Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts opened sales this week for its Georgetown Private Residences at $2,300-plus per square foot, the highest price per foot ever recorded for condominium inventory in the Washington, DC metro area. Units start at approximately $2.3 million for smaller formats. The previous district record sat at $1,850 per square foot, set in 2019 by a one-off penthouse sale in the West End. The Georgetown project makes that figure the entry point.
The development occupies a former industrial site along the Potomac waterfront in one of the district's oldest neighborhoods. Four Seasons is delivering 50 units across two mid-rise structures, with interiors by New York-based Meyer Davis and property services managed directly by the hotel operator. Closings are scheduled to begin in Q4 2025. The project is the third Four Seasons-branded residential tower to launch in North America this quarter, following openings in Jacksonville and Austin. Georgetown represents the operator's first standalone residential project in the capital region—its existing DC hotel does not include private residences.
The pricing tests a specific thesis about capital-city wealth composition. Washington's residential real estate has historically lagged coastal gateway markets by 30-40 percent on a per-square-foot basis, even as the region's median household income for the top decile now exceeds $630,000 annually. The gap reflects a federal-employee culture that traditionally preferred suburban single-family estates over urban vertical living. Four Seasons is wagering that demographic has shifted: foreign diplomatic buyers, technology executives relocating from the Bay Area, and family offices managing Opportunity Zone allocations now represent a sufficiently deep pool to absorb hotel-operator pricing without the hotel attached.
The broader branded-residence pipeline shows operators moving aggressively into secondary luxury markets. Turnbridge Equities took an equity position this month in the Four Seasons Private Residences Lake Austin, a 159-unit waterfront project where units are clearing $1,400 per square foot in a metro area that five years ago topped out at $850. Jacksonville's Four Seasons residences, which opened sales in January, are asking $1,100-plus per foot in a market previously capped at $600 for non-waterfront inventory. Each launch essentially doubles the prior ceiling.
What allocators should watch: First-year absorption velocity at Georgetown will signal whether DC can support a second wave of operator-branded inventory. Three additional hotel-residential projects are in pre-development within two miles of the Four Seasons site, all holding land under option agreements that expire between Q3 2025 and Q1 2026. If Four Seasons moves 20-plus units in the first six months—historically the threshold for a successful luxury launch—those options convert to construction starts. If absorption stalls below 12 units, the projects will likely revert to conventional multifamily or remain land bank. The second data point: resale comps. Georgetown has fewer than 80 total units trading above $1,500 per square foot annually, meaning liquidity is thin and price discovery uncertain. Watch whether early buyers are end-users or spec holders.
The Jacksonville and Austin projects will close their first units in Q2 2025, roughly one quarter before Georgetown. Those transactions will establish the first real-world data on whether hotel-operator pricing holds at resale in markets without legacy ultra-luxury infrastructure. If those comps come in 10-15 percent below original purchase prices, Georgetown's later closings give buyers a negotiation window. If they hold or appreciate, the DC project will likely sell out before construction completes.