From One House to Eight Units on Rhode Island Avenue →

By Nena Perry-Brown

Some gentle density is on the boards a little over a block from Rhode Island Avenue Metro station.

Teabow Residential has filed a zoning application with DC to replace the detached single-family house at 1005 Rhode Island Avenue NE (map) with an eight-family building. The resulting three-story development would also include habitable cellar and penthouse levels; one of the units will be Inclusionary Zoning.

Besides the two bi-level penthouse three-bedroom units, all of the units will have two bedrooms and two baths. There will also be four surface parking spaces and three bicycle spaces.

ADG+G Architecture is the designer.

The development requires a special exception to exceed the permitted density on the site. A zoning hearing is scheduled for November.

An Arlington hotel could soon become an apartment building instead

By Alex Koma for Washington Business Journal

The owner of an Arlington hotel is now hoping to flip the building into residential space instead. 

The Arlington Court Suites Hotel in Courthouse could soon become a 180-unit apartment building dubbed “Park Arlington at Courthouse,” according to plans filed with the county this week.

The Silver Spring-based Sunburst Hospitality Corp. is hoping to fully renovate the nine-story building, located at 1200 N. Courthouse Road, then convert the 187 hotel rooms currently housed in the structure into apartments. Most will be one-bedroom units, though some will be two-bedroom apartments, the plans show. 

The building has been a hotel for most of its lifespan, dating back to its construction in 1963, county records show. It was previously a Quality Inn before Sunburst acquired the 2.3-acre property in 2006.

But Martin Walsh, a land-use attorney with Walsh Colucci Lubeley & Walsh PC representing Sunburst, wrote in a memo to county officials that the building’s owners now believe residential would be a better fit.

“The applicant views the property location and building as an opportunity to provide much-needed housing for younger residents with a preference for relatively smaller units,” Walsh wrote. “The conversion of an existing hotel building in the Courthouse area of Arlington will allow the applicant to meet this need without the demands of substantial new construction.”

Walsh also cited the building’s close proximity to the Court House Metro station in making this move, reasoning that it will help the owner cut down on parking needs. Sunburst plans to add 18 parking spaces to the building’s existing 153-space lot.

Additionally, the owner plans to maintain the hotel’s existing fitness center and lounge during the changeover. 

Sunburst has brought on Alexandria’s Akseizer Design Group and Tysons-based Vika Virginia as architects on the project.

However, it’s likely a long way off from completion. Sunburst submitted these plans as part of Arlington’s 4.1 site plan process, reserved for the county’s most complex projects.

The county’s Site Plan Review Committee will get the first crack at reviewing and requesting adjustments for the plans, eventually sending it on to the Planning Commission and County Board for additional scrutiny.