New Residential Project
By Silver Springer • Sep 21st, 2006 • Category: Uncategorized
Silver Spring Urban District Advisory Committee
Thursday, September 21, 2006
3:30 P.M.
Discovery Communications, Inc.
One Discovery Place
4:00 p.m. 949 – 957 Bonifant Street Allen Meyer
Residential Project
If anybody will be attending this meeting or has info on this project please e-mail me at silverspringscene@yahoo.com
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Did you see that the old Jemal building on Colesville has a zoning sign out front that says it’s being converted into a hotel?
Yup, it’s going to be a Hampton Inn. Can we get something a bit classier in downtown? Perhaps a 4 to 5 star hotel?
Hampton Inn and Hilton are part of the same chain. I wonder why they’d put them almost across the street from one another.
It’d be nice if the Days Inn and Ramada down on Georgia were spruced up a wee bit. I think they’re trying to improve the Days Inn. I went to the Subway that serves as the restaurant in the Days Inn on a Saturday morning just as they opened up (picking up a sandwich to take out to a park). The only folks in the parking lot were me and a group of boisterous “working girls” who were leaving the hotel and discussing their business the night before. I still go to the Subway now and again, but try to do so on weekdays and at times when other customers are already there.
Why more hotels? There’s not enough corporate and business activity in downtown Silver Spring to justify zoning for more hotels.
I don’t get it.
Terry said…
Hampton Inn and Hilton are part of the same chain. I wonder why they’d put them almost across the street from one another.
It’d be nice if the Days Inn and Ramada down on Georgia were spruced up a wee bit. I think they’re trying to improve the Days Inn. I went to the Subway that serves as the restaurant in the Days Inn on a Saturday morning just as they opened up (picking up a sandwich to take out to a park). The only folks in the parking lot were me and a group of boisterous “working girls” who were leaving the hotel and discussing their business the night before. I still go to the Subway now and again, but try to do so on weekdays and at times when other customers are already there.
RE: According to the planning site it just might be a Hilton as well.
http://www.mc-mncppc.org/silverspring/private_projects/colesville_hilton.shtm
I don’t get it, another office building lost and for what a Hampton Inn. Where are all the jobs and business going to go? Not worth it IMO.
As for the Subway, I’m amazed at how it even survives tucked away back there! It may an indication that 13th street can support more retail despite what the developer of the Galaxy proclaimed.
The current Hilton is well run, but the rooms are small and not particularly well lit. I wonder if the corporation went for the office building so that they can have essentially empty floors to rework in more modern or spacious style rooms. It’d be ironic if the Hampton Inn had more comfortable rooms than it’s sister Hilton across the street.
Have you all heard any plans to reword the facade of the building along Colesville with the American Apparel store and the liquor store? That stretch of the block could use a bit of a face lift. The stonework looks particularly grimy.
Even though Hilton owns both chains, it makes perfect sense to have a Hampton Inn and Hilton Hotel directly across from each other because they are two different products at two different price points.
It’s the same as GM putting a Cadillac dealership next to the Chevrolet dealership…in most cases it’s two different groups of customers.
I believe it is a very smart move for Hilton to put a Hampton Inn there since there is no similar hotel product within easy walking distance to SSBD core.
Woodsider,
I would say that the Courtyard by Marriott brand is a direct competitor to Hampton Inn, and there is one of those right downtown.
Sligo,
You obviously haven’t been in the Marriot Courtyard. It has large rooms, a great lounge and bar. All it lacks is good meeting space.
Regarding Marriott Courtyard being direct competitor to Hampton Inn: My experience is that the typical Marriott Courtyard is a notch or two above the typical Hampton Inn. It wouldn’t be surprising if Hilton bumped up this Hampton Inn to be a direct competitor, though.
The Montgomery County Web site referencing the project said that it might be a Homewood Suites so there is an all new product not currently in the SS market.
I’d agree with Woodsider that the Courtyard Marriott is a notch above the Hampton, but the Hampton would fill the “visiting family, looking for value” niche currently served primarily by the Holiday Inn. My family would love a nicer, but less expensive alternative in the area for the times they come up to visit us.
As Woodsider also mentioned, if the property turns out to be a Homewood Suites, that would also be a new product not served in the local area. IMO, either would be a good addition to the area.
Terry,
Believe it or not, this entire stretch of storefronts (including the long portion on Fenton) was completely renovated/restored in the past year. IMO they did a pretty good job giving it an art deco flavor with the horizontal accent bars, uniform signage, etc.
As each new (more upscale)tenant arrives, the strip as a whole looks better. This is especially true now that American Apparel has replaced the carpet store that always looked tacky with its endless ‘prices slashed’ window banners.
Does anyone know who leased the retail space at Fenton & Colesville next to the JC Penney building? The cheap clothing store has signs in every window saying they have to move because they lost their lease.
choateward said…
I’d agree with Woodsider that the Courtyard Marriott is a notch above the Hampton, but the Hampton would fill the “visiting family, looking for value” niche currently served primarily by the Holiday Inn. My family would love a nicer, but less expensive alternative in the area for the times they come up to visit us.
