AC Hotel by Marriott Could Arrive in Downtown Bethesda As Soon as 2021

by | Nov 9, 2017

A downtown Bethesda developer has announced plans to build a 219-room AC Hotel by Marriott as part of a mixed-use project at the corner of Montgomery and Wisconsin avenues, where a police station now stands.

The hotel will account for about 120,000 square feet of the roughly 500,000-square-foot redevelopment, StonebridgeCarras reported Thursday. The building will have another 390,000 square feet of office space, StonebridgeCarras spokesman Kent Marquis said.

The hotel at 7373 Wisconsin Ave. will operate on the first 13 floors of the 22-story building, he added.

Marquis said developers are not concerned that business at the AC Hotel will suffer from its proximity to Marriott’s flagship hotel, which is slated to open several blocks away. The AC Hotel, a European-inspired hotel brand, will offer high-end amenities at lower prices compared to the flagship hotel, Marquis said.

The hotel will be “fully integrated” into the office building, and the lobby, conference facilities and fitness center will serve both the offices and the hotel space, he said.

StonebridgeCarras is working with OTO Development to build the hotel, according to a press release.

A police station and some stores now stand at the project site. StonebridgeCarras is building a replacement station on Rugby Avenue, and authorities will move to the new location by the end of the year, Marquis said.

Construction on the $300 million redevelopment project is scheduled to being early in 2019 and wrap up in the spring of 2021, the release stated.

Marquis on Thursday said he had no news to share about potential office tenants.

The 250-foot-high building with the hotel and trophy office tower will open onto a plaza meant to draw people into the building, the release stated.

“I think one of the most distinguishing features of the project is the plaza,” Marquis said. “There’s nothing in Bethesda like it.”

StonebridgeCarras and OTO Development previously worked together on a 204-room Hilton Garden Inn in Washington, D.C., according to a press release.

Bethany Rodgers can be reached at bethany.rodgers@bethesdamagazine.com.

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Renderings of the plaza outside the mixed-use project at the corner of Wisconsin and Montgomery avenues. Via StonebridgeCarras.

 

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