Today in Pictures - Rhode Island Row

After years of urban planning-speak about the untapped potential of Rhode Island Avenue, many false starts notwithstanding, its first major project is now coming online. Rhode Island Row, the joint venture between A&R Development and Bethesda-based Urban Atlantic, is on the way to a September completion. The 8.5 acre, $109,000,000 project with 274 new residential units above 70,000 s.f. of retail broke ground in May of 2010, with some District help, and sits along a new and expanding bike trail, just a scoot away from bustling NoMa. Rhode Island Row - formerly Rhode Island Station - was designed by the (now defunct) Lessard Group, but switched to Lessard Design. Developers completed the first few residential units in December, and have now delivered 2 of 8 phases of the two residential buildings. 59 of the units are now open, and most of those have already been leased, according to Caroline Kenney of Urban Atlantic. "There's a seriously wide mix of people geographically and demographically," she notes, and that despite the Avenue's inglorious past, "this part of the city is finally getting to be on the map." Of course being right on the red line and bike trail is not a bad marketing hook, and the development team has capitalized with "a ton of bike storage". Kenney said she hopes to have a Capital Bikeshare location on site in the future. Retail tenants are also on the way, with CVS the first to sign on. While Kenney won't divulge names of other retailers, she says 60% of the retail is unofficially spoken for. In all, the project will have 531 parking spaces, some of which will be short term retail parking, plus the new 215-space Metro garage.

Once just a theory...

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Rhode Island Avenue Has its Day

Rhode Island Avenue's improvement is underway. Seriously. Years of planning have dragged, private development has been promised, but flopped, and even the District government has given itself a full 16 years to pull its plan together, maybe. Despite the unfulfilled promise of the boulevard, today marks a major groundbreaking for Rhode Island's most ambitious project as developers break ground this morning on Rhode Island Station, a project conceived back in 2001.

With the help of a recent promise by DC officials to allocate more than $7,000,000 to jumpstart construction, Bethesda- based Urban Atlantic and Baltimore- based A&R Development Corp will kick off work at the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station. The 8.5 acre, $108,000,000 project promises 274 new residential rental units above 70,000 s.f. of retail. Couple that with the opening of the bike trail, earlier this month, better connecting Brentwood to downtown, and hope for a better neighborhood seems justifiable. Just ask the residents, who in a recent survey overwhelmingly rated "variety of goods and services" as "very poor." In "physical appearance" the area received 88 votes for "very poor," 81 for "poor," 24 thought it "average," and 4 vision-impaired souls deemed it "good". None opted for "excellent."


Maybe that perception will change now that the avenue's pioneers are beginning work, having struck a fresh deal with WMATA to build a 215-car garage next to the Metro Station in exchange for putting its development on the sprawling WMATA parking lot. Instead of pavement, the design by Lessard Group Architects will add street-level retail with sidewalk cafes and apartments above, when completed in 2013. Political speechmaking is scheduled to kick off this morning at 10:30.

Washington, DC real estate development news

District to Give Money to Start Rhode Island Mixed-Use

Today the District government announced it will provide financing for development team Urban Atlantic and A&R Development Corp, meaning plans can now move forward to transform the 8.5 acre surface parking lot at the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station, one of DC's most stalled projects, into a sizable mixed-use neighborhood, Rhode Island Station. The District will provide $7.2 million in financing through a PILOT note toward the $108 million project, which will bring 274 residential rental units above 70,000 s.f. of retail in two buildings. Additional financing will come from the federal government in the form of Federal New Market Tax Credits and a traditional HUD-backed loan. Today's announcement marks a significant step toward the execution of the District's Great Streets Plan for Rhode Island Avenue.

The developers today also closed on their ground lease agreement with WMATA, which has been working with the development teams for almost a decade since Metro's initial Request for Proposal in 2001. As part of the exchange with metro, the development will provide a 215-car WMATA garage alongside the busy Rhode Island Avenue/Brentwood Metro station.


