Arlington Condemns Key Bridge Marriott, Clears Out Homeless People

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington County officials on Friday condemned the former Key Bridge Marriott hotel in Rosslyn, evicting unhoused people who had been staying at the abandoned hotel.

Dozens of police officers, fire department personnel and human services employees were at the 12-story hotel on Friday to remove the people living there and offer them help or temporary shelter. Officials emphasized that none of the people removed from the former hotel were arrested or charged with any crime.

Aaron Miller, Arlington's deputy county manager for public safety and information technology, said the property had been deemed unfit and unsafe for habitation. The county's chief building official then asked public safety agencies for assistance in securing the former hotel property.

About 17 people who had been staying in the vacant hotel took the county up on its offer for alternative temporary shelter.

"We have not been looking to criminalize anyone for seeking shelter," Miller said at a news conference Friday afternoon outside the hotel. "Our number one priority is their safety, their health and their well-being."

The county was expected to finish clearing people from the building by early Friday evening, and then would remain at the site in the coming days to secure the building.

Prior to Friday's mobilization of county officials, Arlington's police and fire department had received several calls for service, including a call for medical attention, at the vacant hotel over the past few months.

Since Jan. 20, the Arlington County Police Department had received about 12 calls for service at the hotel, according to records provided by the police department. Four of the calls to police were reports of a suspicious person or suspicious circumstance, while other calls were for a burglary, trespassing and a hit-and-run outside the hotel.

According to Miller, members of the police and fire departments reached out to the fire marshal and code enforcement office to ask them to conduct an inspection of the property.

The inspectors found that the fire alarm system was not working and that there was no water service to the abandoned hotel. They also found electrical issues inside the building, he said.

The Key Bridge Marriott, at 1401 Langston Blvd., was purchased in 2018 by KBLH LLC, a subsidiary of the owner Woodridge Capital Partners, and it ceased operating as a hotel in July 2021. More than a year earlier, the Arlington County Board approved a site plan project from KBLH to partially demolish and renovate the existing hotel and construct two new residential buildings.

But Arlington County said Friday the current property owner has not proceeded with the residential building project.

The Key Bridge Marriott, with its beautiful views of Washington, D.C., from the top floor, opened in 1959. It was for many years the oldest continually operated property of Marriott Worldwide before it was sold to KBLH LLC.

Sometime after it closed as a hotel in May 2021, homeless people started using the building as a place to live. Almost all the doors around the building had been broken open, officials said.

“Due to the risk posed to the community’s safety and health, the county is condemning the building,” Arlington County said in a news release.

The county said it “has a duty to ensure everyone’s health and safety, including any individuals who have sought shelter inside the building, first responders who may need to respond to calls for public safety assistance, and the community at large.”

Along with offering people who were staying inside the former hotel with temporary shelter, Arlington connected several with the county's behavioral health and substance abuse services, as well as provided transportation assistance. The county also had a doctor on site in case anyone who had been staying inside the hotel needed medical attention.

Under Virginia's fire code and building code, the property owner will be required to submit a plan to Arlington's chief building official that outlines how the public safety and health hazards in the building will be addressed, Miller said.

According to the Virginia state building code and fire code, Arlington County should be able to recoup the costs of its actions to secure the building from the property owner, according to Miller.

"We're going to work with not only the treasurer but, if necessary, through the county attorney to place a lien on the property to ensure that we are made whole from this action," he explained.