MRP to Begin Phase One of Washington Gateway in NoMa

MRP Realty will soon move forward with a long- awaited three-phase, 1-million-sf mixed-use project on 3 acres in northern NoMa. Matthew Robinson, Senior VP of MRP, says the $360-million project known as Washington Gateway will break ground before the end of the year, with the first phase residential and retail. The project has been planned since at least 2006, with several near starts over the past 5 years.

At the intersection of Florida and New York Avenue, NE, the Washington Gateway development team will seek financing on a rolling basis. As for now, the team is focused solely on phase one: 400 units of residential in an 11-story building with 5,200 sf of retail.

In terms of getting the first phase off the ground, all seems to be in line for MRP. An equity partner is in place, construction loans are in the works, construction (sheeting/shoring/excavation) permits have been applied for, and a building permit will be filed at the end of September, according to Robinson. One year into construction, MRP plans to start phase two, which will consist entirely of office space. Further down the road, phase three will consist of office space and a retail component.

Nearly 1 million square feet of built area in all, the three-building project consists of approximately 350,000 sf of residential, 600,000 sf of office, and 12,200 sf of retail. The original plan called for significantly less residential space - 260 units versus 400 - with the space going to a 181-room hotel - a component that was scratched due to changing market needs as perceived by the development team.

Robinson says that getting rid of the hotel component, "makes the residential building better. The additional space allows for greater residential amenities [in the form of] increased shared spaces, [including] an extensive 3,700 square foot club room, and two-story fitness center." A rooftop pool and lounge area will offer "Capitol dome views," adds Robinson.

The 11-story residential building was designed by SK&I, and will be built under general contractor Davis Construction. Construction, if underway before the end of the year, should be complete within the next two years. The two 11-story office buildings, to be included in phase two and three, were designed by Gensler. And although the same height, the grade on site varies by about 40', confirms Robinson, creating a height variation optical illusion.

The overall design of the whole Washington Gateway project is a hollowed-out glassy triangle (labeled number 3 on the map to the left), offering an inner triangle of public space, accessible by an opening on Florida Avenue. All retail will front Florida Ave; retail tenants are being pursued, though phase one will be built on spec. Retail will most likely include "neighborhood serving retail," says Robinson, including sidewalk cafes.

Also a part of the development will be a widening, and repaving of the sidewalks along both Florida and New York Avenues. New trees and street furnishings will be added, and landscape architecture design will be the work of Oculus.

"It's exciting right now in NoMa," says Robinson. Washington Gateway will be followed by Camden Property Trust's 60 L Street, NE (1 & II), located just east of the new NPR headquarters currently under construction. Camden's 60 L Street will become NoMa's largest residential building, with 730 units, if it goes through as planned.

Mill Creek Residential's NoMa West, the largest single-phase residential project in NoMa to date includes 603 apartments with a single retail store. Located north of the FedEx building (just north of Washington Gateway) the Mill Creek project broke ground in March, and aims to finish in the spring of 2014.

Several other projects with substantial residential and office space are planned for the NoMa BID, including the Bristol Group's NoMa Station (II - IV), a follow-up to One NoMa Station (400,000 sf office, and 5,000 sf retail) next door at 131 M Street. NoMa Station II-IV is a massive mixed use project to front 1st Street between M and L Streets, NE, made up of: 700,000 sf office, 50,000 sf retail, and 700 residential units.

8/30 correction: 350,000 s.f. of residential, not 290,000 s.f.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Reston Station Gets Underway Today

Comstock Partners will break ground this morning on Reston Station, a 1.3 million s.f. development that will soon be connected to Washington D.C. via Metro's Silver Line, running from the Stadium Armory station to Dulles Airport. Reston Station will be the final stop of Phase 1 of the Silver Line, now at the mid point of construction having broken ground exactly two years ago and scheduled for completion in late 2013. Comstock will eventually build three office buildings, two residences, one hotel and retail space, but today will begin work on the 2300-car underground garage and bus depot, replacing the sprawling surface parking lots, hopefully in time for the opening of the Wiehle Ave station.

