Friday, March 30, 2012

Arlington's Green Tower to Break Ground in July






After nearly three years of delays, the Tellus, Arlington's greenest apartment building, is finally set to break ground.

"Demolition is starting in May, with construction starting on July 1," said Gagik Davtian, Program Manager at Erkiletian. "We figure it'll be about 20 months until first delivery."

The 254-unit, 16-story Tellus is anticipated to be Arlington's first LEED Gold certified building. Plans call for the building to be powered, at least in part, by renewable energy sources, and the building features various water-saving and energy-efficient features - for example, reclaimed storm water and air conditioning condensation will be used to irrigate the native-plant landscaping. The building will also feature smart car and bicycle options, as well as a 26,000 square-foot garden plaza. The Tellus gained approval from the county way back in 2009, with a projected start date later that year, but the recession put things on hold - until now.

The finished building will offer just over 2800 square feet of ground-floor retail space (a restaurant, according to Erkiletian), as well as 7700 square feet of office space. "The Tellus is replacing a seven-story Sixties-era office building [the Arlington Executive Building]," said Davtian. "One of the tenants from the existing building, some government people, are going to be installed in the new building too. The way the office space is attached is actually very organic - it's sort of a bubble coming out of the building, a curvy facade on the backside."

Like the rest of the development, the design of the building has gone through a long collaborative process. According to Davtian, Lessard Group did the "schematic design," and then WDG Architecture came in and developed the working drawings. "WDG also changed a few elements," Davtian said. "They slightly redesigned the interior units, making them bigger, more open, and more contemporary. A lot of them have a sort of loft-like feel now."

Though developers plan on first delivery in 20 months, the project in its entirety is expected to take a full two years to complete.

Arlington, VA real estate development news

4 comments:

G on Mar 30, 2012, 11:07:00 AM said...

There was a conflicting report issued earlier in the week saying that the county gave them another 3 years to break ground. I wonder why the quick change in ruling on this. Either way, I'm glad to see it's coming sooner.

Anonymous said...

They needed an extension of their approval from the County because it would have expired otherwise. Why they asked for the full three years (the max the County can give) I don't know why the developer asked for the full three years if they anticipate groundbreaking this soon. Maybe their financing just came through?

Anonymous said...

Where is the location? Address?

Anonymous said...

I believe the Sedona Slate project in Rosslyn is going to be LEED Gold... that would be the first residential project in Arlington to do so since it's already a year into construction.

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