Tempo by Hilton

GHT provided mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineering design services for the conversion of a 12-story 1960s office building into a vibrant high-rise hotel.

The redevelopment features 278 guest rooms, a ground-floor lobby, café and restaurant, below-grade back-of-house operations and parking, and a twelfth floor hospitality venue with an outdoor terrace, bar, plating kitchen, and restrooms.

Converting the aging office building into a modern hospitality destination required extensive coordination and creative problem-solving. GHT preserved components of the existing central plant while designing a high-efficiency water-cooled VRF system integrated with the existing cooling tower and new condensing boilers. To support the architectural design, which exceeded a 40% window-to-wall ratio, the team developed innovative energy strategies to meet the performance path requirements of the 2017 DC Energy Conservation Code, without compromising design intent.

To maximize value and minimize construction impacts, GHT leveraged existing building infrastructure wherever possible. Existing electrical service equipment was retained, while new utility vault equipment was carefully coordinated to meet updated PEPCO requirements. Despite structural constraints and limited routing options, the team developed engineering solutions for kitchen exhaust, future laundry systems, and hotel plumbing systems.

The office-to-hotel conversion also required extensive plumbing and fire protection coordination, particularly within the fire pump and booster pump rooms. GHT reduced construction costs by utilizing direct in-line pumps above the existing slab and repurposing the existing sewage ejector pit to accommodate increased sanitary loads and future laundry operations. Automatic temperature-balancing valves integrated within the domestic hot water recirculation system further enhanced the guest experience by providing faster hot water delivery throughout the hotel.

Through proactive coordination with OTO Development, WDG, and Davis Construction, GHT successfully delivered a modern, energy-efficient hotel conversion that transformed an aging office building into a modern, hospitality destination.