Two Old Town Alexandria Office Conversion Projects Move Forward

Alexandria has been a regional leader in the trend of converting obsolete office buildings to other uses, and two new conversion projects in the heart of Old Town moved forward Tuesday evening. 

At its monthly meeting, The Alexandria Planning Commission recommended approval of GME Investments' plan to convert a three-story office building at 115 South Union St. into a hotel with a ground-floor restaurant. It also recommended approval of Urban Alfandre's plan to convert a six-story office building at 312-316 South Washington St. to a multifamily building. 

GME's building sits in one of the busiest areas of Old Town, just one block south of King Street and two blocks from the waterfront. 

The investor acquired the 30-year-old building for $8.4M in 2014 with plans to convert it to condos, but later changed course and proposed a hotel instead. Its current plan calls for renovating the building into a 64-room hotel with a 135-seat restaurant, 20 of them in an outdoor patio. The building also has a two-level garage with 32 spaces reserved for hotel guests and 65 available to the public. 

Alexandria Economic Development Partnership CEO Stephanie Landrum said she encouraged GME to pursue the hotel use. Carr Properties' 120-room Hotel Indigo opened last month two blocks south of GME's site, but Landrum said demand projections show the city can sustain more rooms. She believes GME's hotel will bridge the gap between Hotel Indigo and King Street. 

"It will be a strong addition to the Union Street corridor," Landrum said. "Between [Hotel Indigo] and King Street are commercial properties and this building is right in the middle. Having another hotel with a restaurant and public parking will fit right in at the core of Old Town." 

The hotel project was hotly contested by neighboring residents before ultimately being passed unanimously by the commission. The main issue centered around the outdoor restaurant patio. The proposed seating area faces the residential buildings to the south rather than the commercial core to the north. Several residents of Prince Street, whose backyards abut the alley shared by the restaurant patio, spoke in opposition to the project. 

"This is a completely inappropriate use of outdoor space that will have a major impact on those of us that live along [the] alley," neighborhood resident David Danner said at the hearing.  

To help alleviate those concerns, the planning commission included conditions that a screen be installed to reduce the visibility and the patio be limited to 20 patrons to keep it from getting too loud. The commission also agreed to review the restaurant six months after it opens to ensure there are no problems with residents. The conditions were not enough to satisfy many of the neighbors, but the commissioners felt they were enough to approve the project.  

"This is a severely underperforming property that will only continue to deteriorate more as more tenants move out," Commissioner Mindy Lyle said. "A hotel with a restaurant is a very good use for this property. It will work itself into the character of Old Town."

While tensions flared around the office-to-hotel conversion, the office-to-residential project passed without a kerfuffle. The proposal had no opposition and the planning commission approved it unanimously with no discussion. 

That project, at 312-316 South Washington St., would convert a six-story office building into 10 multifamily units and 2K SF of ground-floor retail. 

Stephen Alfandre, the former D.C. head of acquisitions and development for Toll Brothers City Living who started his own firm, Urban Alfandre, in 2015, is the developer behind the conversion.

Built in 1956, the 68-foot-tall building is 50% vacant. Alfandre's plan would convert it into a residential building split evenly between two- and three-bedroom units. The ground floor would include a residential lobby and two storefront spaces.

The renovation would also add a rooftop terrace and an outdoor green area on an adjacent parcel where a parking lot currently sits.

The building is less than a mile from the King Street Metro station and seven blocks from the waterfront. Landrum said she supported this conversion because that area is no longer prime for office use with the demands of today's tenants. 

"Maybe five years ago, you had to be close to transit or you had to be in a trophy building or you had to have a bunch of amenities, but today you have to have all three," Landrum said. "For buildings that don’t fall into that category and have chronic vacancy, conversion to another use is something we're recommending."