Noma - Eckington Part II

While construction nears completion across the street on nearly 700 residential units and 80,000 s.f. of retail, Foulger Pratt is adding its own contribution to the development of real estate straddling the once-forgotten border of the Noma and Eckington neighborhoods.  The Potomac based developer broke ground in May of 2019 on a project to build 327 apartments and retail space on a 1.8 acre site overlooking Noma's largest park.  The building, dubbed One 501 (see address for explanation), and the park were part of a land sale from Pepco, which sold the 2-acre park site to a foundation for $14m and the adjacent parcel to Foulger Pratt for $12.6m (query this: shouldn't our utility rates have gone down?).  Foulger Pratt then kicked back an additional half acre to the foundation, and a park was born (click on map for location).

Torti Gallas crafted the building's design, built by Foulger Pratt's in-house team, leasing is expected to start in April of next year, no retail leases have been signed just yet.  In addition to overlooking the park, the building sits astride the Metropolitan Branch Trail, which puts it an easy two-ish block walk to the Noma Metro station, which also puts it a reasonably short walk to Union Market. And with views from its roof over the nearby U.S. Capitol, a park at your doorstep, and JBG's mega project across the street, there's really not much reason to go much farther.

Project:  One501

Developer:  Foulger Pratt

Architect:  Torti Gallas

Construction: Foulger Pratt

Interior Design:  MSA Interiors

Use:  Apartment building with 327 units

Expected Completion:  April 2021

Washington DC commercial property and retail news

The Noma Building Boom Continues

Call it Eckington or call it Noma (it sits conveniently just inside the Noma BID boundary, on Eckington Place), the superblock just north of the FedEx Center may not be on your commuting route (is anyone commuting?), but it will soon be the starting point for more than a thousand residents as several real estate projects come online later this year.  In one section, Grosvenor will be delivering 45 two-story townhouses, but that pales next to JBG's project (a remnant of the Chevy Chase company that did not merge into JBG Smith), which adds 457 apartments and 179 condos, as well as up to 80,000 s.f. of retail, nearly one million square feet in total.

The 4-building complex, designed by architect Eric Colbert & Associates, will divide the block with a woonerf, a crafty Dutch architectural landscape term (don't scoff, they did give us Manhattan) for a wide street that can accommodate cars (slowly) but is designed for pedestrians.  That adds to the 603 units that JBG completed recently next door.  JBG originally partnered with Boundary Companies, which was bought out by developer LCOR in early 2018.  As for the retail, JBG is still seeking retailers, but has signed Union Kitchen to open a market, and Brooklyn Boulders to build a climbing gym.  And across the street sits yet another project in the works, 327 residential units coming early next year.  The whole project sits feet from the Metropolitan Branch Trail, and across the tracks from Union Market, one of the few sections of the city undergoing even more construction.

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Project:  Eckington Place

Developer:  JBG, LCOR, Grosvenor

Architect:  Eric Colbert & Associates, KTGY

Construction:  CBG

Use:  179 subsidized apartments

Expected Completion:  Late 2020

Washington DC retail and real estate news

DC General Meets the Wrecking Ball

  Its been a long time coming, but demolition is finally underway for the beleaguered DC General Hospital.  Several of the 6 buildings that make up the hospital complex are meeting the wrecking ball this week as DC prepares for redevelopment of the entire site.  The complex, which operated as a hospital since 1846, was closed in 2001, and operated as a homeless shelter for families from 2002 until 2018, giving way to Mayor Bowser's plan to operate homeless shelters in all 8 wards.  Demolition of the structure took place in phases, beginning in the autumn of 2018, the final building is scheduled to be demolished later this year.

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In its place, the city has planned for a large, mixed-use complex dubbed Hill East, a 67-acre section of real estate bordering the Anacostia River.  While redevelopment plans go back much further, the city issued an RFEI in May of 2008 and announced finalists that November.  Donatelli Development and Blue Skye Development, which won the bidding process, broke ground on Reservation 13, the first phase of the project, in April of 2018.  The land at Reservation 13 will ultimately add nearly 400,000 s.f. of residential and retail space.  GTM Architects will design the buildings, Bradley Site Design is the landscape architect.

happy buildings

Washington DC retail and real estate news

Shakespeare and Ray Charles Were Here

In normal times, a shuttered and decaying theater on one of DC's main corridors would be unusual, even alarming.  Though normal times these are not, the site of a decaying outdoor theater in one of the nation's great parks is an arresting vision, and while the world searches for outdoor venues as safe havens of fresh, virus-free air, the city's preeminent outdoor theater, tucked benignly into Rock Creek Park, is gradually decaying in silent abandonment.

Closed in the spring of 2017, the victim not of age or accident, but of an engineering study finding that the stage did not meet updated building codes and was therefore not safe for supporting the plays performed  since 1950, the theater was locked down pending an upgrade to the stage floor.  Built in celebration of the sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary of the nation and christened by President Harry S Truman, and by the Executive Vice Chairman of the commission dedicated to commemorate the anniversary, Carter T. Barron.  Shortly after its opening, the latter died of cancer and the theater was renamed in his honor, and before long hosted Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Diana Ross, Harry Belafonte and Ray Charles.

The riots of '68 saw a change of fortune for the Carter Barron Amphitheater, but the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Kool and the Gang still made appearances, though it was not until 1991, when updates to the facility, a group of benefactors and a popular Shakespeare production brought crowds back to venue in the park, with the seating completely rebuilt in 2004.  Little has changed since 1950, with a stage curtain added, then removed, though weeds and graffiti are now slowly winning the battle of attrition, with no anticipated date for reconstruction.

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Washington D.C. retail and real estate development news

Reed Street's Residential Transformation

It may seem strange that replacing an industrial strip and gravel parking lots next to a Metro station with new residential units would be contentious, but such is development in Washington DC.  To wit, Trammell Crow's project next to the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station had its share of detractors (supporters too), a vociferous few who decried the 9-story building (permitted by right) as out of sync with the neighboring townhouses.  But the forces pro beat those in opposition, and the Reed Street project has now topped out in Brookland, on a two-block street off Rhode Island Avenue that has long served as a parking pad for trolleys, a Budget Truck Rental facility, car repair sites, and DC Duck Tours staging area, not to mention adjacent 5-story pop-ups nestled among the rows of townhouses.

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Trammel Crow acquired the lot in June of 2018 for $12.3m, on a site across from Douglas Development's Brookland Press project, a 296 unit residential complex.  The project, designed by SK&I Architecture and built by CBG, will add 353 apartments, 27 of them subsidized, with a top floor penthouse, roof deck and pool, sitting on top of an 85 space garage.  The brick and glass structure exposes a curvilinear support column on the southwest corner, a nod to the street's industrial heritage.  The developer has more recently begun Armature Works overlooking Union Station.  More development is planned for the immediate area, or already underway, including MRP's Bryant Street project completing its first phases later this year.

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Project: 2607 Reed Street 

Address: 2607 Reed Street NE, Washington DC

Developer:  Trammell Crow 

Architect: Ski+ Architects

Construction: CBG Building Company

Use:  353 Apartments

Expected Completion:  Summer 2021

Washington DC retail and real estate development news