Partner’s Historic Architecture Solutions division was contracted to provide a suite of technical due diligence and construction project management services in association with the high-profile lease acquisition of this prestigious historic Federal government property. The Old Post Office and Clocktower are recognized on the National Register as a Category II landmark of historic and architectural importance, and they were converted into one of the top luxury hotels.
The professional services for this project included; Property Condition Assessment (structural, façade assessment, roofing, interior finishes, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire alarm and suppression, vertical transportation systems, and ADA); Phase I Environmental ServicesRemove term: Old Post Office Building D.C. Old P Assessment, and Zoning Report. Following this, Partner was appointed to complete detailed specialist investigations of the roofing system over the Presidential Ballroom; and to provide Construction Project Management/Owner’s Representative Services, to manage the de-branding and re-branding works. This included management of the professional project/design team and specialist fabrication/install contractors.
Partner developed a deep understanding of the building and its systems and identified several issues and repairs that needed to be addressed. The initial Property Condition Assessments and further investigations assisted the client in acquisition evaluation and future capital planning. Partner’s expertise in managing historic building construction projects in sensitive and high-profile environments helped the client deliver a successful rebranding project in changeable circumstances while minimizing disturbance to hotel operations.
The Old Post Office (OPO) is comprised of two conjoined buildings upon a 3+ acre parcel in the Federal Triangle of Washington DC, prominently located on Pennsylvania Avenue between the US Capitol and the White House. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is the landlord and property owner.
The OPO, opened in 1899, was designed by prominent federal architect, Willoughby J Edbrooke, and originally housed the U.S. Post Office Department National Headquarters and the city’s post office for Washington, D.C., before serving as a government agency office space for approximately 40 years beginning in 1914.
The OPO is nine stories tall, plus five stories of clocktower with 263 guestrooms and suites, over 415,000 square feet of space plus 87,000 square feet of ballroom and events spaces in the Annex. The historic OPO provides an impressive central atrium, upscale bars and restaurants, events, and meeting rooms, a spa, a gymnasium, commercial tenant spaces, offices, commercial kitchens, storage, mechanical rooms, and a loading dock. There is also a museum/clocktower/observation deck and congress bells, run by the National Park Service, and open to the public for tours. It is the third tallest structure in Washington, D.C., and highly recognizable as a prominent landmark and high-quality example of 19th-century Romanesque Revival architecture that is uncommon in the D.C. area.
Since conversion, the hotel has become one of the most iconic hotels anywhere in the world, receiving multiple five-star designations and number-one ranking luxury awards. CGI now aims to develop a first-of-its-kind collection of consciously minded hotel properties throughout North America and the Caribbean (“Conscious Certified Hotels”), combined with the luxury Waldorf Astoria brand which will be the operator of the hotel.
