Public access at a forthcoming Rosslyn hotel is moving up in the world.
Instead of taking place on the eighth floor of the new Hilton hotel at 1900 N. Fort Myer Drive, county-facilitated events will now happen on the building’s 36th floor, following a unanimous Arlington County Board vote on Saturday.
“The 36th floor hotel ballroom… is a more dynamic meeting space with the ability to host larger community and governmental events in a setting with dramatic views of the region not afforded by the eighth floor space,” a county report says.
In exchange for the shift, the developer, Dittmar Company, will pay a net of $500,000 less in off-site monetary contributions, established as community benefits as part of the development approval.
The amount paid for transportation improvements will decrease from $4.5 million to $3.5 million, while contributions to support Rosslyn Gateway Park will increase from $5 million to $5.5 million.
The increased Gateway Park funds will help finance a planned overhaul of the park. The drop in transportation funding, meanwhile, “will not have a detrimental impact such as preventing planned capital improvements in Rosslyn from proceeding,” the report says.
Dittmar had originally agreed to host community and government functions on the building’s eighth floor up to four times per year as part of the community benefits package. But the 36th floor caught county staff members’ eye during a tour of the building.
“Though sufficiently sized to host large meetings, the eighth-floor space has views blocked by existing buildings and projects that will be constructed on adjacent properties in the future,” the report says. “However, the 36th floor hotel ballroom is situated at a vertical height with unobstructed views of the region to the north, east and west.
“After recognizing the great opportunity for this space, staff began discussions with the developer about reconfiguring certain components of the community benefits package.”
While the eighth-floor agreement would have lasted for the life of the building, the new agreement is only for the next 10 years.
“During this period, staff will continue to explore other options for providing similar or enhanced levels of public access in new site plan projects, which are expected to commence their public review in the near future,” the report says.
The Hilton Arlington, slated to open in 2025, is one of two components of The Key development project at 1900 N. Fort Myer Drive. Its 514-unit residential counterpart, Rosslyn Towers, opened in April.
The project, approved in 2019, replaced a 50-year-old Holiday Inn that was demolished in 2020 to make way for new construction.
County Board members did not comment on the site plan amendment on Saturday, passing it as a consent agenda item.
