Alexandria Affordable Housing Complex Back on Track

An AHC Inc.-developed affordable housing complex at the corner of East Reed Avenue and Route 1/Jefferson Davis Highway, in Alexandria, is now slated for an early 2014 groundbreaking, after hitting delays earlier this year.

The latest iteration of the project, which has increased to 77 units, from an original 59, should head to the Alexandria City Council in December for final approval, according to John Welsh, Vice President at AHC.

"We're really happy with the design," says Welsh.  "The city planning office gave their opinion on it, and asked for a few minor changes.  Mostly design stuff - switching a metal accent to the other side of the building so it would be a stronger element on Route 1, that kind of thing."

The Bonstra-Haresign-designed building will offer 15 one-bedroom units, 51 two-bedroom units, and eleven three-bedroom units, at 60% of AMI (approximately $56,000/year).  The facade is "primarily brick, with a few other materials, and some metal accents to give it a nice polish," said Welsh.  The building will be five stories tall on the east side, and taper down to three stories on the west, and there will also be 77 below-grade parking spaces, a one-to-one ratio that marks a significant increase from the earlier design's 0.77 ratio, a number that caused some consternation among city planners as potentially insufficient.  Construction is projected to take 18 months, with leasing estimated to take until the end of 2015.

The project will sit on a joined plot consisting of a city-owned parcel at 3600 Jefferson Davis Highway and three privately-owned parcels controlled by AHC.  Funding is being provided by a package of AHC funds, a $1.1 million-plus affordable housing loan from the city, and tax credits, the application deadline for the latter contributing, at least in part, to past delays.

Affordable Housing Complex Delayed

A proposed 59-unit affordable housing project in Alexandria, at the corner of East Reed Avenue and Route 1/Jefferson Davis Highway, has been delayed a year after developers at AHC, Inc. missed a mid-March deadline for their affordable housing tax credit application.  Developers are now aiming for a March 2013 application.

Though the project has been in the works for almost two years, a number of issues prevented the application from coming together in time. While city planners supported the project, calling it "an excellent opportunity to secure affordable housing, with minimal City financial support, in an area that will soon redevelop in a way that would likely make such a project unfeasible in the future due to escalating land values," they also raised concerns over the streetscaping. Planners also cited the possibly inadequate amount of parking contained in the proposed design (0.7 spaces per unit rather than their preferred ratio of 1.1 spaces per unit), and redesigns couldn't be produced in time to accommodate required public hearings and the tax credit deadline.

The proposed project, designed by Bonstra | Haresign, would assemble the city-owned parcel at 3600 Jefferson Davis Highway with three privately-owned adjacent parcels at 120 and 118 E. Reed Avenue (which AHC currently has under site control), as the site of a five-story multi-family apartment building, owned and operated by AHC.  Preliminary concept plans call for one- and two-bedroom units at 60% of AMI (about $56,000/yr), though the exact orientation of the building is still under discussion.

"We're still talking about the exact placement of the building," said John Welsh, Vice President at AHC, of the present timeline.  "Ideally, we'd like to conclude zoning and planning by the summer, apply for the financing in March of next year, close sometime in July, and then start construction in the fall.  The city is still interested, they've just asked for some followups.  We're going to keep this thing going."

Complications relating to funding may also have contributed to the delays.  The project is being funded by a complicated package of tax credits, AHC investment, and an approximately $1.1 million affordable housing loan from the city.  AHC would pay market value to the city for the vacant lot at 3600 Jefferson Davis Highway, but would seek to defer this payment (with interest) until after the 15-year tax credit period.  The addition of a parking garage caused the amount of the required city loan to balloon, necessitating another analysis by the City Office of Housing, and a redetermination in the amount of the loan.

AHC, Inc., a nonprofit developer of affordable housing, has developed 38 housing projects since 1975 containing over 3,200 units; this is their first project in Alexandria.

Alexandria, Virginia real estate development news

Alexandria, Private Developers Tout Ambitious Beauregard Corridor Revitalization Plans

Alexandria city officials and their private-sector partners have spent February on a virtual barnstorming tour, touting their plan to revitalize the Beauregard Corridor in Alexandria. The thirty-year plan calls for the 440-acre, seven-neighborhood area to undergo a dramatic increase in density (from 5.5 to 12.5 million square feet, including 703 new dwellings) while preserving and enhancing its unique topographical and green features. The remaking of the corridor is a joint venture between the city and the Beauregard Corridor Developer Stakeholders, a group whose membership includes local developer The JBG Companies, Duke Realty, Hekemian & Co., Home Properties and Southern Towers.

Big picture, the Beauregard Small Area Plan seeks to do what nearly all present-day redevelopment does - reverse the missteps of the past. Surface parking becomes public green spaces, sprawl becomes density, and auto-centric planning gives way to pedestrians, bikes, and mass transit. Planners envision the area transforming into a “garden city,” citing Roland Park in Baltimore as a model, with curving streets, courtyards, front yards, and greenways, all of it roughly bisected by the newly landscaped North Beauregard Street.

