development.
The 217,655 s.f. building will be built to LEED-Silver certification levels and will offer 222 market-rate apartments and 19 low income units. Alt said the project will take over the entire block from Ellsworth Drive to Cedar Street to Pershing Drive and Veterans Drive. SK & I Architectural Group, the firm behind View 14, Union Row Flats and Arlington's Lofts 590, is steering the project's design. Foulger-Pratt is responsible for both development and construction of the project. Foulger-Pratt Development Executive Briggs Bunker said the apartment exterior closely resembles the drawing above, despite that the project has been retraded as rental apartments. Of course it's still being dubbed as luxury residences. "The materials used in each unit are what make it a luxury rental," said Bunker. "Marble counter tops in each unit, for example." The common spaces are also what the developers consider a notch above: "Not many rental buildings have a common courtyard, a pool, a fountain, two areas for outdoor barbecues, and an outdoor fireplace." The building will also feature a fitness center, a game room and cybercafe.
The Ellsworth is one of the few projects in Silver Spring to move forward without substantial subsidies for affordable housing, which Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett has made clear is a staple of real estate development.
Projects like The Argent, an affordable 
housing project developed by Perseus Realty at 1200 Blair Mill Road that opened last year, have been able to move forward with local and federal grants for below-market housing, while Galaxy will rise at 8025 13th Street, with 113 market-rate apartments and 82 subsidized units designed by A.R. Meyers & Associates.
So while the proliferation of development in the suburb just north of the city may offer some sunny optimism regarding the housing economy, the roll out remains slow, with projects often scaled down and subsidized. Development of the Ellsworth, in that light, is a sign of more faith in the market forces.
housing project developed by Perseus Realty at 1200 Blair Mill Road that opened last year, have been able to move forward with local and federal grants for below-market housing, while Galaxy will rise at 8025 13th Street, with 113 market-rate apartments and 82 subsidized units designed by A.R. Meyers & Associates.
So while the proliferation of development in the suburb just north of the city may offer some sunny optimism regarding the housing economy, the roll out remains slow, with projects often scaled down and subsidized. Development of the Ellsworth, in that light, is a sign of more faith in the market forces.
Silver Spring, Maryland retail and real estate development news
10 comments:
Good news. That's been on the boards forever, I'm glad someone is doing something with it. Hey, we're kind of, like, almost a real city.
Glad it's being built, but VERY disappointed it's not condos. The condo stock on this side of GA. Ave. is beyond limited. There's a huge build up of demand, but apparently no financing to be had.
Two blocks from Metro? How about a much-more-truthful "short walk from Metro via Silver Spring's redeveloped downtown"?
It's not all subsidized housing here in the Spring. There are two other significant apartment projects coming out of the ground --in the so-called Ripley District just a block south of the new transit center. Together they will add 667 units and dramatically change the area, currently filled with warehouse type structures and a services for the homeless. Both projects have been covered previously in this blog:
1150 Ripley Street by Washington Property Company broke ground last September. 282 units, 16 stories including ground floor retail. Designed by the Lessard Group. Pretty sure MoCo provided mezzanine financing.
Ripley Street North by Home Properties, directly across the street from 1150 Ripley Street. 385 units in two buildings (one of them a 20 story tower with ground floor retail). Designed by Shalom Baranes. Not sure about the financing, but the site has been clerared and they are setting up a crane.
Finally, regarding the project featured in this post...yes, technically it is two blocks...the first from Fenton to Georgia and the next from Georgia to the Metro Station. But they are definitely long blocks.
By the previous Anonymous' definition, it is actually THREE & 1/2 blocks. One to get to Fenton in the first place, one to Georgia, 1/2 to get to Wayne or Colesville, one to get down to the station, and technically another block or so to actually get IN the station. Either way you slice it, two blocks is a lie.
IT'S A LIE I TELL YOU!!!
Nice building though. Can't wait
Who cares how many blocks it is from Metro?
Suffice to say residents will be walking to/from yet another cheaply built, Dryvit-covered, "This is what buildings looked like in the early 21st century" apartment.
Brick colored dryvit?
I'm confused...is there another building under construction/slated for construction in silver spring besides the galaxy that has a large number of MPDUs? I can't think of any...why does this blog seem to make more and more crap up these days?
There is a big sign up next to this development that says funding from HUD. Is this section 8 housing?
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