Ritz to return to D.C. with West End hotel
Douglas Fruehling Staff Reporter
The nation's capital will once again be home to one of the world's swankiest hotels.

Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. plans to build a 300-room hotel at 2200 M St. NW across from Blackie's House of Beef in downtown D.C. District-based EastBanc Inc. and Millennium Partners of New York are developing the West End project. The $225 million project also will feature residences and a health club.

Washington Business Journal first reported negotiations between the hotel and the developer in its Feb. 6-12 issue.

Ritz-Carlton, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bethesda-based Marriott International Corp., has been trying to re-establish a presence in the District since last year. That's when the company pulled its name from a 206-room hotel on Massachusetts Avenue NW in a dispute with the owner, a Saudi sheik.

Ritz-Carlton operates a 399-room hotel in Tysons Corner and a 345-room hotel in Pentagon City. It plans to move its headquarters to Tysons Corner from Atlanta, where it employs 70 people.

In addition to the Ritz, the M Street project will contain 200 condominiums, 70,000 square feet of retail space and a 90,000-square-foot Sport Club operated by a Los Angeles company.

EastBanc and Millennium bought 1.4 acres last year and began excavation for the residential component of the project at that time. The partners then put a contract on an adjacent parcel, giving them a total of 2.4 acres. They plan a U-shaped complex designed by Shalom Baranes of Washington and Gary Handel of New York. Completion date is fall of 2000.

The area around the project already is home to five hotels, including three high-end ones: the 416-room ANA, the 263-room Westin and the 224-room Park Hyatt.

Copyright 1998 American City Business Journals Inc.