The Arlington County Board has approved a redevelopment plan that will transform the site of the “Deep Throat” garage that was involved in the Watergate investigation in the 1970s. The new development will include a grocery store and two apartment buildings.
A historical marker outside of 1401 Wilson Blvd. in Rosslyn makes note of the building’s past. “Mark Felt, second in command at the FBI, met Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward here in this parking garage to discuss the Watergate scandal,” it says. “Felt provided Woodward information that exposed the Nixon administration’s obstruction of the FBI’s Watergate investigation. He chose this garage as an anonymous secure location.” Woodward and Post reporter Carl Bernstein nicknamed Felt as “Deep Throat” to protect his identity.
The new redevelopment plan, approved at a July 18 board meeting, will replace the two obsolete office buildings that are on the site. It includes 1401 Wilson Blvd. and 1400 Key Blvd.
The redevelopment includes two 27-story residential towers with 831 housing units. It also includes a seven-level parking facility and ground-floor retail space. The retail area will be designed to support a grocery store.
The historical marker outside of the building will remain near the site despite the construction, WTOP reported.
Plans to redevelop this site have been in the works for more than a decade. A 2014 site plan for the buildings was approved by the county board but was never constructed. Real estate investment and development firm Monday Properties announced in 2024 that it would revisit those plans.
In a separate vote, the Arlington County Board also approved JM Zell Partners’ plan to convert the former TSA headquarters in Pentagon city into a mixed-use development, Washington Business Journal reported.
Feature photo by Ser Amantio di Nicolao, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
