Columbia Heights Opens Retail Center

Last week marked a proud moment in District of Columbia history - the city's first Target store opened in the DC USA retail complex in Columbia Heights.

The 540,000-s.f., three story 'urban center', on roughly five acres of land between Irving Street and Park Road, is expected to garner more then $12 million in revenues for city coffers and will supply the District with more than 1000 jobs. Coming on the coattails of a 180,000-s.f. Target are Bed, Bath and Beyond, Washington Sports Club, Best Buy and a number of smaller retailers more often relegated to the suburbs, like Caribou Coffee, Mattress Discounters, Quizno's, Marshall's and Staples. New York based Grid Properties and Gotham Developers saw the project through to completion.

In a statement to the press last week, Mayor Fenty said: “[I]t is fitting to call this project both the catalyst and the capstone to an unprecedented economic resurgence in Columbia Heights – where nearly $1 billion worth of new housing, retail and office space has moved through the development pipeline since 2001.”

George Washington University professor, and economist, Tony M.J. Yezer opined. "If you think about what happens when you have group houses or [families with] double income-no kids, if they work downtown, they're not particularly fond of the suburbs. Its logical, that since there is a lot of employment of those types, they're going to want to live in Columbia Heights. If I could speculate, this [growth] might have happened earlier, except that perhaps, the government in DC was somewhat problematic in the 1980s.

"Does retail follow housing, or does housing follow retail, the answer is yes to both. This retail growth in Columbia Heights is caused by the population transformation and the population transformation will bring further retail. Things may be going fast in DC now, and the reason is that they didn't happen over time because they were delayed by what I consider to be problems with local government. You can have the economic rationale for converting a neighborhood to be fairly large, but you can also have regulatory impediments. The dam has burst. [Development] is going to happen very fast."

Bring on the cheap sneakers.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

Allegro says: Arrivaderci Condos

Metro Properties Inc. has just announced that the Allegro Condominiums, their 297 unit project at 3460 14th Street, NW, in Columbia Heights, has joined the tide of reverse condo conversions and is now destined to become an apartment building.

According to Jeremy Rubenstein, CEO of Metro Properties, the firm had finished their sales for the initial phase back in July, "right before the worst part of the instability of the housing market hit." MP had planned to resume condo sales this spring. "It actually has been an enormously successful condo sales program," Rubenstein said, adding "we reasonably suspected it would continue to be successful, but we looked at the risk in the financial environment and the uncertainty that many of our purchasers faced if sales did not meet our hopes and expectations. The rental market is tremendous in that location, and we decided it was the best choice for the area...we had been mulling it over for the past couple months. We're tremendously excited about this. We decided that our purchasers and our firm would be far better off."

Rubenstein expects that the entire building will be converted to apartments, and that Metro Properties will not keep any of the original purchasers as condo owners. Rubenstein predicts that its unlikely that leasing agents will have any trouble unloading the metal panel and brick apartment building with its nine foot ceilings, large balconies, hardwood floors, and underground parking. For the truly discerning, Allegro will have 62 two-level penthouse units with gigantic private outdoor roof decks, and interior apartments that face a courtyard with a reflecting pool. If all of that isn't enough, the largest retail project in DC history will be opening its doors in March, just 1000 feet from Allegro, offering tenants an assortment of shopping choices...and a Target.

The Allegro site is on the location of the old Giant Supermarket and surrounding parking lot, which was bulldozed in 2006 to make way for the new building. Metro Properties purchased the whole site in three phases, buying the Giant lot in June of 2006, and acquiring the two supplementary sites the next month. Marriottsville Construction, LLC, an affiliate of Harkins Builders, expects to complete construction by the fall of this year (construction photo at bottom).

Washington DC real estate development news

Columbia Heights Largest Condo Converts to Apartments

Donatelli Development and partner Gragg and Associates acknowledged today they will convert their iconic Highland Park condominium (pictured, top) at the southwest corner of 14^th and Irving streets in Columbia Heights, into rental units. The mixed-use development was the neighborhood's largest condominium, with 229 residential units, 20,000 square feet of retail, and three levels of underground parking, directly above the western entrance to the Columbia Heights metro.

“In light of recent shifts in the condominium market, we decided that we would be in a better position to serve the Columbia Heights market with a luxury rental building,” said company president Chris Donatelli, who developed the project in conjunction with NCRC and has done as much as any individual to bring about the revitalization of Columbia Heights. Despite its location above the Metro and across the street from DC-USA, the massive retail center opening in late winter, only about 75 of the 229 units were ever under contract, never matching its sister project across the street, Kenyon Square , a 153-unit condominium also by Donatelli that began delivery in July and is now more than 70% sold out, according to sales agents Domus Realty.

Silver Spring-based Torti Gallas designed the building, which had been offering a 24-hour front desk, two-level fitness center, an "unusually large...hotel-style lobby" (pictured, below), and one of the most inviting roof decks of the city. The condos had been priced from the mid $300's to the upper $700's. Donatelli points out that conversion will have no adverse impact on the finishes or amenities, as the building has been mostly completed, with delivery scheduled for early next year.

At the same time, Donatelli Development announced it has reached agreements with six retailers, helping to round out the burgeoning area as the northern tip of the 14th Street retail corrider, as planned by the city, and bolstering Columbia Heights as a retail center in its own right. Retailers at Highland Park will now include Hank's Oyster Bar, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Potbelly Sandwich Works, Pete's Apizza, Zinnia - a Caribbean food restaurant, and Signal Financial Federal Credit Union.

“With two large buildings in the neighborhood, we’re in a position to understand what’s happening in the market on an extremely local level,” said Donatelli. “By pulling a large chunk of units from the condo market, we make a whole new class of product available to the Columbia Heights rental market.”

Construction began in mid 2005, sales began in November of the same year. Donatelli has experience in both the condo and rental market, having developed the Ellington apartments that helped transform U Street while remaining nearly 100% tenanted; Donatelli is also currently developing Park Place, a 156-unit condo in Petworth, also above the Metro, that is expected to begin delivering late next year.

Solea Condo Project in Columbia Heights Acquires Site, Groundbreaking Possible This Month

Last week, the Jair Lynch Companies, leading a team that includes the National Capital Revitalization Corporation (NCRC) and MacFarlane Partners, announced that the group has officially acquitted the land in Columbia Heights for its Solea project, a mixed-use and mixed-income live/work property. The Solea will be located on what was formally known as Parcel 34 at the northwest corner of 14th Street and Florida Avenue NW, just above the U Street corridor at the start of Columbia Heights. The 60,700-sf project will feature 52 residential condominiums (21 of which will be set aside for affordable and workforce housing), seven live/work units, and three retail condos (two of which will be affordable space for local business). Architecture will be by Sorg & Associates, with both Hamel Builders and Gilford Corporation as the general contractor. Tania Jackson, Director of Community Policy for Jair Lynch Companies, tells dcmud that the company expects to break ground on Solea later this month.

DC USA Project in Columbia Heights Breaks Ground

On May 6 starting at 11 a.m., the National Capital
Revitalization Corporation (NCRC), together with
developers including Grid Properties and The
Development Corporation of Columbia Heights, will
break ground on the new DC USA project in Columbia
Heights. The event will begin at 11 a.m. on Hiatt
Place between Irving and Park Road. DC USA will be
a 500,000 square foot urban retail and entertainment
center next to the Columbia Heights metro that will be anchored by Target and include Bed, Bath and Beyond, Washington Sports Club, and Best Buy. It is expected to generate more than $12 million in new tax revenue per year for the city and will create more than 1,000 permanent and 700 construction jobs. Completion is scheduled for early 2008.