Showing posts with label Donatelli. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donatelli. Show all posts

Thursday, August 20, 2020

DC General Meets the Wrecking Ball

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DC Real estate - DC General Hospital and family shelter
  Its been a long time coming, but demolition is finally underway for the beleaguered DC General Hospital.  Several of the 6 buildings that make up the hospital complex are meeting the wrecking ball this week as DC prepares for redevelopment of the entire site.  The complex, which operated as a hospital since 1846, was closed in 2001, and operated as a homeless shelter for families from 2002 until 2018, giving way to Mayor Bowser's plan to operate homeless shelters in all 8 wards.  Demolition of the structure took place in phases, beginning in the autumn of 2018, the final building is scheduled to be demolished later this year.

DC Commercial Real Estate Observer - DC General Hospital News
click on image for photo gallery

In its place, the city has planned for a large, mixed-use complex dubbed Hill East, a 67-acre section of real estate bordering the Anacostia River.  While redevelopment plans go back much further, the city issued an RFEI in May of 2008 and announced finalists that November.  Donatelli Development and Blue Skye Development, which won the bidding process, broke ground on Reservation 13, the first phase of the project, in April of 2018.  The land at Reservation 13 will ultimately add nearly 400,000 s.f. of residential and retail space.  GTM Architects will design the buildings, Bradley Site Design is the landscape architect.

DC Real Estate - Donatelli Development, Blue Sky Construction and Development

DC Real Estate - Donatelli Development, Blue Sky Construction and Development break ground

Reservation 13 at Hill East - DC real estate news

DC Real Estate news -  DC Real Estate - Donatelli Development, Blue Sky Construction and Development

DC Real estate news - DC General demolition

demolition in Washington DC: DC General Hospital

DC General - DC commercial real estate news

DC Commercial real estate - JFK and DC General

DC Construction news - DC General Hospital

DC Real Estate

DC General Hospital demolition painting
happy buildings

Washington DC retail and real estate news

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Donatelli Selling Multi-Family Buildings in Petworth, U Street

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Donatelli Development Inc. will sell off two of its existing multi-family buildings, a newly completed building in Petworth and the transformative Ellington apartment building on U Street.

Donatelli's 49-unit residential building at 3801 Georgia Avenue NW has been close to delivery for the last few months, and the development team had been considering both leasing units as apartments and selling them as condos. Now the vacant building has been put on the selling block by MAC Realty Group.

Donatelli is also unloading the 190-unit Ellington apartment building, completed in 2005 and currently asking (and getting) some of the higher rental prices in the city. A source says that a "well-known" pension fund is under contract to purchase the building. Comparing the sale to the sale of the 185-unit View 14, a transaction that grabbed headlines when UDR Inc purchased the building for $104 million - $616 per residential square foot or $520,000 per unit - the source tells DCMud that the Ellington will trade for "a similarly attractive price." Donatelli had long pondered the idea of selling the Ellington as individual condos.

The Griffin, Donatelli's second Petworth project, was "designed as for-sale condominiums" according to MAC, though Donatelli never initiated sales. Speaking to the rental market in Petworth is Park Place, another Donatelli mixed-use development that delivered in 2009 across the street, the leasing manager says the 161-unit apartment building is 95.6% leased.

Designed by Eric Colbert & Associates, the 7-story Griffin is comprised of one- and two-bedroom units that range from approximately 660 to 1,100 square feet.

As a 38-year-old corporation, Donatelli has made investments in up-and-coming areas of the D.C.-metro market for years. In addition to The Ellington, Park Place and The Griffin, the Bethesda-based corporation also developed Kenyon Square condos and Highland Park in Columbia Heights, designed as condominiums but later switched out to rentals. Donatelli is currently building an addition to Highland Park that will add more rental units.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Friday, February 25, 2011

Neighborhood Report: Georgia Avenue

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Much has been promised of Georgia Avenue, without fulfillment. Some developers, like Chris Donatelli at the Petworth Metro, have made an impact, while miles of underutilized land changed little on one of Washington DC's major corridors. At last, investment on the avenue has arrived. Below is a summary of the improvement now underway.

The Great Streets Project, a centerpiece of the revitalization of middle Georgia Avenue, is in full swing with single lane closures tying up Taylor to Upshur Streets for much of the month. Plans include better lighting at intersections and at pedestrian level, more trees, and repaved sidewalks.

The Heights, at 3232 Georgia Avenue, will offer 69 units and 10,000 s.f. of ground floor retail, is behind schedule. The Neighborhood Development Company (NDC) project had been slated for completion for early 2011, but has been pushed to a third quarter opening. Half the units will be offered as affordable housing.

The Vue is a smaller, privately financed project at Georgia Avenue and Morton Street; 7,000 s.f. of retail space and 112 market rate apartments. Also an NDC project, the completion date is farther on the horizon since the zoning hearing was rescheduled for late this month.

