Friday, November 21, 2008

Clark to Add Residential to Lonely Atlas District


Map: 1600 Maryland Ave, NE, Washington DC, 20002, retail for lease
Metro area developer Clark Realty is moving forward with their planned Arboretum Place project - a 430-unit condo/apartment development at the tail-end of the H Street corridor - aka the Atlas District.Clark Realty Capital builds Arboretum Place in northeast Washington DC, designed by Preston Parthership
Described by the developer as a "multifamily luxury apartment community," the project will sit on a 5-acre vacant lot located at 1600 Maryland Avenue, NE. A firm timeline for the project has yet to be established, but Clark’s publicity contact at PR firm Tomb & Associates, Joy Lutes, tells DCMud that "Clark's intention is to move forward with the project and break ground after the first quarter." Designs for Arboretum Place are being handled by the Preston Partnership.Washington DC construction news, retail for lease
In furtherance of the project’s “luxury” qualifier, the developer plans to outfit the community with a pool, a business center, a gym, entertainment space and gardens – amenities competitive with other H Street developments like Senate Square and, eventually, Clark hopes to attract local retailers, though it is incorporating only about 5,000 s.f. of retail space on the site. In a neighborhood best known for outlets like “Fish Sandwiches” and “Alex Carry Out,” it will likely be a welcome and necessary change.

But nothing on H Street happens quickly: note the talk of development at places such as Capitol Place (on hold), the District's H Street Corridor Revitalization Plan, the H Street trolley line (always pending), and the District's Starbust reorganization plan for the nightmare intersection at Maryland Ave / H Street / Benning Road, to name just a few of the ambitious projects that have garnered far more time and money in outreach and planning than actual construction. Maybe next real estate boom.

Washington DC retail and real estate development news

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Starburst intersection construction is actually well underway. And the whole of H Street is a mess as the utilities prepare for the streetscape redo and, yes, the streetcar.

Lots of other stuff happening on H as well, though perhaps not huge condo projects.

Anyway, I think your entry sells the street a bit short. Check it out in person and report back! There's no shortage of construction dudes on H.

inked on Nov 24, 2008, 3:49:00 PM said...

Seriously Hunter,
was to make a complete ass of yourself. We actually have lots of great bars, restaurants, and coffee shops [Doctor Granville's, Napa 1015, The Red and the Black, ect.], not to mention the H Street Playhouse and the Atlas Performing Arts Center, and Conner Contemporary. Maybe next time you should actually visit the site rather than just relying on your memory of the street five years ago.

Rick is right about the construction, they are working on the Starburst now, and that's not exactly a brand new development.

Anonymous said...

"Lonely Atlas District..."

Pretty hilarious. Here's an experiment for you sometime. Park your car on H & 13th; get out; walk north or south for at least 20 yards. Masses of residences!

Let me guess: you live in Reston?

Anonymous said...

Wow. I live in the H Street Neighborhood and I don't even recognize it based on this author's description. Though I agree that the pace of change on H Street is glacial, the neighborhood's a long way from "lonely."

Anonymous said...

Yeah, this is a surprisingly ignorant post.

Anonymous said...

"In a neighborhood best known for outlets like “Fish Sandwiches” and “Alex Carry Out,” it will likely be a welcome and necessary change."

The urban real estate digest of DC?? Seriously?

I'm going to look for your post about how nobody lives east of 14th st NE...

Keep up the good work! < big thumbs up >

Anonymous said...

Who do you suppose live in the residential streets all around the vacant lot?
Is it lonely because no one looks like you?
I live a few blocks away from the Starburst intersection...work's been going on there for quite a while now.

Yeah, come and visit some time.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't call it "surprisingly" ignorant. DCmud has always been characterized as having parochial viewpoints bolstered by observations made only from the periphery.

Anonymous said...

DCMud, get out from under the rock under which you blog by you very sad, sorry, lonesome pasty self and spend some time outside in the world for a change. Had you done that before today, you might have known that the world has progressed since the '80's when you last saw daylight and visited H St.

The 1200-1500 blocks of H Street have a little something going on called the Rock & Roll Hotel, Granville Moore's, the Red & Black, Palace of Wonders, Sticky Rice, Taylor Gourmet, the Pug, the Argonaut, Sova (and a few others) and NO EASY PARKING on Thursday, Fri. and Sat. night because it's so packed.

Construction has been underway for some time. Of course, it's easy to miss the 1.2 miles of orange cones, flashing lights and neon-yellow-vested construction workers if YOU HAVEN'T BEEN to H Street.

Next time, why don't you check out a neighborhood before you show what an out-of-touch, out-of-style hermit you are?

By the way: Reagan is no longer president--hasn't been for 20 years. News to you, I know, but someone had to break it to you.

Ken on Nov 25, 2008, 6:51:00 AM said...

