Hotel John Marshall renovation work starting, developers say

[Blue_Tires]

The renovation of the historic Hotel John Marshall in downtown Richmond is getting under way at last, the project's developers said yesterday.

Work is scheduled to start today on restoring the 16-story hotel and transforming it into a mixed-used residential and commercial building with 238 rental apartments and 20,000 square feet of street-level retail space, said executives with Dominion Realty Partners and Virginia Atlantic Development, the two firms that are partnering on the project.

"It has been a long process. We have been working on this for three years," said Alex B. "Andy" Andrews IV, president and CEO of Dominion Realty Partners, whose downtown developments include Vistas on the James and Riverside on the James.

"We are excited about being able to commence this project, especially as much as it means for downtown Richmond," Andrews said.

The landmark hotel at 101 N. Fifth St., named for the longest-serving chief justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, opened in 1929 and became a prominent stage for the Richmond social and political scene.

The John Marshall closed in 1988. It partially reopened in 1999 but closed again in 2004. Since then, several plans to renovate the building were announced but never materialized.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/business/local/article/MARS22_20100421-223008/339172/