Abdo Envisions Condos for Empty Rhode Island Avenue Lot

You could call it a vindication. Or you could simply say the market finally changed.

Either way, Jim Abdo says he’s got revamped plans for the property he owns at 1427 and 1429 Rhode Island Avenue NW, the only vacant lot on that block and one of the few left in the neighborhood. The Logan Circle-based developer had been planning on erecting a 70-something unit apartment building there, but ran into opposition from neighbors due to its size. As of this past February, he had backed off from the project entirely.

The lot as it currently appears

Now he says he’s got new plans for the lot, which backs up to the P Street Whole Foods Market. Due to a steadily improving housing market and the increased availability of financing for condo construction, Abdo has returned to the plan he says he’d initially envisioned for the property before the economy tanked: a high-end condo building containing just a few units.

“My vision has always been a boutique building with a small number of units,” explained Abdo. “And every day and month I wait, the market comes back in my favor to do what I want. We think it’s a win-win for everyone, and it’s what the neighborhood will embrace.”

Abdo didn’t provide many details about what he has in mind, as the project hasn’t gone far beyond the basic concept stage. But he says he’s imagining a 90-foot high building that contains nine or ten units, each taking up an entire floor and potentially reached by elevators that open directly into the units.

That’s a big difference from the property’s previous iteration, which was an eight-story rental building conceived of at a time when condo financing was almost nonexistent. Although the design earned approvals from the Historic Preservation Review Board, neighbors objected to its density and Abdo eventually withdrew his plans.

The lot with its prior structures, which were knocked down in 2007

“I said, ‘Let’s revisit this thing,’” he explained.

Nothing’s happening anytime soon. The developer, who bought the property in 2001, says the company probably won’t start moving on the project until 2014. At that point, in-house architects will begin putting together design ideas and he’ll reach out to HPRB and the community.

It’s not like the firm doesn’t have enough going on as it is. Besides projects in Brookland and Arlington, Abdo is also planning to develop a spot a few dozen feet to the east: 1400 14th Street, a corner lot at the intersection of 14th Street and Rhode Island Avenue that currently includes a Caribou Coffee and Abdo’s own office (and next to the DCMud office). That project—a six-story building to include ground floor retail, one floor of offices, and some 30 residences—received HPRB approval a couple of months ago. Groundbreaking is set for next year.

That turns the block of Rhode Island between 14th and 15th streets a mini Abdo-ville. The developer owns another property on the block, and developed the two condo buildings framing the empty lot—the Zenith and the Willison—more than a decade ago.

Washington, D.C., real estate development news

Abdo Breaks Ground On Gaslight Square

With a bulldozer on-site and several golden shovels in hand, Abdo Development celebrated the groundbreaking of Gaslight Square this morning, the first for-sale condo project to emerge from the post-recession Northern Virginia economy. Actual construction on the 120-unit project will begin later this week, with James G. Davis Construction Corporation serving as general contractor. Design is courtesy of Abdo's in-house architects, with Reston-based Architecture Incorporated designated as the architect of record. The combination of red-brick and large black-rimmed industrial style is an apparent play off the Wooster and Mercer Lofts next door.

The real estate for the $82 million project was purchased in 2007, with the plans approved shortly after and the large plot of land cleared, fenced, and poised for action; but like so many other projects, the busted housing bubble and subsequent market collapse derailed deals. Thankfully, D.C.-based Federal Capital Partners have stepped in with $24 million in equity and mezzanine financing, with United Bank chipping in another $48 million worth of construction financing. The injection of capital will at least get phase one under way, the first of three proposed four-and-a-half-story, 40-unit buildings as well as the platform for building number two. Depending on how condo sales go with the first phase, explains Jim Davis, Principal of Davis Construction, the rest of the development will progress accordingly. "Construction of the first building should take roughly a year," says Davis, putting an initial delivery in early 2012.

Each building will be separated by a wide, landscaped quad, complete with sidewalk, trees, benches, and gaslights, hence the name, but will not feature any other amenities - no pool, concierge, gym, etc. - in order to minimize the condo fees, which have grown in surrounding condominiums. One of the most innovative features of these units, says Davis, is the elevator-cum-condo-entrances, allowing residents to park below grade and take the elevator directly into their unit (Davis credits Abdo with the idea, though its been used as nearby as Turnberry Towers, as well as in DC). Placing the stairs and elevator shaft directly between two units also provides for improved sound and odor control, and "eliminates the normally inhibitive front entrance corridor, allowing light to enter each unit from both sides, similar to a townhouse," says Davis. Ranging from $700,000 to $1.4 million in price, the one and two-bedrooms will offer anywhere from 1,200 to 2,000 s.f. of space, as well as private outdoor terraces.

