Land Dispositions Receive Council Approval

A series of Land Disposition Agreements related to three major developments planned across Washington DC all received City Council approval this week. The Council previously reviewed the proposals and heard community comments during a July session, and issued their decisions publicly. 1. Donatelli Development and Blue Skye Development's Minnesota-Benning Phase 2 Redevelopment, the planned low-income housing and retail space adjacent to the Minnesota Avenue metro station. The 5-acre, $108m project will bring 375 affordable and 60 market-rate units to Ward 7, with completion as early as 2011. 2. Denning Development, UrbanMatters Development Partners and Beulah Community Improvement will redevelop properties located at 400-414 Eastern Avenue, NE and the 6100 block of Dix Street NE. The selected plan will offer 56 affordable for sale 3-bedroom townhouses, ideally completing in late 2011. 3. Washington Community Development Corporation (WCDC) and Banneker Ventures LLC's Strand Theatre development will transform the 80-year-old former movie theater into the new home of an 18,000-s.f. restaurant and 18,000 square feet of “affordable” office space. The LDA was announced exactly one year after Mayor Adrian Fenty chose the developers for the long-neglected Deanwood project.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

Fenty Announces Developer for Deanwood Affordable Housing

Deanwood has been grabbing headlines left and right this summer. Today, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty announced that Denning Development, Urban Matters Development Partners and Beulah Community Improvement will develop the two parcels at 400-414 Eastern Avenue, NE (now a vacant building) and the empty 6100 block of Dix Street, NE. The Dix Street and Eastern Avenue project, with 56 new, affordable, three bedroom townhomes, joined the pipeline of new projects promising affordable housing and jobs for area residents. Other new Ward 7 redevelopment projects include the Strand Theater, the opening of Marvin Gaye Park and last week's demolition on Hayes Street.

Both projects will be developed under the purview of the District’s Nehemiah Housing Program, which builds homes for households earning between $25,000 and $75,000 per year. According to a press release issued by Washington Interfaith Network, a portion of the units may be made available as workforce housing.

Of the 56 units, 18 will be adaptive re-use and the remainder will be new construction. The townhomes will range in size from 1,484 s.f. to 1,680 s.f. At least 10 of the units will be reserved as replacement housing for families currently living in the Lincoln Heights/Richardson Dwellings community. The Mayor projected groundbreaking in February 2010. With 21 of the units scheduled for completion by "this time next year," the remainder should be completed by October of 2011. Square 134 Architects designed the new buildings.

Both sites are governed by two long-range planning initiatives – the Lincoln Heights and Richardson Dwellings New Communities Initiative Revitalization Plan and the Deanwood Strategic Development Plan – that are targeted at undoing the “blight and underinvestment” the community has suffered from over the past 40 years.

Deanwood Swaps Abandoned Apartments for New Housing

In a continuing effort to rejuvenate poverty and crime-ridden areas, Blue Skye Development and DC Mayor Adrian Fenty moved some dirt around a 26-unit housing project at 4427 Hayes Street in Washington's Deanwood neighborhood on Wednesday, a symbolic opening for the project. Having sat vacant for nearly 15 years, the 29,000 s.f. building is now a shell, which Blue Skye has gutted and will renovate. The $5 million project is expected to deliver new homes by summer of 2010.

The District acquired the land in 2005 using federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grants, and has since gone through several aborted development attempts. In March of 2008, the District selected Blue Skye Development to develop the space after a competitive solicitation process. The architects for the project are PGN Architects. PNC Financial Services Group, working with Vornado/Charles E. Smith, contributed $700,000 toward the project as part of a community services benefits package tied to PNC's new downtown building’s zoning approvals. “We are committed to enhancing the quality of life in our city—not just through development downtown, but through transformational projects like this that help make our DC neighborhoods great places to live,” said Mitchell N. Schear, President of Vornado/Charles E. Smith.

