Showing posts with label Alexandria condos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alexandria condos. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Alexandria's Newest Gateway

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Alexandria will pocket a sizable expansion of mixed-use space once the Braddock Gateway, now planned just south of the Monroe Avenue bridge, gets underway. Jaguar Development expects that its new development - not technically part of Potomac Yards, but adjacent to it, and only a few blocks away from the banks of the Potomac River - will provide close to 770,000 square feet of new development as it gathers momentum to build in the first quarter of 2010.

Jaguar is planning a whopping 630 residential units for the 7-acre site at North Fayette and First Streets, coupled with 70,000 square feet of office and 15,000 of retail. The development will consist of five buildings, built in as many phases - a plan that will allow Jaguar to tailor each successive component of the project to the demands of the marketplace.

“Each phase needs site plan approval and at the time of each approval, you tell the city what the use is going to be,” said Eddie Cettina of Jaguar Development. “All these numbers are moving targets according to where they sit in the development cycle and what the market calls for at that time.”

Though the inclusion of a hotel in the Gateway project was bandied about for a time, Jaguar has since decided against one - after meeting with Alexandria’s Board of Zoning. “It was resolved in March with ACCD [A Consolidated Development District] zoning which allows you…to change uses depending on how the market fares,” said Cettina. “It will now be residential, office and retail.”

Utilizing designs by RustOrling Architecture, the Gateway will sit on two contiguous parcels currently home to warehouses, a small office building, a large surface parking lot, and a National Car Rental service center. The first phase of the project is expected to be open for business by the end of 2012.

Correction: Per Jaguar Development, the site will accommodate about 770,000 s.f. of developable space, the original article stated there would be close to 2 million square feet.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Affordable Housing Championed in Northern Virginia

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The Arlington County Board approved a new measure last month that aims to increase the amount of affordable housing available within the Fort Myer Heights neighborhood, while protecting those already in existence. On September 13, the Board summarily approved the Fort Myer Heights North Plan, which complains that "as the core areas of Rosslyn and Courthouse continue to build out, redevelopment pressure in this area has increased dramatically. The fabric of this neighborhood is being eroded by luxury, by-right development that meets neither the goals of the community nor the County." Since 2004, the area has lost nearly 200 affordable units - nearly a quarter of those available - to redevelopment. As a remedy, the plan lists construction of affordable units and the preservation of existing units as its primary goals.

While the tear down and rebuild process usually results in the loss of affordable housing, the County is looking to make that an unattractive prospect for developers. According to the report, developers seeking to start new projects in historically protected segments of Fort Myer Heights will no longer be offered financial incentives. Instead, the plan encourages developers “to work closely with [County] staff to determine a suitable total affordable housing package” in non-historic areas.

The new declaration of policy means development proposals to wipe out affordable housing will be met with resistance by the county and, in the event that deal is made, that all residents of affordable housing be relocated to new units with the same price tag. Any new designs for non-historically protected buildings must offer at least 10% of its units as affordable.

The implementation of the Fort Meyer Heights North Plan marks the third such maneuver underway in the greater Arlington area. Last month, the Board approved the JBG Companies’ revised site plan for their Jordan Manor project in Ballston. The crux of the revisions is an almost four-fold expansion of the number of affordable housing units –from 24 to 90. And in neighboring Alexandria, the IDI Group Companies' (best known for their Leisure World developments in Maryland and Virginia) are still pursuing their bid to convert the 530-unit Hunting Towers apartment complex (pictured above) into 100% affordable housing, while constructing 4 buildings worth of "luxury" condominiums next door.

Arlington, VA real estate development news

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Jamieson Condo in Carlyle Opens for Sales

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The Jamieson Condominium, Alexandria's newest residential building, garnered attention today by officially holding its grand opening this evening. The 79-unit Jamieson started selling its condos from the Jamieson condos Alexandria virginia real estate$300s; the residences will occupy 6 floors above a 10-story, four-star Westin Hotel in the Carlyle section of Alexandria. The condo-hotel, located about 3 blocks from the King Street Metro station and clad in the ubiquitous red brick of Carlyle, officially opened the hotel to guests last November. The developer, Atlanta-based Regent Partners, iJamieson Condominiums, Regent Partners, Metro, Alexandria commercial propertys banking that extending four-star treatment to condominium owners through hotel services will lure buyers to its project, as happened in Arlington's Waterview Condominium, which sits above the hotel Palomar in Rosslyn and recently sold out of its 136 condo units. Regent built the 319-bed unit on land it purchased from Norfolk Southern in 2004 "Regent Partners is excited to bring this unique lifestyle option to Old Town Alexandria. The only condo/hotel highrise in Alexandria, The Jamieson is designed to offer residents luxuriously finished condominium homes and the advantages that come with living above a hotel like the Westin Alexandria," said Kristi Trogler, director of Sales & Marketing with Regent Partners. Units range in size from 700 to more than 1,000 s.f.

