The Crimson on Glebe Set to Break Ground

Having gained unanimous approval from the Arlington County Board back in May, The Crimson on Glebe, Crimson Partners' six-story 165-unit apartment building at 650 N. Glebe Road, across from Ballston Commons Mall, faces a clear runway toward construction.

"We were approved for 165 apartments, so now we're working through the last of the permitting, " says Christian Chambers, Managing Partner at Crimson.  "We're going to break ground in January of next year."

The Crimson will also feature approximately 2,200 s.f. of ground floor retail space along Glebe Road; however, no decisions have been made yet as to a potential tenant.  "With this amount of retail space, we'll probably wait until closer to delivery before we sign someone in there," says Chambers.

The site, formerly a Goodyear tire store, is located on one of the area's longest blocks, and developers, as part of an agreement with the County, have agreed to build a 220-foot extension of North Tazewell Street at the rear of the property to ease resident access without disrupting traffic on Glebe.  Developers also secured increased density for the building (which was originally five stories) by agreeing to build to LEED Silver standards, and by contributing a half million dollars to the county's Affordable Housing Investment fund, $75,000 to the public art fund, and $42,000 to the utility fund.

For all those concessions, developers get to build a mixed-use building along one of the busiest stretches of Glebe Road, just a third of a mile from the metro, in the heart of commercial Arlington, at a time when the area is just starting to transition from an auto-centric area of strip malls, surface parking lots, and office buildings (a previously approved site plan, dating from 1989, was for a four-story office building) to a more pedestrian-friendly vision of shops, restaurants, and apartments.  This Janus-faced transitional moment is perhaps best summed up by developers' agreement to, on one hand, "encourage residents and retail tenants to live and work car-free," while on the other still providing 164 below-grade parking spaces.  The plan also calls for additional street trees along both frontages, as well as dramatically widened sidewalks.


The L-shaped, KTGY Group-designed building will feature a small internal courtyard for residents, and a varied facade of neutral-toned brick, laminate cladding, metal panels, and manufactured stone and glass, with a residential entrance and lobby along North Carlin Springs Road.  The average unit size will be just over 700 s.f.

Crimson Partners and Washington Real Estate Investment (WRIT) acquired the site for $11.8 million in June 2011; construction is expected to cost approximately $43.5 million.  Crimson is also working on the 65-acre Dulles Station project along the toll road.

Arlington, VA real estate development news

Today in Pictures - 800 N. Glebe

In 2006, Chevy Chase based JBG demolished the Bob Peck Chevrolet dealership, a uniquely futuristic building at 800 N. Glebe Rd. in Arlington that inspired some adoration in the architectural world.  But rather than break completely with the past for its flagship Ballston office project, JBG hired Cooper Carry to design a 10-story office building that would incorporate a faithful reproduction of the one-story dealership, including the blue diamond canopy that became the symbol for the dealership, and what JBG calls "a bold exclamation point on the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor."  The office building, completed this summer, features a glass curtainwall with three "sails" and has been designed for LEED Gold certification.

Arlington,  VA real estate development news

Founders Square DARPA Building Complete, Residential Tower Next

The first stage of Ballston mixed-use mega-project Founders Square, a 13-story 350,000- square-foot office building at 675 North Randolph, is now complete, with the first (and only) tenant, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), now taking possession of the property. Developer The Shooshan Company now has a clear runway to break ground on the next phase of the five-building, 1.2 million-square-foot complex, the 17-story, 257-unit residential building at 4000 Wilson Boulevard.

“We’re in the very final stages of completion of 675 North Randolph, the new DARPA headquarters,” said Kevin Shooshan, Director of Leasing at the Shooshan Company. “It’s basically complete. [DARPA] is in the process of accepting the building, and transferring over floor by floor, a process which will go on the next few months, probably into the second quarter of 2012.”