Planners also recommend the strict definition of seven distinct neighborhoods – Greenway, Garden District, Town Center, Southern Towers, Adams, Upland Park, Seminary Overlook – each with a central park. Developers have already claimed their neighborhoods; JBG (whose parcel looks to be at least as large as the other four parcels put together) has staked out almost the entire western half of the corridor (Greenway, Garden District, and Town Center. Hey, at least they didn't go with “JBGTown.”) Directly adjacent to the east is the oblong Duke Realty parcel (Adams), and along the east side, from top to bottom, are the more moderately-sized parcels of Hekemian (Upland) , Southern Towers, (Southern Towers) and Home Properties (Seminary Overlook), respectively. The logic behind the demarcation of the neighborhoods - which at present range from low to medium density - isn't entirely clear. The developers do own property within the borders of their designated neighborhoods - JBG, for example, already owns the Shops at Mark Center, as well as various apartment buildings along North Beauregard, and Home Properties owns apartments in Seminary Hill - but it's unclear how the apportioning was done (and by whom?), how binding it is, and how many of the purchases predated the mapping process.

It's still early for details about specific businesses, and representatives at recent meetings were vague or simply had nothing to report. However, planners have included three retail nodes in their plans – one in the west, in Town Center, and two in the east, in Upland and Southern Towers. These will be coveted locations for businesses – though Landmark Mall is close by, slightly to the southeast.

In exchange for access to development opportunities in the Corridor, the conglomerate has agreed to contribute just under $150 million towards a new fire station, road improvements, green public spaces, and affordable housing. The public reaction has not, however, been unanimously positive. On the public comment page the city set up, many citizens pointed out that the "townhome" style housing options would price out many of the current tenants. Others questioned the urgency behind the rollout, and wondered if it was a veiled effort by the city to raise density in the area to make up for lost tax revenues from the massive DOD facility at the Mark Center. Some questioned whether the proposed degree of density could be supported without a Metro stop (which isn't forthcoming), while still others objected on aesthetic grounds, calling it a "stepford wives" community.

The city replied by citing the surrounding areas and their projected development figures – Landmark/Van Dorn to the south plans 12 million square feet(!), Bailey's Crossroads to the north will get 5.5 million square feet - which, they say, will drastically alter

transportation and development patterns in the area, isolating and undermining Beauregard if it doesn't follow suit. Whether this is a real worry or the municipal equivalent to “keeping up with the neighbors” remains to be seen. That being said, the plan as it stands does look to be a clear improvement on the present state of the area.

If you have an opinion you'd like to share with the city or with developers, the next community meeting is on March 6. You can also weigh in online, on the citizen comment board.

Arlandria Redevelopment Gains Momentum

The proposed redevelopment of Mt. Vernon Village Center in Arlandria cleared a crucial hurdle last week, gaining approval from the Alexandria City Council by a vote of 6-1, despite some expected objections from the community.

Arlandria Center will be a 600,000 square foot pedestrian-friendly mixed-use complex replacing the sixty-year-old storefronts-and-surface parking strip mall along Mount Vernon Avenue. Plans call for two massive C-shaped buildings, placed back to back, with retail space on the ground level to go with 478 apartments – 28 of which will be earmarked as "lower-income affordable housing” (60% of area median income, locked in for thirty years), and the rest offered at market value. The two retail anchors at Mt. Vernon Village Center, CVS and MOM's Organic Market, have agreed to stay, and their relocation is being accommodated by a phased construction.

The new complex also slightly increases the amount of retail space, to just over fifty three thousand square feet, and relocates parking underground. The project, designed by Guy Martin at CORE Architects, also aims to increase access to Four Mile Run Park, which is currently blocked off by the current structures. The new Mt. Vernon Village Center incorporates two “green fingers” - clear sight lines that provide park views from the Avenue – as well as pedestrian walkways and bike paths, and a no-vehicles pedestrian esplanade in the rear.

“The architecture is one of the things we're particularly excited about,” said Gwen Wright, Development Division Chief in the Alexandria Department of Planning. “There are lots of plane changes in the facade, breaking it up into smaller pieces, good transitions along Mt. Vernon Avenue and along Bruce Street. It also has great connections to the park – some units have entrances right onto the park. Overall, it's very contemporary – lots of glass, stone, and brick, very exciting. We'd like to see the area revitalized, with more focus on the arts. The Birchmere is already there, so there's a real opportunity to see Arlandria move in that direction.”

Like a lot of planners in the region, Wright hopes that Arlandria's rise will parallel the blossoming of certain neighborhoods in the District “A lot of this reminds me of U Street,” says Wright. “U Street and 14th Street.”

Protests centered on what some considered the meager number of units set aside for affordable housing, as well as the income requirement. Others worried that the whitewashing was already underway, as the immigrant-heavy neighborhood, known by locals as Chirilagua, was being rebranded exclusively as Arlandria.

Despite its relative inaccessibility, developers have long eyed Arlandria – with its proximity to the Pentagon, Crystal City, Del Rey, and Potomac Yard - as an area ripe for redevelopment, and with this step, that project looks to be gaining momentum. Mt. Vernon Village Center is one of three earmarked “opportunity sites” as outlined in the 2003 “Arlandria Neighborhood Plan,” and the first to make significant progress. The other two opportunity sites are the former Safeway/Datatel site at Mt. Vernon Avenue and West Glebe, and the Birchmere to the south. Which one will be next?

