National Place Building
Mixed-use in NW Washington, D.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
National Place is a large, 16-story building consisting of street-level retail and dining, with office space on the upper levels. It is adjacent to the National Press Building, and was originally The Shops at National Place (or simply The Shops), a three-level, indoor shopping mall located in downtown Washington, D.C., opening in 1984 and 1985 as a festival marketplace.[2] It is located on the block bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue, F Street, between 13th and 14th Streets NW, the former site of the Munsey Trust Building. It was located near the Metro Center station of the Washington Metro system.
- The Shops at National Place (1984–2008)
- Eat at National Place (2005–2020)
Shopping mall (1990–2008)
Mixed-use (2005–present)
| National Place Building | |
|---|---|
The 14-story atrium after renovations, interior view, ground level, c. March 2026 | |
 Interactive map of the National Place Building area | |
| Former names |
|
| Alternative names | 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Festival marketplace (1984–1990) Shopping mall (1990–2008) Mixed-use (2005–present) |
| Location | Northwest Washington, D.C., United States, 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, 20004 13th and 14th F Streets |
| Coordinates | 38.8968°N 77.03130°W |
| Opened | May 14, 1984 (phase I) April 25, 1985 (phase II) |
| Closed | 2005–2008 (as a shopping mall) |
| Owner | Quadrangle Development Corp. |
| Management | CBRE Group and Dochter & Alexander (retail space only) JLL Properties (office space only) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 16 (3 in The Shops, including one basement level) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | HTB, Inc., Frank Schlesinger and Geier Brown Renfrow |
| Developer | The Rouse Company (Rouse–National Press Management, Inc.), Marriott International and Quadrangle Development Corporation |
| Other information | |
| Number of stores | 93 (at peak) |
| Parking | Parking garage with 454 spaces Paid parking |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
| Eat at National Place Food Hall | |
|---|---|
 Eat at National Place Food Hall main entrance in October 2010 | |
Interactive map of the Eat at National Place Food Hall area | |
| General information | |
| Status | Permanently closed |
| Type | Food hall (2005–2020) |
| Opened | June 2005[1] |
| Closed | May 2020 |
| Owner | Quadrangle Development Corp. |
| Management | CBRE Group and Dochter & Alexander |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 1 (Second floor of the National Place building) |
| Design and construction | |
| Developer | General Growth Properties and Quadrangle Development Corporation |
| Other information | |
| Number of restaurants | 10 (at peak) |
| Website | |
| eatatnationalplace.com (2013 archive) | |
In 2015, owner Quadrangle Development Corporation intended to demolish the mall and replace it with a 283,000 square feet (26,300 m2), 13-story building.[3] However, due to historical reasons, that plan was abandoned.
Since June 2005, a small food court developed by GGP (though initially broke ground by Rouse in 2004) with 10+ vendors, branded Eat at National Place, operated in a portion of the space, but the court closed permanently in May 2020.[4]
History
National Place's development dates back to December 1978, where Quadrangle Development Corporation, The Rouse Company, and Marriott Corporation entered a joint venture for the $110 million project. Over the years, Pennsylvania Avenue has became filled with abandoned houses, parking lots, and declining souvenir stores. The area has been neglected after racial riots occurred in the area.[5]
Planning of the mall portion, The Shops at National Place, started in July 1980 as part of a major $28 million redevelopment project of the adjacent National Press Building by the National Press Building Corporation. The project would involve restoration of the 1927 structure, as well as adding 80,000 square feet of retail and office space, including a 14-story atrium. The redevelopment project aimed to revitalize downtown Washington, D.C., with the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation supporting private investment in the area through tax credits and other incentives for historic preservation. Architect HTB, Inc. of Oklahoma City was selected to design the work, ensuring to not disturb any existing amenities during construction.[6]
Construction began in February 1982, and a ceremonial groundbreaking held on January 31 projected for an estimated completion in around 1983 or 1984. The project included connecting the National Press Building to nearby properties through an enclosed multistory atrium to form the concourse of stores and restaurants.[7]
The National Press Building Corporation allowed The Rouse Company of Columbia, Maryland, to develop the retail portion of the project. Founder James W. Rouse and CEO Mathias J. DeVito cited that they were willing to help with development, following their successful festival marketplace model used previously on Harborplace in Baltimore and Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston. The Washington Post famously described Rouse's intention for the project as "gambling", as it attempted to squeeze in its Baltimore/Boston model in a building where doing such was risky.[8] However, since the retail was going to be in the building, Rouse could not rely on its usual architectural firm for developing festival marketplaces, being Benjamin Thompson & Associates, Inc., making this the company's first festival marketplace in a large city without Thompson involved. Not only that, due to D.C. preservation rules, invasive structural reinforcements were prohibited, meaning the company could not build a "Pratt/Light Street Pavilion"-like structure on the site. Additionally, Thompson was in the process of designing the competing Old Post Office Pavilion and the Washington Union Station Mall (which were also festival marketplaces), which further made choosing him and his firm unavailable.[9]
As a result, after negotiations with D.C., Rouse decided to develop The Shops as an underground and atrium-linked shopping space beneath and attached to the National Press Club headquarters.[9] The Rouse Company founded the subsidiary TRC Holding Company of Washington, D.C., which in turn created the subsidiary Rouse–National Press Management, Inc. for development and day-to-day operations of the mall.[10][11]
Grand opening
By late 1983, the project was almost complete, and The Shops at National Place opened its first phase on May 14, 1984. It was designed as a central piece in revitalizing downtown Washington, D.C.'s traditional downtown shopping core along F Street, NW, west of the Woodward & Lothrop flagship. The mall replaced the former flagship stores of Raleigh's and Joseph R. Harris Co.
