Arlington County police are clearing out the former Key Bridge Marriott hotel in Rosslyn, where people experiencing homelessness have been sheltering. The county is condemning the building, calling the site “unsafe and unfit for habitation,” county officials said Friday morning.

After the clearing is complete, the building will be secured, county officials said Friday. The county will board up the site, set up fencing, and have 24-hour security there for the foreseeable future.

The hotel was not an official county shelter. The county’s Inspection Services Division (ISD) and fire department recently inspected the former hotel and discovered that people were encamped there, according to a county spokesperson.

As of Friday morning, the county’s Department of Human Services had connected five people with Arlington nonprofit PathForward for shelter services. But it remains unclear how many people were taking shelter at the hotel; a county spokesperson said they could not provide that number until after the clearing is complete.

The response began Thursday night with a small police presence, but by Friday morning there with dozens of police vehicles in the hotel’s parking lot, as ARL Now first reported.

“Using a ‘whole of government’ response, multiple departments across Arlington County, in conjunction with nonprofit partners, are prioritizing the health and safety of individuals at the property, ensuring they have a place to go, and providing the services and care they may need,” the county said in a press release Friday morning.

The clearing was still in progress as of press time. A spokesperson for the county declined to specify the number of officers involved in the response to DCist/WAMU but said there is a “large presence” to ensure every floor and every one of the hundreds of rooms is cleared.

The spokesperson said the county is also giving people access to resources like water, food, and clothing, as well as Narcan and Fentanyl test strips and referrals to behavioral health and substance abuse services.

“The County has a duty to ensure everyone’s health and safety, including any individuals who have sought shelter inside the building, first responders who may need to respond to calls for public safety assistance, and the community at large,” the county spokesperson said.

The Key Bridge Marriott — located by its eponymous bridge that crosses the river into Georgetown — first opened as a motor lodge in 1959. It was the second ever Marriott hotel to open, and was the oldest operating Marriott hotel before its closure in July 2021.

The building was purchased in 2018 by KBLH, LLC, a subsidiary of California-based developer Woodridge Capital Partners, as noted by the county’s Friday press release. The Arlington County Board had approved plans in 2020 for the developer to partially demolish and renovate the hotel building and built condo units in the area. But it appears the developer has since stalled on those plans, ARL Now reported in December. DCist/WAMU was unable to reach Woodridge Capital Partners for comment.

The county says ISD and the fire department have sent notice letters to KBLH, LLC and relevant trustees, and that any updates on plans for the property will be determined at a later date.

This post has been updated with the correct spelling of Woodridge Capital Partners.