Ultimately, the New York City architecture firm of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates was hired to lead the hotel's rehabilitation and expansion. After this firm pulled out of the project, Koubek executed their concept, overseeing work until the hotel's reopening in 1986.Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. United States Department of the Interior. August 31, 2007.Forgey, Benjamin. "Willard Hotel: Well Worth the Wait." The Washington Post. August 9, 1986.Goldberger, Paul. "On Pennsylvania Avenue, A Restoration With Wit." The New York Times. September 22, 1986. Declaring the design worthy of "genuine architectural distinction," The Washington Post architectural critic Benjamin Forgey noted that Koubek was responsible for adding the giant ocular windows in the office complex, the marble office entryway with its marble canopy and columns, and the restructuring of the diagonal courtyard between the original hotel and the office additions. Forgey concluded that "...a lot of the details, such as the exquisite storefronts or the sequence of pilasters, entablatures and cornices in the same elongated courtyard, are a treat to the eye." Critic Paul Goldberger, writing for The New York Times in 1986, declared the renovation ingenious. In 1988, the Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects gave its 1988 Award for Excellence to Koubek for the Willard Hotel design and renovation.