Alexandria Virginia commercial property news

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Alexandria's Hunting Plaza Waits on VDOT

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This month, the Alexandria Planning Commission took a look at IDI Group Companies' proposal for Hunting Creek Plaza, a project that would renovate the current Hunting Towers apartments (pictured at right as two cross-shaped, red brick buildings) by constructing a luxury condominium community on the Hunting Terrace site (rendering digitally inserted in picture at right, above brick apartments), both wedged between the Potomac and the George Washington Parkway. In a setback for the developers, the Planning Commission deferred a decision until the land officially reverts to IDI Group and its partner, Kay Apartment Communities.

IDI saw a unique opportunity in the two existing Hunting Towers buildings - which currently lay hold to 530 apartments - to preserve the pair of buildings as affordable workforce condominiums, similar to what they've done with properties like Parkfairfax. After Hunting Towers' renovation is complete, IDI plans to offer the workforce housing from $125,000 - $240,000 for existing tenants. The remaining units would then be sold, during a priority marketing period, to the city's workforce: school teachers, firemen, policemen, hospital workers, and bloggers (uh, technically that last one was left off the city's list...probably an accident) could snatch them up at prices ranging from $140,000 - $330,000. Anything left over would go to the public at workforce prices, ranging from $145,000 - $355,000. All of this would be subsidized by profits from the sale of the new condo complex.

The vision of the new building (Hunting Terrace) is a 361-unit luxury condo complex. HLS Architects, together with the Old Town firm of Bartzen & Ball Architects, designed Hunting Terrace as four buildings: two, adjacent five-story residential buildings fronting Washington Street and two adjacent main buildings, which step up from eight to 14 stories, with a landscaped courtyard acting as a buffer zone between the two pairs.

The Planning Commission's deferral on the new construction comes in light of the Virginia Department of Transportation's work on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, the second half of which is planned to open within 12 months. Under the eminent domain process, VDOT had omnipotently purchased both the Terrace and Towers sites during the early phases of bridge planning, and demolished roughly a third of each parcel, destroying one building of the Tower side, and three buildings on the Terrace side to make way for the leviathan tangle of new roadways.

But roughly two years ago, Virginia's favorite transportation authority came to the conclusion that its holdings on the Terrace (i.e. new building) side were no longer needed, and sold it back to its original owner, Kay Apartment Communities, which by then had partnered with IDI - the pair have been working on finalizing the new construction drawings since then. But don't uncork the champagne yet, because VDOT still owns the future-workforce housing site, and the Planning Commission wants to see VDOT's sale contract for it before they will approve the proposal to build the new condominiums.


This, most simply put, poses a problem for IDI, because the entire project hinges on the redevelopment of Hunting Towers. The Planning Commission will not grant approval for the increased density and height of the new condominium tower, unless IDI uses the revenue therefrom to subsidize the affordable workforce housing a la the Hunting Towers renovation. Yet VDOT may not sell the confiscated land until the end of this year, and IDI, for various reasons, cannot sit on the condo site until such time that the other half of the project can be purchased. To alleviate these concerns, IDI has offered $20 million in collateral funds to begin building the condo side, in order to avoid suspicions that they will reneg on their obligation to revitalize Hunting Towers into workforce housing. The planning commission still wants to see the contract before they will allow IDI to build the Terrace condos.

"We're working very diligently to try to negotiate with VDOT and reach an agreement on the Hunting Towers parcel as soon as possible. Unfortunately if we don't have the additional height and density that we're requesting that would in turn generate the $20 million subsidy it would be impossible for us to preserve the 530 homes in Hunting Towers as affordable workforce housing. We would have to consider other development alternatives," said Carlos Cecchi, Vice President at IDI Group.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Alexandria's Monarch Condopartments

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President Bush's dream of an owner- ship society took another blow this week. Okay, it probably won't make the State of the Union, but the Monarch Condominiums in Old Town Alexandria are now the Monarch Apartments. Apparently Diamond Properties was struggling to keep the project in the black, selling a frustrating 16% of the 169 units since McWilliams Ballard began sales in July, 2005. Diamond is now adding Kettler to the mix.

