Team Selected for SW Fire Site

There’s a new bright red fire station in the works for Southwest Washington. Deputy Mayor Neil Albert and DC Fire Chief Dennis Rubin joined Mayor Adrian Fenty today to announce the official selection of E Street Development for the redevelopment of two parcels adjoining Engine Company 13 at 450 6th Street, SW.

The development team – a partnership between Potomac Investment Properties, City Partners and Adams Investment Group – will construct over 500,000 square feet of new office and retail space on two District-owned parcels between 5th and 6th Street, SW. In addition, their mixed-use complex will also house a new, state-of-the-art, 22,000 square foot fire station that, according to the Mayor, “comes at no cost to the District of Columbia.”

“As you look around the station, you can see its great need of heavy maintenance, if not replacement,” said Rubin. “We feel like the time is right and that this is a great opportunity.”

The two Beyer Blinder Belle-designed projects will also be LEED certified and host a bevy of public service uses, including space for Kid Power DC and a café hosted by the DC Central Kitchen. Both Fenty and Deputy Mayor Albert pointed to their inclusion as deciding factors in their choice of E Street over two rival proposals from JLH Partners, Chapman Development and CDC Companies, and Trammell Crow, CSG Urban Partners and Michele Hagans, respectively.

“The E Street Development team stood out because not only of their ability to be visionary, but to provide certainty to the government,” said Fenty.

Michael Gewirz, President of Potomac Investment Properties, followed up on exactly what type of “certainty” his company would be providing to the project. “Some folks have asked what our concerns are given the current economic climate. I can say this: we wouldn’t be standing here if we weren’t capable of doing this project,” said Gewirz. “Right now, we’re just going to work as hard as we can with the Deputy Mayor’s office.”

And they’ll have plenty to work on in the coming months, as the City has yet to decide whether the property will be sold or leased to the E Street team. Albert said the final details concerning the land transfer will hammered out in the next three to four months with a groundbreaking set to occur within the year. In the meantime, Engine Company 13 – the unit tasked with monitoring aerial comings and goings at the White House – will remain open and operational until completion of their new facility.

Though no mention was made of the Mayor’s ongoing scandal concerning (ironically enough) a fire engine donated to the Dominican Republic, city officials were keen on pointing out the extent of the development currently underway in the blocks surrounding 6th Street. The large-scale office development, Constitution Center, is under construction directly across from the fire station’s present location, while its new spot a few hundred yards away will adjoin the District’s new Consolidated Forensics Laboratory.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome, Now Eat. Firehouse-Inspired Sixth Engine Bistro Opens in Mt. Vernon

Old firehouses just seem to lend themselves to classic-looking bar-and-grill type bistros once the last shift has run the last call. And the new Sixth Engine at 438 Massachusetts Avenue near the Mount Vernon Triangle, which just opened this week, is no exception.

The restaurant, owned and operated by Gavin Coleman, Jeremy Carman, Paul Holder, Paul Madrid and Tim Walsh, who also run the Dubliner Irish pub, just down the street, as well as Glover Park's Town Hall, opened in 2005 -- is a smart reuse of the Metropolitan Hook & Ladder Company building, built in 1855 and used by the D.C. Fire Department until 1974. It is the oldest firehouse in the District, and a handful of its era, most built by Leon Emile Dessez (1858-1919) still survive, with some on active duty with DCFD.

"This building presented us with a wonderful opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind restaurant environment, though not without its share of challenges," said Kathryn Bram, Director of Projects for Bethesda-based Streetsense, the marketing and design firm behind Sixth Engine. BuilderGuru Contracting Inc., served as general contractor.

"The firehouse is surrounded by the new 400 Mass condo development, but has its own walls and structure," she said. "We had to solve numerous issues in regard to egress, deliveries, life safety, structural integrity, venting and more." Jenkins Baer Associates of Baltimore also contributed to the interior design.

(Courtesy: DCFire.Com)

The 3,900 s.f. restaurant has two floors, and includes the original "MHL" shield outside the front double doors, as well as a refurbished brass pole.

Douglas Jemal of Douglas Development purchased the firehouse from the city in 2005, recognizing its potential. The Sixth Engine crew leased the space from Jemal beginning in March 2011. The first floor holds a bar and main dining area while the second floor holds the kitchen and a private dining room.

Sixth Engine isn't the only adaptive reuse of local firehouses in the Washington Metro area. Fire

Station 1 Restaurant and Bar in Silver Spring, owned by retired fire captain Jeremy Gruber opened in 2010 in the old Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Department Station 1 House on Georgia Ave. Several other old firehouses in the District have been redeveloped or under consideration, including Firehouse 10 at 1341 Maryland Ave NE. and at Engine Co. 12 at 1626 North Capitol St, the latter of which has seen several restaurant deals emerge in the past few years but fall through.

Washington D.C. real estate development news.