Alexandria Virginia real estate development news

New Joint Venture Development Team for Braddock Gateway's Phase One

In a strategic move undisclosed early this

fall, Jaguar Development has sold Phase 1 of its Braddock Gateway development site in Alexandria, Va., to joint-venture partners Trammell Crow Company and Washington Real Estate Investment Trust. The land sale and development site closed on November 23rd, the partnership was announced by press release yesterday. The recently purchased one-acre development site of Phase 1, a 15-story, 270-unit apartment building, at 1219 First Street (First and Fayette Street), is only the first piece of a larger, 7-acre, five-phase Braddock development plan. 

The residential and retail building, designed by Rust | Orling Architecture, consists of a mix of studios, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom apartment units, and will vary in height from 50' to 150' - from 6 to 15 stories - with the tallest section being the central tower (the focus), which is flanked by "two lower shoulders," the eastern 6-story wing with pool deck, and the western 13-story wing. Phase 1 is now undergoing final site plan approval with the City of Alexandria, after preliminary site plan approval was given by the City this past September. After final approval, likely to come in the next half year, two years of construction will then begin in the fourth quarter 2012, developers expect. If all continues to go smoothly, the project - developed through TCC’s wholly-owned subsidiary High Street Residential - will deliver in 2016. 

Alexandria, Virginia real estate development news

Braddock Gateway Residential Plan Gets Initial Approval

Alexandria-based Jaguar Development has received preliminary site plan approval for the first phase in its 5-phase Braddock Gateway development, paving the way for a 270-unit, 277,000-s.f. apartment building.

Jaguar managing partner, Eddy Cettina, says that the next step, final site plan approval, will take place within the next 9 months to a year.

Although the entire Braddock Gateway development plan was approved in 2008, its developer laid low through the recession, and approached the City with amendments to Phase I in July. Preliminary approval of these amendments was granted by City Council on September 17th.

Phase I's acre-sized parcel is at the southernmost end of the development property, located 1000 feet from the Braddock Metro station.

Jaguar chose to lead with rental apartments on the site because "[i]t is the closet [building] to the metro, and will cater to renters who want easy transit access."

As a transit oriented development, the first phase will also include the construction (by Jaguar) of a "high capacity" bus/transit stop along First Street, just east of Payne Street, with a covered waiting area and LED touchscreen offering rider info.

Designed by Rust | Orling Architecture, the residential-and-retail building will vary in height from 50' to 150' - from 6 to 15 stories - with the tallest section being the central tower (the focus), which is flanked by "two lower shoulders," the eastern 6-story wing with pool deck, and the western 13-story wing.

During design revisions, the western wing was taken down by two stories in order to further stagger height overall, emphasize the "shoulder" appearance of the building, and better relate the design to that of the entire development, according to the city. The staff report, recommending preliminary approval of Phase I, stated the importance of the design review, "Given the site's strategic location... and the pronounced vertical nature... the 2008 development review process placed considerable importance on the quality of the architecture, as the site truly serves as a gateway into the historic portion of the City."

The first completed building in the development will be surrounded by 14'-wide sidewalks, featuring decorative brick and dotted with trees; pedestrian oriented street frontage will be built along Fayette Street. Open space included in the development will total 14,000 s.f., consisting of a 6,000-s.f. central green on the ground floor and a 8,000-s.f. roof top area. Two levels of underground parking will offer 243 parking spaces, with another 26 spaces located on a surface lot off of Fayette.

As for the rest of the 5-building development, "[w]e are concentrating on phase one right now," said Cettina, although she did confirm that the plan for the entire 7-acre development site has not been changed; the plan is for 770,000 s.f. of new development that includes 630 residential units, 70,000 s.f. of office and 15,000 s.f. of retail.

Patricia Escher, principal planner with the City Dept. of Planning and Zoning, offered that the development a considerable improvement to the site, currently holding two vacant warehouses and a surface parking lot. "The entire five phased development of Braddock Gateway will improve an underutilized portion of the City." The project, to be LEED certified, will also conform to Alexandria's green standards.

Escher added that "the first phase will be providing a combined total of $1.6 million to the City’s affordable housing fund, the neighborhood’s streetscape fund and [include] improvements to a local park."

Alexandria, Virginia real estate development news

Demolition Making Way For Madison Apartment in Alexandria

Demolition has begun at 800 N. Henry Street in Old Town Alexandria, the site claimed by the Madison, a two-building apartment complex developed by Equity Residential. According to Dirk Geratz, principal planner for the City of Alexandria, construction is to begin in November.  Equity Residential took over sole responsibility of the project last year and can be credited for its revival. The development had been idle after Alexandria City Council approval came three years ago; idle "due in part to the economy over the last several years," according to the City. New construction costs, estimated to be around $37 million, will be spread across two 5- and 7-story buildings containing 360 apartment units, nearly 9,700 s.f. of ground-floor retail and 45,280 s.f. of "open space" - public plaza, courtyard and rooftop pool - designed by SK&I, which was brought on as the architect in 2010, replacing Cooper Carry. 

