Unamusing Dupont Follies

Five Dupont townhouses, vacant since 1998, got another zoning hearing on their fate today, and may actually be near approval. Some blame the cantankerousness of DC real estate tycoon Morton Bender, who obtained the property 1988 through his N Street Follies (NSF), first planning the site as an office, then as residential, and now a hotel. Throughout it all, the site has had a history of community opposition, law suits and copious ill will.

Recent spurts of progress, such as approval for a planned 98-room hotel from the Dupont Circle Conservancy, have been sullied by bouts of reticence as the project team sought repeated delays in scheduled zoning and historic reviews. Fear not Dupont, something will give in the ongoing saga of N Street Follies. The Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) just completed a hearing on the case and, pending additional documentation and responses, will issue a decision on June 8th; the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) will likely issue a decision this spring as well. Just one problem: the neighboring Tabard Inn is in a fight to the death against the planned hotel, which would allegedly diminish the quaint charm and revenue of the boutique inn.

Andrulis Janezich Architects, the latest in a series of architects to have worked on the NSF plan, presented a design that will leave the historic townhouses at their current height, but will add a five-story rear addition, bringing the building's height to 57 ft., short of the maximum height of 65 ft. The architect says the planned rear addition will not be visible from the street; though the street is not what concerns Tabard. The hotel would have a 3.99 FAR (the max is 4.0) and will occupy 87% of the lot.

An Office of Planning (OP) staff report indicated that the "mass is broken up by a 2,400 s.f. interior courtyard, which is enclosed with a glass curtain wall," and recommended approval. The Tabard team naturally challenged the helpfulness of the courtyard from the perspective of the street. But since originally filing an application, the team has reduced the number of parking spots from 98 to 58 and may be compelled to reduce that number further by the BZA. NSF argued that the proposed design has been scaled down and designed "with the Tabard in mind," though comments from BZA members trended toward skepticism on that score. Ultimately, the NSF team pointed to approvals by the OP staff report and the HPO staff report, suggesting that the BZA follow suit.

Represented by Arent Fox, the Tabard argued that the height of the proposed building, especially the rear addition, would dwarf the neighboring inn, blocking natural light to the outdoor dining area, parts of the indoor dining room and to guest rooms facing the new structure, making some "unrentable." Citing business concerns, Jeremiah Cohen, the General Manager of the Tabard Inn, said that the outdoor patio with its diffused natural light is a unique wedding venue; wedding business is about 15% of hotel's total revenue. Not to mention the lost customers and guests thanks to construction noise and dust should the project be approved. At least one BZA member noted that just because the NSF plan does not max out the allowable height and density does not mean the design is deferential or compatible with neighboring structures.

The BZA review was full of courtroom-style drama without the suspenseful sound effects of Law and Order (though it could have used some after more than a dozen hours of testimony). A June decision date, however, may not resolve anything. HPRB will likely issue a decision in May, but if BZA in denies the application, a new design may have to go back for HPRB review all over again. This battle might end, but the war is likely far from over.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Brightwood Church Gets Mixed-Use Upgrade

With government approval now in hand, Emory United Methodist Church is beginning its designs for the Beacon Center, a mixed-use development on Georgia Avenue in Brightwood that would envelop the quasi-historic church in a cocoon of new housing. The Church (tagline: "real church for real people") will offer its residences as affordable, naturally - that being what gets built on Georgia Avenue - and should be underway by next year. The rear of Beacon's hilltop property abuts Fort Stevens and a previous iteration of the church building served as a hospital and barracks during the Civil War. The new development, designed by PGN Architects, will include 67 residential units, street-level retail and 58,000 s.f. of new church space, to include an expanded worship area, administrative offices and church-operated residential uses. Above the church offices, Beacon Center will offer two floors of "transitional" housing for families, totaling 24 units. The other residential building will sit four stories high on top of the hill, but will appear as a five-story building from the Georgia Avenue street-level retail. The 67-unit residential development will contain 34 units for seniors, 17 units set aside for veterans and 16 affordable rentals. Each floor will have a common area and a common laundry facility. Tucked beneath the residential building in the hillside will be two levels of parking for just under 100 cars, with a few bicycle racks thrown in for good measure. Sean Pichon, a Partner at PGN Architects, said design challenges such as addressing the grade of the property, preserving the "view corridors" and maintaining the affordability of the project compelled his firm to be flexible. The result? Unique features like "curved green roofs" over the retail space to create and "continue the imagery of the hillside." Though the materials are mostly affordable, PGN tried to vary the color and use a mix of materials in the wood-framed structures to "create a dynamic design" within the financial constraints of the church's budget. Pichon said the team's efforts to maintain the views from Georgia Avenue lead them to create a main entrance from a side road, Quackenbos, and to provide multiple access points to maintain the historic stairs leading up to the old church. The Beacon plan did not gain approval without its share of complications. Two Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) members recused themselves from the case, one because of personal contributions to the project, and another because he is a representative of the National Park Service (NPS), which submitted a letter in opposition. The recusals made for a more stressful zoning process: with only three board members left and a majority approval needed, there was not much wiggle room for the development team. According to Pichon, it put "a lot of pressure" on the team to get "all the support you can across the board." The NPS expressed concerns that the requested height variance, which brings the building in at over 63 feet, would obstruct views of Fort Stevens from Georgia Avenue - despite the fact that you can't see Fort Stevens from Georgia Avenue now, less'n you are two stories tall - and that the development is too close in proximity to the park property line. The community largely spoke out against the NPS objections. To make amends, the applicants suggested erecting a memorial to the Fort on site and even using some of the retail space as a souvenir shop (souvenir shops; now that will improve Georgia Avenue). The height variance along with the souvenir shop ultimately received approval. With the zoning approval in hand, Emory selected the Bozzutto Group to serve as general contractor for both pre-construction and construction. Neighbors can expect work to start by next year. 

