Convene Grows Into Heart Of Washington D.C. With Two New Large-scale Meetings And Workplace Locations

The premium workplace services company will open new locations in the East End and Penn Quarter with new landlord partners, CommonWealth Partners and Beacon Capital Partners, totaling 152,000 square feet.  

WASHINGTON, D.C. – February 20, 2019 – Convene, the nation’s leading provider of flexible meeting space and workplace services for Class A landlords, today announced its first expansion into Washington D.C. with two locations; one at Beacon Capital Partner’s Terrell Place at 575 7th Street, NW (72,370 SF), and another at CommonWealth Partner’s Hamilton Square at 600 14th Street, NW (79,849 SF).

These new locations will be Convene’s third and fourth offerings in the Washington, D.C. metro area and represent the company’s first locations in the region to include Convene’s WorkPlace product offering, as well as the first locations in the heart of the Nation’s Capital. Convene’s total footprint in the D.C. metro area has grown to a total of 202,000 square feet.

“Our Nation’s Capital is a place where people come from all over the world to meet and work. The market has unique economic drivers and Convene’s full-service platform is well-positioned to drive value to the needs of an array of D.C. businesses. We see strong demand for our suite of premium work and meeting spaces and hospitality services,” said Michael Burke, VP of Real Estate & Development at Convene. “Both of these assets are excellent additions to the growing Convene portfolio in the region. We believe in the long-term value of these locations, and each building offers unique physical characteristics that are hard to replicate in D.C.”

Convene has worked with Beacon Capital Partners to bring three floors of meeting space and flexible workspace to Terrell Place in the East End submarket. The facility will feature meeting and event space with capacity for 2-200 people, and will offer private office suites for teams of 10-250. Convene’s guests and members will have access to the building’s recently renovated roof deck and private cabanas. The space will open summer 2019 and serve key building tenants such as Yelp, AARP and World Wide Technology. Located in the heart of Penn Quarter, a top cultural and entertainment destination in the region, Convene will have a private entrance and space spanning the lower level through part of the third floor of the 11-story, 428,000-square-foot building.

“With Convene rounding out our roster of forward-thinking tenants at Terrell Place, we are not only providing our building community with premium amenities, but we are also creating one of the best workplace offerings in the District,” said Jeffrey Kovach, Senior Managing Director, Beacon Capital Partners. “Convene’s full-service offering, technology platform, and hospitality capabilities are poised to enhance the day-to-day lifestyle for all of our tenants and their employees within the building.”

In partnership with CommonWealth Partners, Convene will occupy three floors of the landmark building at Hamilton Square, formerly home to the original Garfinckel’s department store. One block from the White House, the 9-story, 248,500-square-foot building is currently undergoing a major renovation of the lobby, common areas, fitness center and rooftop, which Convene guests and members will have access to. The meeting and event space will accommodate everything from small meetings to full buyouts of up to 450 guests, and Convene’s flexible workspace will cater to teams of 10-300 people. Opening later this year, this Convene location will serve tenants such as IBM, ZGF Architects, and the Managed Funds Association.

“As workplaces continue to evolve and tenants in Washington seek non-commodity real estate to provide great experiences for their employees, partnering with Convene provided a unique solution that takes advantage of Hamilton Square’s unique features and offers existing and new incoming tenants a smarter way to spend their real estate capital,” said Joe Corrente, CommonWealth Partners. “Adding Convene’s elevated flexible workplace offering and full-service meeting and event spaces to the revamped suite of amenities at Hamilton Square will further reinvigorate the property in a way that supports the market and the new needs of today’s top companies and talent.”

Convene was represented by Avison Young in these transactions. “We are thrilled to partner with Convene in identifying two key locations in downtown Washington, D.C.,” said Jonathan Wellborn, Principal at Avison Young. “These distinct properties, each of which are adaptive reuses of former department stores, provide the ideal setting for Convene’s meeting and workplace customers alike.”

As the second largest meetings market in the United States, Convene is actively expanding into the Washington, D.C. submarket with a high demand from Class-A assets. Convene currently operates a 15,000-square-foot meeting and event facility at 1800 Tyson’s Corner in McLean, Virginia, and recently opened a 35,000-square-foot space in D.C.’s tallest building, CEB Tower in Rosslyn, to operate the full-service meeting and events space and provide amenity services for the building tenants.

Convene’s aggressive growth into new metropolitan cities comes on the heels of a $152 million Series D round of financing in 2018, which included investments from real estate, technology, and innovation leaders such as Revolution Growth, RXR Realty, ArrowMark Partners, Brookfield, and The Durst Organization, among others. Leveraging these investments, Convene is growing its footprint globally, expanding its service offerings, and launching a workplace technology platform.