With Skanska's mixed-use project having broken ground across the street, and Monday Properties racing to construct the tallest building this side of the Potomac, it is certain that Rosslyn is heating up.

Arlington, VA Real Estate Development News

"College Main Street" for Catholic University Breaks Ground

The Bozzuto Group and Abdo Development broke ground today on the joint $200-million development "Monroe Street Market," an undertaking that will create a 9-acre, mixed-use village surrounding a new "college main street" to serve Catholic University of America (CUA) in Brookland.

By offering the South Campus land for development, CUA "did the opposite of what many universities do, and put the land [five city blocks] back into the city's tax base" said Jim Abdo, who was exuberant that the project is moving from "vision and concept to actual reality" and is now embarking on three years of construction; the first phase, by Bozzuto Construction, includes 562 residential units, aiming to deliver in mid 2013.

In May of 2008, Abdo beat out tens of competitors including EYA, Monument Realty and Trammell Crow for the right to purchase the South Campus from CUA, and subsequently turn the land - a collection of empty lots and old dormitories - into university-serving amenities and housing.

The $200-million project is receiving "no public subsidy of any kind," Abdo confirmed in his speech, which was followed by Tom Bozzuto, who expressed gratitude to "the vision of Pritzker [to invest in the project]... when virtually no other investors in 2008/2009 would [offer financing]." Fully entitled before the fall of 2008, developers relied on confidence from "alliances and great partnerships" to escape being sidelined completely by the great recession.

In the summer of 2010, Bozzuto and Chicago-based Pritzker Realty Group (which controls the non-hotel real estate holdings of the Hyatt hotel founders, the Pritzker family) announced a $75-million joint investment fund in multifamily housing, and then revealed that a significant portion of that fund was being invested in Abdo's plans to develop Catholic University's South Campus.

Bozzuto added, "In September of 2008, when the world was crashing around us...the bankers at Bank of America stood ground with us." Bank of America was also in attendance at the ceremony today.

Architects at Torti Gallas (responsible for land-use planning and a portion of design), Maurice Walters, and KTGY have combined the collegiate Gothic look of the century-old CUA with the Brookland neighborhood's arts and crafts style.

Of the location, lay-out and design, CUA President John Garvey said, "[The development] will increase the safety of the neighborhood and improve the aesthetics of the area."

Monroe Street, from Michigan Avenue to the Monroe Street Bridge, will be turned into a main drag and will be "the backbone" of the development. At the Michigan Avenue end will be a 1,000-s.f. public square with central fountain and a 70' clock tower.

The entire development includes over 900,000 s.f. of gross floor area and will be constructed in phases. In all, there will be 718 residential units (8-percent, or 63,000 s.f., will be affordable at 80-percent of AMI) both apartments and condos, 45 single-family townhomes (three of the 21-unit string on Kearny Street will be affordable at 80-percent of AMI), 83,000 s.f. of retail space, 15,000 s.f. of artist space (27 studios), a 3,000-s.f. community arts center and 850 below-grade parking spaces.

An "Arts Walk," along 8th Street between Michigan Ave and Monroe St, will be a pedestrian- only corridor flanked by two 5-story buildings that will provide 27 ground-floor artist studios (at below-market rent) and 13,500-s.f. of retail at the southern ends along Monroe Street. The top four floors of the buildings will contain 152 residential units.

Along 8th Street, south of Monroe Street, are numerous industrial and arts uses, including Brookland Artspace Lofts, and Dance Place. The site is adjacent to the Red Line Brookland/CUA Metro stop, making it a "transit-oriented development."

The Monroe Street Market development will also improve the intersections of Michigan Avenue at Monroe Street and 7th Street, as well as complete the Metropolitan Branch Trail along the Metro Track, and add "aesthetic improvements" to the Monroe Street Bridge.