The Evolution of Cavemen and Castaways

By Beth Herman

In prehistoric times,it was a means to keep warm and char that woolly mammoth (please pass the salt), and in the 2000 film “Cast Away,” Tom Hanks unabashedly called himself a god on the night he created it. But in the dense, exploding, urban atmosphere of today, a roaring fire isn’t the answer.

For Reston, Va.-based LeMay Erickson Willcox Architects, purveyors of safety design and creators of more than 50 fire and rescue facilities over three decades, the structures they build in response to the demand for fire and rescue services in expanding metropolitan areas are the real answers, and maybe in more ways than one.

The Spark

Back in 2006, when the City of Alexandria sought a redevelopment plan to revitalize Potomac Yard, a former rail yard sited in the city’s north end which for more than 100 years served as the area’s primary freight yard and extended all the way into Arlington County, the idea of mixing rescue with residents was completely unprecedented according to firm principal Paul Erickson.

“We’re not aware of any other building in the U.S. that combines an apartment structure with a fire station,” Erickson said of the prototype mixed-use design for The Station at Potomac Yard No. 9. “We believe there are one or two overseas: one in London and there might be one in South Africa, but we’re not aware of any here.”

Very much a collaborative effort where the collegiality on the project was “infectious,” Erickson was quick to emphasize, the 170,000 s.f. structure, which includes two below grade parking floors and was earmarked as both low-income and affordable housing, is the painstaking result of the efforts of legions of civil engineers, traffic consultants, historic and design review entities, fire and housing office officials, sound consultants, sustainability inspectors, a “forward thinking” general contractor–Whiting-Turner Contracting Company–and two architecture firms. “It was the best team spirit of any project I’ve been involved in since the beginning,” Erickson affirmed. “One of the distinguishing characteristics of this one was everybody sort of catching a vision of something that was unique and had never been done.” What’s more, because the City was exploring how best to manage a master redevelopment plan for the area, it wanted to make sure that if things were built, they could be protected, Erickson said, referencing the 22,500 s.f. fire station component.

Vibrations Under Fire

According to LeMay Erickson Willcox senior associate Lynn Reda, director of the firm’s public safety studio, most of the projected noise concerns had more to do with the operation of the fire station and the vibration between it and the 64 residential units above than the fear of whining sirens. “They’re not supposed to turn their sirens on until they are off the property,” Reda said, adding they are naturally traveling away from the building. To that end, acoustic technology experts Polysonics Corporation was retained, resulting in the design of a special sound-abating slab between the fire station’s ceiling and the residences above. “We were certainly concerned about vibration,” Reda said, noting that the parking garage and fire station consist largely of poured concrete while the units above are wood frame structures: the change in materials mitigating sound. Because of the station’s four pendulous 14x14-ft. bay apparatus doors (plus one more for HAZMAT trailers) that open and close several times in a 24-hour period, instead of traditional overhead doors with ceiling-mount motors that would impact the units above, the architects used “side-parting” doors. Additionally, the 1,2 and 3-bedroom residences above are arranged in a U-shape around the apparatus bays, which further attenuates sound from beneath.

Fire Walls (and roofs and floors)

Where sustainability is concerned, two different green ratings systems were applied, one to the fire station to achieve LEED Silver, with the residences submitting to EarthCraft certification. According to Reda and Erickson, EarthCraft, which is residential in nature, dispatches inspectors during construction to examine the thermal envelope and is more focused on energy conservation including appliances, for example, that have Energy Star ratings. For the building’s LEED credentials, Reda said 100 percent of the parking is below grade, considered exemplary performance from the heat island effect. The sloped red metal roof has a high SRI (solar reflective index), as does a concealed mechanical well behind it. Arriscraft block– visible at the base of the building and which provides the appearance of a heavily-rusticated stone base but is essentially veneer–is regional. Cement block, which comprises the station’s interior walls, has an inherent recycled content and wood used in doors and cabinetry is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)-certified. Occupancy sensors for lighting and occupant-controlled thermal elements are present, as is radiant heat in the floors of 15 bunk rooms. “One of the reasons we did that is because they are located above the cold, two-level parking garage and sleeping rooms need to be warm in winter,” Reda affirmed. A small municipal park sited in front along with perimeter plantings, irrigated by rainwater from garage-based cisterns that collect roof water, qualifies for green space.

Where There’s Smoke

For Erickson, whose grandfather was a firefighter (though he never knew him) in St. Paul, Minnesota, and for Reda, whose reputation for “living the job” comes from her constant immersion in firefighter training exercises and overnights at stations on out of town projects, fire and rescue station work is proverbially in their blood.

“I’ve cut open roofs, extinguished car fires, done search and rescue through smoke-filled houses,” Reda said (much in the way an actor may research a role). Because firefighters have their own culture, and characteristics of their culture may vary significantly from city to city, state to state, region to region, Erickson and Reda said it is important to understand how one city for which they are designing a facility might do things as opposed to people and factors that influenced the last project. “It’s important to be able to ask the questions that will help you design that building and not change them (the firefighters) culturally into something they don’t want to be,” Reda said.

