Politics & Government

Council OKs Prince Street Hotel

Carr Hospitality to build 109-room boutique lodge near King Street Metro Station.

Alexandria City Council approved plans last week to build a six-story hotel at the corner of Prince Street and Daingerfield Road in Old Town.

The project plan, submitted by Carr Hospitality, will remove the existing parking lot at the site and replace it with a 54,013 square-foot hotel with 109 rooms and a small on-site restaurant. The building will have a five-story wing along Prince Street and a six-story wing along Daingerfield Road. The hotel will also have meeting space, a rooftop pool, sundeck and green space.

See: Planning Commission Approves Prince Street Hotel

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The room count would put the hotel on par with The Lorien Hotel on King Street.

Nearby residents expressed concerns about the hotel’s impact on parking in the neighborhood, which they said is already experiencing parking problems.

Find out what's happening in Old Town Alexandriawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Councilmembers urged city staff to work on the residential aspects of the parking districts in Old Town as opposed to doing it on an ad-hoc basis.

The new building will include one level of below-grade parking with 32 spaces that will be exclusively valet controlled. Carr Hospitality has secured 12 nearby off-site parking spots for overflow parking within two blocks of the site.

Council added an amendment making the valet parking available to restaurant and meeting room guests as well as overnight guests. Shuttle services will also be available to overnight guests.

The building will follow the city’s Green Building guidelines and utilize yellowish brick, metal panels and glass on its facade. The triangular shape of the building, dictated by the lot shape, will also give the building a distinct look. An illuminated sign for the hotel is also planned, though Councilman Paul Smedberg urged that it not be red as depicted in renderings of the project.

“It’s about doing it tastefully, in the right way,” he said.

Along with streetscape enhancements, Carr Hospitality will work new public art into building plans. Carr Hospitality will also make a voluntary contribution to the city’s affordable housing fund, a contribution to the King Street Improvement District and a $20,000 donation to expand Capital Bikeshare at King Street Metro Station. The Metro station is just a quarter-mile from the hotel site.  

The plan includes combining two lots, specifically the site containing the parking lot at 1620 Prince St. with the adjoining lot at 200 Daingerfield Rd. The Daingerfield site is occupied by an office building owned by HF Sewer, LLC, which will remain. The combining of the two lots allows Carr Hospitality to utilize the unused floor area ratio available at the Daingerfield site to provide more floor area to construct the hotel.


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