In February, the plan was both bumped up and scaled back from what was approved in 2008 - whereas the number of apartment units increased, from 344 to 360, retail space was cut, from 23,000 s.f. to 9,672 s.f., and the number of parking spaces trimmed by nearly 100 spots (from 561 to 464). Retail space will be located on the corner of North Henry and Madison Streets. Varied styles and materials will be incorporated throughout the property in an effort to make the whole development appear as several distinct entities. A new private access street will connect North Fayette to North Henry Street. The development, initially meant to be underway in 2009, is located two blocks from the Braddock Metro stop in West Old Town; the project awaited approval in 2007 due to the incoming Braddock Metro Small Area Plan, which was adopted by Council in March of 2008. 

Article amendment: SK&I was brought on as the project architect (replacing Cooper Carry) in 2010, when Equity Residential took over sole responsibility of the project; Trammell Crow Co. was a development partner in 2008, when the project was first approved. This article has been updated to reflect these facts.

Alexandria Virginia retail and real estate development news

A Lobby for All Seasons

By Beth Herman

From 20 stories up at the top of the Carlyle Towers, 2151 Jamieson Avenue, the city of Alexandria spreads out in a mélange of shapes and colors. In autumn, the season’s golds, purples, reds and yellows are a palette of particular appeal. But not so for the same theme in the condominium’s current South Tower lobby.

For interior designer Camille Saum and associate designer Nicole Hansen, transforming what is essentially “a harlequin lobby” into an “elegant and durable space” brought the two on a trio of exploratory missions to the property, long before they were tapped for the job.

“We wanted to have the answers,” said Hansen of the time they and nine other firms were first approached for ideas to renovate the south building. For them, the answers included using color continuity to turn a disjointed array of the building’s public spaces into true residential luxury, but with an eye to sustainability and cost-effective measures as well.

Built in phased construction in 1996, 1998 and 2000, the Carlyle’s three towers undergo a kind of roving renovation, according to Hansen, who explained work on the South Tower, built in ’98, is set to begin in the fall. On the redesign agenda are the approximately 1,500 s.f. lobby and mailroom, the Carlyle room which is used for special events that include parties, weekly yoga classes and bridge games, hallways for floors 13 through 20, a conference room and part of the facility’s kitchen.

“The colors that we found in the lobby are predominantly bright red, purple, and then rugs of a sort of rainbow hue in red, blue, yellow and purple,” Hansen said, adding the sofas are a kind of “retro purple mohair.” Two 2 ½-ft.-in-diameter two-story central columns that anchor the space are a red-and-purple harlequin pattern from floor to ceiling. There is no continuity of this particular color experience outside the lobby, so it does not agree with the rest of the property, Hansen explained.

In sharp contrast, the floors are a subdued cognac, bone and light brown marble –a dignified, neutral palette the designers are seeking to replicate in furniture, rug and fabric choices.

Look homeward

According to Hansen, the lobby bifurcates into left and right living room-type spaces, which she and Saum call “the vignettes.” The area below the left and right space’s mirrored mullions is painted white and magenta, though will become a neutral tone with “punches of color.” Durable draperies will complement the two vignettes for a homey look, and Xorel fabric in a shiny beige-and-gold tone will be used on specific walls and columns as it is compatible with the marble flooring. Recycled porcelain flooring will also be added.

Opting for modern but transitional furniture in a warm space that honors the past though embraces the future, Karges and Caron sofas in soft hues are slated for the lobby, with Saum’s signature pop of color (Spring Dust by Benjamin Moore) on the tray ceiling.

In the Carlyle room, used for activities and adjacent to the pool area, neutral tones will be offset by chartreuse accents in 100 percent wool carpeting, for sustainability, and ceiling. “Right now it’s a kind of foil,” Hansen said of the ceiling, adding that a grid of 4-by-4-ft. beams traverses it. The foil is tarnished, so the ceiling will be painted a flat chartreuse color instead. The space’s soon-to-be custom carpeting in taupe and chartreuse will also be replicated in upstairs hallways. “We wanted it all to have a feeling of movement, but with a warm, residential feel as well,” Hansen said, because the building with its public spaces is very much people’s home as opposed to an office building.

The Carlyle room’s expansive dance floor will be refinished in a taupe stain to blend with the carpeting. Prevailing sound issues during lively events will be mitigated by the use of Novawall, a sound absorption material that will be used on the ceiling and one wall, camouflaged by more Xorel fabric.

Where lighting is concerned, the designer said illuminating the lobby’s and hallways’ many dark spaces with an eye towards energy savings were paramount, as well as updating the current look. To that end, LED lights will be interspersed with sustainable recessed lighting, and for aesthetics four contemporary wood and iron chandeliers from Dominion Electric Supply will replace a group of nondescript chandeliers currently in use.

With the four-month project slated to begin in September, Hansen said they are looking forward to the challenge, their objective to make Carlyle Towers’ public spaces as warm, durable and welcoming as the residents’ own homes.

