Looks like the National Harbor will have a new look come 2022.
One of Maryland's most famous landscapes is set to change in the future. A new, 100-room hotel will be replacing a currently vacant office building located in Oxon Hill after the Prince George's County Planning Board approved of the project this past Thursday.
"We were hoping to start the work and finish by 2022 but with pandemic and all, it has impacted the hotel industry the most," said Kunal Dave, the President of Laxmi Hotels Group LLC. "After Covid, we are not sure when it will be, but once the market opens up we will get stuff rolling."
His company, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, is behind the project. With a total of 70 properties over 11 states, they ended up acquiring the property two years ago, paying around $4 million. Because the market at the time is fluctuating, Kunal believes the hotel can provide more basic, lower-cost features, such as having a coffee shop or pool.
The new hotel would be located in the Oxon Hill Neighborhood Center. It's expected to cost around $15 million. The vacant building it is set to replace is five stories tall and at least 54,500 square feet.
Courtesy of Agoda
Laxmi Hotels Group LLC is working with the company's land-use attorney, Traci Scudder, to put a plan into motion, hoping to have several brands together to complete the project. It's their intention to receive the building permit to move forward, which may last six months or longer. Unfortunately, the pandemic has not helped this stage along with at all.
Scudder commented on the situation, saying, "This particular type of hotel I think it will do very well at this location because of its proximity to the National Harbor. Sometimes people that visit the National Harbor, sometimes people are looking to go a little further out or maybe looking for a different price point."
Hopefully, her words hold true and residents in the D.C. area will see this new change sooner rather than later.
Are you excited about these new changes? Let us know in the comments!