The Zoning Commission approved the development's plan in December of 2009, after Abdo was selected as the developer in 2008, six years after Catholic University set down in its 2002 Campus Plan that the South Campus area should be "phased out as a student housing area, and reserved for cooperative ventures between the University and other appropriate organizations.”


Washington D.C. real estate development news

Abdo to Build Out Vacant Logan Circle Site

Abdo Development will build out one of the last vacant parcels of Rhode Island Avenue west of Logan Circle, filling it with an 8-story apartment building on a site backing up to Whole Foods.

Abdo bought the land in 2001, along with the early 20th century buildings on either side of the lot, and has had plans since to build a multi-family residence on the site. The Logan Circle based developer renovated the flanking apartment buildings in the '90's, creating the Zenith and Willison condominiums. A pair of late 19th century Romanesque townhouses on the site were razed in 2007.

Design of the building will mirror the adjacent buildings, designed by William Harris in 1929 and 1930. The new addition will add "a classical tripartite organization, with a two-story stone base, a five-story midsection clad in brick, and a brick attic story with a cornice." Abdo Development is seeking a zoning variance for reduced parking, and will share the existing driveway to a planned underground garage.

The Historic Preservation Office has recommended approval of the project, HPRB and BZA must still review the plans. In a staff report, the HPRB noted that "the stretch of Rhode Island Avenue from Logan Circle to Scott Circle is a particularly fine example of a grand residential boulevard from the early decades of the 20th century. With a few exceptions, these blocks are characterized by large distinguished residences and dignified apartment buildings...[t]he proposed project continues in that tradition, wisely eschewing the temporary vogue of a scale-less all-glass façade for a dignified and relatively quiet classically-inspired building that will relate to and enhance its context."

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Abdo New York LLC Lost and Gone Forever

Its funny to think that even after development plans have been pronounced dead, after they've left our tangible world and been abandoned by their mortal purveyors, they apparently live on in planning-review purgatory. But today the ghosts of Abdo’s long-forgotten Arbor Place plans, and overly ambitious project calling for as many as 3,500 residential units, 148,120 s.f. of retail, and 4,294 parking spaces, were vanquished forever from the planning process, as the Zoning Commission dismissed the case with a unanimous vote of 6-0 after developers played hooky to the second of two subsequent hearings last week. May this lost density rest in peace.

Abdo Gets Equity Injection, Catholic Plans to Demo University Buildings

This past winter the Zoning Commission exchanged self-congratulatory pats on the back and awkward hugs with Jim Abdo as they approved plans for a large mixed use development project in Brookland. In late July the Greenbelt-based Bozzuto Group announced it was pairing up with Pritzker Realty Group LLC of Chicago to form a $75 million joint investment fund in multifamily housing; and early this week the joint-venture revealed that a significant portion of that fund was being invested in Abdo's plans to develop Catholic University's South Campus. The new partners would not reveal the exact amount of their equity investment, but it's deemed healthy enough to move forward with plans for the $200 million development to break ground in spring of next year. As part of the brokered agreement, Bozzuto Construction will operate as general contractor and Bozzuto Development will partner with Abdo as co-developer of the site. While the rest of the working world has gone on August vacation, and projects across the metro area have petered out and evaporated in the sultry summer sun, the Catholic University project offers hope that the market is showing small signs of life.

Starving artists will be well fed with high-end studio space.

The center piece of the new project and first phase of construction will be the Arts Walk buildings across from the Brookland Metro Station. The 15,000 s.f. ground floor will consist of 27 studio spaces where artists can work on, display, and sell their pieces. The wide, open public space between the two structures (the "arts walk" itself) will allow this creativity to spill out of the studios and onto the sidewalks, and will also be a place to feature sculptures, public art exhibits, and kiosks for rotating studio-less artists. The arts walk will dead end into a public piazza with a bubbling water fountain and more public space for artsy festivities. The tree-lined Monroe Street, beginning at the Michigan Avenue intersection and running to the Monroe Street Bridge, will serve as the main street of the campus, the backbone of the development. The wide thoroughfare will be home to 83,000 square feet of diverse, pedestrian-friendly street-level retail, much of it student-oriented: coffee shops, pubs, book shops, bike shops, you name it. On top of all this, the development team will stack several floors of residencies, 720 apartments units in all (approximately 63,000 s.f. will be reserved as "workforce" housing). Also included in the works are 45 townhomes to be marketed for purchase. The townhouses will help transition the taller Monroe Street and Arts Walk apartment buildings into the abutting lower-rising neighborhoods of Brookland and Edgewood. A total of 850 below-grade parking spaces will accommodate residents and shoppers alike.