3813 - 3829 Georgia Ave: This Donatelli project on a neglected strip will provide 5000 s.f. of retail and 5000 s.f. of restaurant space. It also includes Chez Billy, formerly Billy Simpson's House of Seafood, at 3815 Georgia Ave. The restaurant, to be run by Thievery Corporation's Eric Hilton and brother Ian Hilton, had been designated for the National Register of Historic Places for its role in the social and political culture of D.C.'s African American community.

Opening has been delayed because of the owners' focus on other projects, namely American Ice Company and the soon to open Blackbyrd Warehouse next to the Hilton-owned Marvin at 2005 14th Street. Projected opening date for Chez Billy is June.

At the southern end of that strip is 3801 Georgia Avenue: Donatelli's seven-story multifamily - The Griffin - is near completion, slated for July or August, 49 units for sale or lease (not yet decided). Designed by Eric Colbert and Associates, the building is residential only, no retail.

6925-6529 Georgia Ave: Blue Skye Construction has been chosen by the city to build 24 mixed income units in this fenced off, undeveloped lot on upper Georgia Avenue. The District bid the project out in 2009 and chose Blue Sky in early 2010, but the District is still grinding through the approval process.

Howard Town Center: In negotiations for an anchor grocer, Howard Town Center is seeing delays that bump the completion date to 2013 or beyond. Ongoing negotiations to obtain a grocer for what would be Georgia Avenue's largest mixed-use project have been inconclusive, and CastleRock Partners, Howard University's chosen developer for the site, has yet to move forward. CastleRock was selected in early 2009 to build up to 450 apartments, a grocery store, and a large retail component.

Georgia Ave Safeway: According to Duball LLC, groundbreaking for what will become the second largest Safeway in the city at 3830 Georgia Avenue won't occur until a year to a year and a half from now. Duball said at this month's ANC meeting that they will focus on permitting and securing approval for the Planned Unit Development. Expect completion in two to three years, at best.

Park Morton: Though Hamel Builders is on site to break ground in the joint venture between the Warrenton Group and Landex Companies on the $130 million dollar, 500 unit housing project, they're still waiting for permits says Tom McManus, Studio Director of Wiencek Associates Architects and Planners, the firm responsible for the project's design.

Dubbed "The Avenue," the development located on the southwest corner of Newton Place and Georgia Avenue includes public housing. DCMud reported that the project was to take 14 months to build, but it has to start first.

2910 Georgia Avenue: The construction of this 22 unit, all-residential development is well underway. Developed by Art Linde of ASL International, the designer is Eric Colbert and Associates. Linde bought the property from Howard University in 2009 for $560,000.

Washington, D.C. real estate development news

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Donatelli Building Again in Columbia Heights

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Developer in Chief of Columbia Heights Chris Donatelli will soon build his next residential addition to the Metro-oriented DC neighborhood. Donatelli has just scored $116m in financing from lender Invesco Real Estate, an event Donatelli said was the last impediment to building a 143-unit apartment building designed by Bethesda's GTM Architects. The building on Irving Street will be adjacent to Donatelli Development's Highland Park apartment building and across from the DC USA shopping center. The apartment building will replace a small homeless shelter that was closed on October 15, with a new structure that will essentially become a wing to its neighbor.

The District of Columbia granted the developer a time extension just this fall, under which Donatelli has until mid 2012 to file for building permits, though Chris Donatelli had firmly maintained that he intends to build sooner, and said in a text (yes, text. Cool.) that construction would start within 60 days. Originally approved as the "Calla Lilly", a 69 unit residence (see rendering, at right below), the building will now feature a setback penthouse level and blend more harmoniously into Highland Park. The recent zoning extension also alleviates parking requirements by taking advantage of Highland Park's underground garage. The new Highland Park West apartment tower will front Irving Street and be connected to its sibling, both physically and visually, replicating the style of the existing apartments. A new shelter facility will occupy the back portion of the lot, and will stand separately from the apartment buildings.

Highland Park was completed by Donatelli and partner Gragg and Associates in early 2008; the Art Deco revival building, designed by Silver Spring architects Torti Gallas, adds a subtle timelessness while without mirroring nearby architecture. The project had been listed for sale as condominiums from 2005 to 2007, but in late 2007 Donatelli canceled sales with only about a quarter of its 227 units having sold, converting the building to apartments that filled quickly.

DC Real Estate Development News

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Homeless Shelter Out, Highland Park Addition In

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A Street Sense article recently expressed worry over the impending closing of the La Casa homeless shelter at 1436 Irving Street, NW and the prospect of 72 extra homeless men hitting the streets just in time for hypothermia season. The emptying shelter will in fact give way to construction crews and wrecking balls, as the property is set to feature a 143-unit addition to Donatelli Development's adjacent Highland Park apartment building, as well as brand new 82-bed community based residential facility.