Alexandria Virginia commercial real estate design

Hoffman Towers Will Stand Tallest, Despite Being Two Stories Shorter

Fifty-three years ago, an entrepreneurial young man known as “Dutch” – Hubert N. Hoffman – purchased 71 acres of land that was at the time swamp-scrub-trailer-park landfill, now the continually expanding Eisenhower Valley in Alexandria, Virginia. More than 5 decades after predicting a 35-story building for the site, heirs predict construction could begin as early as this year for a complex that could reach 33 stories - the tallest high-rise in the DC-metro area.

As reported by the Washington Post in 2006, Hoffman paid $200,000 - “every nickel” to his name - a small fortune amassed by trudging through the ranks; from a lowly rank in the back of a bakery, to become a successful agent at New York Life. The payment didn't seem to match the parcel, and onlookers scoffed at what appeared to be a risky financial move for Hoffman. “My learned friends, other developers, assured me I would lose my family,” he told the Post.

Why blow it all on one place? According to Hoffman, the real estate salesman “promised that the Beltway would be coming through.”

He was right. The Capital Beltway was included in the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 and today it cuts right into the Eisenhower Valley, just south of Hoffman's land, and loops itself into the Eisenhower Avenue Connector interchange.

Hoffman kept his land, his family and his dream – to build a “35-story skyscraper on the site."

The Hoffman Company/Hoffman Management - the development company founded by Hoffman - has been developing a mixed-use “urban center” known as the Hoffman Town Center across 56 acres in Eisenhower East for the last decade. Upon completion, the area will contain approximately 7m sf of built area (orange buildings on the master plan below) and includes commercial, residential, and hospitality enterprises.
The signature built element of HTC - The Hoffman Towers - is comprised of 3 towers of mixed-use residential/retail, rising up from block 11 and 12, with big-name tenant Harris Teeter in the ground floor of block 11. An additional 17,000 sf of retail will be incorporated, including "pockets" of 200-sf spaces. The grocer will take up two stories and approximately 50,000 sf. First phase of construction will need to be completed before December 31, 2013 as Harris Teeter has a legal agreement to assume the space on or before that date.

Approximately 1200 residential units will be spread across the 3 towers, including a percentage of affordable housing.

The rendering shown here is the most current design - by architect DCS Design - submitted by the Hoffman Company to the City of Alexandria. Original plans were for two mirrored 24-story towers; new plans are for a three-tower configuration, tiered in height (33, 28 and 22 stories).

Although the tallest tower will be 33 stories, two shy of Hubert Hoffman's vision, and also of Monday Properties' 35-story office building underway at 1812 North Moore in Rosslyn, it has been designed to stand 396 ft from the ground up. Monday Properties' building design is 390 ft tall. However, the Eisenhower Valley sits at approximately 18 ft above sea level, and Rosslyn 80 ft above - this means that the Hoffman Towers will claim the crown of the tallest high-rise inside the Beltway by a mere six feet, with a structure that is one-seventh the height of the Burj Khalifa, but will reach a skyline height approximately 55 ft below 1812 North Moore, thanks to a low-lying valley locale.

Although structural heights in the DC-metro area are scrutinized, Eisenhower East combined with the Carlyle Neighborhood is increasingly building up, as well as building out, thanks to generous amounts of land. Development is further spurred by the proximity of the Beltway, the interchange, and the Eisenhower Avenue Metro stop.

The area is home to significant public and private sector organizations, among them the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Federal District Courthouse, as well as a massive 22-screen AMC theater, fringed with national retail chains.

The Towers will sit adjacent to the Metro stop – which currently spits passengers out into parking lots - and will be boxed by new access streets including Port Street, Anchor Street and Dock Lane (which cuts through the towers). Port Street can be blamed for delays with site plan approval. Gwen Wright, Development Division Chief with the City of Alexandria confirmed that negotiations are currently taking place between the Hoffman Company and the owner of private land that falls into the future Port Street area. The Hoffman Company could not be reached for comment.

Wright estimated that a site plan will be approved by the end of the summer. If a general contractor is awarded shortly thereafter, construction should be able to take place before the end of 2011, and the first phase (of two) should in that case be completed in 2013. Wright says the city is currently trying to facilitate negotiations in order to move the project along, as it is viewed positively. “We are excited,” said Wright. “It’ll be a game changer for the Eisenhower Valley.” For the past few years, the Hoffman Company has been in cooperation with the City of Alexandria's Office of Planning & Zoning.

Hubert Hoffman might not be around to see it, he passed away in 2002, but it's happening, skyscrapers are rising out of the Eisenhower Valley. The Towers may not be 35 stories, but they aim to have a better story to tell, to be the tallest high-rise building (from the ground up) in Metropolitan DC. At least for awhile, 396 feet may send builders skyward.

Update: A previous version of this story was published May 25 which did not address from-the-ground-up heights.

Erkiletian to Deliver Apartments in Old Town

The Asher, a 206-unit multi-family residential project in Old Town Alexandria, is on track for delivery in spring of 2012, says Bill Denton, Vice President of Development for Erkiletian, the local suburban developer behind Alexandria's Halstead Towers and the Discovery building in downtown Silver Spring.