New South Campus main street: a place to shop, and tailgate?

On Wednesday, the District received raze applications for three South Campus buildings (Spalding, Spellman, and Conaty Halls), showing concrete efforts to make way for the development, and further proof that these guys weren't joking around and real progress is being made. Catholic University requested the permission to destroy the three dormitories, writing: "CUA's expectation is that the South Campus development project will provide a financial return to support the renovation and construction of residence halls on its main campus, [and] will provide amenities that will benefit both the neighborhood and the students and employees of the university." Although ground will not officially break until 2011, The Berg Corporation, experts in the art of destruction, have been contracted to demolish these three buildings in the near future. 

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Arbor Place No More

Abdo Development's planned Arbor Place, an outer New York Avenue project first destined to offer up to 3500 condominiums, then retooled as a subsidized housing project, is now clinically dead according to the Washington Business Journal (WBJ).

Just last July, Abdo asked the DC Zoning Commission for consolidated approval of a Planned Unit Development (PUD) and related zoning map amendment. At that time, Abdo had significantly downsized the planned development and was working with the DC government to subsidize the first phase of construction. Abdo told the WBJ that the $1.1 billion mixed-use workforce housing project under current fiscal conditions was "next to impossible."

The 16-acre triangle bordering New York Avenue, Bladensburg Road, and Montana Avenue, NE, is now dominated by warehouses and dilapidated commercial buildings near the National Arboretum. In filing for last summer's Zoning Commission hearing, the developers admitted that scaled-down "new application reflects changes to market conditions." The original PUD called for approximately 3,500 residential units, 148,120 s.f. of retail, 4,294 parking spaces, one acre of open space and an overall floor area ratio (FAR) of 4.98. The drastically smaller new plan offered approximately 1,400 residential units, 1,254 parking spaces, 69,883 sf of retail, 2.71 acres of open space and a less dense FAR of 2.46. It would seem, not even a down-sizing could save the ill-fated development.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Senate Square to be Auctioned

The 432-unit Senate Square apartment building on the 200 block of I Street, NE is headed to auction on February 23rd. Senate Square was developed by New York-based Broadway Development Company and designed by architect Philip Esocoff. The property went into receivership in October 2009.

The two 12-story towers began sales as condos in September of 2005, but in 2007 converted to apartments when only 150 units went under contract. Since that time, the developer had fallen behind on mortgage payments to lender Goldman Sachs, and last October, California- based Douglas P. Wilson Companies was appointed as Receiver for Senate Square, requiring them to act as the developer on behalf of the court. On December 11, 2009, Goldman Sachs sold the note to Westbrook of New York. According to a representative of the Receiver, the project is currently 85% leased, more than 2 years after offering the building for lease, and that the new ownership is not likely to affect management or operation of Senate Square as an apartment building.

Senate Square was cleaved off from Abdo Development's Landmark Lofts condo project, which purchased site of the former Children's Museum for development; the two share a central amenities building. The auction will be held at 10am, February 23rd, at the auction house of Alex Cooper.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Waterfront Towers Condos

Waterfront Towers, 1101 3rd St., SW, Washington DC
Waterfront Towers was redeveloped by Centre Square, LLC, Bernstein Companies, Peak Development and Abdo Development. The "tower", at 9 stories, was designed by I.M. Pei, like several of its neighbors, and built in 1960, then converted to a condo in 2009. The 123-unit project underwent a full renovation in 2008 and 2009, with some green (but not LEED-certified) elements. Sales of the new condos began in August of 2009. The building retains the large, gated surface parking lot, with modern interior finishes and, for the larger units only, washers and dryers in the unit; with a common laundry room in the basement.


Waterfront Towers are not actually on the waterfront - the river is a short walk - but is only a block from the Waterfront Metro station. Prices for the condos started in the $200's for a small studio and at $320,000 for one bedroom. Real estate sales by the Mayhood Companies; about a third of the units in the building were pre-sold to existing tenants.

