Latham Hotel Re-do: Small Apartments? Added Retail?

“Say farewell to Georgetown’s Latham Hotel,” reported the Washington Business Journal last week. “Preparations are underway to convert the property at 30th and M streets NW to residential. Small residential. Micro small.”

The Latham Hotel at 3000 M St., NW, closed in 2012, reportedly due to water damage. At the same time, Michel Richard’s Citronelle restaurant was shuttered — and it will not re-open in that location, if it ever does re-open in Georgetown. The casual eatery, La Madeleine, in front of the hotel also was closed and is gone.

“But behind the scenes, plans for a transformation are underway,” according to the Journal. “Matthew Le Grant, D.C.’s zoning administrator, recently sent a letter to the Latham’s land use attorney that sums up the blueprint. ‘You are proposing to convert the existing hotel to residential and retail use and eliminate the existing vehicular drop-off driveway, and excavate down two floors to bring daylight to the lower levels,’ Le Grant wrote Sept. 26 to David Avitabile of Goulston & Storrs PC.”

The letter also detailed that the renovated Latham would have more 12,000 square feet of retail, add height to part of the third floor and broaden the pool patio. According to the Journal, “Le Grant does not say how many units the residential Latham would have, though a site plan that accompanies the letter suggests there will be roughly 122, most in the 250- to 400-square-foot range. The Latham Hotel had 133 rooms.”