There is a hotel in the middle of Potomac. Area residents with out-of-town guest have long sent them to Bethesda or Rockville for lodging. But the Bolger Center on Democracy Boulevard is open for business with 477 hotel rooms open to the public.
Up until 1981, the 83.3-acre parcel was owned by Catholic order of the Sisters of Mercy, and operated as a center for children with special needs. Then the Postal Service bought the property.
“Up until 1992, it was basically a place for supervisor level management training,” said Sheryl Turner, head postal service employee on the site.
In 1992, the center had a major restructuring, Turner said. From 1992-1996, it was used for some training, but predominantly for meetings of Postal employees.
The postal service then hired Aramark to operate the conference center aspect of the facility, which they did until earlier this year when the service brought in Dolce (pronounced DOLE-see) International, which operates 28 conference centers worldwide.
The Bolger Center retains its postal flavor, the walls in some hallways are decorated with blown-up stamps, and the primary customer is still the Postal Service, which represents about 60 percent of the customers, Turner said.
Postal Service events are given priority if a scheduling conflict arises.
The Postal Service, as a Federal facility, is not subject to county or state regulations, and is not obliged to pay sales taxes. It is also not subject to the county’s development review.
When the service changed its program and began to allow non-Postal customers, it came before the Planning Board, said Callum Murray, Potomac team leader for Park and Planning. “They did come for a mandatory referral,” he said.
“Mandatory referrals” take place when other government entities, like federal state or county departments wish to change their operations in a way that will have any land-use impact. The Planning Board can ask for them to do certain forms of mitigation, but the entities are not required to.
“Because the government owns the land, it isn’t really subject to county approval,” said George Barnes, president of the West Montgomery County Citizen’s Association. “It would be nice to have some control over some of the aspects, like traffic.”
Barnes notes that the Postal Service has generally been amenable to the desires of the community. “The postal service did make a lot of concessions, but it was in the spirit of being a good neighbor,” he said “There’s obviously some demand for lodging, and they are taking fairly good care of it.”
Taking good care is part of what the Postal Service wants. “It was very clear that the Postal Service wanted to remain a nice part of this community,” said Paul Dolce, general manager for Dolce, as he picked up tiny bits of trash from an outdoor area.
ALTHOUGH LODGING is not their core business, any person can drive up to the Bolger Center and rent a room for the night. The “Rack Rate” or standard price is $199 per night during the week, but discounts like AAA or AARP can lower that to $139.
The 11-building facility, which the Postal Service refers to as a “leadership and development center,” is primarily intended for use as a conference center. “That really, truly is our focus,” said Turner.
And that is what Dolce does. “They provide full service,” Turner said. Dolce checks customers in, cleans up after they leave and takes care of their needs from food to security while they are there.
The company was started in 1981, by Andrew Dolce and continues to grow. “The conference center niche is what we are expanding in,” said Paul Dolce.
The facility has 75 meeting rooms totaling more than 70,000 square feet, which can accommodate from 6-500 people, said Valerie Gordon, global sales manager and a Potomac resident. While most of the rooms are typical hotel rooms, some retain the character of the Bolger Center’s past lives. One in particular is a chapel which retains its stained glass windows and confessionals (now used as storage closets).
“Ninety-five percent of our meeting rooms have natural light,” Gordon said.
The facility has 477 guest rooms each of which has satellite television and a private bath. “We have DSL [high-speed internet access] in every room and meeting room,” Gordon said.
Audio-visual technicians on staff assist in presentations, and also other staff assist in the recreational facilities. Guests can avail themselves of a cardio-fitness center, free weights, basketball and tennis courts, a 25-yard, indoor swimming pool, volleyball court, ropes course and rental bicycles.
“It’s definitely like a retreat-like atmosphere,” Gordon said.
On slow day, the catering end of the business will serve 800-900 meals, said Michael Snead, executive chef. On a busy day, that number could go as high as 1,500. He estimated that they could serve up to 500 people at one meal.
Besides a cafeteria, which handles the bulk of their food service on a day-to-day basis, food can be brought to any of the meeting rooms, and there are a series of refreshment stations with food and beverages available at several points in several different buildings.
There is also an operating bar, which Dolce said is going to be renamed the Pony Express. Although technically not in Montgomery County, smoking is still banned at the bar due to federal regulations, Dolce said.
The bar, he said is one of the most used parts of the facility, which is part of the nature of the conference business, he said. “A big part of the meeting business is the networking.”