Additionally, safety facility design has metamorphosed from the smaller, sparse, utilitarian structures of 20 and 30 years ago into the framework that needs to support escalating urban areas, as well as a changing firefighter demographic. “Back in 1979, there really weren’t any women in fire and rescue emergency services and that’s changed a lot,” Erickson reflected. “At Potomac Yard, you’ll see gender-neutral spaces that include private bunk rooms with individual restrooms consisting of a lavatory, shower and water closet.” According to Erickson, this allows for flexibility of shift and demographics. “It’s a pretty elegant solution to staffing and gender issues,” he said. With fitness paramount to employee health and morale, the architects said relatively sophisticated gym spaces with high enough ceilings to accommodate state-of-the-art equipment are encouraged in their designs, and not simply the dumb bells-in-the-basement stock of older stations.

“And from a firefighting perspective, equipment such as ambulances, engine and ladder trucks – they’ve gotten bigger and bigger and bigger,” Reda said, noting sometimes the older facilities cannot be retrofitted to accommodate them and stations must be built larger. What’s more, she cited a greater understanding of the impact of firefighting on gear itself (it costs $1,000 to suit-up a professional), and the trend in building climate-and light-controlled storage rooms to manage gear’s off-gas toxins following a fire.

On Fire Now!

Alluding to the firm’s website, Erickson said despite so many requirements there is no uniform design response for fire stations. “You’ll see some very contemporary designs, as well as those that try to take on historic characteristics and blend into an historic neighborhood,” he explained, noting that because of Rust Orling Architecture’s (the second firm involved) high standing for work within an historical context in Alexandria, fulfilling the requisites of the design review board, planning commission, town council and neighbors to develop the character of the building’s exterior was supremely achieved. The result, Erickson said, is a “Richardsonian-Romanesque kind of architecture, but done in a Virginia brick that blends the image of a civic building with the particulars of Old Town Alexandria.” In fact, among the multitude of awards the building has received is a 2007 U.S. Council of Mayors’ Award and a 2010 Craftsmanship Award.

With a project in Durham, New Hampshire and two projects in development in the District that will apply similar mixed-use principals, one where an 1895 horse-drawn pumper on Georgia Avenue will yield to affordable housing and improved emergency response with one proverbial stroke, Erickson indicated word is getting around. And with creativity extending to financing, in Alexandria some of the cost of the $23 million project was defrayed by funding sources and options that included the developer, Potomac Yard Development, contributing just over $14 million for both the fire station and residential components, plus donating the land, and by using Virginia Development Housing Authority (VDHA) tax credits.

“I think what this all really demonstrates is that you can think outside of the box,” Erickson said.

Three Teams Compete in SW Fire Sale

Officials from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development held a community forum at the now vacant H20 nightclub on the Southwest Waterfront last night to highlight proposals from three development teams vying to revitalize land currently occupied by Fire Engine Company 13 at 450 6^th Street, SW and a neighboring parking lot. The three teams present at the meeting originally submitted their proposals last June. According to Mayor Fenty, a final selection is expected “late next month.”

Each of the three teams would relocate the fire station from its current 6^th Street location to the 4^th Street corner in order to provide for better access and response time. Team 1, Potomac Investment Properties (City Partners and Adams Investment Group, formerly submitted as E Street Development), intends to“animate E Street,” according to Jeff Griffiths of City Partners. Griffiths said that his vision is for the station to occupy the lower two floors of a 10-story, 191,000 square foot office tower with a prominent fire-engine red facade, in keeping with the building’s primary use. The Beyer Blinder Belle-designed edifice would also sport 3,000 square feet intended for community use by Kid Power and the DC Central Kitchen. The building would be topped off by a green roof and feature LEED silver certification.

Phase II of construction would see another 9-story, 301,000-s.f. office tower on top of the fire station’s present 6^th Street location, with a ground floor retail base. Phase II, like its predecessor, would include a green roof and LEED silver certification. In between the two corner-to-corner projects, the team would “create synergy between the two parcels” with improved streetscape and landscaping.

Team 2 (JLH Partners, Chapman Development and CDC Companies) would place the station infrastructure on the bottom two floors of a new 103,000-s.f. office building. Bachelor number 2, however, noted its advanced scouting efforts for potential tenants, including the General Services Administration (hellooo stimulus). But the real centerpiece of their development scheme was their plans for 6^th Street, where they propose a 208-unit, extended-stay hotel adjacent to an 11,000-s.f., publicly-accessible atrium that could be utilized for arts purposes, including performances by the Arena Stage and Washington Ballet.

Team 3 (Trammell Crow, CSG Urban Partners and Michele Hagans) highlighted their ability to unify the 4th Street intersection. CSG principal Charles King said CSG had submitted a proposal for the fire station three years ago, with the intention of transforming it into a DNC headquarters or hydrogen fuel station (insert hot air joke). Further, Trammell Crow is nearing completion on its million-s.f. Patriot Plaza project across the street. If accepted, the new buildings would be thematically consistent.