Although the development team successfully obtained a two-year PUD extension from the Zoning Commission earlier this summer, citing (surprise) difficulty securing financing giving the economic downturn, the District will still follow through with the closing of La Casa. Trailers will be removed by November 1st, paving the way for construction to begin shortly after. Reggie Saunders of the DC Department of Human Services confirmed that the shelter will officially close this Friday, October 15th. With PUD extension in hand, developers will have until June 27, 2012 to file for a building permit, and until June 27, 2013 to commence construction, but Chris Donatelli, President of Donatelli Development, insists that the soon-to-begin environmental remediation work and demolition will quickly give way to actual construction in the coming months.

The news does not come as a surprise to Steven Jackson, Program Coordinator at La Casa Shelter, who says he's been "operating under the assumption that the shelter will shut down this Friday." Jackson says that plans have been arranged to accommodate current shelter residents by either placing them in "permanent supportive housing" or "reassigning them to alternative emergency shelters." Jackson confirmed that a few of the men had been reassigned to the La Casa Transitional Rehabilitation Program (TRP), a more comprehensive six-month program that "provides temporary residential services for homeless men to help them to achieve self sufficiency."

Old rendering
Originally approved as an 86-foot, 69 unit-addition, Zoning granted the development team a modification to their PUD late last week, accepting the applicant's plea to expand their residential plans from the original 69 to 143 units and push the building up to 90 feet. Additionally, a setback penthouse level will rise nine feet atop the roof line. Twenty percent of the new apartments will be "affordable," marketed at 80% AMI. The modification also permits architects to redesign the exterior facades to more smoothly blend the addition with the existing Highland Park apartment building. The newly amended PUD also rids developers of their parking space obligation, as future residents will be allotted space in the already constructed below-grade garage next door. The new Highland Park West apartment tower will front Irving Street and be directly connected to the original Highland Park. The new shelter residential facility will occupy the back half of the lot, and will stand separately from the apartment buildings.

Torti Gallas, designers of the adjacent Highland Park apartments, have passed off architectural duties to Bethesda's GTM Architects for the new addition. Initial designs which included a lily-like glass building called the Calla Lily, a design that would have been a significant departure from Highland Park and from the architectural standards of Columbia Heights, has been scratched. Instead of creativity and innovation, architects have tapped their best tracing abilities, as "the new building will look like an exact, matching extension of Highland Park," Donatelli explained. But hey, why mess up a good thing. Highland Park has been a popular residential success since it opened in 2008, and Donatelli confirms that the last retail space has just been leased, soon to feature a brand new sports bar named Lou's Bar and Grill.

It remains unclear how the District will foot the bill for the new shelter, or who will operate it once it's reopened, says Stephen Jackson of La Casa. Donatelli doesn't know either: "We're responsible for the demolition and the design plans, after that it's all on them." Them being the District government, and Lydia DePillis's reporting at City Paper makes it pretty clear that whatever money had been previously set aside for a new La Casa is now lost or spent, and one way or the other, unaccounted for. If and when the new La Casa is made a reality, the building will be quite an upgrade from the current mess of trailers that occupy the property. The planned shelter will not serve "emergency" needs, sandwiching 15 men into bunk-lined trailers, but instead feature private one-bed apartments, better suited to rehabilitate homeless men with drug and alcohol addictions and mental health problems. The Coalition for the Homeless, a nonprofit that currently operates the La Casa shelter, seems optimistic about its continued involvement at the Columbia Heights location, as its website reads: "The La Casa TRP was temporarily relocated to 1131 Spring Road, NW by the District government until the NEW state of the art La Casa Multicultural Center is built at its current location on 1436 Irving Street, NW." But then you would have known some of this had you shelled out the $1 for Street Sense last week.

DC Real Estate Development News

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Minnesota - Benning: Apartments and Sit-down Restaurants Coming

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Ladies and Gentlemen: We have lift off. Today, Mayor Adrian Fenty and Co. gathered at the Minnesota Avenue Metro station in Ward 7 to throw a demolition party for development partners Donatelli Development and Blue Skye Development at the site of the future Minnesota-Benning project.

This particular press mixer was the culmination of two years of Land Disposition Agreements that sought to answer the question: How can the District best put $80 million to good use in a neighborhood known for its high crime, heavy traffic and lack of sit-down restaurants? One of the neighborhood's first sit-downs, Ray's the Steaks, only opened this past April with the help of a grant from the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development's office, and the District wants another.

The answer the development team came up with was the Eric Colbert & Associates-designed Minnesota Avenue-Benning Road, NE, (formerly known as "Phase 2") a five-acre, three-building mixed-use development. The transit-oriented goliath will stand adjacent to the Minnesota Avenue Metro and the new, $95 million Department of Employment Services (DOES) headquarters (a.k.a Minnesota Avenue-Benning Road, NE Phase 1).

The location of the project is part of the larger Great Streets initiative, a joint venture between DMPED, The District Department of Transportation (DDOT), and the Office of Planning that seeks to transform some of DC's more blighted neighborhoods into "great streets - places where people want to be." Upon delivery in the fall of 2012, the Minnesota-Benning project will boast 325 rental housing units at 60% AMI, 48 for-sale condos offered at market rate and 23,000 s.f. of retail and restaurant space.

