An office building in the midst of 14th Street's many condos will soon bring the busy entertainment corridor a little closer to true mixed use development. That is, when Furioso Development breaks ground on "1525 Fourteen", a mixed-use building slated to break ground this fall. That moment is nigh, according to Giorgio Furioso. He puts the time until groundbreaking at eight weeks."We are moments away from breaking ground," Furioso told DCMud, "and we are doing some preliminary stuff to cross all our Ts and Is." Developer Giorgio Furioso sees the future 42,000 s.f. building - in the planning stage for nearly a decade - as an anchor of 24/7 neighborhood vitality, bringing some daytime activity to a night-time destination.
Some office tenants for the building are ready to move in, Furioso said, but there are no decisions about a tenant for the 3,600 square feet of street-level retail. That announcement could come in the next few months, Furioso told DCMud.
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| Original 2004-approved scheme |
The project has already gained the necessary approvals and financing. The Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) approved the in-fill project in 2010. It was originally planned as a seven-story, cubist-inspired residential building in 2004, but Furioso changed direction.
The design for the six-story LEED gold building, which includes a green roof, geothermal heating, and solar panels, is by architecture firm Eric Colbert and Associates. Two underground floors include 28-small-car parking spaces, accessible by car elevator only, and a charging station for hybrid cars. The building also includes a bicycle room complete with showers.
The Mohawk artists lofts, the condo building Church Place, renovation of the historic Roosevelt, and Solo Piazza residential building on 13th Street are all past projects of Furioso. Furioso, who is stately in favor of a quality-over-quantity development model, only builds one development at a time.
"I think you can grow by being better rather than being bigger - sort of the Lorax idea," Fuioso, who was born in Italy and holds an MFA, told DCMud. "Sometimes the idea of success is measured by how many projects you do - whether you're the architect, the developer, the builder - rather than saying 'this project contributes to this neighborhood the way other projects don't.' It's a different approach to working and living."
Washington D.C. real estate development news
10 comments:
Car elevator!
Final project is ugly and will not beautify 14th Street.
Welcome to "no class" DC
It dosen't have to be attractive as long as it's cool!
It's definitely not ugly, and as an infill project it's got class. Not every building needs to be a masterpiece.
"The office building will be the first in 50 years built on U Street, according to Furioso." - It's not on U Street...
I like it.
I think it looks good, and its positive that there will be office space there, the street needs it.
"not every building needs to be a masterpiece"
i've seen this sentiment a lot. it's as if it's a mantra drilled into people at architecture school or something.
but it implies that some buildings are actually masterpieces, right? so where are these masterpieces?
and i'm not opposed to this building. i also think it's fine. but we all want better, don't we?
...and he talked about crossing his "I"s
hmmm...methinks the guy talks just to fill the quiet space, instead of saying serious things.
Oh, critics. I actually like it. Or I should say that from the renderings it has potential, execution is always an issue, depends on the quality of the materials, especially the windows.
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