As if that wasn't enough to seal it, their Gensler-designed office building/fire station would top out at 190,000 s.f. and feature a number of upgrades for the firefighting staff, including additional truck bays. Meanwhile, their plans for a 306,000-s.f. office building on 6^th Street would include 16,000 s.f. for a mixture of retail and community purposes. Team 3 plans to secure financing for the project by sharing parking with Patriot Plaza, and said that with initial funding secured, they could begin construction as early as 2010. “We don’t enter into partnerships we can’t finish or finance,” said King.

Fire Sale of Land in SW

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development issued a Solicitation for Offers yesterday for the development of two District-owned parcels in Southwest. The forgotten quadrant of DC to some (not us), Southwest is just starting to get attention thanks to the development of “Southwest Waterfront” by PN Hoffman. The District seeks “highly-qualified development team with the financial capacity to complete this complex project” and prefers to hire one developer for both sites.

The first parcel, Lot 28 on the western side of Square 494, is 34,000 s.f. and bounded by 6th, School, and E Streets. It is currently the antiquated home of a two-story fire station used by Fire Engine Company 13. The fire station will pose a challenge for developers as a new fire station must be included in proposals, but will save taxpayers the cost of constructing a new station or renovating the old one.

“We can’t have the station go out of service, the developer should come back to us with a plan of how to keep the station open the whole time and build a new one, either on one of the two sites or adjacent to the property if they own land in the area,” said Sean Madigan, Press Officer for the Deputy Mayor.

The city says there is no time like the present to move Company 13 to a newer facility while simultaneously bringing another development to the neighborhood. SW firemen wont be the only civil servants enjoying new digs.

The eastern side of the lot, which is about 40,000 s.f. and the home of the Metropolitan Police Department’s First District Headquarters, is planned for DC’s new 240,000 s.f. Consolidated Forensic Laboratory. According to project manager Senthil Sankaran, MPD will eventually move to another SW location to make room for the laboratory on the vacated site.

The presence of a fire station and forensic laboratory does make the site a little loud (and grim) for a residential project, but the city will consider all offers as long as they include a fire station. Madigan said an office use is most likely, but a hotel or apartment building could be possible if built correctly and with (a lot of) insulation. But if the Ritz Carlton can be next to a fire station in the West End, why not here too?

Community leaders would like to see a community center incorporated in the proposals and the District is requiring that developers designate that at least 35 percent of any contracts go to certified local, small, or disadvantaged businesses and give at least half of the jobs to DC residents.

“Particularly this section of office space is a great opportunity to do some infill work. This project alone won’t transform this office quarter, but a project like this could go a long way to make this a more lively area just south of the mall and could help connect the area to the waterfront activity that is coming. There is no reason not to do this now,” Madigan said.

The second site, Square 495 or Lot 102, stands empty and is used as a parking lot by a local school during the week and a church on the weekend. Smaller than its adjacent site at 19,187 s.f., it is bounded by 4th Street, E Street, and the Southwest/Southeast Freeway. (The building on the left is a privately-owned office building.)

Proposals are due on August 15, 2008, but a pre-offer conference will be held later this month.

District Re-Shuffles SW Redevelopment Initiatives

Washington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty held a press conference yesterday to highlight the District’s shuffling of several government facilities to expedite redevelopment – despite the apparent delays that have skewed timelines on several of the named projects, including the Consolidated Forensics Laboratory, the MPD First District Headquarters and Fire Engine Company 13.

“We promised to keep these projects moving and get them finished as fast as possible,” said Fenty. “We are continually working to manage our public facilities more efficiently. In many of these cases we will save millions of dollars over the long term by moving our operations out of leased space and into government-owned facilities.”

The first project facing such a move will be the Metropolitan Police Department’s First District HQ, which will relocate from 415 4^th Street, SW to one of the District’s recently closed public schools, Southwest’s Bowen Elementary. In the seven months since the school was shuttered, the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization and the Office of Property Management renovated to make a building once inadequate for fifth graders suitable for crime scene investigators. A figure for the cost of said renovation was not disclosed by the Mayor.

Following the move, the police facility’s current incarnation in turn will be razed to make way for a new $220 million, six-story, 240,000 square foot Comprehensive Forensics Lab (originally solicited as the Consolidated Forensic Laboratory). The building, which had initially been scheduled for construction last December, will consolidate the now disparate offices of the Chief Medical Examiner, Public Health Laboratory and MPD Forensic Services Division following its expected completion in late 2011.

Fenty also provided an update on the status of the proposals for the redevelopment of Fire Engine Company 13, just around the corner, at 450 6^th Street, SW – a site the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development announced it was vetting for a new firehouse, along with 465,000 square feet of mixed-use development, last June. According to ODMPED, they are still evaluating the three submitted proposals (from JLH Partners, Chapman Development, and CDC Companies; Trammell Crow, CSG Urban Partners, and Michele Hagans; and Potomac Investment Properties, City Partners, and Adams Investment Group) and will make a selection “late next month.” In the meantime, they’ll be holding a community meeting outlining the pitches tomorrow, February 25^th at 800 Water Street, SW.