Five thousand s.f. of those 23,000 s.f. will be reserved solely for sit-down restaurant space and 4,000 s.f. will be set aside for local business, assures DMPED Director of Communications, Mary Margaret Plumridge.

So, let's say you have a great idea for a sit-down restaurant in Ward 7. Will you be eligible for the same type of grant DMPED made available to Ray's the Steaks? Those details are still being ironed out, and the District seems at least mindful of the fact that this will require something more luring than an empty space.

Either way, construction begins Spring 2011.

DC Real Estate and Development News

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Lower Georgia Avenue Pines for Development

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No one doubts that development throughout the greater Washington DC area has slumped. Minimal solace may be had knowing that DC is faring better than the rest of the nation, but even within DC some pockets seem destined to be condemned to all bust and no boom. Case in point: lower Georgia Avenue.

Despite much virtual ink being spilled on the development potential of the southern end of Georgia Avenue, the potential seems lost, as projects big and small fail to start. The same could once be said of the street's more northern leg, but thanks to recent projects like CVS (pictured, right), the District's RFPs and of course Chris Donatelli, Chris Donatelli and Chris Donatelli, the atmosphere is finally changing. But not to the south.

Park Morton and Howard Town Center are supposed to breathe life into the moribund boulevard, but neither project has begun. In fairness, Park Morton was only awarded in October 2009, though the timeline is still fuzzy and the District's budget to assist such projects is tight. The District's attempt to turn the Bruce Monroe school into a mixed-use project has failed, despite an RFP and ceremonial demolition. Even smaller renovations appear non-existent, with streetfront stores a window to DC's past.

For-sale lots sit vacant. The owner of a lot at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Kenyon Street in NW, is looking to sell his land and plans for $1.4 million. The property had been in the hands of Carthage Development, which asked $3m for the land and plans. 3205 Georgia Avenue LLC then purchased the lots in 2007 for a combined total of $1.4 million, but over two years of interest payments later, planning for a mixed-use project left the owner with construction permits in hand, but no construction. Designs call for a 21,000 s.f., five-story, matter-of-right development with retail, second floor office space and 18 residential units on the third through fifth floors in a building designed by Maiden and Associates.

Just to the south at Hobart Street, another vacant block long sported a for-sale sign until Howard University sold the lots in November to 2910 Georgia Ave LLC for $560,000. Now permits have been filed for a 22-unit four-story residential building with 11 parking spaces. As far as permitting goes, the project is on track, though the status of financing is always a guessing game.

Slightly to the north is another planned residential development, The Heights, which sits at 3232 Georgia Avenue, just down the street from the planned development at Park Morton. Despite inklings that project partners Neighborhood Development Company and non-profit developer, Mi Casa, Inc., were looking for a general contractor to begin construction this spring, work has yet to begin. The new, six-story, almost 86,000 s.f. project is among the more promising in the area.

In a neighborhood with so many potential projects, something may yet give, and the start of one large projects may be the shot heard round the city. But for now, long, hard fought battles for each development will be the way of lower Georgia Avenue.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Donatelli Breaks More Ground in Petworth

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Georgia Avenue, donatelli Development, Willco residential, Eric ColbertDeveloper Donatelli Development broke ground this past week at 3801 Georgia Avenue, until now a vacant lot in DC's Petworth neighborhood. The 49-unit, 7-story project will rise across from the Petworth Metro, and across the street from Park Place, Donatelli's last project.Donatelli Development, Georgia Avenue, Eric Colbert, Petworth Originally the project was a joint venture between Willco Residential and Donatelli, but a source at Donatelli says Willco is no longer involved in the building. Eric Colbert & Associates has designed the heavy-gauge steel and concrete building. Donatelli reports that the project will not have a retail component. Donatelli Development, Georgia AvenueGiven its proximity to Metro and retail components in the neighborhood, this could be the beginning of a more "downtown" Petworth, which has lacked a concentration of sustained retail, even along the busy Georgia Avenue corridor. While the groundbreaking was more ceremonial than real, actual work on the project is expected to get underway within weeks. The building will take up most of the empty lot, though the northernmost section of the land, at 3825-3829 Georgia Ave., will not be built out at this time. Donatelli plans a smaller project on that portion, with first-floor retail and "a small amount of residential" on the upper floors. That project will be designed by Bonstra Haresign Architects. In addition to proximity to Donatelli’s recently completed Park Place, the corner will also soon be home to a new CVS, and just next door, a historic rehab-turned-restaurant, a project that kicked off just two months ago. There should be no shortage of affordable housing in the neighborhood, as just a few blocks north is the Georgia Commons Project, creating 119 of its 130 apartments as "affordable," while just to the south is the ambitious Park Morton project, a massively subsidized 500-unit community in the final planning stages. 

