Luxury Hotel Beats Out Library in DC

Mon, 05/12/2008 - 16:22 — birdie

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced today that the city will not build a new downtown library on the site of the old convention center and instead has reached an agreement with a developer to construct a four-star, 400-room hotel on the prime downtown parcel.

Fenty's predecessor, Anthony A. Williams, proposed a grand new library at the convention center site during his tenure, saying a state-of-the-art facility would draw crowds to the heart of downtown and boost civic and cultural pride.

But community reaction was divided, with some advocates reluctant to abandon the existing central library, designed by the noted German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe but poorly maintained by the city over the past 36 years. Story from the Washington Post.