Lastly, Fenty announced new plans for a 30,000 square foot MPD Evidence Warehouse at DC Village, a family-oriented emergency shelter on Village Lane, SW that was closed following accusations of "inhumane" conditions. It was noted that the District hopes to save additional funds by moving their current stock from leased space to the government-owned parcel.

3 Teams Bid for SW Firehouse Site

If you've ever dreamed of living out your childhood fire fighter fantasy by sliding down a brass pole to get to your office, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) has good news for you. DMPED recently received three responses from local development teams concerning the District's redevelopment proposal for two sites at 4^th & E Streets SW - including turning the current home of Fire Engine Company 13 at 450 6^th Street SW -- into a mixed-use development.

The proposals come from three differing alliances of local developers. JLH Partners, Chapman Development, and CDC Companies comprise the first team; Trammell Crow, CSG Urban Partners, and Michele Hagans as the second; and Potomac Investment Properties, City Partners, and Adams Investment Group (together calling themselves E Street Development Partners LLC) the third.

The proposals for the site include plans for rebuilding the 34,000-s.f. Engine 13 station (either on site or within a two block radius), up to 465,000 square feet of office space, a 130-208 room hotel, and the inclusion of ground level retail. According to a statement released by the OMPED, two of the submissions include “proposed community space,” while one set out plans for “an 11,000 square foot atrium-covered public indoor park.” This jives with the District’s insistence on seeing a community center incorporated into any prospective design. The proposals presumably align with the initial RFP’s insistence that at least 35 percent of any contracts go to certified local, small or disadvantaged businesses, and that at least 51 percent of the new jobs created by the project go to District residents.

The projected construction would also envelop the second site included in the District’s RFP – a 19,000 square foot vacant lot bounded by 4^th Street, E Street and the Southwest/Southeast Freeway. Deputy Mayor Neil Albert's choice should be known by December, the District's deadline for selecting the best team. Groundbreaking could take place as early as summer 2010.

Located behind the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) First District headquarters, this marks the second such construction project the District has planned for the block. After their last location proved too expensive, the MPD building at 415 4^th Street SW will undergo demolition in order to make way for a new, 240,000 square foot Consolidated Forensics Lab (CFL) - construction of which is expected to begin in December. BIDs for that project are due to the District’s Office of Property Management by November 7^th.

Axis

A Modest Icon Returns to D.C., The Washington Globe Streetlight

Iconic street light design has long been part of A-list cities like New York, Boston and Paris. Paris, mais bien sur, naturally, is nicknamed, "The City of Light." And in the United States, New York indeed, might just be the streetlight capital, where there are more than 34 models, most with intricate ironwork, with names like "The Corvington" and the delightfully-named 24A-W "Bishop's Crook." The street light design, not surprisingly, has added to Gotham's mystique and sense of place.

Not surprisingly, there are even Web sites devoted to preserving New York's streetlight heritage.

The Big Apple actually held a design contest in 2004 to standardize and unify the more than 300,000 streetlights in the city, mainly with an aim to ending the tyranny of the banal 1960's era "form-follows-function" cobra head light.

The cobra head light, otherwise known as a Westinghouse OV25 Silverliner, first designed in 1957, is still a staple in many cities, especially Washington D.C. For many years, streetlight design in a "no-frills" government town like Washington meant cobra heads rearing up everywhere.

Oddly enough, they fit well amid the acres of Brutalist concrete of the 1960s and 1970s as the federal government needed to expand its bureaucracy quickly. And as confidence in city management waned in the Marion Barry years, more concern was understandably paid to getting burnt-out streetlights replaced quickly rather than what they looked like.

That's not to say Washington didn't have its own iconic design. The Washington Globe and its bigger brother, the "Twin-20" was, and still is a recognizable staple along Constitution Avenue, New York Avenue and other historic routes. "The Washington Globe is the most pleasing design, architecturally," the city's Fine Arts Commission declared in 1980.

But decades of neglect and disrepair took its toll on a Washington icon. Part of which was due to cost of the globes. A glass globe was the hardiest design, and didn't yellow when exposed to sunlight, but cost more than $300 each and were a danger to cars and pedestrians alike if the heavy, inch-thick glass shattered. The District sent its inventory of glass globes to a dumpster more than 20 years ago.

Replacements for the glass were far from perfect. Polycarbonate globes were tougher, could be bought for less, but yellowed when exposed to sunlight and the lights lost their luminosity. They only last about 5-10 years to boot. Acrylic globes didn't yellow, lasted longer, about 10-15 years, but they weren't cheap either, about $125 a globe.

Indifferent administrations, and the District's subordinate relationship to the federal government also contributed to the lack of appreciation of such uniqueness. During the energy crisis of the 1970s, the Carter administration urged electricity savings. At the White House's prompting, many federal agencies in town disconnected street lighting and eschewed illuminating government buildings, save the Capitol, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, and the Washington Monument.