According to a release from the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development's office, the residential project will include 54 (or 20%) affordable housing units at 60% area median income. Rhode Island Station - formerly Brentwood Town Center - will also include a community center and two private parking garages for residents. Designed by Lessard Group Architects, the project will feature ground floor retail with sidewalk cafes and "heavy landscaping" along the streets.

The development team originally won final zoning approval in April 2007 and were initially scheduled to begin construction July 2008. Clearly that time line did not work out. A ground breaking is not tentatively scheduled for May of this year and construction could complete in summer of 2013, if everything goes according to plan this time around.

The surrounding area has had many plans in the works over the years, see Brookland Square for example, which have not been able to get past the planning stage.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Drug and Crime Infested DC Housing Project Meets Its Match

A formerly crime and drug infested building met its match today as officials marked the final phase of demolition of Capitol View Plaza Towers, a long-vacant public housing eyesore in the District’s Marshall Heights neighborhood. Despite several earlier-contemplated residential and mixed-use plans, the site has no clear future as DC officials continue checking the couch cushions for financing. Initially the District did not even have the financing to demolish the abandoned structure, but a $3 million grant from the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) made it possible. While an empty lot may be more desirable than an eyesore, it is not much of an improvement for land that serves as the gateway to the city from Maryland's Prince George's County, just a block down the road.

Most recently, the plan for the site was to create a new multifamily rental building as well as market-rate condos. However, Kerry Smyser, the Project Manager at DCHA, said that with the finance market and condo market the way they are, that plan is no longer feasible. Smyser added that since the two towers from today's demolition are part of the Capitol Gateway project, A&R Development Corporation and Henson Development Company, as the Gateway's developers, would have first right to develop any plan the government decides on. Failing that, the District could then issue an RFP. According to Cymando Henley, a spokesperson for DCHA, the District will "look at all the options and decide what is best for the community."

In 2000, under the administration of former DC Mayor Anthony Williams, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allotted a $30.8 million grant under its HOPE VI program to the redevelopment of Capitol View Plaza's 12-story tower. The HOPE grants also applied to neighboring public housing which is now the Capitol residential project. In April, Smyser said that phase I of that development has delivered “nearly 240 duplexes, townhouses and single-family homes.” The HOPE grants allow for a combination of mixed income and mixed-use projects, which have in the past included community centers as well as residential buildings.

Today's demolition was a more public display of the slow dismantling of the building which has been underway since July. The local fire department, Engine 30, has been closely watching the progress and will be celebrating the demolition. According to their blog the "buildings when occupied, would average 5-7 medical locals a tour for the companies, with the rare, but spectacular fire." Comments from former residents told horror stories of murders in elevators and crack addicts in the stairwells. No more drugs, no more murders, no more fire engines. Things are looking up.

DC Mayor Adrian Fenty was joined by Michael Kelly, executive director of the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA), and Leila Edmonds, director of the DCHD. Though Fenty was at the helm today, the Wrecking Corporation of America will continue the demolition, which will complete in 2010.


UPDATE: After DCMud published this story on Wednesday, the Washington Business Journal published a conflicting and incorrect account on Thursday, indicating that Capitol View would "ultimately include 761 mixed-income units and a 110,000-square-foot retail center featuring a Shoppers Food Warehouse." Several readers asked us which was right. To clarify, the Capitol View Towers are not currently slated for any defined use. Kerry Smyser of DCHA confirmed that there were no plans for Capitol View, the last time a plan had been established was 2005, but that those were now defunct.

Also, the Shoppers Food Warehouse referred to by WBJ will not be a part of Capitol View, it will be a part of Capitol Gateway, on the north side of East Capitol Street. Behind the Gateway project in northeast are 151 senior-housing units. Add the senior housing to the new townhouses adjacent to Captiol View, and the "Capitol Gateway" area has a total of 371 units built. Smyser indicated that the original HUD report had predicted 761 units for the entire Capitol Gateway Project, including potential units at Capitol View, but that those numbers were no longer accurate.

New Capital for Capitol Gateway?

