Nearly six years after announcing plans to move its global headquarters, Marriott International has opened its new 21-story corporate office in downtown Bethesda, Maryland.
The world's largest hotelier on Monday said it completed its phased move-in at 7750 Wisconsin Ave. in the Washington, D.C., suburb from which Marriott will support more than 8,100 hotels in 139 countries and territories. Totaling 785,000 square feet, the property represents the largest office building in the city of Bethesda, according to CoStar data, and is set to house more than 3,500 Marriott employees.
Designed by Gensler, the soaring build-to-suit tower offers amenities that were incorporated as Marriott looks to attract and retain talent. They include a 7,500-square-foot health and fitness center; a wellness suite with a lactation space, meditation rooms, massage chairs and treadmill desks; and a nearly 11,000-square-foot childcare center, features that contributed to the property earning a Fitwel 3-star rating. That's the highest rating achievable from Fitwel, a global system that provides certificates based on a property's focus on the health and well-being of tenants.
The property also incorporates Marriott's Design Lab, the company's 8,400-square-foot global research and design hub where it tests new concepts, design elements, service approaches and amenities that could potentially be rolled out to its portfolio of 30 brands. It includes its Innovation and Design Lab, a test kitchen and beverage bar, as well as Marriott's Design Lab, which contains 13 model hotel rooms that are customizable to reflect different brands.
The building is also home to a cafeteria named The Hot Shoppe, an ode to the one-time chain of family restaurants in the D.C. area that was founded by J.W. Marriott in the 1920s and served as the foundation of the Marriott family's hotel empire.
Marriott conducted a two-year search before selecting the site in 2017 just north of the Bethesda Metro station to house its new $600 million corporate headquarters and hotel campus. The company signed a letter of intent to lease its future tower from a joint venture of The Bernstein Cos. and Boston Properties in a deal that ensured Montgomery County would retain its largest private employer.
As part of the agreement, Marriott secured a $62 million package of incentives offered by the state of Maryland and Montgomery County, where Marriott has maintained its headquarters for more than 60 years.
In late 2018, Marriott sold its longtime former headquarters at 10400 Fernwood Road in Bethesda to Erickson Living for about $104.6 million. A retirement community developer out of Catonsville, Maryland, Erickson plans to convert the expansive property into a continuing care retirement community.
The hotel component of Marriott's new campus came on line earlier this year when the 245-room Marriott Bethesda Downtown opened next door in March.
The new office is home to 180 conference rooms, 2,842 workspaces, 7,600 square feet of outdoor garden space on the 20th floor, a green roof, grand floating staircase, nearly 20,000 square feet of open work space and five levels of parking. One of the more striking displays is the 20-foot-tall moving work of digital art that is visible from outside.
Last May, Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano revealed in an interview with Ali Velshi, MSNBC anchor and business correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC, that the company reconfigured the offices with 30% fewer individual workspaces in anticipation of a hybrid work schedule. The work model, where employees can split time between working in the office and working virtually, is in response to employee feedback, and puts the company in better position to recruit and retain staff, Marriott said in a release.
The Bernstein Cos. and Boston Properties own Marriott's headquarters building. Hensel Phelps served as the project's general contractor for its core structure. Rand Construction served as the project's general contractor for its interior.