The issue of streetlights in the District played a role in one of the more tragic, and galling incidents in the city. According to the DC Inspector General's report on the death of former New York Times editor David Rosenbaum in January 2006, inadequate street lighting along Granmercy Street was a contributing factor in both his attack and the inability of responding police, firefighters and EMTs in determining the seriousness of Rosenbaum's condition, who was presumed to be drunk, rather than a victim of a robbery with a serious head injury which proved fatal.

While treating Rosenbaum, firefighters needed to turn on side floodlights of their engine to illuminate the scene, the inspector general's report said. "The area was dark, even with the fire (engine)'s lights on," the report said.

Even before Rosenbaum's death, attention had begun to focus on the dismal state of DC's 62,000-plus streetlights and their design. In 1998, the city adopted streetscape and sidewalk standards for downtown DC. Streetscape standards required that builders of commercial properties, among other things, incorporate Washington Globe streetlight design.

And in 2005, the city followed New York's lead and initiated its own streetlight design committee which identified so-called "Special Streets" and "Historic Streets" to upgrade streetlight design as funds permitted. "The historic significance of the City must be reflected through all aesthetic elements including the appearance of streetlights," the committee declared in March 2005 in its final report.

Still, city administrators will freely admit that not every "Special" or "Historic" street will get the upgraded lighting, given other more pressing budget priorities amid an economic downturn. Teardrop lights cost as much as $600, compared to $200 for a cobra head light. But DC recently used Recovery Act funding to replace outdated streetlights along the Dalecarlia Parkway in Northwest. The Dalecarlia Parkway is one of 120 "Special Street" corridors the city has identified for upgraded lighting, including Wisconsin and Connecticut Avenues, MacArthur Boulevard, and the roads making up DC's borders with Montgomery County and Prince Georges County.

But where the city is lacking funds, some of the Business Improvement Districts are stepping up. The Downtown DC BID has also used its funds to pay for new pendant lights, such as the one above seen at 12th and F NW downtown, as well as Washington Globe lights around Gallery Place. In addition, the National Park Service included new "Twin 20" lighting as part of their $10 million remake of Constitution Avenue to be completed in March.

Former Mayor Adrian Fenty also made it a priority for a portion of DC's new streetlights to be green, as well as iconic. The District uses 60.7 million kWh annually and has a lighting bill of about $3.6 million, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. The new Metropolitan Branch Trail along the CSX-right-of-way includes nineteen solar-powered LED streetlights. The District is also using $1 million in Recovery Act money for new LED lights in alleys.

Washington D.C. redevelopment news.

Demolition Makes Way for DC's $218 million Crime Lab

Today DC officials began demolition work at the Metropolitan Police Department's former First District Headquarters at 415 4th Street, SW, the future site of the District's $218 million Consolidated Forensics Laboratory (CFL). Developed by Whiting-Turner and designed by HOK Architects, the six-story, 287,000 s.f. state-of-the-art crime lab will be situated in the shadow of the new Constitution Center complex near the L'Enfant Plaza Metro.

The new CFL will house the forensic arms of the Metropolitan Police, as well as the Department of Health and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and will be LEED Gold certified when it is completed sometime "in late 2012," according to DC Mayor Adrian Fenty. The First District's MPD headquarters relocated to the Bowen School at 101 M St SW in March to make room for the CFL lab.

CFL Director, Dr. William Vosburg said the new facility will allow for "synergy" between health and safety departments so that they are able to fight crime, identify disease outbreaks, and support public health and safety in general. And who couldn't use a little more synergy these days?

Meanwhile, the search continues for a temporary headquarters for the adjacent Engine 13 Fire House. The Ward 6 fire station will move to the adjoining parcels at 450 6th Street, SW just as soon as Mayor Fenty and the fire chief work out a suitable location for a temporary headquarters.

DC Council Approves Sale of 6428 Georgia Avenue; Park East Back on Track?

Last week, the DC Council gave unanimous approval to the sale of 6428 Georgia Avenue NW, a 5,184-sf lot containing a vacant building of 7,000 sf (formerly Blockbuster Video), to Georgia Avenue Investment Partners, LLC (Ellis Denning) for almost $4 million, bringing to a close the short, odd tale of this Brightwood property. A year ago, Ellis Denning actually owned this land, and had plans to construct Park East (pictured), a condo-retail complex on the site. But in August 2006, the DC government, threatening eminent domain, managed to purchase the lot from Ellis Denning for $3.9 million with the intention of building a firehouse for Fire Engine Company 22. Soon after, opposition to this plan was raised, with many pointing out that a firehouse would be inconsistent with efforts to revitalize this stretch of Georgia Avenue as a livable, pedestrian-friendly space. With this in mind, the DC Council passed a bill to sell the lot back to Ellis Denning at the same price for which it was purchased from them. Ellis Denning is expected to now move forward with its plans to build a 5-story complex on the lot, but now with 39 apartment units rather than condos (12 units will be affordable housing). Design is by Hickok Cole Architects.