These 26 new one and two-bedroom units are part of the District's New Communities Initiative, which aims to replace highly concentrated low-income neighborhoods with mixed-income neighborhoods that still protect low-income residents by offering one-for-one replacement of previous units. The Hayes Street project includes nine replacement housing units for families currently living in the Lincoln Heights/Richardson Dwellings community.

Fenty Takes Out Trash in Deanwood

Deanwood's trash transfer facility/recycling center was demolished this week as Washington, DC Mayor Fenty announced the District’s intent to redevelop the site as mixed-income housing. The raze of the 32,000 square foot, one-story building located at 5201 Hayes Street, NE officially kicks off the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development’s (ODMPED) search for a development team for the property, which they say can accommodate "up to 232 units of housing."

"Today’s demolition is a big step forward for one of our most important projects in our New Communities Initiative. The development of new housing in the Lincoln Heights/Richardson Dwellings neighborhood is a top priority of my administration’s plan to revitalize the Deanwood community in Ward 7," said Fenty via press release. The RFP is available online and proposals for the project are due on July 6^th by 4 PM.

The trash processing facility was purchased by the District in December 2008 and stands just blocks from a previously solicited ODMPED project at 4427 Hayes Street, NE. That development, also branded as part of Fenty’s New Communities initiative, is set to include 26 new residential units and 9 “replacement housing units” for area residents displaced by renovations at the Lincoln Heights/Richardson Dwellings complex. The Mayor announced on March 27^th that Blue Skye Development has been selected to head up that project.

Community Center-Library Combo Coming to Deanwood

Mayor Fenty was joined by representatives from the DC City Council, DC Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and DC Public Libraries (DCPL) this week to break ground on the new Deanwood Community Center and Library. After issuing a RFP back in October, the Banneker Ventures-led development team selected Forney Enterprises, Inc. to serve as general contractor on the project. The double duty community center is being designed by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects.

The $33 million project will stand on the same parcel as its dilapidated predecessor, at 49^th and Quarles Streets, NE. The new 63,000 square foot DCC, however, promises to be anything but ramshackle with planned amenities that include an indoor swimming pool, gym, game room, daycare center and fully stocked library – the latter being a product of a collocation agreement reached between DPR and DCPL. “[This]…represents an innovative approach to design that urban areas across the country are employing in order to provide residents a variety of services in restricted public space,” said DPR Director Clark E. Ray. The new LEED-certified DCC plans to open its doors in the summer of 2010.

Redevelopment Coming to Dilapidated Northeast Housing

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (ODMPED) is now seeking a development team to revitalize two District-owned properties in the vicinity of Northeast’s Deanwood neighborhood, at DC's easternmost point. The District intends to use the two parcels on the block - at 400-14 Eastern Avenue, NE and on the 6100 block of Dix Street, NE, respectively - to bring modern, affordable housing to Ward 7, while other nearby non-residential projects like the Strand Theater, Deanwood Recreation Center and Marvin Gaye Park get 21st century make-overs to call their own.

The 50,644 square foot Eastern Avenue site currently houses 8 four-unit flats - all of which are vacant and uninhabitable, due to years of disrepair and vandalism. According to their Solicitation for Offers, ODMPED plans to demolish those structures, in order to make way for “walk-up apartment buildings.” Their intentions are much the same for their 20,186 square foot stretch of Dix Street, though that property is currently a vacant lot. ODMPED surmises that that parcel could best be re-appropriated as a satellite development of the Eastern Avenue project, or host a stand-alone “townhouse or low-density apartment structure.”

Either way, both projects will be developed under the purview of the District’s Nehemiah Housing Program, which builds homes for households earning between $25,000 and $75,000. One such project developed under that program was DuPont Commons at Ridge Road and C Street, SE – which was built in concert with Enterprise Homes and won a string of awards upon its completion in 2004.

Additionally, both sites are currently governed by two long-range planning initiatives – the Lincoln Heights and Richardson Dwellings New Communities Initiative Revitalization Plan and the Deanwood Strategic Development Plan – that are targeted at undoing the “blight and underinvestment” the community has suffered from over the past 40 or so years.