Washington DC commercial property news

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

New Restaurant for Georgia Avenue

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Hilton Brothers build restaurant and bar on Georgia AvenueOn Tuesday, District officials and developers broke ground on what will become a first class restaurant on the historic site of the former Billy Simpson's House of Seafood and Steak. The District originally sought proposals for the site in April 2008, selected a developer in September 2008, and in March 2009 the property was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The development team, Donatelli Development and Mosaic Urban Partners, is working with the Hilton Brothers, known for their restaurants Gibson and Marvin in the U Street corridor, to bring the new retail to the Petworth community. Georgia Avenue real estate development - Hilton brothers plan restaurant

According to Rachel Preston, an Advisor at Mosaic Urban Partners, the project is fully financed. Preston said the team has begun interior demolition and the real estate project could be ready as soon as this summer. A press release from the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development's office said the historic restaurant operated in the 1960s and 1970s and was an "oasis" for leaders of the Civil Rights movement as well as home to the political forum "Round Table 9." Ken Johnson, commercial real estate agentThe development team also won the right to develop on another plot of land at 3825-3829 Georgia Avenue, in the form of a small residential building of approximately 12 units with ground floor retail. These developments continue the trend for the Petworth neighborhood, also home to Donatelli's Park Place built on top of the Georgia Avenue/Petworth metro station. When the new yet-to-be-named restaurant opens it may just breathe new life into the "up-and-coming" neighborhood, much like U Street (where the Hilton Brothers currently operate several other restaurants) and Columbia Heights (where Donatelli's projects changed the face of the neighborhood). That, at least, is the hope.

Washington D.C. restaurant and real estate development news

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

District Council Hands Out Tax Breaks to Developers

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Today, the District of Columbia Council approved three bills that would exempt several developers from property taxes throughout the city, with one exemption lasting indefinitely. Yup. Indefinitely. Councilmembers were handing out tax abatements like candy at a parade to Affordable Housing Opportunities Inc., Neighborhood Development Company, and Donatelli Development. The tax abatements come in exchange for residential developments that provide housing at affordable levels in communities ranging from Georgia Avenue to Columbia Heights, Congress Heights to Naylor Road. Though abatements are often offered as a preemptive tool to encourage affordable housing, the Donatelli project delivered last July; the abatement in this case softens the blow of a major condo development that turned rental when the financial headwinds were too strong.

Donatelli's Park Place, which opened atop the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro station last summer boasting 156 rental apartments and 5 rowhouses, offered 20% of the units to low-income tenants. Park Place is a $71 million, 200,000 square-foot housing and retail project. The abatement begins FY 2009 and exempts the developer from property taxes for the next 10 years and increases by 10% for the years 11 through 20 until the point at which the developer is paying full property taxes. In 20 years. Though, according to Brian DeBose, Communications Director for Councilmember Jim Graham, this is the an unusual request from Donatelli, whose projects have consistently set aside affordable housing, without any expectation of tax abatement. Graham saw fit to support the developer, a DC resident, and to "better advantage the building" during an economic downturn.

Neighborhood Development Company's The Heights on Georgia Avenue proposes to bring 69 new residential units and ground floor retail with half of the units set aside as affordable. The Georgia Avenue site was acquired by a partnership of NDC and Mi Casa Inc. – a DC-based non-profit that specializes in restoring aging properties and converting them into affordable housing. Architect Graham Parker designed the building, which will come in at a cost of approximately $25 million. The project received the vote of approval from the ANC for the zoning adjustments needed to bring in the development. The abatement for The Heights is the same as the Park Place abatement.

A bill submitted by Councilmember Marion Barry also provides indefinite tax abatement on two properties owned by Affordable Housing Opportunities Inc. (AHO), and even paying back taxes already received from FY 2008. The exempted are the former Wilson Court Apartments at 523-525 Mellon Street SE, purchased in 2008 for $1.5 million, and 2765 Naylor Road in SE, which the developer purchased in July 2008 for $2.8 million. Nelson Architects designed the renovations for both buildings. Plans for the former property include 36 single room units and 15 efficiencies, including two for on-site staff. The units will be made available to special needs single adults all with initial incomes at or below 30 to 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI). Neighbors have objected strongly to the proposed use, but Troy Swan of SOME indicated the project plans may change since the Mellon Street project did not receive any Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). The latter AHO property on Naylor Road will include 40 units at or below 60% AMI and received a LIHTC award from the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) in August.


The approval of AHO's abatement for Naylor Road and Mellon Street comes despite a June letter from Natwar M. Gandhi, the District's Chief Financial Officer, stating funds are "not sufficient in the FY 2009 budget or the proposed FY 2010 through FY 2013 budget" indicating the total negative fiscal impact through FY 2013 would total $383,700. Though abatement bill also includes an amendment that would supposedly offset the cost of the lost taxes through parking meters.


Washington, DC real estate and development news.