Washington DC real estate development news

Drug and Crime Infested DC Housing Project Meets Its Match

A formerly crime and drug infested building met its match today as officials marked the final phase of demolition of Capitol View Plaza Towers, a long-vacant public housing eyesore in the District’s Marshall Heights neighborhood. Despite several earlier-contemplated residential and mixed-use plans, the site has no clear future as DC officials continue checking the couch cushions for financing. Initially the District did not even have the financing to demolish the abandoned structure, but a $3 million grant from the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) made it possible. While an empty lot may be more desirable than an eyesore, it is not much of an improvement for land that serves as the gateway to the city from Maryland's Prince George's County, just a block down the road.

Most recently, the plan for the site was to create a new multifamily rental building as well as market-rate condos. However, Kerry Smyser, the Project Manager at DCHA, said that with the finance market and condo market the way they are, that plan is no longer feasible. Smyser added that since the two towers from today's demolition are part of the Capitol Gateway project, A&R Development Corporation and Henson Development Company, as the Gateway's developers, would have first right to develop any plan the government decides on. Failing that, the District could then issue an RFP. According to Cymando Henley, a spokesperson for DCHA, the District will "look at all the options and decide what is best for the community."

In 2000, under the administration of former DC Mayor Anthony Williams, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allotted a $30.8 million grant under its HOPE VI program to the redevelopment of Capitol View Plaza's 12-story tower. The HOPE grants also applied to neighboring public housing which is now the Capitol residential project. In April, Smyser said that phase I of that development has delivered “nearly 240 duplexes, townhouses and single-family homes.” The HOPE grants allow for a combination of mixed income and mixed-use projects, which have in the past included community centers as well as residential buildings.

Today's demolition was a more public display of the slow dismantling of the building which has been underway since July. The local fire department, Engine 30, has been closely watching the progress and will be celebrating the demolition. According to their blog the "buildings when occupied, would average 5-7 medical locals a tour for the companies, with the rare, but spectacular fire." Comments from former residents told horror stories of murders in elevators and crack addicts in the stairwells. No more drugs, no more murders, no more fire engines. Things are looking up.

DC Mayor Adrian Fenty was joined by Michael Kelly, executive director of the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA), and Leila Edmonds, director of the DCHD. Though Fenty was at the helm today, the Wrecking Corporation of America will continue the demolition, which will complete in 2010.


UPDATE: After DCMud published this story on Wednesday, the Washington Business Journal published a conflicting and incorrect account on Thursday, indicating that Capitol View would "ultimately include 761 mixed-income units and a 110,000-square-foot retail center featuring a Shoppers Food Warehouse." Several readers asked us which was right. To clarify, the Capitol View Towers are not currently slated for any defined use. Kerry Smyser of DCHA confirmed that there were no plans for Capitol View, the last time a plan had been established was 2005, but that those were now defunct.

Also, the Shoppers Food Warehouse referred to by WBJ will not be a part of Capitol View, it will be a part of Capitol Gateway, on the north side of East Capitol Street. Behind the Gateway project in northeast are 151 senior-housing units. Add the senior housing to the new townhouses adjacent to Captiol View, and the "Capitol Gateway" area has a total of 371 units built. Smyser indicated that the original HUD report had predicted 761 units for the entire Capitol Gateway Project, including potential units at Capitol View, but that those numbers were no longer accurate.

The Limits of DC

100 years ago today, Congress passed the Heights of Buildings Act of 1910, a law that has done more than any other to shape the physical environment of Washington DC. The effect has been dramatic - not just on heights - but on architecture, density, land values, even on the city's collective psyche. Much has changed in the intervening century, but the rules have been modified little.

In honor of the June 1st centennial, DCMud will look at the issue of density and DC's height limits, presenting varying opinions on its effects, architecture, and desirability.

A History

No, the height limits are not based on the height of the Capitol dome (at 289 feet high, the 5th tallest structure in the city), a persistent myth. Instead, the 164-foot Cairo Apartment Building (subsequently the Cairo Hotel, now a condo) at 1615 Q Street, NW, aroused the reactionary rules when architect Thomas Franklin Schneider built the Egyptian-inspired building in 1894. Responding to petitions, city Commissioners issued rules limiting building heights, later codified by Congress in the Heights of Buildings Act of 1899, setting maximum height of 110 feet for business and 90 feet for residential projects. The 1910 Act modified the law in several important respects, most notably by permitting heights to rise not past 130 feet, but setting a formula to determine site-specific maximum heights equal to the fronting street width plus 20 feet, judged from the sidewalk, though many sites are sub-zoned for still lower density. An exception still exists for such architectural embellishments as spires and belfries.

Much has changed since 1894 when the Cairo ignited the debate - when Grover Cleveland was President, DC's Commissioners were unelected, and the District didn't even have a vote in Congress (imagine). Few DC denizens are now as shocked by the height of the Cairo as were their 19th-century predecessors. Building construction has progressed dramatically beyond the steel-frame and limestone-brick pile architecture of the Cairo. Firefighting ability, an issue when the Cairo crested above the reach of fire ladders, has likewise adapted to higher structures.

