What's New

The spectacular view that greets visitors arriving in Washington, D.C., from Virginia and points south is three silver spires soaring to a height of 270 feet, the new U.S. Air Force Memorial. The memorial is part of the Naval Annex of Arlington, located near the Pentagon on a three-acre, elevated ridge. Decades of planning and years of construction went into the $30 million project, which officially opened October 16.

The new Washington Convention Center is another example of outstanding architecture. Soon a much-needed partner will arise, a 1,434-room Convention Center Marriott headquarters hotel, connected by a pedestrian walkway. Last June, Mayor Anthony A. Williams signed the final piece of legislation needed before construction on the convention center hotel. It's expected to be complete in 2010, and will have 50,000 square feet of meeting space.

This is the Year of Shakespeare in the District. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the Bard's works will be produced on many Washington stages, and hotels will offer special tie-ins and activities. The Shakespeare Theatre Company will expand its downtown presence with the opening of the Harman Center for the Arts, slated for October 1. The facility will consist of two midsize theaters in the booming Penn Quarter: the new 776-seat Sidney Harman Hall and the 451-seat Lansburgh Theatre.

Want to bet that 2008 will be the Year of Martin Luther King Jr.? In 2005, it was the Year of the Greatest Generation with the opening of the WWII Memorial; in 2006, the city celebrated the American Originals with the reopening of the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery; this year, it is Shakespeare. The next major cultural project, construction on a memorial to Dr. King, began in November. The memorial on the National Mall will be along the Tidal Basin, near the Jefferson and FDR Memorials. The centerpiece of the $100 million memorial, the “Stone of Hope,” will be a 30-foot likeness of Dr. King, which is scheduled to be complete in fall 2008.

The National Museum of American History closed September 5 to shore up its infrastructure and put on some new paint and finery. The 43-year-old museum is expected to reopen in summer 2008. Meanwhile, Smithsonian staff arranged for 150 familiar icons, including Gen. Custer's buckskin jacket and Muhammad Ali's boxing gloves, to be displayed at the National Air and Space Museum.

In Baltimore, convention center officials walk by the construction site of the convention center hotel every day just to make sure the cranes and bulldozers are still there. The 757-room hotel for which the city waited so long and worked so hard to develop is finally under way and on target for an August 2008 opening.

Facilities Update

Maryland

• The District

  In Rockville, the ATRIUM COURT celebrated its grand opening in October. The new hotel has 175 rooms and suites and 13,000 square feet of meeting space. It has complimentary wired and Wi-Fi Internet access in the guest rooms, business center, and meeting space.

• Virginia

  The 280-room HILTON BALTIMORE/BWI AIRPORT opened in September with 11,000 square feet of meeting space, an airport shuttle, a restaurant, and a large fitness center.

• Ask the CVB

  In Prince George's County, across the Potomac River from Washington, GAYLORD NATIONAL RESORT HOTEL AND CONVENTION CENTER is rising on 41.7 acres at the foot of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, just off I-95 on the Capital Beltway at the interchange with I-295. The 2,000-room hotel Gaylord National will have 400,000 square feet of exhibition, event, and meeting space and will anchor the 300-acre National Harbor, a retail, dining, and entertainment destination.

• Maryland

  Marshall Management will operate the 125-room INN AT THE COLONNADE DOUBLETREE HOTEL, across from Johns Hopkins University, and is overseeing a room and meeting space renovation slated to be finished this spring. The hotel has an indoor, glass-domed pool, whirlpools, a new fitness center, and Internet access.

• The 337-room SHERATON INNER HARBOR, which is connected to the convention center, has had a $1.7 million makeover.

• The 707-room WYNDHAM BALTIMORE - INNER HARBOR is becoming a Sheraton, and has plans to renovate its lobby as well as 30,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space.

• Virginia

  HOTEL INDIGO will add four boutique properties in the greater Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area by the end of 2008: Ashburn, Chantilly, and Herndon, Va., and Linthicum, Md.

• Phantom Planner

  The ST. REGIS HOTEL closed in September for a renovation that will add 15 suites and reduce total guest rooms from 193 to 178. All guest rooms, public areas, and meeting rooms are being renewed, and a Reméde spa will be added. The 80-year-old hotel will reopen in July.

Special Venues

• The new 319-room WESTIN ALEXANDRIA is scheduled to open October 1 with 18,000 square feet of meeting space. The Westin will include 79 condominiums and restaurant and retail space next to the new 2.5 million-square-foot U.S. Patent and Trademark Office headquarters.

• Work is under way at the former Holiday Inn Select to transform it into HOTEL MONACO, ALEXANDRIA. The hotel will be managed by Kimpton and have 8,000 square feet of meeting space. It is open during renovation, which is expected to be completed by fall.

• The WESTIN ARLINGTON GATEWAY opened in February 2006. The $60 million, 336-room hotel features three concierge floors with a private lounge; 10,000 square feet of meeting and function space; and wireless Internet access.

• HOTEL PALOMAR, ARLINGTON will be a 29-story hotel/condo tower with 154 rooms and 10,500 square feet of meeting space. Opening, originally planned for 2007, has been extended to 2008.

• GREAT WOLF LODGE, Williamsburg, with 301 family-size suites, is known for its 67,000-square-foot indoor entertainment area, including waterpark and arcade, but it also offers 5,870 square feet of meeting space in three rooms. The lodge also has an Aveda Spa.

• The WESTFIELDS MARRIOTT, just outside the District in CHANTILLY, is offering special advantages for meeting planners and event managers who commit to multi-year contracts for meeting space. These include a set price for one to three years, food and beverage prices locked in for one to three years, and an attrition percentage (5 percent to 10 percent).

• Fredricksburg's CELEBRATE VIRGINIA conference campus announced in August that a 139-room HYATT PLACE would join the 148-room HILTON GARDEN INN, which opened in 2005. A 124-room HOMEWOOD SUITES is expected to open in early summer 2007. A 122-room HAMPTON INN & SUITES is slated to open late in 2007, for a total of 533 new rooms. The Celebrate Virginia hotels are adjacent to the FREDERICKSBURG EXPO CENTER, a 116,000-square-foot facility that opened in January 2006 and is already planning a 15,000-square-foot expansion in the next three years.