JBG Smith Buys Shuttered Crystal City Hotel, Signals Major Multifamily Replacement

The developer behind Amazon HQ2 and several other projects in the National Landing area has acquired a recently shuttered hotel with plans to redevelop it. 

JBG Smith announced Monday it acquired the site of the Americana Hotel at 1400 Richmond Highway for an undisclosed price. The sale hasn't yet appeared in property records.

The 102-room hotel closed earlier this month, in part due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, ARLnow reported. It had been open since 1963, making it one of the oldest hotels in the Crystal City neighborhood. 

JBG Smith hasn't unveiled its exact plans for the property, but it said the 1.4-acre site has the potential to accommodate a multifamily development of more than 500K SF.

The project would be the latest in a series of multifamily developments for JBG Smith in National Landing, the area around Amazon HQ2 and the new Virginia Tech campus, another project on which the developer is a partner. 

Arlington County in March approved JBG Smith's plans to build 811 units across two high-rise towers at 1900 Crystal Drive. JBG Smith also filed plans last year to add nearly 1,000 units to its RiverHouse community in Pentagon City, and it has planned five multifamily redevelopments totaling over 2M SF. 

"As the largest property owner and most active developer in National Landing, we have long viewed the Americana site as one of the best opportunities for development in the Capital region,” JBG Smith Executive Vice President Ed Chaglassian said in a release. "The potential for this development has only grown with the arrival of Amazon’s headquarters and the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus.”