Akridge Receives Air Rights for Burnham Place at Union Station Project

DC developer Akridge has signed a deal with the US General Services Administration that gave the company the air rights over the train tracks behind Union Station, allowing Akridge to move forward with its Burnham Place at Union Station project, a 15-acres, mixed use complex to be located over the tracks and to the north and south of the Hopscotch Bridge (H St.), and west of 1st Street NE. The Burnham Place project will contain offices, retail (including medium-sized box store, residential towers, and a 400-room hotel. Burnham Place will also include a “comprehensive intermodal transportation center” that includes a new rail passenger concourse. Akridge hopes its project will anchor the new North of Massachusetts neighborhood (NoMa, for those who haven’t been exposed to this “hip” naming convention) and tap into the over 18 million passengers who use the Union Station metro annually. Akridge anticipates beginning construction in 2009 with the platform over the train tracks – this is expected to take three years to build. Work on the residential, office, and retail will then start.