Thanks for your lively comments. Sheesh. Yes, we're well aware of the retail that's gone in over the last few years. But from a planning perspective, there has been far more development proposed, discussed, but not implemented, on a much larger scale than converting stores into restaurants. We hope, like all of you, to see the bigger residential and mixed-use projects succeed. As for the starburst intersection, we're aware that construction has begun, it was meant as an example of something that took much longer than planned, because it did, but it was worded poorly - editor's fault. We do know the neighborhood since we all live downtown. Now, please go back to assaulting us and vilifying us for writing an article having an opinion on this that differs from yours.

-Editor

Anonymous said...

This isn't really news. For as long as I can remember Clarke and his team has done nothing but pull dates out of his ass abt when they'll be breaking ground for this project.

Anonymous said...

Ken,

Thanks for trying to clarify, or should I say justify your article? I would think that you and your writers would strive to write an objective and insightful article, not a lopsided opinionated one.

Anonymous said...

OK. So maybe some of us are a bit defensive about our slice of DC. But only because we want everyone to see how much it has to offer. And it's frustrating to have it talked down in a forum like this one.

And unfortunately, Ken, the problems in the original piece are more than "opinion." Two of your four examples are just wrong [Starburst and Revitalization Plan progress]. The line about "Fish Sandwiches" and "Alex Carryout" is both factually wrong (The line at Taylor is probably 20 times longer than the line at either place) and pretty immature. And wasn't the focus of the post supposed to be about a place that IS going in?

As to your explanation on your Starburst mistake, if you want to do a post arguing that government projects somehow take longer on H, then I'd love to see the analysis/numbers. But I suspect that's just not true. So why use this as an odd little way to belittle the area?

Frankly, many of us see the independent retail flourishing on H as a great thing. It doesn't need to be a cookie cutter condo to be progress.

Anonymous said...

Yes, by all means, we're vilifying you because you have an opinion different from ours, and not because you said things that were incorrect or misleading.

Jeez, what a self-important tool.

Oh, BTW, regarding your correction, actually not *that* much new retail has gone in -- bars and restaurants <> retail. But you know that, right? I mean, being the "Urban Real Estate Digest of Washington DC" and all.

Nope on Nov 25, 2008, 11:18:00 AM said...

Hey guys,

FYI - unlike a, say, one man blog, DC MUD actually has editors, whose opinions are meant to reflect the greater perception of the area - from a development perspective. which means what people with the cash to build in area think of it. and those are generally not the kind of people who could care less about what a "rock and roll hotel" is.

in truth, im probably younger than most posters here, actually live the h street neighborhood and frequent many of the establishments named above. i would agree that cool things have popped up - but only on one or two blocks. in the development world, its pretty much tiddlywinks - something that DCMUD editorial emphasized more much than it was originally written.

so lets try to keep our kneejerk reactions to minimum. if it pisses you off that this site isn't uber hip that's because it's a REAL ESTATE BLOG. if you want a cultural lifeline, go read BYT.

and, hey, i like "fish sandwiches" too, except for how they'll only give you two pieces of bread and 6 slabs of cod. happy thanksgiving, posters.

Anonymous said...

Also a bit disconcerting that this most major of DC developers' name is mispelled all over the place. It's "Clark" - no "e".

Anonymous said...

well JMD you know how some people like to their "e"s, As in olde

Anonymous said...

Wow Hunter You Sound Like Real D-Bag. So The Tone Of The Article Was The Editors Fault And Not Yours? If You Had Never Been To The Area You Would Think Its Some Sort Of Ghost Town And This Is Some Life Line To Save A Dying Area. Next Time Spend About 20 Minutes During The Daylight And Not At Midnight To Go To The Hip Spots You Frequent To Go Listen To A Fugazi Cover Band.

Anonymous said...

writers generally don't get a say after an editor makes changes (even if they are severe). throw him a bone.

since you are all here complaining, you probably read this blog regularly, as i do. so can we perhaps forgive one shotty article and move on with our blogging lives?

Anonymous said...

In the authors' defense, they raise a good point from strictly a planning perspective. The difference between what was planned by DC for H Street and what is happening is pretty astounding. The gateway hasn't materialized, mostly because Dreyfuss won't build its places on H Street and Abdo/Senate Square can't fill their buildings. The streetscape hasn't changed an ounce. And nothing in between has come or gone (except XII).

Anonymous said...

Hilarious.

I wonder how many of these commenters have actually traveled NORTH of Florida avenue. If I'm not mistaken, this site is not only NORTH of Florida Ave/Benning Road, but also EAST of Bladensburg Road. That would make the author correct in his statement that the retail establishments that are close to the site are more along the lines of "Fish Sandwiches" (i.e. Blasdensburg Road north of Benning) than "sticky rice" (H Street west of Starburst).

And kudos to Hunter for his comment to ya'll. This is a real estate blog, not some amen corner for little neighborhoods that could. Mind you, this is coming from a resident of Capitol Hill North. I know the neighborhood, like a slew of others in DC, has a lot to potentially offer. But I'm also a realist about what it currently does and doesn't have...and the speed at which the lofty development expectations for the area haven't happened.

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