Brookland's Colonel Brooks' Tavern Demolition Within the Month

Despite significant pushback from some locals, Colonel Brooks' Tavern in Brookland is scheduled for demolition in the next month, marking the end of one of the neighborhood's most recognizable landmarks.

"We anticipate the raze permit coming in the next thirty days," said David Roodberg, President at Horning Brothers.  (The application was filed on August 7th.)  "Of course, it could come sooner.  At this point we're thinking about when we're going to do the work.  We'll probably raze in October and then start in immediately on construction, which should take about two years."

The five-story project at 901 Monroe Street slated to replace the tavern will feature 220 residential units over five stories.  Jointly developed by Horning Brothers, The Menkiti Group, and owner Jim Stiegman, the Esocoff and Associates-designed project is said to be designed to blend in with the neighborhood's brick townhouse aesthetic, and will offer 12,000+ s.f. of ground floor retail space.  (And thanks to an agreement with the ANC, these commercial spaces will be leased to small- to medium-sized stores.)

The project has had a sometimes-rocky road to fruition, though, as community groups feared the new building would usurp the intimate scale of Brookland's commercial strip.  In deference to these concerns, developers revised their plans to shrink the new building's footprint by 12%, reducing its footage down to 197,000 from an original estimate of 220,000 s.f.  The development will also create 150 below-grade parking spaces and 66 bicycle parking spaces, as well as much wider sidewalks, thanks to 15-foot setbacks.

While the tavern will certainly be missed, tavern owner Jim Stiegman has said that business dried up after the tragic robbery/murders in 2003, essentially forcing him to sell.  Rumor has it that Stiegman proactively approached the Menkiti Group about development, and that Horning Brothers were brought in shortly after.

Brookland has seen a surge of development as developers woke up to the potential of a walkable, small scale neighborhood in such close proximity to transit and Catholic University.  The 901 Monroe project follows on the heels of Bozzuto's $200 million Monroe Street Market project that broke ground in late 2011.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Your Next Place

Shiny new townhouses in an emerging neighbor- hood - what's not to like?  Come in, get a bargain, sell off in a few years for twice as much as you paid, use your windfall to buy a house in Bethesda, and for the next ten years of cocktail parties tell your story about "that one night in your old house you heard a gunshot, you're pretty sure it was a gunshot, though it might have been a firecracker or car backfire or maybe the tv downstairs, it's hard to say since you were sort of asleep at the time."

Seriously though, everyone knows it wasn't a gunshot.  But enough about that.  These two townhouses, collectively named Randolph Row, are total gems.  Three levels, beautiful brick facade, all the modern finishes you could possibly ask for.  Large rooms, large windows, tons of light, recessed lighting, hardwood floors.  There's an open-style kitchen with Carrara marble countertops and stainless steel appliances, and a beautiful wooden deck.  And the yard is massive; you could legitimately play a full 11-on-11 football game back there.

Brookland, of course, is home to Catholic University, and is going to see quite a bit of development in the near future.  Before you know it, it'll be a second Columbia Heights, though hopefully much much less annoying.  The metro is only a block away, and each townhouse also has a garage, so you can drive instead of taking the metro.  I hate taking the metro.  If I want to be in close physical proximity to unhappy people staring straight ahead, I'll just visit my family, thank you very much.

1222 Randolph Street NE
3 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths
$599,990

Washington D.C. real estate news

Brookland Mixed-Use Project to be Reviewed by Zoning Commission, Finally

Shortly after the first of the year, the Zoning Commission will finally review the Planned Unit Development application for 901 Monroe Street, a 220-unit apartment building with 12,700 s.f. of street-level retail, running the length of Monroe between 9th and 10th Streets.

As the Washington Examiner reported this past spring, the "hotly contested development project" was, as of last March, "deemed too controversial by a city zoning panel to move forward just yet." A hearing date has now been set for January 19th.

The joint development team - The Horning Brothers, The Menkiti Group, and property owner Jim Stiegman - will once again attempt to move forward, with the aim being to follow close behind the 9-acre, mixed-use Monroe Street Market, a $200-million transformation south of Catholic University that broke ground last month. "We're excited about [901 Monroe]," said CEO and president of Horning David Roodberg. "It'll be a nice connection to Abdo and Bozzuto's development [Monroe Street Market] on the other side of the metro tracks."

