505 Ninth Street

505 Ninth Street

Boston Properties
Washington, DC

505 Ninth Street is located in the heart of Penn Quarter in Washington, D.C. and is a part of L'Enfant's historic 8th Street axis. The development of the site was under the aegis of the Historic Preservation Review Board, the National Capital Planning Commission, and the General Services Administration. The site is also in an Arts overlay zoning district.

The massing of the development was pre-determined by the review agencies and resulted in a variety of facade expressions. The dominant portion of the building is an eight-story, classically articulated post and beam assembly of precast concrete. The 8th Street facade is a compilation of low rise pieces-brick, precast and curtainwall-respecting the General Post Office across the street and maintaining the scale and character of the small commercial structures to the north. 

The building delivers two and a half levels of parking and 320,000 square feet of rentable office, retail & theater space for a total gross building area of 459,000 square feet. The lobbies function as rotating art gallery spaces as well as entrance spaces to the building.