Davis Construction will do the digging and building of the "urban employment center" site 3/4 of a mile east of Reston town center, for the Dantesque 7 levels of underground parking. Design of the live-work center that will sit on top of it is still in the early planning stages.

Reston, Virginia real estate development news

Reston Station Announcement Heralds Coming Development

Comstock Partners made the expected announcement today that it has selected Davis Construction to build its underground garage at Reston Station, setting the stage for a "spring 2011" groundbreaking for the 1.3 million s.f. facility on the new Silver Line. Comstock had previously projected a March start to the project in order to get the garage open in early 2013 when the Metro line is scheduled to run its first train. Davis has already been at work building the other parking component on the site for Fairfax County, but today's announcement kicks off what will be the start of new "office, retail, residential and hotel uses in multiple buildings surrounding a public plaza," according to a Comstock press release.

Comstock's massive mixed-use project is planned 3/4 of a mile east of Reston town center, the developer plans to build the 500,000-s.f. residential component as the first step in the process. The two towers will have 205 and 370 units, 19.5% of it designated for workforce housing.

Reston, Virginia, real estate development news

Shaw Developers Celebrate Step Forward with Progression Place

One of Shaw's chief development projects, slowed by lost tenants and missed start dates, is finally having its day as developers celebrate a "groundbreaking" Monday for a project that began in late 2010. Developers of Progression Place began work last December on the 320,000 square foot, $150 million development, with 100,000 square feet office space, a 205-unit residential apartment building, 20,000 square feet of street-level retail, but on Monday its developers will fete themselves and the sale of an office condo to anchor occupant United Negro College Fund (UNCF). UNCF officially purchased half the project's office space on December 24th, but developers were already doing site work on the vacant lot in anticipation of the settlement and Eagle Bank's $13m loan made possible by the sale, which was in turn made possible by the city's $3.6m financing subsidy for UNCF. Ellis Development, The Jarvis Company, and Four Points combined forces to build a project that would be hard to overestimate in importance as a beacon for Shaw's development, adding housing, jobs and retail in an area that had little investment in any of those markets. Progression Place is adjacent to the Howard Theater, also being developed by Ellis, and will build in parking for the historic theater and add a rebuilt Metro entrance. UNCF's office condo and the "7th Flats" will both be ready for occupancy in mid 2012. With a new library in place just to the south, and the Convention Center Marriott already underway, the O Street Market remains the largest holdout that could tie together development along the 7th Street corridor. Design is being handled jointly by architects Eric Colbert & Associates and Devrouax and Purnell, and built by Davis Construction and Gilford Corporation. The public ceremony will be held at the Lincoln Theater at 11am on Monday. 

Washington DC real estate development news

Reston Station: Planning for the Last Stop of the New Metro Line

When it comes to development along the new Dulles Corridor Metrorail Silver Line, connecting downtown Washington D.C. to Tysons Corner and Dulles Airport, developers think big. Reston Station, a transit-oriented, mixed-use development soon to be brought into the orbit of Washington DC as the terminus of Phase 1 of the Silver Line, is no exception. Zoned for 1.3 million s.f. of development and incorporating three office buildings, two residences, one hotel, retail space and a 2300-car underground garage, developers expect to break ground on the garage next March and start the residences in late 2012. Davis Construction, now at work on Reston Station's county-sponsored underground garage, intends to complete work by 2013 to sync with the Silver Line's debut.

Comstock Partners, the Reston-based developer behind the vision, is just now beginning to market to prospective office users and hotel operators to fill up the 60,000 s.f. of retail, 650,000 s.f. of office space, and 220-key hotel that have been planned 3/4 of a mile east of Reston town center. Comstock has just begun design process for the 500,000 s.f. of residential space with the search for an architect, but already plan pair of residential buildings, 205 and 140 feet high, with a total 370 units, 19.5% of it designated for workforce housing.