The project broke ground in November 2010 at 621 North Payne Street, the former site of a Security Storage Warehouse, two blocks from the Braddock Road Metro. The building which the developer hopes will secure LEED-Silver certification will feature terraces and a landscaped plaza, a business and fitness center, a sliver of retail, and 256 underground parking spaces.

Rust Orling Architecture and Hovnanian conceived the project, to which Erkiletian added 60 units and signed on Lessard Group for support.

Del Ray Project Stalls

A development darling of Alexandria's Del Ray neighborhood is on hold, with the green office building on Mt. Vernon Avenue sidelined until market conditions improve. Del Ray Greens was designed to replace Anthony's Auto Center with a small retail and office building high on green credentials and capable of supporting a small vegetable farm, but the project's developer has asked the city to put a hold on its application, citing market conditions not yet justifying a start date.

Last May, would-be developer Julie Wadler anticipated that the project, more a passion than a business shift, would be underway this fall, integrating the community with design input, locally designed art projects for the facade, and public access to the rooftop garden. The city has not issued construction permits, and plans have been shelved for now.

The concept was to transform the property, which sat tantalizingly close to Wadler's Epiphany Productions, into refined, carbon-light office space worthy of a LEED Gold rating, phenolic panels (a recycled composite) and a "farmable, vegetated roof." Wadler purchased the property in 2005 for $1.2m and has spent the intervening time on its design and pushing it through the city.

"Part of the reason for building in the first place was to put something green there. If we're going to do it, we're going to do it right," said Wadler last May, who has now put nearly 6 years into the project.

Old Town-based Maginniss + Del Ninno designed the building, and Wadler held a competition for two mosaics that will adorn the building's entrance. A 9th grader from Alexandria and a 7th grader from Arlington won the contest for the 7' x 6' mosaics; their schools will be responsible for producing the final piece at the still indeterminate moment of production.

Alexandria, Virginia real estate development news

Of Branding and Behemoths

By Beth Herman

It survived decades of war, recession, a Great Depression, whispered and public liaisons (Studebaker-Packard Corporation, for one), changes in demographics and even a post-WWII employee in its Argentine division named Adolph Eichmann. But for all of its challenges, and to make it a true daily double, Alex, Mercedes-Benz remains the world’s oldest automotive brand still in existence.

In 2004, when the time came to gild the proverbial lily, and with something close to 1,000 automotive facility designs in the firm’s fight book, Chris Lessard, Lori Hall and Hernani Codera of The Lessard Group took Mercedes-Benz’s branding philosophies out for a test drive when they designed a 27,000 s.f. Old Town Alexandria, Va. dealership at 200 S. Pickett Street, one that embraced both the product and the neighborhood. And they did it again this year as the facility experienced a renovation in a mid-Atlantic salute to the brand’s progressive, industrial, high-tech German image.

“Auto manufacturers create branding books so when you go to different dealerships, you can identify with some of the elements in each dealership,” Lessard said, noting that Autohaus is Mercedes-Benz’s image and branding program. But in a storied venue like Old Town, where historical parameters govern building design, applying branding principles such as Mercedes-Benz’s steely facades can be like walking a diplomatic tightrope at best. “As a firm, we do a lot of other things, not just auto dealerships,” Lessard said, emphasizing that zoning and entitlement work often follow suit, though Alexandria is one of the “tougher jurisdictions.”
“We also had to present some renderings to the residents,” said Hall, who is the firm’s director of automotive facility design, because they, too, were concerned with how it was going to look. They wanted to know what their view was going to be.”

The Demise of Mini-Me

The structure, which was built essentially to swallow and to some extent incorporate a small, deteriorating mid-century Oldsmobile dealership on the site, is wood and red brick (think: ubiquitous northern Virginia) with traditional detailing and arched windows. But because the city’s saga’d image has evolved and become less restrictive in the last six years, and in compliance with Mercedes-Benz’s current identity that sanctions exposed steel, a blue arcade, silver panels and blue columns with chrome caps, the architects were able to integrate these elements into the renovation.

According to Lessard, Autohaus examines each dealership and estimates the level of business it’s going to do. “With that, they give a very defined programming requirement that they want to have appropriate service and waiting areas,” he explained, noting they are adding more bays in Alexandria to deal with the dealership’s service component. “It’s very prescriptive,” he said, “especially with Mercedes, where you’re getting the high level of service for the consumer that either buys or services a car there, or while servicing a car, looks at a new car.” To that end, according to project manager Codera, the Old Town facility will also be able to accommodate 580 vehicles, up from 520, when the renovation is complete. “In the 1950s, you had auto sites that didn’t have a lot of cars on them, but that’s not how it works today,” Lessard said. “You have to count every square inch of the site to make sure you can meet the requirements of inventory.”