Image of 523 Mellon Street SE Courtesy of South East Socialite.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Industry Insight: Gabe Klein

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Gabe Klein, Mayor Fenty's pick to steer the future of transportation in DC, began his post as Director of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) in February 2009. Klein comes from a progressive, private sector background where he cultivated a reputation for partnering innovative businesses with government programs. He served as the DC regional Vice President of Zipcar from 2002 to 2006, making DC the nation's largest car sharing city by both membership and vehicles. He then co-founded and most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of On the Fly, a boutique food-service company with retail, wholesale, catering and events businesses all-in-one whose green smartkarts are spotted throughout the city. Having achieved a quasi rock start status among urban planners and other pointy-heads for his entrepreneurial, progressive approach to greener transportation and development, Klein has quickly made Washington DC a leader in non-carbon transport options. Klein recently discussed with DCMud his plans for the future of DC transportation.

DCMUD: So it’s been almost a year at this point since you started at DDOT.

GK: Almost…I got appointed in December but I started February 1st. Nine months.

DCMUD: What do you think is the biggest problem with the city’s transportation right now and what are you doing about it?

GK: Well, it depends on if you look at this part of the region or if you focus more on just the city itself, I live just five blocks from here.

DCMUD: Do you walk to work?

GK: I walk to work or I bike to work. My commute on foot is about 9 minutes. So you know, from my personal stand point, we have a wonderful transportation system - a very walk-able, ride-able, transit-oriented city. So if you live, work or play in the city, I think it’s wonderful. I think if you’re commuting in - I was talking to one of our guys today - he lives in Baltimore, so his commute, total is between 2 and a half to 3 hours a day. So for folks that live in the region, I would say the traffic during rush hour is a huge problem.

Here in the city I think we need to make sure that the city is as safe as possible for people, particularly when people want to not be in their car. You know, forty percent of the people in the city don’t even own a car.

DCMUD: By safer do you mean as in a transportation perspective on the street as in walking?

GK: [It needs to be] safe for people to walk, to bike, to drive—and so you know we have a big responsibility in terms of safety and we’re looking hard at that, at how we want to arrange our safety resources in the form of a team so that they’re as responsive as possible to the public. Right now we’re looking at the fifty worst intersections in the city and trying to make sure that we focus our efforts on making them safe. In terms of your readers, I think what’s important is that if you’re developing at one of the worst intersections in the city—like Donatelli’s at Minnesota and Benning—what are we doing to make that safe, so his mixed-use development really attracts people to live there. It’s very important to the city to have smart growth, to have transit-oriented development of which that will be both, right, so there’s going to be stores, offices, and residential. And the problem is if we don’t create a safe intersection so people can cross to the grocery store, are people going to want to buy there? Is the real estate going to be worth what it could be? We’re very focused on that. And there is obviously a renaissance in DC, as there is in many urban quarters, and we’re very aware that there are many more children in the city than there used to be. There are people like you and I who are, well I don’t know where you live, but there are people like us who at this age are saying, “we want to live in the city and maybe raise a family,” and the mayor I think is doing a phenomenal job at trying to better the schools; I think our job is to make sure that people feel their neighborhoods are safe from a transportation standpoint. And a lot of that is pedestrian safety. One thing I’ve noticed - I’ve had one hearing season here - and when I go in front of council, the majority of the people who are testifying are testifying about safety - particularly pedestrian safety. So we’re really focusing on that. We’re also going to be launching an expanded bike share program.

DCMUD: Bike share has been pioneered during your tenure, can you address that? Also, I recently spoke with DDOT Transportation Planner Jim Sebastian and he said you’d be expanding the program from 10 bike stations to 90. When can we expect that?

GK: Right now we’re going through a contracting and procurement process, so we’re going to have everything nailed down, I can tell you soon we’ll be making an announcement about our expansion of the program. It will be a significant expansion. We’re hoping to take it to 100 stations. And a thousand bikes, it could be a little more, a little less, and our hope is to create a transit system with bikes

I just went to Montreal about a month ago on vacation…[and]…I wanted to go…to actually see the bike share system. We were the first in North America to launch our system, but they have the biggest system in North America, I think something like 3,000 bikes. Just recently they dropped in 3,000 all at once. It’s very interesting to see biking go from a sort of secondary mode of transportation to a primary mode of transportation and really become its own point-to-point transit system. So we’re very excited. And I think for developers it’s exciting because we can park one of these [systems] right in front of their development. And depending on what system you go with, we’re looking at a few options. It may even be a mobile system, meaning that we can move it seasonally or just move it periodically, you may have seen the SmartBike system out front. That was a construction project, we put that in the ground. We are looking at some other options which will allow us more flexibility in moving them and we definitely will be doing some outreach to the development community to talk about placing them on private property.

DCMUD: Would that be part of their PUD (zoning change) application?

GK: It certainly could be. It could be something that we do after the fact. So yeah, we’re very excited about working with the private sector. I think there’s so much we can do together. And you know one of the great things about our Mayor and working with the Mayor is that he really gets the synergy between the public and private sector - think how more you can accomplish when you’re working together.