Turning what looks, at least aerially (mislabeled picture above courtesy of MWAA), like a land of parking lots dotted occasionally by office buildings, into a community that is "edgy, contemporary, with easy living and walking to the Metro" as Comstock's Maggie Parker puts it, will require a bold metamorphosis. Anchored by the indispensable Metro station, various groups are working to design a more urban Reston. Reston 2020, a committee of the Reston Citizen's Association, which represents residents of Reston in the Reston Master Plan Review process, has outlined its own optics for the area, A Strawman Proposal for The Wiehle Area Metro Station, that envisions a thriving mixed-use, beyond 9-5, transit-oriented community. The group calls for increased residential uses, pedestrian and bike interconnectivity along the Silver Line corridor, embracing the urban center paradigm and integration of growth along the corridor. According to Penniman, Strawman Proposal author and board member of the Reston Community Center,

"Reston is a wonderful, planned community of urban and village centers, but running in the middle of it is the toll road, which has historically been lined with office buildings. With the arrival of the Metro and three stations running through Reston, there is an opportunity to add some urban flavor that would allow more people to live, work, walk and play...If we can create more pedestrian connections and manage traffic, that should do a lot to energize the corridor and would fit in well with the image of Reston as a community of open spaces and quality architecture."

Not everyone would agree that Reston calls to mind architectural splendor or exudes urbanity, but Comstock hopes their site next to the Metro will afford the opportunity to change that. Comstock plans on entering Reston Station in the running for LEED-ND (LEED for Neighborhood Development) certification, a relatively new category in the LEED rating system, which the US Green Building Council, the Congress for New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council developed collaboratively to certify neighborhoods that are planned according to smart growth principles with attention to urban planning and environmental design characteristics at the community scale.

Debate on the project has focused on traffic mitigation from the beginning. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority began increasing tolls on the Dulles Toll Road last January by 33% to help finance the Silver Line, with further toll increases expected in 2012. With increasing gas prices and suffocating traffic, the commute along the toll road has become less sustainable.

Comstock's Parker says the developer has focused on traffic management from the start, making the most of the pedestrian bridge that will link its project to the Metro station. Planners have designed Reston Station Blvd. as a new cross street, "an east-west spine road parallel to both Sunset Hills Road and the Dulles Toll Road provides a key cornerstone to the ultimate goal of a well-planned grid of streets." "We have proffered to significant traffic modifications to accommodate the suggested increase in traffic with the arrival of Metro. We are also committed to conducting other traffic studies as the development progresses through an aggressive Transportation Demand Management plan designed to reduce automobile trips generated by the office and residential uses" explained Parker.

Ultimately, construction timelines will be determined by economic realities, with even citizens groups acknowledging that "development will not proceed as fast as might have been thought a couple of years ago." With three years to go until the Metro station opens, time will tell what awaits sojourners venturing out to the end of the new metro line.

Reston, Virginia, real estate development news

DC Redesigns Empty Printing Plant Near Ballpark

The District has finally come up with a plan for a long-vacant building in southeast DC that once served as the printing plant for the Washington Star, turning a physical and fiscal black-eye into what District officials say will be "a bold move" to improve the neighborhood. The District government began leasing the property in 2007, a controversial arrangement when the city failed to use the building. DC purchased the property outright last year for $85.2m in the hopes of converting its liability into productive space and has now partnered with development giant StonebridgeCarras. The five-story building at 225 Virginia Avenue remains the largest empty building near the Nationals Stadium.


Scotching plans to add on to the five-story building, the city will now renovate the interior and redesign the exterior to add "a lot glass that will allow natural sunlight to filter through the building," according to Jason Yuckenberg of the Department of Real Estate Services for the District. The revamp will also earn a LEED Silver certification, incorporate the largest green roof owned by the District government, and provide space for a public gallery to "showcase the vast art collection of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities."