Message in a Building

In Silver Spring, Md., a roughly 60,000 s.f. two-story Mercedes-Benz dealership at 3301 Briggs Chaney Road, that actually turns a corner, careens toward a March, 2011 delivery date with LEED Gold looming. “At the time we were designing it (first submission was in 2008, though construction issues stalled the process), LEED wasn’t really a factor,” Hall said, referencing the firm’s best practices standards. But with Montgomery County’s current mandate for all new commercial construction to meet LEED certification requirements, and actual construction beginning just this year, energy efficient lighting comprised of both LED and CFL’s is just one component of the glass and steel building which, by its nature, will also utilize natural light.

Trumpeting Mercedes-Benz’s perspective on precision and luxury, and branding elements such as exposed steel, black high gloss tile and “beam outriggers” that reinforce the German industrial machine look all withstanding, the psychology of the Silver Spring facility will involve what the automotive company calls its “triad,” where the service area and lounge, parts accessory boutique and the showroom are all visible from the middle of the building.

“If I’m going to get my car serviced, I’m going to want to sit in this beautiful lounge and enjoy myself, wander through to accessories thinking about whether I want to get a new keychain or new wheels, and while there, I can be looking at all the brand new cars thinking maybe it’s time to upgrade,” Hall explained. In fact, when a new car decision is made, the new car delivery area, painted an effervescent yellow, is sited so that a new owner and family can be somewhat isolated from the throng (think: sort of a private screening), but other customers can also experience the “bragging rights” of the new owner driving away. In the service lounge, according to Codera, customers can actually see their car being serviced through glass that abuts the service bays. “It’s a retail selling process,” Lessard said in summary, “whether you’re servicing or buying a new car – it’s making you feel happy whatever you’re doing and making you want to come back.”

Speaking to any perceived constraints of working within the parameters of branding specifications, Lessard maintained that while the auto manufacturer has certain standards, they are not always precise and do allow for creativity and change over time. “You can be part of that change,” he said, affirming that as an architect, he’s “not necessarily into social engineering.

“I’m really trying to make sure the building is servicing the needs of whoever’s using it, whether it feels good inside, or whether it encourages someone to do something. That’s what this firm is about, so branding actually helps me,” Lessard said. “It makes clear what the program needs to be, and I can improve on the requirements by making the building even better. It really reinforces the message.”

Bottom 2 photos of Mercedes-Benz Annapolis.

More Residential Development for Alexandria's Carlyle Neighborhood

Atlanta-based Post Properties announced last week that it will begin construction on phase two of its Carlyle Square apartment project in Alexandria. The development company is confident that they will find enough Metro riders to overcome area's traffic congestion and fill the new 344-unit apartment building. Each unit at 601 Holland Lane will average 906 s.f. of freshly designed contemporary interior space, located not far from Ballenger Avenue in the southeastern corner of the increasingly dense Carlyle neighborhood.

Total development costs are estimated to top out at $95 million. Post is expecting to benefit from cyclically low construction costs, and will bankroll the project using its unsecured revolving lines of credit, it reports. Post hopes to deliver the first apartments in the spring of 2012, a time which the company predicts will present favorable rental conditions.

Architect Sami Kirkdil of SK&I Architectural Design Group received praise and an award from Builder Magazine for his massing arrangement on Post's last Carlyle building, elegantly blending a rather large building into the roof-lines of its smaller surroundings. SK&I will again shoulder the design responsibilities for phase two of the Post Carlyle. The new building will consist of a 4-story structure abutted by a glowing 14-story tower of metal and illuminated glass intended to suggest a glowing lantern. The residencies will be amassed atop 425 below grade parking spaces.

Alexandria Virginia Real Estate Development News

The Greatest Show on Earth: ACPS

According to popular discourse, David Conrath has managed to meld tenets and technologies from "Planet of the Apes," ancient Egypt, an Antiguan monastery and 19th century prairie life into a sustainable formula that is catapulting Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) into the next generation, and the next, and maybe even the next.

Conrath, a free-associating kind of Captain Kirk of design and construction for ACPS, is ringmastering a sustainability makeover – or maybe more aptly a takeover – of ACPS’ 19 facilities, 17 of them schools. By his own admission, after four years at the helm, “…the road is littered with professionals – two or three civil engineers, an architect, and a couple of mechanical engineers – who didn’t get with the program and weren’t forward-thinking enough.”

In this case, the road to which Conrath refers is actually the asphalt parking lot that blankets TC Williams High School’s Minnie Howard campus. For the uninitiated, in Alexandria 9th graders are separated from sophomores, juniors and seniors, on their own campus, for what officials consider a pivotal year often fraught with transitional woes. While TC Williams High School was built a decade ago and achieved LEED Gold, the Minnie Howard campus was plagued by heating, cooling, and recycling failures, the detritus of the last energy crisis in the 1980s, and languished amidst mounting energy bills, insufficient classroom air and a Beatles-era Perkins diesel generator (what Conrath calls a “Planet of the Apes” scenario but which he has retained for emergencies “because the grid is pretty crappy in Alexandria”).