Washington DC real estate news

Brookland and Abdo Getting Closer to New Development

Abdo Development's plans for a section of the Catholic University of America (CUA) were given a hearing this week, following up on its October review before the Zoning Commission for amendment to CUA's campus plan. The sizable mixed-use project is planned for 8.9 acres of land on the CUA South Campus, on either side of Monroe Street between Michigan Avenue and the Brookland Metro. The hearing set the stage for final approval come December, and, assuming PUD approval, the developer expects to begin construction in 2011. In May of 2008 Abdo beat out a group of competitors including EYA, Monument Realty and Trammell Crow for the right to purchase the land from CUA and develop it. Though the purchase is not finalized, Abdo is under contract to purchase the property prior to the start of construction. The development team is seeking a flexibile approval for a residential development that would constitute anywhere from 725 to 825 units in what is proposed as 4 multi-family buildings with room for 80,000 s.f. of ground floor retail space with an FAR of 2.37. Of that 8%, or 63,000 s.f., will be affordable at 80% AMI. The plans also include 45 single-family homes, ranging between 3 and 4 stories with 2 to 4 bedrooms. The PUD application also contemplates a 3,000 s.f. "Arts Flex" building to serve as a community meeting area with space for art shows, recitals, and well, any other artsy undertaking. The development team plans to build for some type of LEED certification. The Arts feature of the Abdo project will likely be the first phase executed once construction begins. The plan includes an arts walk to serve as a pedestrian connection from Monroe Street to the metro station. On either side of the arts walk will be one multi-family building split into two wings, joined below grade by a parking garage. The ground floor of the building will include 27 artists studios to frame the pedestrian walkway. Work space will feature glass roll-up doors that artists can open during fair weather and weekends to engage the public and invite them into the studios. The feel, according to Abdo Vice President Toby Millman, will be something of a mix between Alexandria's Torpedo Factory and DC's Eastern Market. In addition to the ground floor work spaces, the nearby Arts Flex building was designed to reflect an "old warehouse style," given its proximity to the railroad tracks. The multi-family homes will be built with a mixture of masonry and pre-cast stone and, though originally planned at eight stories each, the buildings will reach only six stories in order to comply with the Brookland/CUA Small Area Plan developed during Abdo's planning process. One structure will only reach four stories in response to requests for reduced height or scale from community members living in neighboring single family homes on Lawrence Street. Millman described the architecture, a combination of designs from both Torti Gallas and Maurice Walters, as bridging the styles between the 100-year old CUA collegiate gothic and Brookland neighborhood's arts and crafts style. During one Commission meeting, Commissioner May critiqued the design saying the design "doesn't need to be so overtly historic" and that "it just seems a little odd." In the end, though, the overall design did not run into many hiccups with the community, largely due to adherence with initial recommendations for use, size and design in the small area plan. Millman said one of the goals of the design was to take Monroe Street - which he described as "not very active or interesting right now" and to turn it into "a vibrant retail main street." Developers were adamant during their hearing and in conversations with this publication that the retail they seek is community-serving; big boxes need not apply. Millman envisions a "vibrant, eclectic college town type atmosphere" with bike shops, sidewalk cafes and bookshops to serve both the college and neighborhood. 

Washington DC commercial real estate news

Arbor Place: A Pulse Detected

Abdo Development's Arbor Place project, an unusually large outer New York Avenue project which received initial approval in February 2007, is back on the boards. At a hearing before Washington DC's Zoning Commission on July 30, 2009, Abdo asked for consolidated approval of a Planned Unit Development (PUD) and related zoning map amendment from C-M-1 to CR Zone district for the same land. In a move that clearly reflects the financing constraints many developers are facing, Abdo has significantly downsized the planned development and is working with DC to subsidize the first phase of construction (at least). The new Arbor Place is a planned mixed-use community on the colossal 17-acre triangle bordering New York Avenue, Bladensburg Road, and Montana Avenue, NE, (click on map, above) a section of real estate now dominated by warehouses and dilapidated commercial buildings. 