This week's conversion continues the unremitting process of developers retooling projects that won't sell, into apartments, which generally do better in a market of skeptical buyers and skeptical lenders. Because they originally organized Monarch as a condominium project, Diamond has the legal ability to hawk individual condos at a later date, but buyers looking for homes in Old Town, Alexandria now have one less option - the supply is reduced to the Prescott, Cromley Lofts, Abingdon Row, and the Royalton. This trend mirrors the greater DC area, which has witnessed a large drop in condo supply due slowing construction and an influx of conversions from condos to rentals. Within the last 18 months, the DC (proper) condo pipeline has shrunk from an estimated projection of 18,000 units over the next two years, to a more modest 5,400 units, many of which are conversions of dated apartments and therefore fail to increase the housing supply.

Little is known about what will happen to the 28-or-so condo-owners that have purchased. A representative from Kettler indicated that a condo board is in place, and current owners would continue to occupy their units. Whomever they are, they can't be ecstatic about owning a home in an apartment building. Maybe the 17,000 s.f. of ground floor retail makes up for the loss, or perhaps the convenience of living four blocks from the Braddock Metro, or even the rooftop garden deck and in-house cinema room.

Kettler, who seems to be running the leasing side, will try to make up for lost time; a one bedroom, 700-s.f. apartment starts at $1885.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Sponsored Announcement



Cromley Lofts - True loft living in the heart of Old Town.
Located a short walk to the Potomac and the King Street Metro, Cromley Lofts features the gorgeous conversion and historic preservation of a century-old brick warehouse, with breathtaking contemporary finishes throughout, including oversized windows, high ceilings, reclaimed yellow pine floors, gas fireplaces, soapstone kitchen counters, double stainless steel ovens, retracting vents, fully tiled glass showers, and parking available. Two penth
ouses feature end to end windows surrounded by private patios.

Beauty without guilt: Cromley Lofts are LEED-certified "Gold", the first building in Alexandria and the first condo in Virginia with LEED credentials. Priced from $535k to $645k, with off-street parking, each spacious loft has been flawlessly upgraded and beautifully designed for the perfect urban comfort. Contact Tanya for more information at 703-203-8750. Sales and marketing by DCRE.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Alexandria Condos Going to Auction

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On Sunday the 28th, Parkside Alexandria is due to auction 30 remaining condos in the 378-unit complex in Alexandria, VA. The Parkside, on N. Van Dorn Street, was originally an apartment building, converted to condos by Mid-City Urban, which claims on its website to have nearly $1 billion in housing units on the east coast. Sales for the Parkside began in early 2004 when condominium sales were in their hayday, but reduced pricing was not sufficient to move the remaining units that began delivery 18 months ago. Renovation work completed on the project in January of this year. According to the development page, the remaining units will auction at a minimum bid of $225,000 for units that had at one point started at $279,000.

Sunday, December 31, 2006

New Condo to be Alexandria's First Green Building

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Condo developers nationally have been on the leading edge of the green movement, and it now appears that Alexandria’s first LEED-certified building will be an Old Town condominium. Alexandria Developer William Cromley is renovating a century-old warehouse at 1210 Queen St. into an 8-unit, "loft" style condominium called Cromley Lofts, featuring a green roof and sustainable, low-emission materials. LEED certification requires a rigorous third-party designation process and contemplates such factors as indoor environment, sustainable materials, access to public transportation, and energy efficiency. Cromley expects that the project, which has not yet been LEED-approved by the U.S. Green Building Council, will receive "certification," the lowest of the four possible rankings available, making this the first Alexandria project to receive such classification when it completes in the Spring, and estimates that the enhanced design will reduce utilities by about 30%. Alexandria's T.C. Williams High School, which has also applied for certification, will not complete until the Fall.

Each of the condos will offer about 1250 square feet of space in what Cromley describes as "true lofts," a departure from much of modern construction despite the prevalence of the term "loft" in marketing. Set in a historic building that was functional until recently as office space and artist studios, the lofts will exhibit "sleeping niches" rather than formal bedrooms, and bamboo cabinets as a sustainable alternative to traditional wood. Prices are expected to range from $500,000 to $700,000 when sales commence this Spring, competing with the Prescott and Monarch, much larger condo projects now underway in the quickly developing neighborhood. Sales and marketing by DCRE.

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