The city will continue to own the land in a lease-leaseback arrangement with StonebridgeCarras. Details on how the city selected StonebridgeCarras were not immediately available, but according to Yuckenberg, the city "approached a number of people in the community about working with us on this project." StonebridgeCarras principal Doug Firstenberg tells DCMud the city's first RFP for the building went nowhere, after which the developer came up with the current lease plan financed through a private placement bond issue. Ultimately what they wanted was to own the building through creative financing" says Firstenberg.

Under a signed agreement, DC will lease the property to the developer, which will finance construction of the renovations, then lease it back to the city for $8.4m per year to be used as office space for several District agencies. The property will revert to the District at the end of the 20-year agreement. The District intends to build a data center and is seeking an occupant for the 50,000 s.f. of available space, stipulating that the data center tenant, a typically heavy energy consumer, "not adversely affect the LEED certification process" according to Yuckenberg.

The current structure, which has "virtually no windows, and is really drab and dreary," acknowledges Yuckenberg, is surrounded by ongoing improvements to the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood, including EYA's Capitol Quarter housing project and adjacent Canal Park, which is expected to break ground within the next few weeks. The street will get its own revamp when CSX scrapes off Virginia Avenue to add capacity to the train line below it. Construction is expected to begin in November; the District has already begun interior demolition to make way for construction. The development team will include architects from DC's Hickok Cole, Davis Construction as a general contractor, and Rand Construction for the interiors. Firstenberg expects full occupancy by June of 2012.

The property was originally intended to be a 1^st District Police substation and evidence warehouse for the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), which has since moved elsewhere. After two years of paying $6.5 million in annual rent (nearly $550,000 a month), the District raised the ante by purchasing the site. Washington DC officials say the move will "save District taxpayers more than $60 million over the previous arrangement."

The District recently issued a Request for Offers (RFO) to sublease the 50,000-s.f. data center, responses to which are due by July 30, 2010; the city will sponsor a site visit for the space tomorrow.

Washington DC real estate development news

Parker Flats at Gage School

Parker Flats at Gage School is 3-building development - the renovation Washington DC's historic Gage School, built in 1904 and renovated under historic preservation guidelines, and construction of 2 new condo buildings. The new condos are four-story, wood-framed buildings with red brick facades, in keeping with the character of neighborhood. Located just east of Howard University, and set against architecturally appealing, if largely unrenovated, single family homes of the area. The Gage school offers 92 units - 33 in the original structure - priced originally from the upper $200k's for studios and from $339k for two beds (marked down from $445k). Delivery began in the summer of 2007 when the building was completed, with features including maple cabinets, high ceilings (up to 14 ft in some units), balconies, and both underground and above-grade parking available. Developed by Urban Realty Advisors, which was chosen by Howard University to convert the decaying building into housing. URA was later bought out by Monument Realty. Designed by Bonstra Haresign Architects, which oversaw the renovation of the historic school and designed the new buildings. Construction by James G Davis Construction began in March 2006. Real estate sales by McWilliams Ballard began in February 2006, but in 2008 switched to Urban Land, sales are ongoing.

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Office Trends: Condos on K Street

A McPherson Square office building next door to Archibald's Gentleman's Club will soon become 12 office condo units, offering ownership opportunities for businesses or organizations downtown at 1522 K Street, NW.  The 11-story, 1964 office building is undergoing a face lift at the hands the Detroit-based MayfieldGentry Realty Advisors, which purchased the property in May 2008. The office condo option is a new trend, just check out J Street's 111 K St NE building in NOMA; they're all the rage.

MayfieldGentry plans to split the 91,000 s.f. structure into ten 8,500 s.f. units and two 2,500 s.f. units and then sell the space off, floor-by-floor. According to Karen Waldon, Vice President of Asset Managment for MayfieldGentry, the company is "targeting LEED Silver" for the $6.5 million project.

The designers at Group Goetz Architects have a glass façade, updated conference and fitness facilities, and new stairs and elevator cabs in mind for the space. State-of-the-art heating and cooling systems and a 46-car garage will also be part of the finished package.