The site counts the opposite National Arboretum as an advantage, but sits on a challenged stretch of New York Avenue sometimes referred to impolitely as "the Devil's bowling alley" for its lengthy sameness, segregated by the CSX lines that run adjacent. The project will also include three new internal roads. The original PUD called for approximately 3,500 residential units, 148,120 sf of retail for lease, 4,294 parking spaces, one acre of open space and an overall floor area ratio (FAR) of 4.98. The drastically smaller new plan offers approximately 1,400 residential units, 1,254 parking spaces, 69,883 sf of retail for lease, 2.71 acres of open space and a less dense FAR of 2.46. In Commission filings, the developers admit "the new application reflects changes to market conditions." Most notably, the new filing changes the subsidized portion of the project from a mere 8% of units to 70% of units. About 25% of those units will now be available to residents at 80% AMI (Area Median Income) or below, and another third would be available to low-income households earning 60% AMI or less, and in some cases 50% AMI or less. The remaining 30% would be market rate. In their pre-hearing submission, the applicants, which still includes New York City-based Broadway Development, claim the "affordable housing component is the PUD's most significant project amenity and public benefit," a fact which underscores the removal of several project amenities, such as expansion of a local recreational facility and on-site health club. 

The affordable housing provision is now the subject of substantial negotiations over workforce housing programs between Abdo and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DPMED). The developers will "utilize a combination of direct subsidy and tax incentives to finance and construct the initial phases" of Arbor Place. These financing programs determine the distribution of affordable units in the PUD. Phase I, set to begin approximately two years after PUD approval, will start with two buildings that run along New York Ave. and part of Montana Ave. Every unit in Phase I will be available only to households at or below 60% AMI. Phase II's five buildings run along Montana Ave, New York Ave, part of Bladensburg Rd. and new internal roads. This phase provides 20% of units at 50% AMI and the remaining at market-rate, which the developer intends to price at a level generally affordable to an 80% AMI level. Phase III's three buildings run along Montana Ave and Bladensburg Rd and will be entirely market-rate, which the developer anticipates will generally priced equivalent to workforce housing. The developers expect Phase III to be ready 15 years from the Zoning Commission Order.

Arboretum Neighborhood Association President, Bleik Pickett, submitted a letter to the Commission expressing overall support, but with several key concerns. The original PUD had included a commitment to support and expand the local recreation center, and plans for a health club as one of the retail facilities. Neither offer exists in the new PUD application and residents are concerned about the influx of people without the necessary neighborhood resources to handle it. The letter mentioned that Abdo had expressed interest in a public-private partnership to provide resources for the community, and which it wanted reinstated. 

The Architect and Master Planner for the project is Maurice Walters; Torti Gallas and Jyh-Mei Lee, AIA (Abdo's in-house architect) are project architects. Additionally, Shalom Baranes Architects and Bradley Site Design are the landscape architects. The watercolor renderings were done by ArchiBIM, Inc. The Zoning Commission approved the consolidated PUD application and the Zoning amendments, and has now submitted its recommendation to the National Capitol Planning Commission (NCPC) for review. The NCPC will review the application and send a report back to the Zoning Commission. A final hearing before the Zoning Commission is scheduled for September 14th. Barring any bureaucratic hi-jinx, the application would then be approved. The guidelines for PUDs mandate that the developer has up to two year after approval to apply for a construction permit and an additional year after that to begin construction. If the two year or three year deadlines are not met, the PUD becomes void. The original PUD application is now void, due to the alterations and the above described time lapse. Assuming the Zoning Commission approves the new PUD application on September 14th, 2009, Abdo will have two years from that date to apply for a construction permit and an additional year to begin construction.

Washington DC retail and commercial real estate news

List Narrowed to Four Developers for Catholic U. Mixed-Use Project

Catholic University has shortened its list of potential developers for its planned mixed-use residential/retail complex to four companies, and hopes to have the winner selected by this June, according to the Washington Business Journal. The targeted site is an eight-acre area in the South Campus, below Michigan Avenue NE, just west of the Brookland Metro station, now occupied by three student residence halls (Spalding, Spellman and Conaty Halls), St. Bonaventure Hall, and empty lots now used by the Brookland farmers’ market (the halls will be razed and new halls will be located on the main campus for students). The four shortlisted developers are EYA, Monument Realty, Trammell Crow, and Abdo Development. Catholic hopes this private development will revitalize Michigan Avenue NE and the area around the metro stop, and well as generate revenue for the school.

DC Zoning Approves Abdo’s Newly Named "Arbor Place" New York Avenue Project

Abdo Development’s massive plan to develop 17 acres of auto lots and underutilized space at the intersection of New York Avenue, Bladensburg Road, and Montana Avenue NE took a significant step forward in mid-February, when the DC Zoning Commission gave its stamp of approval to the company’s $1.1 billion residential mixed-use planned unit development proposal.