DARPA, a secretive federal intelligence and research agency that, according to some reports, invented everything from the internet to GPS, was formerly headquartered down the road on Fairfax Drive in Virginia Square, and almost left the state on the recommendation of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 2005. But state representatives and two consecutive governors used a $10 million grant to convince the federal agency to stay in the area, pointing to the 800 jobs (including contractors) provided and $33 million dollars in city and state taxes paid by the agency each year. DARPA is paying $14.7 million a year on their lease.

The new DARPA headquarters, which is certified LEED Gold, is also the first office building in the area to meet the Department of Defense’s Level IV security standards, and will incorporate a secure parking facility and an 82-foot secured perimeter, and is a surrounded by a sizeable lawn that segregates it from the other buildings in Founders Square.

Now, says Shooshan, the focus moves to the residential building at 4000 Wilson Blvd. “Two hundred fifty seven units, seventeen stories, with construction set to begin in the first quarter of next year, and finishing in the first quarter of 2013,” says Shooshan. “The site plan has been approved for over a year now. Permits are lined up and we're going to pull them in a matter of weeks."

The 1.2 million square foot Founders Square project, designed by RTKL Associates, is also slated to include a 183-room Marriott Residence Inn at 650 North Quincy, and a 420,000-square-foot office building at 4040 Wilson Blvd.

Arlington, Virginia real estate development news

A Late-April Ground Breaking for Arlington's Buchanan Gardens Rehab

Buchanan Gardens, the affordable housing complex built in 1949 that's seen better days, will get more than a facelift once ground breaks in late April. The entire building will be gutted and renovated over the course of the next eighteen months.

With a $10M construction budget, Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH), Wiencek+Associates and Hamel Builders as the general contractor will orchestrate renovation that includes new plumbing, electric, floors, windows, insulation, roofing, mechanicals and, well, everything else. Though the building currently provides predominantly one-bedroom units, upon completion it will offer 23 three-bedroom units, 33 two-bedroom units and 55 one-bedroom units. There will also be an on-site community center and playground.

"Our mission is to preserve and update," said Nina Janopaul, CEO of APAH. "We want keep the residents here who currently live here, update the facility and keep it affordable."

The rehabilitation of Buchanan Gardens is one of several affordable housing projects by APAH, including Arlington Mill and Views at Clarendon.

Arlington, VA real estate development news

Affordable Housing Comes to the Peck Site

Tomorrow the fulfillment of promised affordable housing in Ballston will be one step closer as developer AHC Inc. "breaks ground" on a parcel that was once part of the Bob Peck Dealership and Showroom site in Ballston. The project, thanks to a creative land swap between JBG and AHC during the planning process, will bring 90 units of affordable housing within a quarter mile of the Ballston Metro Station, 66 more than would have been possible without the swap. Tomorrow's celebration is not exactly a traditional groundbreaking, as JBG already began construction on the neighboring office building and the parking garage that will sit below the new residential project. But who doesn't love a party?

Designed by Bonstra Haresign Architects and developed by AHC, on a portion of the JBG Companies' land, the new building will sit on top of the 600+ space garage, which will largely serve JBG's office building. Work on the garage by JBG's general contractor, Clark Construction, is nearly complete and in July, AHC and Harkins Builders will begin work on the four-story affordable residential project. According to Curtis Adams of AHC, the project should deliver by summer of 2011.

The land swap made for "complicated real estate" admitted Adams, but "everyone agrees that the best land use came about in the end." AHC originally owned Jordan Manor, which sat across the street at Wilson Boulevard and North Wakefield Street, and wanted to develop a denser project than planning would likely allow. Nearby, JBG sought a lower density residential project to neighbor its large office project. So after some prodding and negotiating, they swapped, keeping the density all on one site. JBG will develop 28 townhouses on AHC's 1.1-acre Jordan Manor Site, keeping it lower density.

The entire development on the "Peck site" will deliver two office buildings with over 400,000 s.f. of office space (pictured at right) and 36,000 s.f. of ground floor retail space, designed by Cooper Carry.