Marketing by Akridge has just begun for the space, but Waldon assures us that there has been "a lot of interest in the project." With a pitch that emphasizes tax-exempt bond financing to potential buyers as a way to make ownership in DC possible, it's not surprising that Waldon says her company hopes to "bring more of the associations and nonprofits back to downtown DC."

A final construction timeline for the project is still unclear. In mid-December Mayfield awarded the construction contract to Davis Construction to handle the heavy lifting. If all goes according to plan, downtown DC could be welcoming another crystal clear office structure to its brood as early as summer 2011.

The price per s.f. ranges from $526 to $676, which includes a build-out allowance of $60.00 per s.f. and two covered parking spaces.

Renderings provided by MayfieldGentry's brokers at Cushman and Wakefield

Washington, DC real estate and development news

Progress on Stalled Dumont

Mt. Vernon Triangle's DuMont Condominium's 559 units at 401 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, have sat lonely and vacant since the project was substantially completed a year ago. Lender PB Capital issued a foreclosure notice in December when the developer, The Broadway Group, failed to secure enough deposits to meet the lender's demand. Mt. Vernon blog The Triangle first reported resolution in the form of a sale to Ideal Realty Group (IRG), which specializes in multifamily and distressed/bank owned properties.

The IRG website lists the 559-units at the Dumont as "under agreement." According to one commenter on the Triangle, at a Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association meeting, Bill McLeod of the Mount Vernon Business Improvement District (MVBID) confirmed the sale. You can bet all those new tenants (whether owners or renters) and the potential for retail would be welcome news to the MVBID.

No one at IRG was available or willing to comment or confirm the sale. While there is currently no sale recorded, the September 18th release of a mechanics lien is further evidence of a deal. A representative at Custom Glass Services Inc. was unwilling to comment about any sale agreement, but confirmed the company had a lien on the property that was resolved through a payment from the general contractor, James G. Davis Construction Corporation.

It is unclear if the Dumont, designed by Esocoff & Associates as condominiums, would be sold as such or rented as apartments.

Constitution Center: Letting the Light In, Keeping Terror Out

The $250 million renovation of Constitution Center — the block-sized, former Department of Transportation building at 7th St., SW — is inching towards the finish line. When renovation plans for the 1960s-style concrete relic began circulating five years ago, owner David Nassif Associates had three objectives for the architects and engineers at SmithGroup: Design a modern structure that will stand the test of time, retain the building’s original concrete frame, and make the building attractive to bulky federal tenants. The blast-resistant glass building incorporates federal security guidelines and boasts worker-friendly amenities like private D Street metro access, which mean SmithGroup may achieve all three when James G. Davis Construction wraps their work in November of 2009, 29 months after work began in mid 2007.

As lead architect David Varner puts it: “Maintaining the concrete frame probably saved about $60 million in construction costs and shaved about a year off the renovation.” But as far as design, “We pretty much went out of our way to invert just about every design feature of the old DOT building.” Although designed in 1969 by the architect behind the Kennedy Center and Radio Center Music Hall, Edward Durell Stone, the general consensus - at least among DOT employees - was that their old office frankly didn't measure up to general office standards. DOT employees used to describe their offices as “dark and disorienting,” according to Varner because the original building had less than 50 percent glass. That’s not a problem with Constitution Center’s floor-to-ceiling, blast-resistant glass design that ensures “no employee will be further than 45 feet from a natural light source at any time.” No federal agencies have yet signed up to move their offices to Constitution Center, but the buzz is that the owner would prefer one federal tenant with multiple departments to move in by early 2011. With 1.3 million s.f. of rentable space, a 310-seat auditorium, a 15-acre garage with a 1,500 car capacity (the largest in the city), four lobbies, and a 90,000 s.f. central courtyard, it's safe to say the future occupant will be able to stretch out in the complex that occupies the entire block between 6th, 7th, D, & E Streets. Add to its list of superlatives that the project is the largest office renovation in the country expected to receive a LEED Gold certification. Along with aesthetic improvements, a major security overhaul went into the new design of the Constitution Center complex. Garage columns are steel jacketed to guard against an ISC Level IV explosion, just for that country-Inn-kind-of-feel. And while your Beemer may be toast by that point, two separate security access points were placed at the employee-only entrance. All air-intake units and filters are located 110 feet above the ground to guard against any airborne biological attack which, we're told, tends to concentrate closer to the ground. Constitution Center even has its own filtered water supply. The major trade off? The grand central courtyard designed by the landscape architects of Oculus will, predictably, be closed to pedestrians, meaning no more public access or farmers market. But when you're talking about an office building with its own filtered water and air supply, are you really surprised? Varner explains that in a modern, secure building, the owner felt it was not feasible to keep a public courtyard. But, in an effort to maintain a solid relationship with the community, Oculus and SmithGroup designers worked to increase the outdoor green space by 700 percent, beautifying the street front for those that have to walk around it. Shedding a little sunlight on federal offices isn't such a bad idea, even if it's coming through blast-resistant glass.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

