $14 million.
The company is turning the Holiday Inn Select at 480 King St. into a Hotel Monaco, which is expected to open by August.
For its new hotel on King Street, DSF hopes to have approval from the City Council by April 14.
by Erin Killian
Staff Reporter