Arlington, Virginia real estate development news

Uninspired at Arlington Gateway - No Metro for Now

Residents and commuters in Ballston should probably stop holding their breath for a new metro entrance - it will be a while. Almost four years ago, JBG announced the Spire: a 23-story, 237-unit condominium on the site of the INS building at the corner of N. Fairfax Drive and N. Vermont Street (4420 Fairfax Drive), and with it a new western entrance to the Ballston Metro station. But Arlington County officials confirmed that development is probably 5 or 10 years off, and likely the metro entrance with it.

The last piece of JBG's Arlington Gateway project, the Spire condominium project was put on hold more than 3 years ago, providing temporary respite to the comparatively diminutive office building. But county officials still held out hope for some type of development that would provide the Metro entrance as an amenity, until now.

According to Karen Vasquez, Public Relations Manager for Arlington Economic Development, her office spoke with JBG last week about the project and discovered that redevelopment plans were still very much on hold. In the meantime, says Vasquez, "[JBG is] now working on re-leasing it," adding that the site "will likely remain an office building in its current form for the next 5 - 10 years."

Located above the Ballston-Marymount University Metro station, the condominium project was supposed to include an $11 million contribution towards the $50 million Metro entrance construction project as part of JBG's community benefit package. The new Metro entrance would have been the westernmost entrance in the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor, making Metro more accessible to neighborhoods west of Ballston, particularly Bluemont.

But alas, barring any drastic change of events, Vasquez says the "western entrance will not be constructed in the near term, at least as part of this project." Leaving one to wonder if WMATA and the county might have other sites in mind.

Ballston Bus Garage Gets Final OK for Founders Square

The Arlington County Board and WMATA agreed last week on final terms of sale for the former WMATA bus garage site for the final piece of the Founders Square puzzle in Ballston. The site, at 675 North Randolph Street in Arlington, will be sold to Ashton Park Associates, LLC (APA). Though APA was chosen as the developer and executed a sale agreement in June 2007 for the entire property, the developer had since requested a phased purchase due to financing issues. Under the amended sale agreement APA, along with its managing affiliate The Shooshan Company, can purchase the property in two or three phases as long as the sale is complete as of December 23, 2011 for the agreed upon $25 million. The parties will close on the first phase in mid-November with Clark Construction set to dig-in before the new year.

The first phase, sold for an undisclosed amount, will be the home of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) when construction finishes on the 355,530-square-foot, 13-story, secure office building in 2012. To land the agency, Shooshan worked with architect RTKL Associates, Inc. to design a building that will meet LEED Silver requirements and the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Minimum Antiterrorism Standards for Buildings. It will be the first in Arlington to meet DoD’s new standards, featuring force protection, 82’ standoff distance and controlled parking.

According to John Shooshan, while most of the project will be financed through APA's own equity, the state of Virgina is providing a $10m grant to help defray the development and construction costs attributable to the force protection requirements under the DARPA lease. Tally another project to the list of those lubricated with government dollars, whether for leases, stimulus, or subsidies to keep development on track.

The DARPA building will be the first of the planned buildings for Founders Square, which is intended to house 26,000 square feet of retail space (8,000 of which is a standalone building that will be owned by a separate investment group and constructed by Paradigm Development), 730,000 square feet of office space in two towers, and another two housing towers with 378 residential units.