The Plan

Given L'Enfant's sacrosanctity, it should be noted that building height limits at the time the L'Enfant plan was adopted, naturally low due to construction limitations, were never officially part of his creation. Parisian Pierre L'Enfant envisioned the sprawling, low-flung buildings and wide boulevards of his native capital, while President Thomas Jefferson, an extreme Francophile, also dreamed of Paris on the Potomac, providing L'Enfant with inspirational maps of European cities with buildings that hugged the ground (wanting buildings "low & convenient, and the streets light and airy"). Still, formal limits or guidelines were never established.

With the march of technology, the District's earliest architects were without compunction in designing buildings to the upper edge of physical limitations, with no apparent regard for nostalgia. Some of the earliest buildings reached upward unhesitatingly - The Smithsonian Institution Building (begun 1847, 145 feet), Healy Hall of Georgetown (begun 1879, 200 feet), the Old Post Office Building (begun 1891, 315 feet), and of course the U.S. Capitol Building (298 feet).

That Was Then

Proponents of change point to the ever taller buildings creeping up literally on the DC border in Silver Spring, Rosslyn (see Central Place, at right), Alexandria, and Chevy Chase, and with them architecture, development, residents, jobs, and city views denied to DC. Urban planners, preservationists and greenies alike argue for greater density ("if you love the country, live in the city"), a position that also offers a strong economic punch while slowing sprawl. That the law is imposed from without raises the neck fur of DC's voting rights activists who prefer a little more self- determination than that.

Yet it must be admitted that DC is not just another urban environment devoid of national significance. Its existence owes to the founders' desire for an independent district; a national model as a symbol of democracy and showpiece for America's (then) novel experiment. DC is, after all, the only city designated by the U.S. Constitution.

Others prefer DC's uniquely stubbly skyline, greater green canopy, and open, sunny streets. Height limits provide a backstop (if also an upper limit) for property values, limiting developable land and with it competition for developers and landowners. And whatever its initial demerits, DC's low-rise viewscape has become part of its identity as a livable, European-style metropolis.

An Experiment Subject to Change?

If both arguments have some potency, are the two sides condemned to an intractable, Whitehurst-like eternal battle over the issue? Compromise, if there were to be any, would be unlikely to radically change the downtown federal core in an era of accelerating security. Nor are residents of historic neighborhoods like Georgetown or Capitol Hill clamoring for towers in their midst. Others, however, have painted themselves as underserved by the development community, retailers, and entrepreneurs. Marshall Heights and Deanwood - farther from the Capitol building than Rosslyn - have limited claims on the character of DC's downtown skyline. Advocates in both neighborhoods have bemoaned the lack of investment, retail and sit-down restaurants. Taller buildings don't remedy such shortcomings intrinsically but, carefully planned, can increase density to a tipping point that attracts other economic investment.

Raising height limits in select locations could alter the investment dynamic in overlooked neighborhoods, creating entrepreneurial zones, a concept that has worked in numerous struggling cities. Washington DC's "Gateway" avenues present a vexing argument against the status quo: wide, heavily trafficked streets with commercial cores, Metro stations, and less restricted buildings heights one stoplight away. Paris, after all, has Le Defense (at right), a skyscraper-friendly district which only serves to underscore the aesthetics of central Paris and serve as an economic engine for the city of light.

DC has several such zones. East Capitol Street at the PG County border presents a high-speed thoroughfare, Metro station, and yet struggles to find the investment capital to finance its projects. Absent a raison d'etre, Capitol View Park Towers (at left) and Capitol Gateway struggle for existence in a low-density neighborhood, with development on hold.

Georgia Avenue at the Silver Spring border is a dream case study. Farther from the Capitol building than Old Town Alexandria, the two Georgias present a stark contrast - downtown Silver Spring, where painstaking planning has led to a dense and finally vibrant, livable urban core - and its DC root, which lives up to (and then some) its south-of-the-border locale.

Wisconsin Avenue at the city's northwestern terminus presents a different contrast. While the corridor does not want for high-end retail, apartment buildings, office towers, retail, hotels and supermarkets are springing up on the Chevy Chase Maryland side, while on the District's flank development languishes, save an undersized, wood-framed condo, sneaking in by not seeking increased density. Lots above the metro sit vacant or bear empty two-story parking pads, or serve as surface parking for a bus depot. Attempts at development, in spite of zoning approval, are allowed to be vetoed by single-interest groups who protest heights less than half those that exist two blocks north. Density caps on each of the lots render them not quite ripe for development.

Opponents of change need not worry about 50 stories rising in their Palisades backyard or soaring towers blocking off the Mall. The District's zoning authorities would administer appropriate zones for increased height, historic protection, architectural review and case-by-case examination. Modifying the height ban would, in any event, allow the District to make such determinations, making this debate not just an academic one.