The rooftop lounge of Inspīr Embassy Row, a new retirement community near Dupont Circle that caters to an affluent clientele. Photograph courtesy of Inspīr Embassy Row. It was once a political hot spot, the Fairfax Hotel near Dupont Circle. George H.W. Bush stayed there; so did Al Gore, who lived in a three-bedroom suite when his father was in the Senate and he was attending St. Albans. Downstairs, the hotel’s high-society Jockey Club restaurant attracted the likes of Jackie Kennedy, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio, and Nancy Reagan, who lunched there during her husband’s presidency. Now the property has been reborn, not as a hotel but as Inspīr Embassy Row, a senior-living community. As a “silver tsunami” of baby boomers are entering their golden years—more than 4 million Americans will turn 65 this year—an affluent subset is giving rise to a new kind of retirement facility: ultra—luxe and urban. “Urban senior living represents a growing trend in our industry,” says Shane Herlet, co-CEO of Maplewood Senior Living and Inspīr. The demand is coming from those “who want to maintain their vibrant, culturally rich city lifestyle while receiving premium care and services.” On New York’s Upper East Side, the first Inspīr retirement property opened about four and a half years ago: a 23-story tower, sporting a “sky park” with a terrace, bistro, and lounge that attracted tenants such as novelist Erica Jong. Not long after, Maplewood, in partnership with Omega Healthcare Investors, bought the former Fairfax Hotel building in DC and embarked on a $200 million overhaul. “That’s the original bar,” said Tim Cox, the property’s general manager, referring to the Jockey Club’s famous watering hole, newly refurbished, as he gave a tour of the space a couple weeks before the scheduled opening in mid-February. A rooftop lounge, a swimming pool, a salt room for halotherapy (which reportedly clears congestion and improves breathing), a library, multiple upscale dining areas and lounges, white-oak paneling, a Calacatta Tucci marble fireplace—it was everything you might expect of a luxury hotel, with a few subtle differences. One of Inspīr’s many bar/lounges, this one with a Calacatta Tucci fireplace. Photograph courtesy of Inspīr Embassy Row. Jill Cavanaugh, a partner with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners, the firm behind the redesign, says the project team took cues from city planning, creating clear pathways through the space; distinct landmarks, such as fireplaces, to help residents find their way; and plenty of meeting spots to rest or gather for a morning coffee, an afternoon card game, or an evening cocktail. The rooms themselves—featuring a soothing palette of neutrals—were designed to ADA guidelines. Who will the residents be? As of early February, Cox said about 45 deposits had been made—for more than a quarter of the property’s 174 units. “A lot of them are Washingtonians,” he said, down-sizers coming from nearby Dupont, Kalorama, and Logan Circle, or from out of state because their children are living in DC. Some are still independent—the facility offers everything from assisted living to memory care—but want to find a living situation for the long term before loved ones need to intervene. Many are attracted to Inspīr Embassy Row by “the five-minute rule,” Cox said: “Five minutes from a restaurant, a bar, the pharmacy, their doctor.” The price tag: Studios start at $8,100 a month, a two-bedroom/two-bath at $18,500. Meals, drinks, and activities are included—trips to the nearby Phillips Collection, the theater, lectures by the diplomats populating Embassy Row, the biweekly White House History Happy Hour. Inspīr Embassy Row’s pool, constructed in the hotel’s former parking garage. Photograph courtesy of Inspīr Embassy Row. Luxury retirement communities have boomed around the area. The Mather, a 27-story high-rise in Tysons that the website describes as “a life plan community” for those “62 and better,” has a day spa, a library, an aquatic center, and an entrance fee starting at around $700,000 (some facilities require an upfront payment in addition to monthly fees; in this case, the entrance fee is 90 percent refundable upon leaving or will be returned to the estate or heirs). The Carnegie at Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg, which opened last August, features a yoga studio, indoor saltwater pool, art studio, and woodworking shop. The Fitzgerald of the Palisades (opening in May, with rates starting around $8,000 a month) includes chauffeur services and upscale restaurants such as Zelda’s, an Art Deco flapper-inspired cocktail lounge. Chain Bridge Estates in McLean, a 60-plus community now under construction, offers a different model: private residences with elevators, starting around $2.5 million; communal resources such as a therapy pool, a pickleball court, and concierge services; and the ability to add various levels of in-home care as the need arises. A room in Inspīr–many feature views of DC. Photograph courtesy of Inspīr Embassy Row. All of those are in the suburbs or outside the city center, as has long been the case. But with a segment of affluent boomers clearly wanting to retire in the city and DC’s lagging post-pandemic commercial real-estate market making more projects economically viable (other cities are already pioneering office-to-retirement-housing conversions), the number of urban retirement communities appears poised to grow, according to industry experts. “We’re continuing to evaluate opportunities—for both adaptive reuse and new-build projects—in premier urban locations,” says Herlet. Part of the draw at Inspīr Embassy Row, of course, is the history. The Jockey Club was an institution in old Washington, rich with lore. It was where Frank Sinatra famously confronted Washington Post gossip columnist Maxine Cheshire sometime around Richard Nixon’s inauguration in 1973 after she’d made an issue of his alleged Mafia ties—the kind of story that pinged through social circles in the city. “There’s no place where one will feel as comfortable, as well taken care of, with the social graces of the old days,” lamented longtime regular and lobbyist Edward von Kloberg when the club was rebranded as Cabo in 2001. In a nod to the past, Inspīr has hired Richard McCreadie, a former Jockey Club chef, to lead its culinary team. And at least one incoming resident was drawn to the property in part because of her own personal connection, said Cox. She got engaged in the Jockey Club and now has returned once again. RelatedRetirement Communities in the DC Area That Are Not for Retiring Types This article appears in the March 2025 issue of Washingtonian.The post You Can Now Retire in Luxury at the Historic Fairfax Hotel first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less