Arlington Virginia real estate development news

Founders Square Readies for Demo in Ballston

It looks like Old Man Economy might have finally started taking his pills again. After gaining approval from the Arlington County Board in July of last year, the Shooshan Company's ambitious plans for Founders Square, a five-building, mega mixed-use development in Ballston, seemed about as promising as a GM-backed pension plan. But despite slippery start dates in all types of construction, Shooshan's Vice President of Development, Kelly Shooshan, tells DCmud the project is still on track for its originally scheduled 2009 groundbreaking and that the company will be seeking a general contractor before the summer is out. "We're looking to probably be bidding the project in the middle of the summer and will probably start construction sometime in the fall or early winter," said Shooshan. Located on 4.6-acre parcel bounded by North Randolph Street, Wilson Boulevard and North Quincy Street in Ballston, the RTKL Associates-designed development will replace the industrial and non-tax paying bus lot known simply as the WMATA site, a gas station, a recycling center and a tre chi-chi Super Pollo chicken joint. Founders Square is intended to house 26,000 square feet of retail space (8,000 of which the Shooshan Company has since farmed out to Paradigm Development), 730,000 square feet of office space in two towers, and another two worth of housing for a total of 378 residential units. “The buses have been gone since March 27th,” said Shooshan. “When we start the project, it’ll start with demo…the site is just a one-story building, so it’s a very small portion of the construction timeline.” “Super Pollo will be relocating to the new retail building and there are several other tenants that have expressed interest in the other two spaces in the retail building. It’s very small retail, only 8,000 square feet. The first office building is a secured office building, so it won’t have any retail in it." The secure building will, though, have enhanced security features suitable for defense-related businesses. The development’s residential units are tentatively scheduled to hit the market as rentals and all five Founders' buildings will aim for a LEED certification. In the meantime, the developer has yet to definitively budget the project, as it is, in the words of Shooshan, “evolving over time with the present market conditions.” "There’s such a large spread right now with construction prices decreasing every minute, it’s really hard to give a formula on the whole entire project,” she said. In 2008, Shooshan completed Liberty Center in Ballston, a 21-story, 469-unit residential building. Despite continued development, the rough and tumble Arlington 'hood has somehow managed to keep its street cred intact.

Arlington Virginia commercial property news

The Amelia Fills in Ballston

The Dittmar Company is nearing the end of work of their newest Arlington County apartment project: The Amelia.

Designed and constructed by the same in-house Dittmar team responsible for the company's other Northern Virginia holdings - including their most recent developments at 1325 Pierce and Quincy Plaza - the Amelia is set to include 108 rental apartments, 4,158 square feet of ground floor retail (soon to be occupied by a mattress dealer) and 147 parking spaces. Flashy it may not be (we're looking at you, pillow top provider), but it’s a surefire improvement over 816 North Oakland Street’s former use as a four-story office building and adjoining Pizza Hut – two things off the menu for tenants when they begin to relocate to the building just off Wilson Boulevard early next month.

“Our first apartments will be in place by the 8th of May. Everything is ready [for that date], except that...we are waiting on Arlington County to give us permission to start moving in. We are pre-leasing at this point,” said Dittmar Leasing Consultant, Marsha Graham.

The building’s amenities are duplicitously friendly to health nuts and couch potatoes alike with a “cardio theater and strength equipment” for the former, while the more sedimentary folk can look forward to a “community room/media lounge with flat screen TV’s” and a “full service business center equipped with 24” Apple iMac computers. Interior decorum comes on the form of Corinthian countertops, “designer ceramic tile floors,” nine-foot ceilings and private balconies overlooking Oakland Park. Also in keeping with the current zeitgeist, the Amelia also Dittmar’s first foray into eco-friendly architecture.

“We are the first green building that Dittmar has built,” said Graham. “We are sound baffled and wonderfully insulated. All of the appliances are Energy Star rated, including a HVAC system...that is said to be 15% more efficient for heating and cooling.”

Rents at the Amelia are currently starting at $1625 for a one-bedroom with two-bedrooms priced from $2595 on up.

WCI Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

It seems not even development giants can dodge the vicissitudes of the market. Bonita-Springs, Florida-based luxury home and tower developer, WCI, announced Monday that they have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will petition to restructure their debt and capital. They followed that announcement yesterday with news that Chief Judge Keven J. Carey of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, "approved a package of relief designed to facilitate and ensure the continued and uninterrupted operation of WCI's business." 