DCMUD: Okay, and then regardless of bike sharing stations, in order to have bikes, or Segways, we need a useful infrastructure—bike lanes, bike paths. You said before you’re goal is to level the playing field for bikers, how do you plan to do that?

GK: One of the things I’ve been focusing our staff on around here is the fact that we’ll be launching this expanded bike share system which in many ways is going to hopefully make cycling a primary mode of transportation. It will also be institutionalizing it and bringing it to the masses. You know the early adopters of bike sharing, like the early adopters of car share, are people who are really into it so to speak, or environmental. Then you get the mass adoption, and when you hit mass adoption, you have to make sure you have safe and secure infrastructure. And again something I’ve seen in other countries - and they’ve been working hard on in New York and Portland and some other progressive cities - is dedicated bike-ways, cycle tracks, contraflow bike lanes, etc.

DCMUD: So not just a painted line?

GK: Not just a painted line, although I think we can do more with a painted line, the painted line could really be a painted bike lane, which may actually keep cars out of the lane. And you know, we really want to create a safe infrastructure for cars too. So we’re looking harder at a signal system, signal timing, we’re making significant upgrades on New York Ave. We’re going to have five very large projects, totaling…over $100 million in investment to make sure that some of the main arterials that allow people to get in and out of the city, whether you’re a resident or a commuter, that they are in tip-top shape with the best technology to move as many people as possible. So I think striking a balance also doesn’t mean ignoring vehicular traffic, it means supporting the best technology for vehicular traffic, best infrastructure, it means investing in transit through metro through our own transit system and it means creating new transit systems like bike share and making sure we have the infrastructure so people can safely ride. One of the things I’ve been talking about with my staff is that we’re going to have 75 year-old folks getting on the bike sharing system because we’re bringing it to the masses. So we need these separated, dedicated lanes for people.

DCMUD: How are you planning to bring it to masses? Are you thinking advertising or what is your plan for making it more approachable?

GK: Well, you know I come really from a marketing and operations background. I’m a private sector person. I’m used to doing a lot with a little, first of all. And I’m used to having to market without a lot of resources. At Zipcar we actually had no marketing budget for probably the first two or three years—I mean literally nothing. And we were very effective at leveraging partnerships, and grass roots, guerilla marketing to get the word out. So we’re going to bring a lot of those marketing strategies to DDOT. We’re also going to leverage technology quite a bit. We’re going to have new web site that we’ll be launching probably in the winter. We’re using Facebook and Twitter. So we’re reaching people in new ways. And we want to pair that high-tech strategy with feet-on-the-street and continuing to make sure we do a great job - as DDOT really always has - in going to meetings in the community, engaging the public, engaging the business community. We’re aggressively working with kids.

DCMUD: And about car sharing, what are you doing to encourage that, obviously you don’t work for Zipcar anymore but how are you incorporating that into the DDOT plan?

GK: Well when I was at Zipcar I had the opportunity to work with Dan Tangherlini and the folks at DDOT and bring car sharing to the masses and a lot of that - I mentioned we aggressively marketed on the street and in people’s neighborhoods - but we also formed a partnership with the city as we did with Arlington county and actually placed cars on the street. It’s very important to make a new transportation option high-profile. That’s what we did with car sharing. I think the car sharing program needs to be rejuvenated a little bit. Our TDM Program (Transportation Demand Management Program), we plan to enhance that and put more resources into it. We’ve got one great person running that TDM Program, but we need to give her more resources. We plan on doing that next year. Which will allow, not only the promotion of car sharing, but bike sharing, the bike station, our DDOT store that we’re working on…so there are a whole lot of projects. I’m actually working on a slightly different work chart structure which is going to have an Innovative Transportation Services Division. And that Division will receive Street Car, our Mass Transit Group, and what were core partnerships that are incubated through our Policy and Planning Group, but now that we have a critical mass of them - we’re getting up to about six or eight - we’re working on an electrification program so that people can charge their cars curb-side. So as we build more and more of these units we need people that can really manage these contracts, and manage these as business units, which includes marketing.

DCMUD: Street Cars: the overhead wires, you’re making progress on laying the tracks on H Street, but NCPC doesn’t seem to be buying into the idea of having overhead wires. How do you think that issue is going to get resolved and when do you think that’s going to happen?

GK: Well, the first thing I’d like to say is that there seems to be a lot of drama out there about the over head wire issue—for lack of a better term. NCPC, they’re great folks over there, we have a good relationship with them. We don’t publicly talk about this all the time, but we meet with them on a pretty regular basis. We’re working on a compromise of sorts that will protect their interests and protect our interests. We in no way want to upset the North/South “viewsheds” around the monuments. We are working on alternative technologies which include electric, battery-powered vehicles that can drop the wire. So for instance, let’s say that NCPC was okay with us having the overhead wire on H Street but once we got to K near the monuments, they wanted the wire dropped—if that was a concern for them, these cars this new technology that is looking to be built in the US in Portland, Oregon, we could drop the wire for up to a mile. And that’s just one of many different technology options. The roof of the car would be lined with battery. So it would charge while it was attached to the [overhead contact system], when it dropped it would run on battery power—similar to a Toyota Prius which uses gas and charges and then when it’s stopped or coasting it just goes to battery power.

