Developer Submits for 500-Apartment Virginia Square Project

The Dittmar Company is preparing for another large residential project in Virginia Square. TBD reports that the Vienna based developer has plans to build about 500 apartments in two buildings next to the Amelia, a 102-unit building it completed in 2009. The site is one block from the Virginia Square Metro, and largely unoccupied, one of the last sizable empty lots along Wilson Boulevard.
The site plan submitted by Dittmar requests two buildings, a 12-story building along Fairfax and a 6-story building fronting Wilson, divided by an extended 9th Street, the street extension is a concept called for in Arlington's Virginia Square Sector Plan. Arlington planners say the initial concept shows two U-shaped buildings facing outward, with a shared interior courtyard divided by 9th Street with pavers connecting the courtyard halves, a concept that would imply a slower, pedestrian-favoring 9th Street. The buildings would share an underground parking garage connecting the two buildings beneath the street, which would likely require a developer-owned street with city right-of-way.As with past projects, Dittmar has chosen SBE Associates for design of the building. Developers would not comment on the project, at all. "We normally don't talk to anyone from the press, ever, so there's no one to speak with" informed a receptionist, but planners say the untalkative developers plan for retail on the first floor, but that the "swing space" retail might yield to apartments. Planners called the site plan submittal "the very beginning" of the process; the next step is review by the Site Plan Review Committee, which could happen over the next several months.

Arlington, Virginia real estate development news

The Amelia Fills in Ballston

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Condo Gods Giveth, and Taketh Away

It might be tempting to analyze recent developments in the Rosslyn/Arlington condo market and make broad pronouncements on "The State Of The Market," but we’ll leave such baseless articles to the Washington Post. We’ll just go with, "You win some, you lose some." Early this week, a planned grand opening for 1325 Pierce was canceled by the Dittmar Company, and instead the company has decided to move forward with the building now being apartment rentals. Originally, these 19 units, which feature 2 or 3 bedrooms and balconies, were to start selling in the $600s, but they are now being listed for rent starting from $2350/month. When contacted, a Dittmar representative confirmed the "reverse conversion" to rentals, asserting it was done to take advantage of the "strong rental market for 2 and 3 bedroom units." However, all is not lost, as just around the corner from 1325 Pierce near Ft. Myer is a new upscale condo project named Scene Cityhomes by Centex Homes. These units are expected to include secured parking, gas fireplaces, walk out balconies, stainless steel appliances, etc. - not to mention interior "translucent walls" for those always wishing they had x-ray vision. Units will range in size from 900 sf to 2900 sf, and prices are expected to start from the mid-$400's for 1BR/BA to $1million for the penthouse 2BR/2.5BA. Delivery will be in 2008.

Arlington Virginia commercial property news