Earlier this week, a judge in Washington D.C. dismissed a lawsuit threatening the $537-million hotel project across the street from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and the city could break ground as early as next month, according to a Washington Post story. More legal challenges could come, from the Wardman Investor alleging favoritism, or from just about anywhere else. The architects handling the 14-story Marriott Marquis project are from firm Cooper Carry, the same company that designed the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square and Lancaster County Convention Center in Pennsylvania. I spoke to Bob Neal for that story, the same guy involved in this project, and recall him saying these legal challenges and lengthy delays are the norm anytime public money is involved. Pope Bullock, the other Cooper Carry architect who partnered with Neal on the Lancaster project and this one as well, told me last year that this DC project "is the most complex construction you can imagine."
it's a long way from being done, but this massive project is worth keeping an eye on, from both the development and design sides of the business, to the legal side.