From Micro-Hotel to Big Residential – Another Surprise for Chinatown

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

The partnership that brought the micro-hotel format to Washington, D.C., now has another surprise planned for the city’s Chinatown neighborhood.

D.C.-based Monument Realty and its partner Modus Hotels broke ground earlier this year on a $60 million, 230-key hotel at 627 H St., N.W. Now, the two companies are shifting to residential. According to the Washington Business Journal, they plan to build an 11-story, 133-unit residential project just a tenth of a mile away from the micro-hotel.

The 0.6-acre site is located in the heart of Chinatown. It includes 13 buildings, eight of which are seen as “contributing” to the Downtown Historic District. The partnership intends to incorporate seven of the eight properties in the project and turn them into townhomes. At almost 153,000 square feet, the residential development will also feature 14,223 square feet of ground-level retail, 2,333 square feet for the use of the community as an “Asian Living Arts Center,” and three levels of below-grade parking with space for 100 cars.

At the moment, the project is still in its early stages. The developers did not reveal a timeline for construction or an estimated cost.