WCI's closest project is The Club on Quincy (pictured, at left) at 3901 N. Fairfax Boulevard in Arlington. The project has been on hold, but is planned as a approximately 125-unit, 12 story condo building one block from Quincy Park, on the site of the parking lot of the Arlington Funeral Home in Ballston. A representative for the company said that project will remain on hold until the "market improves."

The company cites the poor shape of the market as the reason for their financial troubles; WCI accumulated a number of unsold properties because of both purchase cancellations and defaults on existing sales. Under Chapter 11, WCI will be able to reorganize their finances and come up with a plan to keep their business running and pay off their debts and blocks other companies and individuals from collecting debts owed by the company.

WCI maintains that they are "absolutely not" going out of business and will use their granted $50 million in cash collateral to meet "immediate obligations to suppliers." According to their press release, "The company said Realtors, brokers and customers will see no interruption in these (brokerage, foreclosure, and rental management) services."

Sitrick and Company, known for its work in "sensitive situations", is doing PR for the WCI while they work through their bankruptcy. WCI's website optimistically cites Delta Airlines, Macy's, and 7-Eleven as other companies that made it through Chapter 11 situations.

Arlington, Virginia commercial real estate news

Peck Site Swap Yields Affordable Homes

A recent approval by Arlington County has paved the way for a new affordable housing project in the center of Ballston. The JBG Companies have long had plans for 800,000 s.f. of mixed-use development on the former Bob Peck Dealership and Showroom site in Ballston, but the project lacked an affordable housing component. Arlington-based AHC Inc., which provides affordable housing locally, wanted a higher density development at its neighboring Jordan Manor project, an affordable housing site. But the thought of two high-density developments in close proximity troubled some in the planning process. Arlington, seeing an opportunity for a deal that would please both parties and yield affordable housing for the county, facilitated a land swap between the two developers.

The result was a plan for 90 affordable rental units, designed by Bonstra Haresign Architects and developed by AHC, on a portion of the JBG Companies' land, keeping the density all on one site. JBG will in turn develop 28 townhouses on AHC's 1.1-acre Jordan Manor Site, keeping it lower density. The board approved the affordable housing plans last Saturday.

AHC Project Manager Curtis Adams said his company wanted to build a higher density project on their adjacent site and submitted plans to Arlington around the same time as JBG. "We had been interested in developing our property into higher density and JBG was doing their big development, and we knew that it would hurt our chances of getting the density we wanted. The county pushed for a land swap - they are building townhouses on AHC property and we will take room on their site to the higher density that we wanted."

Adams said his company will demolish the existing 24-unit Jordan Manor that they own and operate to prepare for the approved land swap that will take place in December of this year. The affordable housing component will deliver two buildings, the Wilson and the Wakefield, and is a benefit to the master developer who can now boast the affordable units as a community benefit and not just a large mixed-use development. As project architect David Haresign said, "It is an important component of the project because JBG is now able to show a project with affordable housing."

When the larger project was initially approved in February, County Board Chairman Walter Tejada said, "The project has it all...it adds to our stock of affordable housing in the Metro Corridor."

The entire development on the "Peck site" will deliver two office buildings with over 400,000 s.f. of office space and 36,000 s.f. of ground floor retail space as well as the 28 townhomes on the demolished Jordan Manor site. The commercial space, JBG's portion, was designed by Cooper Carry.

Other community benefits include LEED certification for both office buildings, new traffic signals, after-hours public parking, and pathways connecting the two buidlings. Projected rents on the affordable units range from $1,050 for a one-bedroom unit to around $1,500 for a three-bedroom unit. The majority of the affordable units will have two or three bedrooms.

Bowman Consulting is the civil engineer and landscape architect for the entire complex.

Arlington Virginia real estate development news

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Founder's Square Approved

The Arlington County Board approved late Saturday The Shooshan Company's plan to turn an Arlington bus garage, Shell gas station, recycling drop-off center, and Super Pollo restaurant into a five-building, mixed-use real estate project that will expand Mosaic Park and bring retail, residential, and office space to the Ballston Metro area. A far more sightly use of the land, the county anticipates that the project will bring increased green space and revenue to the county as the current bus garage paid no property taxes. The 5.35 acres, bounded by North Randolph Street, Wilson Boulevard, and North Quincy Street, will host 26,000 s.f. of ground-floor retail, two residential towers with 362 units, and a single story, relocated Super Pollo. 

