Hotel-Turned-Office In Old Town Lands Financing To Be Turned Back Into A Hotel

A vacant office building in Old Town Alexandria is set to return to its roots.

Developers May Riegler Properties and Potomac Investment Properties have landed $59.2M in financing from Twain Financial Partners to turn the building at 699 Prince St., which was built as the Hotel George Mason in the 1920s, back into a hotel. 

The project costs $76.5M in total, according to a release from Twain. The development team has been working with the city to secure the gap financing it needs to restart the 90K SF adaptive reuse project.

Developers had begun demolishing the building's interior in 2020 when the pandemic's gut punch to the hospitality sector brought the project to a halt. But the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership threw its support behind the project, noting the city has lost 17% of its hotel base since the pandemic began.

The AEDP requested roughly $6M in gap financing from the city on behalf of the developers, saying the hotel would ensure Old Town could serve tourists looking for upscale lodging and additional meeting space, according to a January filing with the city.

The hotel conversion project would receive a small portion of city and state tax revenue from the AEDP through an agreement with the city.

Once completed, the newly envisioned Hotel Heron is expected to have 134 rooms and 30K SF of amenity space, including ground-floor retail. It will also feature large meeting space that AEDP hopes will draw business travel back from The Wharf, National Harbor and other destinations.

The development partners plan to complete construction in November 2023.