Almost a decade after it was first announced, Washington DC’s Marshall Heights neighborhood, bordering the Prince George's County line, may soon receive its long overdue shot in the arm. Developers just last week filed an application with the District government to demolish the abandoned towers on the site (or, in the words of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, the "unclaimed" property). The Capitol View Plaza public housing complex and neighboring 14-story building, at 5901 and 5929 East Capitol Street, SE will soon be razed to make way for a 110,000-square foot retail center and mixed-income housing.

In 2000, under the administration of former DC Mayor Anthony Williams, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allotted a $30.8 million grant under its Hope VI program to the redevelopment of Capitol View Plaza's 12-story tower - then designated public housing for the elderly and disabled - across from the Capitol Heights Metro. Though the project had initially been scheduled to proceed in 2003, this is the first public sign since 2007 that the redevelopment remains on the District radar.

"5929 we purchased from HUD because it was foreclosed upon. Then we had some issues with FHA when we purchased the building because we had a financial gap. We decided it wasn't worth taking the risk if we didn't have a way to close that gap," said DCHA's Kerry Smyser of the delays. "FHA provided an upfront grant of about $12 million, but you have to use it on their footprint and there's more to do on that site than just to do with that building."

Indeed there is. Originally dubbed “New East Capitol” by the city government, the project has now been twinned with neighboring Capitol Gateway residential project, produced by the A&R Development Corporation and the Henson Development Company. Phase I of that development has delivered “nearly 240 duplexes, townhouses and single-family homes” to an area once notorious for its violence; time and development have gone a long way in imbuing the immediate area with a suburban je ne sais quoi.

That, however, is merely prologue to the 3.4 million square feet of office space, 1450 residential units - including 669 condominiums - and 300,000 square feet of retail space slated to spring up on both sides of East Capitol once construction of the Gateway project begins. Just last year, the development team confirmed that Shoppers Food & Pharmacy will be opening its very first DC branch, a 61,000-s.f. Shoppers Food Warehouse, as part of Capitol Gateway’s mixed-use component...someday. According to Smyser, DCHA is not currently projecting a timeline for construction, nor is A&R committing to a schedule. In total, the cost of the ambitious project is expected to exceed $1 billion.

Washington DC commercial real estate development news

Slow and Steady for Rhode Island Station

Construction will begin in July for Rhode Island Station, a 370,000 s.f. mixed-use development planned for the current Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station. The project, by Rhode Island Avenue Metro, LLC - a partnership of Mid-City Urban LLC and A&R Development - formerly known as Brentwood Town Center, won final zoning approval in April 2007, but will not finally close and begin construction until July.

Rhode Island Station will include a series of four-story buildings with three floors of residential rental apartments above one, ground floor of retail. At its completion, the project will have 274 rental apartments and 70,000 s.f. of retail space in what is now the Metro station’s parking lot.

As DCmud reported in June of last year, the developers have launched retail-leasing efforts, but have not yet announced final tenants.

“We really spent the last year permitting and finalizing. There were two approval processes to go through because it was a joint development with Metro, so it did take a bit longer,” said Caroline Kenney, a development associate for Mid-City Urban, LLC.

She added that commuters will not be inconvenienced by the construction as protected sidewalks will keep the Metro station fully accessible.






“We are currently focusing on getting to the construction,” Kenney said. “We want to give it a vibrant feel, but be pedestrian-oriented and friendly. We want it to blend into the surrounding area.”

That may be a challenge given the somewhat decrepit buildings across from the current Metro driveway. A February 2008 Ward 5 Development Report based on records from the Councilmember’s office did show eight projects within a mile of the station, including Macy Development’s Basilica Lofts, and Menkiti Group Development’s Illora Condos, but most of the new buildings are or will be on the other side of the tracks, behind the station. Given the nature of DC’s development, however, the rest of Rhode Island Ave. probably won’t be far behind.

Upon completion in July 2010, Metro users, shoppers, and residents will also have access to 400 parking spaces in the parking garage planned for the project.