The residential buildings will climb to twelve and seventeen stories, one office building will rise fifteen stories, and the final office building - a secure building built to house defense-related facilities as part of the 2005 BRAC - will rise to thirteen stories with an 82-foot setback. Designed by global design firm, RTKL Associates, Inc., the project is planned to achieve LEED certification and position the highest buildings on the north and west sides of the site - farther from the Ashton Heights neighborhood and closer to the Ballston Metro Station. As part of the usual county-developer negotiation process, Arlington will expand the now 1.08 acre park onto the development site, a concession that will give the developer bonus density. According to the board, the ability to retain federal defense contractors and the ability to expand open, public space was well worth the trade. Other community benefits include sidewalk improvements, nineteen units of affordable housing, and pedestrian access through the site. Groundbreaking is anticipated for late 2009. The architects are also responsible for the FDA Headquarters in White Oak Maryland, Downtown Silver Spring and Reston Town Center. The Arlington-based developer is responsible for several buildings in the Ballston area including One and Two Liberty Center.

Arlington Virginia commercial real estate news

Club (ing) on Quincy

WCI Communities and WDG Architecture have just started the design and development phase for a mixed-use project, the Club on Quincy, two blocks from Ballston Commons at 3901 N. Fairfax Drive in Arlington. The project, bounded by N. Fairfax, N. Pollard, 10th and N. Quincy Streets, was approved this past November and will serve as the newest addition to the heavily developed Ballston area.

WDG's design plans call for the construction of 162,000-s.f., 120-unit condominium building standing 12 stories high with roughly 2,700 s.f. of ground floor retail space. According to Tamera Reed at WDG, Club will also provide three levels of underground parking housing 232 parking spaces for its residents. But the pair of acronymic firms didn't stop there; in an attempt to push the meaning of 'mixed-use,' the firms will not only include the typical ground floor retail amenities, but also add an 11,000-s.f. black box theatre and a 13,000-s.f. funeral home to the ground level. (Talk about one stop shopping…)

In order to clear the way for the project, WCI will have to demolish the currently standing Arlington Funeral Home, and build the project on its footprint and its neighboring parking lot. Construction is scheduled to commence in the third quarter of this year.

And in case you’re wondering what a “black box” theater is, New York City's notorious Roundabout Theatre Company says: "By definition, it is a neutral environment. Its walls are painted black so each theatre production and design team can transform the space utterly in their own ways to suit the needs of each show. There is no raised stage or even designated ‘acting’ area. Black box theatres are perfect for ‘workshops, rehearsals, readings, and experimental productions. They’re incubators, a tabula rasa—or blank slate—onto which can be written each new testament to theatre artists’ imaginations"

Thank God for google

JBG's Peck Site Goes To Final Review

The JBG Companies has their hands full. The development firm has two weeks of hoops to jump through and a tough audience to please. Their newest project, on a 210,000-s.f., "L-shaped" site, bounded by N. Glebe Road, Wilson Blvd, N. Wakefield Street and Fairfax Drive in Ballston - aka. the Peck site - will be reviewed by Arlington's countless advisory boards which will scrutinize their plans to build roughly 800,000 s.f. of mixed-use development. The Division of Transportation will be taking a gander today, the Planning Division on Monday, the Housing Division on the 14th, the Tenant/Landlord Division on the 20th and then the County Board will take each party's comments into consideration for its decision on the 23rd.