Eventually, Brookland will become "a metro-accessible destination in itself," believes Roodberg, highlighting the continuous frontage of street-level retail bays included in 901 Monroe that will seamlessly connect to the retail corridor running through Monroe Street Market (site plan at left).

Of course, some fear that the quantity and scale of new residential and retail development in the area will render Brookland unrecognizable in coming years, while others argue that's not a bad thing.

A notable aspect of the development is that the site is a 60,000-s.f. area (below, in yellow) currently fringed with several small buildings, both commercial and residential, including a long-standing local pub, Colonel Brooks' Tavern.

The tavern's owner, Jim Stiegman, started down the path to develop, back in 2006. Last year he told the Washington Business Journal that the beginning of the end for his watering hole was in 2003, when the tavern was the victim of a bungled - and horrific - robbery on Palm Sunday that left three employees dead, and his business debilitated.

It's believed that Stiegman approached the Menkiti Group with the idea to develop, and The Horning Brothers were brought on board soon after.

Eight years later, a PUD is ready to be reviewed, and once approved, the development checklist will begin: construction documents, permits, and financing, confirmed Roodberg. If zoning approval is swift - if - construction could begin as early as the fall of 2012, said Roodberg, with delivery in 2014.

Designed by Esocoff & Associates, the building has already made some concessions, including the loss of 12 percent of its density, down to 197,000 s.f. of gross floor area (from just over 220,000 s.f. sought in the initial 2010 design). The zoning application proposes somewhere between 205 to 220 residential units, mostly 1 bed/1 bath, 150 parking spaces below-grade and 66 bicycle parking spaces. The development will also create wider sidewalks through 15-foot setbacks around the property. The architecture also bears an uncanny resemblance to the Whitman Condos (see picture below), one of Esocoff's recent residential projects.

Alternatives for community benefits offered through the project include the creation of a community park on the west side of 9th Street, on property owned by DDOT and WMATA. Developers say they "found those agencies to be receptive to the idea of a community park" due to the area's shallow depth (limiting potential uses), as it's hemmed in by WMATA/CSX train tracks.

The Brookland business community has also been gunning for "significant sign pylons welcoming people to Brookland, heavy duty mounted poles and banners advertising the Brookland commercial area, potential art/sculpture in public space, the installation of six Metropolitan Police Department cameras, enhanced landscaping and various public space improvements."

The pre-hearing statement for the PUD was filed in October, and all 147 pages are available for late-night reading.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

"College Main Street" for Catholic University Breaks Ground

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Washington D.C. real estate development news

Brookland Artspace Lofts On Display Tonight

Brookland Artspace Lofts, affordable live-work artist apartments with ground-floor gallery space at 3305-3313 8th Street, NE, will host an open house tonight offering West African dance performances, salsa lessons and loft tours, starting at 6pm. The Lofts, developed by Artspace, are Phase 1 of a mixed-use arts campus project that includes the renovation of Dance Place, located next door at 3225 8th Street in the Brookland neighborhood. 

The overhaul of the dance center will comprise Phase 2 and is now in the planning stage. Heidi Kurtze, Director of Property Development for Artspace, said Dance Place is working on its Capital Campaign, assisted by Artspace, and hopes to have Phase 2 underway by the end of 2012. The $13.2-million artist loft portion of the real estate project was funded in part by the Department of Housing and Community Development, which provided $10.4 million in stimulus funding and $1 million in low-income housing tax credits; the project also received a Dept. of Housing and Urban Development Neighborhood Initiative Grant. The 4-story, 57,000-s.f. commercial building, designed by Hickok Cole and built by Bognet Construction, devotes 48,900 s.f. to residential space and 8,100 s.f. to shared, community use on the ground floor. There are 23 parking spaces below grade, and 41 live-work studios, with 39 of them for individuals (artists) making less than 60 percent of the area median income. 

