Situated in Foggy Bottom along the Potomac River, just a stone's throw from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the 39-year-old Watergate Hotel boasts such desirable features as 10,000 sf of flex meeting space, 5,000 sf of exhibit space, a nearly 6,400-sf ballroom, a fitness center and the celebrated restaurant Aquarelle. But under Monument's ownership, the hotel--which is part of the same complex of the office building that was the scene of the 1972 burglary that ultimately led to President Richard M. Nixon's resignation--will be a hotel no longer. Monument will redevelop the famous lodging facility into an upscale 133-unit co-op property, and rename it Belles Rives at the Watergate. The $3-million endeavor is scheduled to reach completion by 2006.

"The economics of a first-class hotel operation in this location is economically unfeasible," Monument principal Jeff Neal tells GlobeSt.com. "Converting it to residential occupancy, we expect and hope, is a profitable reuse of the property. We think the neighborhood will benefit from the work we're going to do."