Friday, February 08, 2008

Mt. Vernon Church-Office to Ascend


Carr Properties has just finished digging for the foundation for their project at 901 K Street, NW, and is now ready to go vertical. After contractors finish pouring the first set of pilings, the developer will set the tower crane which will allow for construction of the 12-story building.

The new addition adjacent to Mt. Vernon Square will be sandwiched in between the United Methodist Church at the easternmost corner, and the Henley Park Hotel at the northwestern-most corner - essentially taking up the entire rest of the block. The site is directly across the street from Mt. Vernon Square and the Washington Convention Center.

As with PN Hoffman's 10th and G project nearby, Carr's development will modify an existing historic church; which in Carr's case sits at the triangular intersection between Mass Ave., K and 9th Streets. In exchange for purchasing the church's land, Carr will provide the church with about 32,000 s.f. of space in the new building. Along with getting some tenant space out of the deal, the church also scored a much-needed upgrade package out of Carr and their design firm, the Smith Group. According to John Crump, principal at Smith Group, the hundred-year-old church has seen zero updates since it was built - so architects designed (and Carr funded) the interior renovations, adding elevators to the structure, replacing mechanical and electrical circuits and providing a new slate roof. In addition Carr waterproofed the church, cleaned and restored the facade of the building and blessed the sweltering holy place with the miracle of air conditioning.

All of that for a Class A, "trophy" office building. Totaling 250,000 s.f., the mostly transparent structure will contain four-below ground levels housing a concourse level and 225 parking spaces accessible from 10th Street. Above ground, the building will sit 12 stories high, with the the Mass Ave. elevation stepping back on the ninth floor allowing for roof terraces on floors 9 and 12, as well as upper floors with "floor-to-ceiling windows with 360-degree views," according to Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P., the firm that arranged the $104 million construction loan.

Carr plans for LEED Gold Certification and expects to be completed in the third quarter of 2009.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

looks great.

hate freaking religious zealots...

why do the religious losers always keep their toes in new developments?

answer: $$$

Ken on Feb 9, 2008, 5:35:00 PM said...

Well, they did own the land, and still have a church there, so the transaction benefited both parties. Technically they will be pulling back, and they were obviously in need of cash and renovation, I think any owner would have done the same.

Anonymous said...

poo poo - did you read the post?

the deal wouldn't have happened without the church. it's not zealotry...it's good business sense.

Anonymous said...

Why did they not use a Massachusetts Avenue address?

gpliving on Feb 11, 2008, 2:50:00 PM said...

K Street is more prestigious and actually has a better reputation for businesses than Mass Ave.

Many news articles mention "K Street" when talking about lawyers & lobbists, which are probably the target customer for the "class A trophy" office space.

Anonymous said...

oh yeah.
sorry, obviously i overlooked the church portion.
my bad.

if only we could get shiloh into the same mix as the these supreme deity believers...

good business!

i should look into being a preacher.

maybe faulkner university could help me out.....

Post a Comment

Commercial ads will be deleted, so don't even think about it.

 

DCmud - The Urban Real Estate Digest of Washington DC Copyright © 2008 Black Brown Pop Template by Ipiet's Blogger Template