Golden Arches Go High-Rise in Downtown Bethesda

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School students will have one less parking lot to congregate in now that New York-based developers, the Clarett Group, have gotten the go-ahead to demolish the existing McDonald’s franchise at 4500 East West Highway and replace it with a nine-story office building.

The site – which currently houses the fast food chain, a small office building and a vast amount of surface parking – is to be re-appropriated for a new 98-foot, nine-story high-rise that will feature 13,300 square feet of ground level retail. The prominent downtown Bethesda location – just a block from the aforementioned high school and the Bethesda Metro Center – is intended to house a new restaurant and a few commercial outlets above three levels of below-grade parking. The rest of the Shalom Baranes-designed development will go towards Class A office space and a green roof.

However, to receive the approval of the Montgomery County Planning Board (MCPB), the development team was forced to acquiesce to a laundry list of county demands: the building must be completed in one construction phase, achieve a LEED silver certification, provide – at a minimum - 20% public use space.

In order to live up to the latter of those specifications, Clarett will install a 4500 square foot public plaza with “plantings, a water feature, and artwork” at the corner of East West Highway and Pearl Street. A final decision on the choice of artwork lies with the Montgomery County Art Review Panel, which is expected to announce their decision soon. According to Planning Board staff, the proposed plaza is a “direct response” to the provisions of Bethesda Sector Plan and will “serve as a gateway to downtown Bethesda.”

Furthermore, the site is also to be incorporated into the Georgetown Branch Trail, a local biking path that shadows the route of the upcoming (and much debated) Purple Line. Two 5-foot wide on-street bike paths will be laid along Pearl Street in order to connect it with the popular footpath, for a total of 6885 square feet of on-site public use space. Pearl Street itself was once proposed a Purple Line stop for Bus Rapid Transit –before the MCPB instead moved in favor of a light rail system. Given the close proximity of the high school and the heavy hiker/biker traffic in the area, Planning Board staff pledged that these infrastructural improvements will keep the “emphasis on safety and pedestrian access.”

After a preliminary hearing last October, Clarett’s final project plan was approved by the MCPB on December 4th. The MTA Purple Line Project team has also ruled that the plans present no conflict with their plans for a light rail system, as have the Maryland State Highway Administration and Montgomery County Department of Transportation. Construction is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2009. James G. Davis Construction Corp. will serve as general contractor.

Marymount University Digs Itself a New Hole

With its’ 60th anniversary just around the corner, Arlington’s Marymount University looks to be buying itself a $25 million present a few years early.

Next month will see Dewberry Development break ground on two "contemporary neo-classical buildings" that will take the place of a Marymount parking lot bounded by Old Dominion Drive, Yorktown Boulevard and 26th Street North. Plans for the Davis Carter Scott-designed sibling structures, a dormitory and academic building respectively, were initially approved by Arlington County Board of Supervisors in July 2007.