Cooper Carry Associates' design plans call for two highrise office buildings totaling roughly 415,000 s.f., a four-story apartment building with 90 affordable housing units and about 28 townhouses. The site plan, as amended by the County, will feature a 10-story office building at the corner of Glebe Road and Wilson Blvd. with 25,000 s.f. of ground floor retail, a 7-story office building mid-block along Glebe Road with roughly 10,000 s.f. of retail, nine townhouses on the east side and the remaining 19 townhouses on the western end of the site. The "U"-shaped apartment building will sit on the southern end of the block, "turning the corner along Wilson Blvd. and the new 9th Street North," according to the current County Staff Report.

Steve Smith, Principal at Cooper Carry, was more eager to discuss the two office buildings than any other aspect of the project: "The 800 building (at the corner of Wilson and Glebe) will have a sweeping glass sail, and the glass curtainwalls follow the movement along Glebe Road. The 900 building (mid-block) also has a floating curtainwall system that mimics the movement of Glebe. [The 900 building] has a great axial view, and the height of the curtainwall crescendos the closer the building gets to the corner of Glebe and Wilson, and that gives it an iconic terminal point. That's the area where you'll see the vast distant views on Wilson. That's the area that's most prominent."

JBG is offering a number of benefits to the community with this project including LEED Certified office buildings (one building gets the gold while one gets the silver), public garage parking and an open plaza with outdoor seating, and pathways to connect the two buildings.

A rough estimate puts the onset of construction in the second quarter of this year.

Club at Quincy Project Expands to Neighboring Funeral Home Lot

Florida-based WCI Communities, which originally planned to build its new 12-story mixed-use condominium building completely in the parking lot of the Arlington Funeral Home property on North Fairfax Drive, has now announced that it hopes to expand this development to cover the existing funeral home building land as well. The Club at Quincy project, located in Virginia Square at 3901 N. Fairfax Drive, will now be a 124-unit condo complex, with WCI first demolishing the funeral home then building the condo building and a new funeral home on the site. The condo units are expected to average 1,200-1,300 sf. Pricing has not yet been set. With the additional space now afforded by this expansion, WCI plans to also include 3,440 sf of ground-floor retail and a 75-seat community theater to the complex, as well as a landscaped deck with a pool and spa. The project is being designed by WDG Architecture. WCI is still going through the approval process, but hopes to start construction by early 2008.

JBG Puts Ballston Spire Project on Hold

In early August, JBG Companies announced that it has decided to put "on hold" its plan to build a 23-story building on top of the metro’s Ballston-Marymount University Station, and is actively considering alternate possibilities for the site. The Spire project (formerly known as the Fairmont) was to replace the soon-to-be-torn-down INS building at the corner of N. Fairfax Drive and N. Vermont Street, and was supposed to be the last piece of JBG’s Arlington Gateway project, which also contains a office/retail building (completed in 2005), the 411-condo unit Continental (2003), and the Westin Hotel (2006). The Spire was to contain 237 condo units and 9,200 sf of first floor retail. As part of JBG’s deal with the county, the company agreed to pay $11 million towards the estimated $50 million cost for construction of an underground passageway for the new western entrance to the metro station – what effect this delay will have on construction of the entrance is not yet known, though the county has indicated it has no plans to renegotiate with JBG on this point. In the meantime, JBG officials are contemplating turning the Spire into apartment rentals, and saving the option of converting them to condos at a future date.

Converting Chevrolets to Condos

As reported back in April, the retro-looking Bob Peck Chevrolet showroom in Ballston at the corner of Wilson Boulevard and Glebe Road was sold to JBG Development. Now we know what JBG has in mind for the lot (as well as for the space next to it now occupied by Staples). Plans call for JBG to build a 12-story office building on the Peck site, and an eight-story office building just to the north. JBG will also build 28 townhouses on N. Wakefield Street, behind the towers. Construction is expected to begin in early 2008. Residents are pleased with the plans, noting that the townhouses will face the homes on N. Wakefield Street, promoting a more neighborhood feel. However, opposition remains to the idea of building a new road connecting Glebe and Wakefield, to alleviate congestion on Wilson. Neighbors fear this will disrupt the quiet neighborhood.