Although the initial Artspace plan was to set aside half of the 39 units for individuals making less than 50 percent of the area median income, a modification to the project was made in March of 2010, because the project would not be economically feasible "with half of the units made affordable at such deep levels of affordability." In conclusion, two of the 41 units can be rented out at market rate if necessary, but both are currently set aside for use by Dance Place. Brookland Studios was formerly on the property, and was razed to make way for the new loft building, which broke ground in April of 2010 and delivered at the end of June. In making the interior artist friendly, the transportation of large art materials and/or finished pieces was taken into consideration, and so the building features wide hallways, hospital-sized elevators, and lofts with open floor plans, ranging in size from studios to two-bedroom units. A green roof was installed by the non-profit DC Greenworks, under the direction of project manager Andrew Benenati, and on one exterior wall of the building is a mosaic of tiles, installed by community volunteers. 

The lofts are 100-percent occupied, Kurtze verified, and residents represent a variety of art mediums, with the breakdown approximately, "One-third performance artists, one-third visual artists, and one-third other, including film makers, set designers, poets [etc.]." Creativity might flourish from the mingling of varying talents: "Residents are already getting together for Sunday night dinners," said Kurtze. Over 100 applications came in from artistic hopefuls looking to rent a loft, however not all met the Artspace requirements. Those who did went before a selection committee, and none who made it this far were turned away. 

Washington D.C. commercial real estate news

Your Next Place...

By Franklin Schneider

Just a block from Catholic University and the Red Line, 1014 Monroe St. NE is billed as “the best house in Brookland.” From the outside it looks like a quaint, cottage-style home, but inside it's shiny and modern, with all the usual perks of a new renovation. The open plan living/dining area and kitchen has a ton of light and is pretty ridiculously huge; if you pushed all the furniture to the side, you'd have more than enough room to put down a legitimate full-size Slip n' Slide. (Try not to careen into the stainless steel custom railing though; the braided steel cable looks like it could easily decapitate.) Upstairs, each of the two upper floors has a master bedroom suite; the one on the third floor has vaulted ceilings and a skylight, so you can lie in bed for a few minutes each morning and pretend you're on death row and that that little square of sky is all
you ever see of the outside world. (I used to do this when I lived in a room with skylight; it made getting up and going to work slightly less unpleasant. Slightly.) The bathrooms are very modern, with exposed brick and stone and ceramic basins and glass shower enclosures. The house also has an “in-law suite,” which is sort of this separate little wing of the house with two bedrooms and a bathroom and kitchen and its own private entrance. I think this is a brilliant idea, though if I bought the house I'd also install a series of trapdoors throughout the main house that opened onto a network of slides, that all emptied into the in-law suite. That way, when the in-laws visited, they could come chat and have dinner in the main house, but as soon as they tried to get out the jigsaw puzzles or interrogate me about your “nest egg” I could just press a concealed button and be like, “alllllllll right, back to the in-law suite.”
KA-CHUNK!

1014 Monroe NE
Washington

6 Bedrooms
4.5 Baths
Parking

$699,990

EYA Announces Construction Start for Brookland Metro Project

After last week's announcement of Bozzuto-Pritzker Venture's new alliance with Abdo in developing the $200 million project on Catholic's South Campus, every propogator of real estate news (including DCMud), was happy just to have something printable during a lazy August. But the cash infusion into the neighborhood was good for other developers too; namely EYA, which rebroadcast the news in advance of its own groundbreaking around the corner. The area's current access, or lack thereof, to quality, independent eateries and retail is regrettable, and any chance of more commerce, whatever the time-frame, is good news. Now piggybacking on these housing-market huzzahs, EYA has given the area's residents and real estate news junkies more to cheer about, announcing that their expansive LEED-certified residential development will break ground on Tuesday. As proof of the regional renaissance, EYA also notes "the massive 40+ acre Dakota Crossing development and the Rhode Island Avenue Metro redevelopment".

The 10-acre field of grass EYA purchased from St. Paul's College is now tilled, and come the first week of September foundations will go in and construction will start moving vertically. EYA expects to deliver their first townhouse models in February or March of next year. Upon completion the whole project will bring 237 Lessard Group-designed single-family townhomes to the former campus field. The townhouses are currently being offered from $470,000 to $590,000. According to EYA, only 206 of the total will be officially "luxury townhomes" while the remaining 31 will be marketed as "affordable dwelling units." Half will go to those unit-dwellers (a.k.a. humans) earning 50% Area Median Income (AMI) and half to those earning 80% AMI.