As Woodsider also mentioned, if the property turns out to be a Homewood Suites, that would also be a new product not served in the local area. IMO, either would be a good addition to the area.
RE: Don’t we already have enough of that though?
Word on the street is that Discovery will not house their guests in the Courtyard anymore because it is simply not good enough.
I think Silver Spring can handle at least one 4 to 5 star hotel. I often wondered why Marriot with their world headquarters in Bethesda has not opened up a Ritz in even Bethesda but took a leap of faith in Tyson’s Corner of all places. Not a very good corporate neighbor when you don’t even have faith in the state your headquarters is in.
I was by the section of Colesville just an hour ago. The renovation of DTSS really hasn’t made it up that far yet. I park in the garage there on Colesville and walk to Nice Nails. Both sides of the street still need work. As an aside, I’m glad to hear that the Birchmere is taking over the old department store, but PLEASE don’t let them drive out the Italian deli/restaurant and Nice Nails. I patronize them both and have for years.
About the Courtyard by Marriott, we had a meeting there earlier this summer. There are two small-ish conference rooms off the lobby (by the elevator and restrooms). The conference rooms are nice and the staff of the hotel was great. You couldn’t have a sizeable meeting there, though. The Hilton does have big conference/meeting rooms, up to ballroom size.
Don’t we already have enough of that though?
Word on the street is that Discovery will not house their guests in the Courtyard anymore because it is simply not good enough.
Well, I guess it depends on who’s “visiting” family we’re talking about.
I suspect many tourists still associate the Courtyard Marriott and Hilton Hotel brands with mid-range business travel, and then use Hampton Inns (or similar) for their low-cost family travel. I’ll admit I was surprised to discover the SS Hilton is a better bargain than the closest Hampton Inn. Maybe (as noted earlier), there’s a long-range plan that includes an upgrade of the Hilton property.
I’m disappointed about your news about Discovery and the Courtyard. I can understand the higher-profile guests expecting five stars, but it seems like a reasonably nice option for business travel. Although I’m not sure the core is ready for one now, I won’t debate you on the future need for luxury hotel brands in SS.
Finally, I have to agree with Terry about the need for continued work on the block between Fenton and Spring. Ida Rubin just moved out this week, so there’s not really that much between American Apparel (a nice upgrade from the always going out of business carpet store) and the Hilton. Its my hope that this block, City Place, and the Birchmere/Lee block will add some improved retail over the next few years.
Why more hotels? There’s not enough corporate and business activity in downtown Silver Spring to justify zoning for more hotels.
I don’t get it.
RE: Seems like you don’t want more people who visit DC/Arlington to venture into Silver Spring due to certain periods of the year that the Hotels down in DC/Arlington are booked up.
Silver Springer said…
I don’t get it, another office building lost and for what a Hampton Inn. Where are all the jobs and business going to go? Not worth it IMO.
RE: Ummm correct me if I’m wrong, but did youo not say that there is a proposed 8 story Office Building that will be built on top of City Place????????????????
RE: all the posters who say “why another hotel? Don’t we have enough already?”
The answer is simply that experienced development companies like Hilton perform extensive market viability studies before deciding to invest tens of millions of dollars on a new facility. Usually they get it right, sometimes not…especially if all the other hotel chains are doing the same thing at the same time. At that point, the market gets flooded, room prices fall and development of hotels stops until the market is favorable for development (much like what appears to be happening with the SS condo market).
This is the same cycle repeated over and over again since humans learned they could get someone else to pay for their real estate by charging others a fee to user it (office, hotel, retail, apartment).
Anonymous 9/24/2006 01:23AM said …
Ummm correct me if I’m wrong, but did youo not say that there is a proposed 8 story Office Building that will be built on top of City Place?
RE: So every time we get a new office building we should loose one? What is the logic behind that and how will Silver Spring remain a competitive destination?
I encourage everyone to look outside their neighborhood and study the region as a whole.
Silver Spring only has about 7.2 million square feet of office space. Compare that to Rosslyn that has over 8 million square feet but guess what…Silver Spring is more than 4 times the geographical size of Rosslyn. They are allowed to build much taller in Rosslyn so they get more out their land and now it is considered the Skyline of D.C. Silver Spring should really have around 15 million square feet of office considering its size.
Woodsider said…
“
Terry,
…As each new (more upscale)tenant arrives, the strip as a whole looks better. This is especially true now that American Apparel has replaced the carpet store that always looked tacky with its endless ‘prices slashed’ window banners.
“
Shouldn’t we be saving ALL independent businesses?
Terry said: Shouldn’t we be saving ALL independent businesses?
Absolutely not. While the county (i.e our taxes) should provide assistance and guidance to those business that have to re-locate, market conditions will eventually dictate who comes and who goes. For example, downtown Silver Spring has an oversupply of low-end wig shops, nail salons and cheap clothing stores. It is not necessary for us to “save” all of them in order to have a representation of retail or services across the economic spectrum.