Abdo (with partner Broadway Management), envisions building at new town center called "Arbor Place" (so named after the nearby National Arboretum), which will include eight 11-story residential towers (some possibly with rooftop swimming pools) containing approximately 3,600 residential units (mainly condos, with some rentals possible), plus 130,000 sf of retail facing new York Avenue, a grocery store, and the 42,000-sf "Arbor Club" health club/day car center open to public membership - all surrounding a three-acre park. Pricing is expected to be in the $450 to $475 per sf range, with about eight percent of the housing reserved as affordable housing. Abdo is currently working with WMATA to get a bus stop at the development, but will also provide a shuttle to the nearby Rhode Island metro station.

The developer plans to finish acquiring all the land by June 2007, with demolition starting in mid-2008. If all goes on schedule, the residential buildings will be ready for occupancy in late 2010.

Note: We know, we know - you all want pictures and designs. As soon as we get our hands on some, we will be sure to put them up!

Two New Hotels to Join Development of New York Avenue NE

Once described many years ago by a local alternative paper as "The Devil's Bowling Alley" for its long stretch of dilapidated auto lots and boarded-up buildings, things are beginning to look up for New York Avenue NE. The latest news is that the joint venture of Rocks Engineering Co. and SharCon Hotel Management & Development Co. is moving forward on its development of side-by-side hotels next to the National Arboretum at the southeast intersection of New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road in the Ivy City neighborhood. The hotels will both be five-story structures, with one being a 126-room Fairfield Inn & Suites and the other a 125-unit Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites. The hotels take the place of the old, now-demolished Travelodge Hotel (pictured, officially at 1917 Bladensburg Rd NE). Both hotels are expected to be ready for occupancy in early 2008.

The developers are banking on not only the 80,000 vehicles that pass the intersection each day, but also the other major developments planned for New York Avenue NE. The projects (as have been reported in past dcmud postings) include: Abdo Development's $1 billion mixed-use "Gateway" redevelopment project of 17 acres on the north side of the Bladensburg intersection into almost 4,000 residential units, green space, and a grocery (delivery after 2009); MRP Realty’s "Washington Gateway" project, a $350 million, 150-room hotel and 250-unit residential tower development to be located along New York and Florida Avenues NE (2010 occupancy); and New Town Development LLC’s $1 billion redevelopment of the 24-acre Florida Avenue Market, located between New York and Florida Avenues NE, into 1,700 residential units and 330,000 sf of retail, restaurant, and merchandising space.

Abdo to Expand Arlington Holdings, Buys Land Across From Its Mercer and Wooster Project

Jim Abdo must like what it sees when surveying the sites from his new Mercer and Wooster Lofts condo project in Arlington along Clarendon Boulevard between Rosslyn and Courthouse. That would explain his company’s recent purchase for $42.2 million of five lots, bounded by North Quinn, and North Queen Streets, 16th Road and Clarendon Boulevard, across from his existing complex. While no plans have been drawn up yet for this stretch of street, Abdo is contemplating building residential condos. Currently the lots hold aging garden apartment buildings and a single-family home – most likely these will be demolished. Sales at the Wooster and Mercer Lofts (pictured) started last Fall, with delivery expected this year. The Mercer will house 34 condo units averaging about 1,500 sf, while its sister Wooster will contain 53 units. Both brick structures will feature 17-foot ceilings and floating stairs, penthouses with 21-foot high living spaces, private roof terraces, and underground parking and storage. There will also be a garden pool between the buildings. Pricing begins in the $500,000s and goes up to $2 million.

Sales Begin for Abdo’s Wooster and Mercer Lofts Project

After many months of waiting, Abdo Development, LLC, officially announced on November 1 that it has started sales for its Wooster and Mercer Lofts project at Clarendon Blvd. and Queen Street in Arlington. The Mercer Lofts building will house 34 condo units averaging about 1,500 sf, while its sister building Wooster Lofts will contain 53 units. Both brick structures will feature 17-foot ceilings and floating stairs, penthouses with 21-foot high living spaces, private roof terraces, and underground parking and storage. There will also be a garden pool between the buildings. Pricing begins in the $500,000s and goes up to $2 million. Delivery is expected by early 2007.