EYA began marketing their Chancellor's Row houses in May, before they had even finished constructing their sales center. Not to be misled by the subtle art of neighborhood cartography, neighborhood watchdogs have pointed out that the "Brookland Metro" development lies a few blocks west of the unofficial "official" dividing line (9th Street NE) of Brookland, in Edgewood.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Abdo Gets Equity Injection, Catholic Plans to Demo University Buildings

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

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

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

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

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

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

EYA's Chancellors Row Begins Sales

Though the field is still green and the sales trailer still under construction, EYA's Chancellor's Row will begin sales this Saturday for the first phase of its townhouse development in Brookland. The houses will be nestled in the residential neighborhood among the various religious orders that call the area home. EYA will build on the 10 acres of property it purchased from St. Paul's College, which maintains a swath of green hill as an entrance from 4th Street to the 10 acre campus it retains. Construction on the new community will begin with basic grading and utility work over the summer with vertical construction expected to begin in October or November and deliver sometime between February and April.

Designed by the Lessard Group, the whole project will bring 237 single-family units near the Trinity and Catholic campuses along 5th and 6th Streets, NE. The 14 to 18 foot wide townhouses will sell between $450,000 and $550,000. The project includes 28 affordable set-asides, 13 of which will come online this weekend. Of the low-income units, half will go to buyers earning 50% Area Median Income (AMI) and half to those earning 80% AMI.

EYA originally won out over a field of 12 to 15 other developers who responded to a solicitation of interest put forth on behalf of the Paulist order. The developer paid a fixed amount up front, with a formula for additional payments based on sales. Right now, EYA only owns the land for the first phase, which sits on either side of an extended Jackson Street, abutting land owned by the Dominican Order and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Under the contract with the Paulists, EYA will purchase the second phase no more than three years from now and the third phase two years after that. Depending on sales, the transactions could happen sooner, said EYA Vice President, Jack Lester. The timeline was based on an assumption of three sales per month.

Chancellor's Row is less than a 10 minute walk from the Brookland Metro and, as part of a compromise between the Office of Planning (OP) and the community, each unit will have one parking spot with the option to add a second for a nominal fee. The community expressed concerns that the new neighbors would (collective gasp) seek on-street parking; still, proximity to Metro trumped that concern and OP narrowly won the day with a theoretically smaller carprint.

Washington, DC real estate development news

ArtSpace: Lofty Ambitions in Brookland

Today, Dance Place and Artspace will break ground at noon on a new $13 million, government-sponsored arts campus, Brookland Artspace Lofts, at 3225 8th Street, NE. The site, three blocks from the Brookland Metro, is currently occupied by the Brookland Studios and existing Dance Place. The project will bring new affordable artist housing and performance space to the northeast community and mark the "beginning of a new era in urban development," according to a press release. Lofty ambitions.

Artspace's affordable live/work units will house struggling artists and their families, providing them with gallery and studio space. Thirty-nine of the units will be available to households earning less than 60 percent of the area median income; two units are set aside for Dance Place.

The four-story building will top out at 48 feet so as not to stand out in the low-density neighborhood. Artspace is adding a green roof as part of a community service project and will partner with DC Greenworks for installation. According to Jim Bognet, president and co-founder of general contractor Bognet Construction Associates, “the building will also feature a mosaic tile installation that will be provided by community volunteers." DC-based Hickok Cole Architects designed the building.

Though an initial plan called for an additional building for Dance Place to create a "campus," the team has scaled back their ambitions to an overhaul of the existing dance studio. “Artspace will support Dance Place in its effort to renovate its existing theater space" said Heidi Kurtze, Director of Property Development for Artspace Projects, Inc. in a press release. The two projects will potentially be linked by an outdoor plaza and performance space between them.

