Qualla: Washington Marriott Marquis

Washington Marriott Marquis: Introduction

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Minette Lontsie, CC BY-SA 4.0. When the Walter E. Washington Convention Center opened in 2003 at a cost of 850 million dollars, it had a problem. The new 2.3 million-square-foot facility could host conventions of up to 42,000 people. The nearest large hotel was nearly two miles away. Without a headquarters hotel - the term of art for the big hotel attached to or adjacent to a convention center where most attendees stay - the new building could not bid for the conferences that justified its construction. Eleven years passed between the convention center's opening and the day Marriott Marquis Washington finally opened across 9th Street NW from it, connected by an underground concourse. The hotel's construction took fifteen years of political fights, three D.C. mayors, two competing site proposals, an eminent domain action, the largest TIF bond issue in city history, and approximately 520 million dollars in public financing. The hotel opened on May 1, 2014.

Image: Minette Lontsie | CC BY-SA 4.0

Washington Marriott Marquis: The Convention Center Problem

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit APK like a lollipop, CC BY-SA 3.0. Washington's first convention center opened in 1982 at 9th and H Streets NW. By 1990 the 285,000-square-foot facility was already too small to compete for the major conventions then expanding nationally as cities like Las Vegas, Orlando, and Chicago built ever larger facilities. ...

Image: APK like a lollipop | CC BY-SA 3.0

Washington Marriott Marquis: Three Mayors and Two Sites

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit APK, CC BY 4.0. Mayor Anthony Williams (1999-2007) made the headquarters hotel one of his priorities. In April 2001 his office issued the original request for proposals - 1,100 rooms, 200 million dollars, near the old convention center site. Four developers responded. The September 11, 2001 atta...

Image: APK | CC BY 4.0

Washington Marriott Marquis: The Gould Land Swap

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tim1965, CC BY-SA 3.0. Kingdon Gould III, the Marriott partnership's local landowner, owned the southeast corner of 9th Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW - the heart of the hotel parcel. By 2005 it had become clear that the financing package would not work with multiple property owners on the site. Th...

Image: Tim1965 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Washington Marriott Marquis: The 520 Million Dollar Public Subsidy

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0. The financing package that finally made the hotel possible required Washington taxpayers to absorb most of the construction risk. The Washington Convention and Sports Authority - a quasi-public corporation - sold approximately 187 million dollars in tax-exempt bonds backed by the...

Image: Farragutful | CC BY-SA 4.0

Washington Marriott Marquis: What Opened

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Marriott Marquis finally opened on May 1, 2014, with 1,175 rooms (including 49 suites) across 14 above-ground stories and 4 below-ground levels. The hotel's design by Cooper Carry includes a 100,000-square-foot meeting room complex with a 30,000-square-foot Marquis Ballroom o...

Image: Farragutful | CC BY-SA 4.0