Hiring Dallas-based Energy Education Inc., a firm working with about 200 school systems across the country to facilitate energy modeling, according to Conrath, ACPS began by addressing the ‘80s answer to energy conservation. “In the 1980s, in our school system, they took out every fresh air intake for every classroom and bricked them up,” Conrath said, explaining that sometimes there’s an “unfortunate inverse relationship” between being green and indoor air quality – and energy savings. “To bring fresh air into the building costs a lot of money,” he added, noting that in order to save 16 percent of the energy bill back then, “not having to circulate, temper and condition fresh air was standard practice in the last energy crisis.” Unfortunately, the practice resulted in a lot of sleepy students and faculty, not to mention exceedingly high levels of classroom humidity and consequent “smelly, stinky problems,” according to retiring 9th grade teacher Mary Sue Garner, who said that even with an air conditioner, she had to keep the classroom door open.

Ground Beneath Their Feet

In a big picture effort to reverse the problem and address pervasive heating/cooling issues at Minnie Howard, and to align the school with 21st century sustainability, Conrath began the geothermal process by inventing methods to plant 64 wells, 310-feet deep, drilling through the asphalt parking lot without lifting it into the air (he admits the first couple of tries did just that). Drilling through the next layer - which was mud - ensued, as did tackling erosion sediment control and also installing a special muffling device so the work could continue throughout the school year. The job became a kind of choreography during the day, according to Conrath, because of the active bus loop meaning the work would have to start and stop and start again with an eye to bus schedules. The wells, which contain 10-inch diameter special piping with a silver nitrate lining (a natural biocide that precludes mold), would store air drawn in from the outside by a 10 kilowatt photovoltaic solar array, and keep it at a constant fifty-degree ground temperature. “If we draw in air at 95 degrees with 90 percent humidity (by the array), and it comes in at 80 degrees and 60 percent humidity, we get a 15-degree drop in temperature,” Conrad explained, noting that in winter, a 15-degree boost is expected. The solar array, in plain sight for educational purposes when you enter the parking lot (it also serves to shield southern exposure windows providing cooling for those classrooms), is linked to a variable zone refrigerant system, which serves to influence temperature even more when necessary.

Roof Over Their Head

With a green roof installed initially on a test basis on one-third of the footprint of the school, energy bills compared from a snowy, almost sunless January, 2010, to the same month of the previous year yielded more than $5000 in energy savings. A 5,000 sf green roof, visible from the road because of the way school is sited, is also projected for the school instead of the current tar roof, which will slow down storm water, filter and purify solids, and change nitrates and chemical properties of the water. It will also naturally insulate the roof, much like a 19th century prairie sod house.

“My first day on this campus I felt like Jethro Bodine in ‘The Beverly Hillbillies,’” Conrath quipped about the character who was always dazed and confused about creature comforts and accruing technology. “I was taking some time to wrap my head around the concept of putting Astroturf on the field and grass on the roof.”

Walls That Don’t Contain Them

In the bowels of the school, in what the crew of the Starship Enterprise might perceive as the command center (actually it’s the old mechanical room), the makings of a “Greenovation lab” emerge, a term coined by ACPS special projects assistant Grace Taylor. The kid-safe space replete with gauges, real time Web data, dashboards and other educational components will serve as an education center, maybe even imagination central, both for 9th graders and to entice some of the older children who have dropped out to return. The students will benefit from “green collar training,” or training in technology disciplines that don’t even exist right now like working with solar arrays, Conrath said, but which are “fast coming online.” In fact, at present, every system in every school can be directed from a laptop at Starbuck’s, Conrath noted.

Windows on their World

According to Conrath, among the many impetuses for the greening of ACPS was a series of incidents three years ago at John Adams Elementary School, located in an area where the grid is stretched thin. “We kept losing power and had to close the school,” Conrath said, “because there were no windows in the bathrooms.” Unable to afford an emergency generator, Conrath came up with a 21st century application of an ancient Egypt-based solution called a sun tunnel.

“While they didn’t have Fresno lenses and plastic in Egypt, the concept is the same where light is gathered through the lense’s multiple prisms (the lense is a small globe that sits on a white roof like a lighthouse),” Conrath explained. It is then sent down a mirrored tube into a 2’x2’ plastic light diffuser. “People never even knew there wasn’t a light in there,” he said.

At Polk Elementary School, seven emerging technologies including geothermal wells, a variable zone refrigerant system, solar renewable energy, photovoltaic energy, daylight harvesting, green roofs and an eco-air system grounded to the air/heat exchange system carry with them the distinction of making Polk the only elementary school in the country to merge these systems. The technology at Polk was used in the 1500s, Conrath explained, adding that he’d seen it exemplified at an Antiguan monastery where a catacombed basement was designed like a nautilus shell. When the wind blew, cold air from downstairs was rolled up through the monastery, exhausted and then emitted.

Citing a fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers and a dream way into the future to be off the grid, Conrath, who has a Masters degree in industrial design from RISD, said ACPS is trying to adopt Alexandria’s comprehensive Eco-City policy, implementing all of its projects. “It makes (progressive) San Francisco look archaic,” he said, noting the projects include water conservation, daylight harvesting, vegetative (or green) roofs and low-albedo finishes such as white roofs to reflect the heat. “As a school system, we’ve increased our footprint about 25 percent over the last 10 years but we’ve only increased our energy consumption by 10 percent,” he stated, with all that implies. “Nothing is as green as money.”