The District Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) will provide $10.4 million in stimulus funding and $1 million in low-income housing tax credits in recognition of the role of the arts in revitalizing neighborhood.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Brookland Gets its Art On

One of the first new developments in the Brookland Community to actually break soil may be close at hand, as the Dance Place and Artspace forge ahead with plans to create a $13 million arts campus. The trickling begins as developer Artspace seeks subcontractors, with bids due February 5th and the first phase of construction scheduled to begin in March. The site is currently occupied by the Brookland Studios and an existing Dance Place building on 8th Street, just three blocks from the Brookland Metro Station. First on the boards: a 41-unit artist live-work building, with a new or renovated dance studio for phase 2. Artspace's affordable live/work units will house struggling artists and their families, providing them with gallery and studio space. Half of the units will be available to households earning less than 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI), with the other half set aside for households earning less than 50% AMI. The four-story building will rise no higher than 48 feet in the low-density neighborhood. A unique twist - residences will feature open interiors, wider hallways and hospital-sized elevators, allowing for the transport of large art materials or finished pieces of art. The southwest corner of the ground floor will naturally be available as a performance space that opens to the plaza, connecting to the new Dance Place once the latter is complete. The 57,000 s.f. project will provide 22 parking spaces below grade and should complete by the Summer of 2011. The building will have a green roof and Artspace will be partnering with DC Greenworks for the installation. For phase 2, Heidi Kurtze, Director of Property Development at Artspace, says the team will spend much of 2010 "researching" and raising funds before deciding on the design for the dance studio. Preliminary plans submitted to the Office of Planning called for a new two-story theater and two-story storage space on the ground floor of a (possibly) four-story building with classrooms, changing room and office space on the top floors. Though Kurtze said without enough capital the team might have to renovate the current building, rather than the preferred option of a new structure. Artspace has been working with Dance Place since 2007. Kurtze described the relationship as a "true collaboration with a local arts organization that is already thriving in the community." The development team selected Bognet Construction Associates as the general contractor, designs for the residential building are by Hickok Cole Architects. The new plans come at at time when other large-scale developments in the area are still crawling through the planning or pre-construction periods. Project's like EYA's Chancellor's Row and Abdo's project with CUA are still a long way from realizing the promised renaissance in Brookland. 

Update: The District Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is a partner in the Artspace project. DHCD will provide $10.4 million in stimulus funding and $1 million in low-income housing tax credits to the Artspace residential project in recognition of the role of the arts in revitalizing neighborhood, according to DHCD spokesperson Angelita Colon-Francia.

Brookland and Abdo Getting Closer to New Development

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

Washington DC commercial real estate news

EYA Moving Forward at Brookland's St. Paul's College

Now that EYA's townhomes in the Navy Yard area are selling and construction is moving along, the developer is setting its sights on the planned townhome project for Brookland's St. Paul's College. Coming off their May 2009 Planned Unit Development (PUD) approval, EYA is finalizing the architecture and engineering plans to move forward with permit applications. Designed by the Lessard Group, the new townhouse development, according to the developer, should begin construction in summer of 2010, with sales beginning as soon as May 2010. VIKA, Inc. is the project engineer.

The 237 single-family units will be built on approximately half of the 20 acres, abutting the Trinity and Catholic campuses along 5th and 6th Streets NE. The townhouses will range in sizes from 14 to 18 feet wide and including between 1,400 and 2,100 s.f., selling between $450,000 and $550,000, with 28 units set aside as affordable housing.

Jack Lester, EYA Vice President, estimated the total cost of the project will come in at a hefty $100 million. When asked about the purchase price, Lester was unwilling to disclose an exact amount but indicated that it was based on a "complicated formula;" the developer paid a fixed amount up front, with a formula for additional payments based on sales. EYA is currently under contract to purchase the property; sales and construction will start after settlement in May of 2010

EYA originally won out over a field of 12 to 15 other developers who responded to a solicitation of interest put forth on behalf of the Paulist order, which plans to retain ten acres that include the school and offices. Lester said his team bested its rivals because the property owners would be a more "sensitive" neighborh; the Paulists apparently prefer to look out on 237 townhouses, rather than commercial space or a residential property with more build out.

Lester added that with all of the "exciting things happening" in the area, EYA was glad "to be part of the vibrant community."