NoMa: More Amenities Arrive

High-end residential and GSA-anchored offices have led NoMa's boom. But the neighborhood's third hotel delivered this summer, and yesterday, in the lobby of the Hyatt Place on New York Avenue, we snapped the hotel's design leads, Cooper Carry's Rob Uhrin and Andrea Schaub, with the property's GM, Stacy Smith. Features include modern design elements in the rooms, free Wi-Fi throughout, and 24/7 food and beverage service in the lobby. Rob and Andrea say owner JBG envisioned the hotel as a gateway property—both to the NoMa neighborhood and to the firm's ongoing Capitol Point development, of which the Hyatt Place is the first project to deliver.

The property's footprint is small—approximately 10k SF, Rob and Andrea tell us, so the Cooper Carry team was tasked with maximizing "every inch we could get" while protecting elements of the brand's select-service nature. Aside from that edge jutting out the top of the 15-story property, as well as a canopy greeting visitors on the ground floor, the designers say they had freedom in drawing up the exterior, which Rob tells us is intended to look "modern, but eye-catching." And while it's the first finished portion of JBG's Capitol Point—slated to include additional new office, residential, and retail—the design of the Hyatt Place is aimed to stand alone and "not set the design flavor" for the rest of the development.

From one of the 15th floor rooms, we snapped this view of the neighborhood, which could look a bit different in the years to come. (Although we hope not—we finally got a good parking spot in that lot.) That office building (51 N Street NE) on the left (along with the warehouse, in the foreground) will be redeveloped.

Many of the rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows, and some even have glass on both sides. Stacy says there's also an outdoor pool and 24-hour fitness center. A 1,600 SF of meeting space was moved to the ground floor where parking was scheduled to be built, freeing JBG for an additional eight rooms. There's also an array of breakfast, lunch, and dinner quick-service food options in the lobby, handled by the same staff that checks you in, which Stacy says is part of the Hyatt Place brand's multi-tasking theme for both travelers and employees.

The opening of the Hyatt Place is the second big hotel story in NoMa this year: earlier this summer, Magna Hospitality Group purchased the Courtyard by Marriott on 2nd Street NE from OTO Development, which we told you about in June.