The first phase included 53 stores, and was developed by The Rouse Company. The 71,000-square-foot (6,600 m2) retail complex was hailed as "part of a very important renaissance of downtown Washington." The Shops opened concurrently with a new 774-room JW Marriott Hotel (the first in that chain), and refurbished National Theater and National Press Building.[12][13] Melart Jewelers and Sight and Sound Electronics were part of the first phase located in the JW Marriott lobby.
The 40-store phase two of The Shops opened April 25, 1985. It included August Max, Record Town, and Brooks Fashions among the original tenants. The complex featured a 14-story atrium for the refurbished National Press Building and 450 spaces of underground parking. At the opening ceremony, then-mayor Marion Barry proclaimed "Downtown is coming alive!"[14][15]
Decline and closure
The Shops at National Place's struggles began in the late 1980s. It had a poor design that was isolated from the street, making it hard to access, with the majority of its tenants being "tucked in." It was seen as a miscalculation by The Rouse Company, as the company built the mall inside of a historical 15-story office building, even though the company was optimistic that it would be highly successful. James Rouse himself later admitted that the mall was inefficiently designed, leading to parking problems and high maintenance costs.[8]
During development, Rouse was unable to secure anchor retailers, leading to The Shops to resort to big-box tenants.[16]
Filene's Basement opened at The Shops in 1998 as an attempt to revitalize the facility.[17]
The Shops at National Place, along with the rest of Rouse's portfolio, was sold to General Growth Properties (GGP) in November 2004 following a $12.6 billion acquisition of the company.[18] Following the mall's struggles, GGP closed a portion of The Shops to completely redevelop it into a food court called Eat at National Place (stylized as eat at National Place) which had its grand opening in June 2005. The mall's original main entrance was walled off. It was a last-ditch effort to revitalize the mall, and the food court housed both local and national food vendors, including Five Guys and Moe's Southwest Grill.[4] The food hall was part of a larger redevelopment that began in 2004, where a 10-year, $15 million second renovation occurred for the National Press Building.[19]
Despite the attempts of revitalization by adding a food court, in 2008, due to many vacancies in the mall, competition from Union Station Mall and struggles from the Great Recession, The Shops at National Place officially closed its doors, except for the food court, and the passageway to the JW Marriott. GGP then sold retail operations of the National Press building to Quadrangle Development Corporation and AEW Capital Management for $167.5 million in June 2011.[20]
After closure as a mall
In April 2016, Quadrangle and AEW sold the National Press building to Normandy Real Estate Partners for $155.5 million.[21]
The former 14-story lobby of The Shops at National Place was renovated in 2018 by Columbia Property Trust and designed by architectural firm SmithGroup, which included new LED lighting, updated stairs and upper-level railings, and the introduction of The Nexus, an office space. The facility also featured a new color scheme, being black and white, aiming to revitalize the space to make it more suitable for office workers and get it out of its abandoned status.[22]
In the early 2020s, Normandy Real Estate Management was acquired by Columbia Property Trust, and the National Press building was sold to Cannon Hill Capital Partners, which later renovated the facility and the Eat at National Place food hall. This included refreshing the F Street lobby atrium, adding conference rooms, bike storage, a fitness center, and contemporary retail including the SPiN Ping Pong Club venue.[23][24]
Eat at National Place permanently closed its doors in May 2020 following challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. The food hall posted a notice on the entrance doors and its website thanking patrons, office workers, tour groups and visitors for "helping patronize our Food Hall for the past 15 years", and all signage—including the hanging "Eat at National Place Food Hall" signs on the exterior arches—were removed. Since Verizon Wireless was located inside of the food court, it had to be relocated to 1318 F St NW after the food court closed to remain accessible to customers. The new store was rebranded simply as Verizon.[25][4] The food court's closure proved that Eat at National Place acted as a "band-aid" rather than genuine redevelopment; it helped office workers and generated lunch traffic, but it did not solve actual reasons for why the mall failed, such as architecture.
Redevelopment
As of January 2026, the former mall space has been repurposed for office and street-level retail and dining, such as District Taco, Corner Bakery Cafe, and a Verizon store. In 2016, part of the defunct mall was occupied by Wells Fargo Bank, but that eventually closed. "The Shops" signage from one of the mall's entrances were removed in 2024.[26] The defunct Eat at National Place space remains vacant, though there is a Starbucks adjacent to it. Despite The Shops' current function as mixed-use, some of its spaces besides the food court remain largely abandoned.
The Shops at National Place is now officially known simply as National Place, and its retail portions are operated by the CBRE Group. The office portions on the upper floors are managed by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).[27] The majority of the abandoned spaces are labeled by CBRE's website as "Retail A–D" with an "Available" tag. The former eat at National Place is marked on the site as "Second Level - Anchor Retail".[28]