Washington, DC real estate development news

Southeast Seniors Get New Housing

A vacant lot at 2620 Bowen Road, SE in the Barry Farm community will soon be home to the Bowen Senior Apartments – a 37-unit apartment building for independent sexagenarians of Ward 8. Specifically described as a non-assisted living operation, the 23,502 square foot project is being spearheaded by the Bowen Group LLC – a partnership between Seattle-based senior care developers Second Family Inc. and property owner Shilda Frost-Labule.

"[My] history is that I’ve been a registered nurse for over the last past 30 years, and I have a history in working with pediatrics and elderly care," Frost-Labule told the DC Board of Zoning Adjustment in January 2007, shortly before receiving approval for the project. “I entered a RFP to provide housing for persons with disabilities in 2002, and during that time, I had several conversations with Department of Health, Department of Aging, and the Housing Authority, and they all were supportive of the project, stating that there was a great need for assistance with the elderly in the Southeast area…[That’s] when I bought the property.”

Designed by EDG Architects of Bethesda, the $3 million project is being funded through a combination of private loans, four housing trust funds and tax credits. Beyond providing merely new residences for area residents ages sixty and up, the development will also offer residents a wellness center to “provide services for individuals that might have chronic illnesses,” a multipurpose room and a shuttle service to provide “access to Metro, to shopping, to social, cultural events, as well as medical appointments.”

Once completed, the Bowen development will count the Howard Hill Apartments, Oxford Manor Apartments and another vacant parcel set aside for a future Hope VI housing project among its new neighbors. Hamel Builders will oversee construction when it begins later this year and will be accepting sub-contractor bids until 5 PM on June 9^th.

Double BZA Approvals on the SE Waterfront

The District's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) gave the green light to two prominent Capitol Riverfront projects this week that will allow construction to proceed unimpeded into 2010 and beyond.

The first round of approvals centered on Akridge’s Half Street development a block from Nationals Park. Despite a ceasefire in legal wrangling between the Akridge, neighboring developers Monument Realty and WMATA, construction on the 704,000 square foot development – which is slated to include dual office towers, a 300-unit residential building, 75,000 square feet of retail and an open-air marketplace/plaza – has yet to formally commence. The BZA’s approval clears the way for that to change, as Akridge can now clear and prep the site for its planned 2010 start date.

In a concurrent development, the BZA also consented to Forest City Washington’s plans for a second phase of construction at the so-called Yards Park. Those plans call for more than 35,000 square feet of new retail on the site, half of which will be culled from a renovation of the historic, pre-war “Lumber Shed” at M Street and New Jersey Avenue, SE. The development will also include the beginnings of a Capitol Riverfront boardwalk – the highlight of which is scheduled to be a 60-foot stainless steel monument designed by James Carpenter Design Associates. The National Capital Planning Commission previously approved the same development early last month; work on the project’s first phase, a 5.5-acre public park is already under way.

West End Retail and Architecture Get Boost

The Board of Zoning Adjustment approved Tuesday NH Partners Holdings, LLC's plans to redevelop DCD America's eight-story office building at 1200 New Hampshire Avenue, NW into an improved office building with more accessible ground floor retail, a handicapped-accessible entrance, and a new lobby. Designed by Bonstra Haresign Architects, the addition will feature modern glass, stone, and metal detailing and "establish an appropriate modern/current architectural language" rather than the existing 1970's-style brick and glass ribbon facade. The renovated office building will also include a single story glass-faced building addition, green roof, and new space for a "high-end white table restaurant or retailer".

Bounded by New Hampshire Avenue, 21st, M, N and 22nd Streets, NW, the 48,589 s.f. site is located between the central business district and the West End neighborhood and is home to Grillfish and Meiwah restaurants, a dry cleaners and a wine shop. The current building was developed in 1978 and includes an approximately six-foot arcade that the developer hopes to enclose, making ground floor retail more accessible to pedestrians and to increasing the floor area by 4,494 s.f.

According to the BZA report, "The location, size, and depth of the open plaza combined with the building design have created retail spaces that have little to no relationship with the adjacent street and are not easily visible, accessible, or marketable," thus, over 6,000 s.f. of the existing ground floor retail space is being used as back office space. The developer's plan would reduce public space from 4,806 s.f. to 313 s.f., but would create larger sidewalks and move retailers closer to the street.

According to David Haresign, Project Architect, the project has faced little opposition from neighbors or the government. The project team, "received support for the design and variance from the full spectrum of stakeholders - tenants, residential, neighbors, and officials from the DC office of Planning, and a neutral vote from the Advisory Neighborhood Commission," Haresign said.

Construction is anticipated to start in mid 2009. The renovated building will still include 165 spaces of below-grade parking. Houston-based PM Realty Group is managing the property. The building is surrounded by renovation, including the just-finishing 22 West, Tiverton condo conversion, and renovation of the Marriott next door.

Washington DC restaurant and retail news