With two proposals to transform hotels into housing, local officials are exploring more creative ways to reach affordable housing goals.
In Herndon, a Residence Inn is slated to convert into a 17-unit affordable housing project spread across 11 buildings. Owners say the buildings are too difficult to maintain and industry demands haven’t kept with hotel brand standards.
“The physical layout of the various buildings on the property, the interior unit configuration, and the good condition of the underlying building structures, presents a unique opportunity with the Town of Herndon to repurpose the current building as multifamily units,” a March 2 application to the town says.
A similar tale is unfolding in Tysons, but without a major affordable housing component. Property owner JBG Smith wants to turn the 22-story Sheraton Tysons hotel into a 544-unit multifamily residential tower with ground-floor retail.
The building first opened in 1985. A legal representative for JBG Smith says the units will be small in size and “offer more affordable housing opportunity,” according to a rezoning application submitted to Fairfax County in February.
These transformative uses are consistent with what building official Jay Riat says is a “steady” increase in major hotels being built or renovated in the past few years.
Even so, county officials do not expect a negative impact on transit occupancy tax revenues — which are generated from hotel uses, according to the county’s Department of Tax Administration.
What is happening otherwise may be somewhat counterintuitive: transient occupancy tax revenues are projected to rise by 15% in fiscal year 2023, which starts July 1, compared to the last fiscal year.
“To the extent that any hotels convert to multifamily units, the county may see a net tax revenue increase, as real estate revenues increase after redevelopment,” the tax department said in a statement.
The department notes that hotels are still going up in the county, including the Watermark Hotel in Tysons, which has 300 suites.
Recovery still anticipated for hotel industry
County officials with Land Development Services say existing hotels are doing well, as the Fairfax County market is not yet saturated.
A spokesperson for Visit Fairfax, the county’s official tourism resource, says repurposing a hotel into residential units seems to be a “logical” reuse, but officials still expect traditional hotels to thrive in major business areas. Read More
(Updated at 4:48 p.m. to clarify construction is currently underway)
Like other construction projects in the area, Virginia’s first JW Marriott is facing some delays.
The 26-story hotel, which plans to open at Comstock’s Reston Station, has been delayed by a year, according to a spokesperson for the Reston-based development company.
“Construction was delayed on this for a year due to the pandemic,” the spokesperson said, adding that work is currently underway on the site.
The hotel, which will be located at the intersection of Reston Station Boulevard and Wiehle Avenue, had planned to open in 2024 and will cost roughly $250 million to complete.
JW Marriott launched in 1984 as Marriott International’s luxury brand. There are more than 100 JW Marriott hotels in 36 countries.
Once completed, the building would complement the design of the Helmut Jahn office tower across the street.
Overall, the development is expected to have around 400 hotel units. The JW Marriott will include 250 guest rooms, 90 residents, roughly 15,000 square feet of meeting space, two restaurants and other amenities.
Marriott’s Extended Stay hotel is also planned for the site. CRS Hotel LC, a company managed by Comstock, finalized a franchise agreement in February 2021.
The project is expected to delivery in late 2024.
The owners of Residence Inn in the Town of Herndon say the building’s layout and amenities no longer meet “top tier hotel brand standards.”
As a result, they hope the town will allow the hotel to shift into a multifamily residential project with half of the units dedicated for workforce housing.
“The physical layout of the various buildings on the property, the interior unit configuration, and the good condition of the underlying building structures, presents a unique opportunity with the Town of Herndon to repurpose the current building as multifamily units,” a March 2 application to the town says.
The 168-room hotel — which is spread out over 11 buildings — was built in 1990. The 6.5-acre site is located south of Elden Street, west of Herndon Parkway, and north of Grove Street.
Town staff said the proposal is the town’s first for a multifamily development with a workforce housing component.
Staff said the hotel is set to “lose its flag because it cannot meet the standards of the brand anymore,” according to a March 14 report.
“Other commercial uses allowed by-right in the CS, Commercial Services, zoning district are likely not feasible without a complete teardown and redevelopment of the entire site,” the report says.
Approval of the project requires the town to rezone the property from the Commercial Services District to urban residential.
So far, the developer plans to provide 170 units. Half of them would be set aside for households earning up to 80% of the Area Median Income. That’s roughly $57,650 for a family of one and $82,300 for a family of four.
The developer is seeking a 30% reduction in the number of parking spaces — 184 parking spaces for 170 units — to meet actual parking demand. On-site bicycle parking and a bicycle repair and maintenance station will also be included on the site.
Parking will be purchased separately from unit rental rates in an effort to encourage residents to minimize car ownership.
“We believe the site is well positioned for success as both a workforce housing and market-rate housing project due to the site’s proximity to the future Metro station to the south and east, existing nearby public transit service, existing and planned pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and importantly, nearby employment in Downtown Herndon and along the Dulles Toll Road and Route 28 corridors, providing easy access to more than 100,000 existing jobs along the corridor,” the applicant said.
The Town of Herndon Planning Commission will consider the proposal at a meeting tonight (Monday) at 7 p.m.
After giving travelers shelter for more than three decades, the now-shuttered Sheraton Tysons Hotel (8661 Leesburg Pike) could soon become home to hundreds of permanent residents.
Property owner JBG Smith wants to turn the 22-story building and its parking garage into a 544-unit multifamily residential tower with up to 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, according to a rezoning application submitted to Fairfax County on Feb. 14.
The developer intends to adapt the existing building, which opened in 1985, rather than constructing a new one, saying that it will make the units more affordable.
“These units will be small in size and offer a more affordable housing opportunity,” Walsh Colucci land-use planner Elizabeth Baker wrote in a statement of justification on JBG Smith’s behalf. “By repurposing existing structures, the cost of building housing is reduced, and as a consequence, rents are lower than for new construction.”
Since the new residential building will contain small studio, one, and two-bedroom units, the developer has proposed replacing 49 existing surface parking spaces with a new public park adjacent to the Westwood Village neighborhood.
JBG bought the 254,559-square-foot lot occupied by the Sheraton in 2014, according to county property records. While part of the larger Tysons West development, the hotel was expected to remain under a plan approved by the county in 2013.
However, operator Marriott International shut the hotel down in April 2020, citing the need to adapt after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After settling tax lawsuits against Fairfax County in December, the developer is seeking to revise the Tysons West plan to designate the Sheraton building as residential and provide a new option for a proposed “Building C” that would be constructed on a portion of Ashgrove Lane.
Under an intepretation of the existing plan approved in 2018, Building C is envisioned as a 4 to 8-story, mid-rise residential building with up to 245 dwelling units and 7,000 square feet of retail or service uses, totaling 250,000 square feet of space.
With the shift in usage for the Sheraton site, JBG is requesting that the county consider allowing an 8 to 10-story, 300,000-square-foot building with up to 300 dwelling units and 3,000-7,000 square feet of retail uses as a potential alternative.
The developer anticipates that the changes will reduce the amount of traffic to Tysons West compared to what would be expected with the hotel staying.
“The proposed development will continue the implementation of the Tysons vision, by creating a dynamic, mixed-use neighborhood,” Baker wrote. “The adaptive reuse of existing structures with a naturally affordable housing product promotes sustainability and helps make this lifestyle available to many.”
When completed, the Tysons West development will consist of five buildings, including the existing shopping center at 1500 Cornerside Boulevard.
Building A has been designated as an office tower with up to 15,000 square feet of retail, and Building B would have up to 300,000 square feet of residential space, complemented by up to 35,000 square feet of retail. Located next to each other, the buildings would both be 14 to 20 stories tall.
