While the Washington Post may be increasingly skeptical about the viability of Southeast's Capitol Riverfront as either a residential or commercial neighborhood, it is certainly a strategy that developer JPI has bet heavily on. Next month, the developer will open the doors on the 909 at Capitol Yards project - their 421-unit "boutique-hotel themed"
apartment building and third entry under their greater Capitol Yards development.
According to the Capitol Riverfront BID, tours of the WDG-designed complex have already begun for prospective residents and move-ins are scheduled to begin late this month. JPI is apparently targeting that hard to pin down 18-35 demographic the project with an advertising campaign that boasts of amenities like a two-story bar and lounge, yoga rooms, a “pub room” with shuffleboard (?!) and Nintendo Wiis, an in-house movie theater, a rooftop swimming pool for hosting “raucous barbeques,” and a Twitter ticker in every elevator tracking losses in the housing market (no, not really).
Should you feel the need for something more “classic and traditional” or an apartment with a little “industrial style,” JPI is directing inquisitive renters in the market around the Ballpark to the first two buildings completed under their Capitol Yards banner: the Jefferson and Axiom. Their marketing whizzes have even gone so far as to whip up a “personality quiz” to help choose from among their properties (sample response: "Call up your fav five and hit Banana Cafe for pitchers of Caipirinhas").
Though JPI still has one project in the pipeline– a 419-unit apartment building with 15,000 square feet of retail at 23 Eye Street – completion of Capitol Yards could be viewed largely as the developer’s curtain call the DC area. The Texas-based company had once targeted DC, along with New York City, as hot spots for condo development. However, after completing projects like The Byron and Jenkins Row – the latter of which is still selling four years on – the market’s prospects seem now much dimmer than they did just a few years ago and JPI has yet to announce any new plans for follow-up developments.
Correction: 909 at Capitol Yards was designed by the Preston Partnership, not WDG Architecture. WDG designed two other neighboring JPI projects, the Jefferson and Axiom at Capitol Yards.Washington DC retail and commercial real estate news
9 comments:
I have to wonder. Wouldn't residents of a "boutique hotel themed" apartment want boutique hotel themed ground floor retail? There's nothing there besides a CVS, a Subway, a 5 Guys, and a Starbucks. There's no bars, no sitdown restaurants (boutique or otherwise), no reason to be there at all besides going to a Nationals game. This is what happens when local legislatures don't mandate ground floor retail: dead streetscapes after the sun goes down. Anyone remember downtown in the 1970s? Anyone been to Penn Quarter lately? There you have a decent mix of retail and entertainment. The waterfront needs developers who push retail, not more glass box office cash cows (which currently are out of cash) or boutique hotel themed apartments.
The retail spaces are there, there's just empty. This building has a nice looking space at the corner.
I toured this building yesterday (after reading this post). It really is unbelievable inside. I've never seen so many common area features, especially in a building that only has a couple hundred units. It's surprising there aren't decks and patios, however.
hey monkeyrotica get your facts straight before you post comments - there's 1 million SF of retail space planned for the area - and there are retail spaces available to be leased down there in fact there's one in the very building this post it about - but retail follows residential - as more residents move into the neighborhood - the retail should follow - also barracks row restaurants and the restaurants/bars on Pennsylvania ave. are not too far away in the mean time
The problem is that the retail in all these new buildings was designed as an after-thought with low ceilings and less than appealing storefronts. There are only a few developers out there who understand how to position the retail component of their mixed-use projects, namely Doug Jemal and Jim Abdo.
While there may be 1 million sqft of retail planned there is no sign of any of those projects being built in the near future. A prime example the half street development. If you are waiting for retail you're going to have to wait a long time think 2014.
What 18 year olds can afford the place unless there living off mommy and daddy
If there's any retail there in 2014, I'll buy you all dinner at the TGI McFuddruckers.
By which I mean a Rock Creek soda at the lobby convenience store.
The mayor and devlopers of recent DC condo/luxury rental buildings DON'T GET IT!!! At the Axiom and Jefferson, nothing was done to hide the unsightly highway or to reduce the noise -- the doube paned windows are not enough. "909Capitol Yards" is another disaster. Open kitchens are so passe. Who wants a theater. I want space!!! Keep the amenities. Where are the services?? As the market continues to demonstrate, "you can build it, but they may not come." You cannot charge luxury prices and fail to offer simultaneously a basic package of community services (e.g., food store and other retail, parks, restaurant). A failure waiting to be realized.
Hey DC get YOUR facts straight. Monkey erotica is 100% correct. You don't know what your talking about unless its some distant future.
And Que...18 year olds can't afford the Jefferson and Axiom, but a niisy-assed group of twenty-year olds can, and DO!!
The apartments are nice enough but the leasing staff is the pits!
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