Trendy DC Hotel Auctioned to Lender After Sole Bid

There was enough buzz surrounding Elon Musk potentially bidding on The Line hotel in Washington for opponents to generate a petition to stop him.

In the end, he didn’t submit a bid, and almost nobody else did either.

The hotel in the capital’s Adams Morgan neighborhood was sold at auction on Thursday morning to the property’s lender, Acore Capital, Bisnow reported. Acore submitted a $1 million credit bid, which therefore included the value of the $86 million loan it holds on the property, creating a lofty number for competitors to surpass.

Potential competitors didn’t even try: Acore was the opening and final bidder during the proceedings, which took place on the steps of a New York City courthouse.

Acore tapped JLL to market the 220-key hotel at 1770 Euclid Street NW ahead of the auction. Acore was the lender on the property in 2019, when ownership refinanced a 2016-originated $80 million loan from Deutsche Bank.

Developers of the project at the former site of the First Christ of Scientist Church included the Sydell Group, Foxhall Partners and Friedman Capital. Square Mile Capital, ultimately folded into Affinius Capital, was an investor.

Foodies liked the place: James Beard Award winner Spike Gjerde ran a restaurant there, though it closed in 2020. Other restaurant concepts at the property popped up on local and national best-of lists. Forbes called the hotel the capital’s “hippest” in 2021.

But restaurants closed and hotel operations were disrupted by the pandemic. By May of 2024, the hotel was in the hands of Acore after a foreclosure action.

It’s not clear what Acore plans to do with the property post-Aution.

As for Musk, Eater DC reported last week that Donald Trump’s close advisor was planning a bid for the hotel, seeking to turn it into a private club. A petition on Change.org to stop him — still receiving signatures after the auction — has 2,100 signatories and counting.

— Holden Walter-Warner