By David Nakamura and Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, May 12, 2008; 10:42 AM

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty is announcing today that the city will not build a new downtown library on the site of the old convention center, and instead has reached an agreement with a developer to construct a four-star, 400-room hotel on the prime downtown parcel.

Fenty's predecessor, Anthony A. Williams, proposed a grand new library at the convention center site during his tenure, saying a state-of-the-art facility would draw crowds to the heart of downtown and boost civic and cultural pride.

But community reaction was divided, with some advocates reluctant to abandon the existing central library, designed by the noted German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe but poorly maintained by the city over the last 36 years.

The agreement being unveiled this morning allows for up to 100,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space to be built under the luxury hotel where part of the old convention center once stood. An aide to Fenty said that space could be leased to an upscale department store or some type of "destination retail," such as an electronics or sporting goods store that lures customers with entertainment as well as retail features.

The hotel complex will be built by the development team Hines-Archstone-Smith, which is already under contract to build an $850 million residential, office and retail project on the rest of the 10-acre parcel once occupied by the old convention center. The mixed-use project, unveiled in December, will feature shops, condos and office space along about six acres located between New York Avenue and 9th, H and 11th streets NW.

As part of its deal with the city, the developers had the right to build on the rest of the parcel as well, if the city decided against a library or any other civic project. Officials said the hotel and additional retail involved in this second stage of the project will bring more people, and activity, to the heart of downtown. In all, the site could eventually about 350,000 square feet of retail, which city officials said would nearly double the amount of shopping space downtown.

The company has branded the development CityCenter DC, and Fenty has embraced that terminology.

"It is time we start calling this place what it is, our City Center," Fenty (D) said in a news release. "CityCenter DC is going to be a true retail and entertainment destination -- the heart and soul of our dynamic new downtown."

Archstone is expected to break ground on the first phase of its project in January, officials said. About 20 percent of the housing will be reserved for low- and middle-income tenants. Thirty 30 percent of the retail space will be devoted to unique retailers, which means merchants with six or fewer stores in the United States, according to the agreement announced in December.

Plans call for the development team to rebuild streets that were closed off when the convention center was built, and to reserve about 1.5 acres of the site for publicly accessible open space.

The developers plan to complete the first buildings in 2011.