As such, ODMPED has stipulated their preference for proposals that “build upon the goals” of those plans. That includes developers with the ability to snatch up adjoining parcels to build-out the size of the intended development or who are capable of providing a strategy that allows for a healthy mix of one, two and three bedroom and, especially, family-sized units. Another winning factor is the inclusion of Ward 7 retailers in the proposals, specifically ones that qualify as “Local, Small, and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises” (LSDBE). And, of course, any proposals delivered to ODMPED must emphasize affordable and accessible housing as a chief component.

Proposals are due to ODMPED by 4 pm on February 16, 2009. Presentations to the selection panel and a final announcement will occur the following month.

RFP Issued for Deanwood Rec Center

Hot on the heels of last week’s Strand Theater announcement, Northeast’s Deanwood neighborhood is now in line to receive a new $20 million, 63,000 square foot community center. Banneker Ventures LLC (also the developer behind the Strand revitalization initiative), Reagan Associates LLC, DC Housing Enterprises and the Program Manager of the center’s current incarnation, have jointly issued a request for qualifications to builders that aims to have the new Deanwood Community Center (DCC) open and operational by May 2010. The project is the product of a partnership between the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (OMPED) and the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR).

Located at 49^th & Meade Streets NE, the new DCC will sport “an in-door leisure swimming pool," gymnasium, game rooms, full library, a child care center, and dedicated senior space, as well as swanky designs by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects (EEK) and a projected LEED silver certification. Everything currently on the site – including the swimming pool, tennis courts and the existing building – will face demolition in the coming weeks.

Proposals are due to Banneker by 12 PM on Monday, October 20^th.

Stranded in Northeast

The District has been seeking developers to revitalize Deanwood's Strand Theatre, and has now extended the response deadline to January 21. Seeking developers with a proven mixed-use track record, "creative vision" and "the organizational and financial capacity," DC planners hope redevelopment of the property at 5131 Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue, NE, will revitalize not only the building but the flagging neighborhood as well. The search for bidders began on December 12, 2007, when the District and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (ODMPED) held a pre-bidders' conference for more than 40 attendees. The response deadline to the Request For Proposals was extended on Monday.

Deanwood's state of affairs is briefly outlined in the RFP: "Over the past 40 years however, much of Deanwood has suffered from disinvestment, which has caused the residences and commercial corridor along Nannie Helen Burroughs to struggle." Thus ODMPED views the project as highly significant, having the potential to garner development interest in the Northeast commercial corridor, hence the level of expertise required for bidders to be considered. This project, along with three other short-term and long-term developments serve as ODMPED's attempt to resuscitate Deanwood back and cataylze new growth: The Great Streets Initiative Plan for Nannie Helen Burroughs, the Lincoln Heights New Communities Plan and the Deanwood Strategic Development Plan.

Currently, the theatre provides 8,200 s.f. of area on a 6,000 s.f. lot. And while historic designation is pending, the DC Preservation League labeled the building as one of the "Most Endangered Places" last year. District agencies have decided that regardless of the site's current historic status, redevelopment will take place as if it is a historic structure, and are considering all methods of disposition including leasing the space, although a minimum lease of 75 years is required. The RFP explicitly encourages potential developers to maximize development on the site, stating that "The District will look very favorably at [bidders] who demonstrate the ability to bring additional development resources and/or additional parcels of land to the table."

Specific goals to be achieved with the site's redevelopment were fleshed out in a number of District-sponsored public meetings over the course of 2007. Community members indicated a number of appropriate uses, including: a cultural hub for art exhibits, retail and restaurants, commercial space for local businesses and a half dozen others. Not only will bidders have to collaborate with community stakeholders to implement their collective vision, but the District is also suggesting that each offer incorporate the voluminous goals of the Lincoln Heights, Great Streets and Deanwood Strategic Plans into their proposals. God speed to the lucky winner.