Rose Bente' Lee Ostapenko Hall (good luck to the co-eds stammering over that one after a few jell-o shots), the 6-story, 75,000 square foot dormitory going up on the site, was named for – you guessed it -Rose Bente' Lee Ostapenko, the University’s current Secretary to the Board of Trustees and founder of the Rose Bente' Lee Endowed Scholarship Fund. Ms. Ostapenko also lent funds (and, surprise, her name) to Marymount’s student center in 1999.

That 239-bed facility will be erected concurrently with Caruthers Hall, a 4-story, 52,000 square foot academic building. The new building will house classrooms, lecture halls, faculty offices, and lab space for health science, chemistry, physics and biology. The facility is being named in honor of Preston C. Caruthers, chairman of Arlington real estate firm, Carfam II Associates LP, and longtime Marymount supporter.

The 2 new structures will both sit atop an underground, 4-story, 145,000 square foot parking garage that will contain 370 new spaces. A new plaza will straddle the gap between the academic building and dormitory, while an overhead pedestrian footpath will be erected across Yorktown Road and connect the facilities with Marymount proper.

“This initiative responds directly to Marymount’s most critical needs,” said university president Dr. James E. Bundschuh. “The new facilities will help us meet the increasing demand for campus housing, significantly enhance instruction in key academic programs, and address the parking challenges that we have faced for several years.”

The 4 Arlington communities bordering the Marymount campus - Old Dominion, Donaldson Run, Yorktown and Rock Spring – have already lent their approval to the project. Davis Construction and Harkins Builders Inc. will be going to ground on the site starting next month. Further BIDs are due by September 25th. The project is slated for completion in time for the start of the 2010 academic year.

Arlington Virginia real estate development news

Southwest Office Block to be Redeveloped

Southwest DC doesn't get the redevelopment spotlight much, its safe to say. Sure, there are always plans, but nothing much seems to happen. This month, however, one of its many '60's era buildings began a four-year redevelopment project, turning one of the largest middle-aged federal office buildings into an environmentally-conscious, modern piece of real estate. Renamed "Constitution Center", the 2.1m s.f. office building at 400 7th St., SW, (occupying the full block between 6th & 7th, D & E Sts.) has now begun renovation to bring it into the 21st century. Massachusetts-based owner David Nassif Associates has hired K Street-based SmithGroup, the nation's 6th largest architecture and engineering firm, to redesign the heavy edifice into a more transparent and contemporary structure. The new design will include LEED (green) building techniques, though the developers have not yet committed to seeking LEED certification, as well as floor-to-ceiling glass curtainwall, laminated insulated glass, and (this being Washington), a more "blast-resistant" exterior. The open courtyard will become a "heavily landscaped private courtyard", says David Varner, the lead architect on the project.

The finished product - sometime in early 2011 - will offer 1.4m s.f. of above-grade office space (no retail space is planned), 15 acres of underground parking - the largest private underground parking in the city - and installation of the largest "chilled beam" HVAC system in the country, which is a very good thing, we're pretty sure, since they've apparently been using it in Europe for years. James G. Davis Construction is performing the work. The Department of Transportation, the last occupant, vacated the property in June.

Constitution Center (the Nassif Building) dates back to 1970, when it first opened, designed by none other than Edward Durrell Stone, who designed a number of local office buildings and was accused of designing the Kennedy Center. Architect SmithGroup also designed the Chesapeake Bay Foundation building in Annapolis, and the first Platinum LEED-certified (the highest level) federal building, in Colorado. No tenants have yet queued up for the project.

David Nassif Associates won the right to develop the site in the mid-60's in an RLA (Redevelopment Land Agency) competition, says Varner, because the land was considered "blighted" under the NCPC Comprehensive Plan, having been vacant at the time. Much of the land nearby developed at that time had replaced old neighborhoods, demolished in the spirit of 'urban renewal' and to make way for the never-completed inner beltway, the only completed portion of which became the Southwest Expressway.

Washington DC real estate and retail news