DCMUD: So street cars were purchased for Anacostia. How will this fit into the picture? Do you need new cars? Are those the cars…the cars that will go on H Street, will there be a difference in cars between those [at H Street] and those that go into Anacostia?

GK: Well, we have a Street Car Division, now—a dedicated team that we’re building to work just on Street Car. And that’s very important because I don’t think the Street Car program has historically been treated as its own large-scale project with its own team—the way we’ve treated the 11th Street Bridge, which is a large $300 million dollar infrastructure project. The first thing is that we’re building a group of people to manage it. Second of all, we have an operational segment in Anacostia. The H Street/Benning portion was designed as a Great Street, and we said, okay, if we’re going to do the construction let’s put in the rails. But we are challenging ourselves and the Mayor is challenging us as well to make that an operational segment in the same timeline as Anacostia.

DCMUD: Which is when?

GK: Well, right now we’ve said about 2012. But we’re working very hard now that we have a team in place to speed that up - pretty dramatically. So hopefully, you’ll see an announcement in the next 6 months that gives people an update and hopefully it will be a good update - that we’re going to get up and running more quickly. I actually spent the morning out touring the city looking for maintenance facility locations near H Street. We have a number of places we’re looking at, existing infrastructure we can use - so we’re very focused on this project, we’re putting a lot of our own in-house resources into it. We want this to be, you know, a real win for the city.

One of the things that’s really made me passionate about this is learning the history of Street Car in Washington. The fact that we had over 200 miles of Street Car in and around the city - every major arterial, they all had Street Car. It was the primary mode of transportation in the city. In fact, if you look at old pictures, you see very few cars. You see bikers, walkers, and Street Car. So what’s so funny is that people think, “Oh you know, this agency or that agency is progressive with its New York DOT or Portland DOT,” and you know we’re just trying to put back what was here.

DCMUD: So new buildings in DC are required to provide parking minimums. But there’s nothing in the building process that requires people to do car-sharing, or bike benefits—it’s all like an addition or a community benefit—at what point will that change, or is it going to change? Do you see this as being at odds with your role in integrating transportation?

GK: It needs to change. I’ll be honest with you, this year, I have so many projects, it is probably not something we’re going to be able to attack. But, I mentioned earlier that we want to build our TDM resource capability. I would put that in the TDM category. We want to make sure that we’re heavily involved in the PUD process, in zoning, in making sure that we give builders alternatives to building parking which can be up to $65,000 a space as you dig down into the ground. So why are we incentivizing people to dig garage spaces? There was an article in The Washington Post about how nobody is using the garages there [in Columbia Heights]. And the fact is, whoever built that spent a lot of money doing that. So we would prefer that people invest in transit and alternative modes and facilities and infrastructure, to encourage that rather than building parking spaces.

DCMUD: We wrote an article about H Street and how the Steuart Investment Company has a new development underway there. They’re changing their plan to have one-level parking and .7 parking spaces per unit. We had a lot of feedback that so much parking wasn’t necessary. I don’t know that there’s enough information out there about alternatives to parking.

GK: I think 97% of people live within a few minutes of a bus stop. We’re working hard to upgrade buses, particularly with our own DC Circulator, to make it more on-par with something like the Metro or Street Car. I think, 1.5 or 2 spaces per unit, it’s just old school. We need to move into the 21st century. And we don’t live in Reston. And one of the beauties - I mean, I’m not putting down Reston, I like Reston, it’s a nice place. I don’t want to get any nasty letters, but - what’s nice about living in a city, is that you don’t need that 2.2 cars per household, that you can walk to the grocery store or jump on a Trolley. I mean, that’s what makes the city a city. So if we’re trying to recreate McLean in DC, I think that’s a huge mistake. Let’s take advantage of the positives. And it’s a huge cost. It’s just wasteful. One of the nice things about a down economy is that people can’t afford to waste.

DCMUD: So pedestrians, bicyclists, and car drivers all need different kinds of infrastructure to make their lives easier. How do you prioritize different projects for different users and how do you balance all of those needs when you’re redesigning a street, how do we want to approach transportation in the city?

GK: Well, inherently, a huge amount of our program and our budget goes toward asset maintenance. And a lot of our assets are vehicular-focused assets. So by default, we spend probably 70-80% of our budget on asset maintenance, you know, bridges, tunnels, roads, sidewalks—all these things. I think our biggest challenge, though, is when we’re looking at redesigning, re-building, maintaining these facilities, let’s balance the system. So when we’re redoing a road in Columbia Heights, let’s do a wider sidewalk. Let’s create bike lanes. When we’re building a plaza in Columbia Heights, let’s make sure that it’s functional, but that it’s beautiful - which it is. So I don’t think it’s so much about prioritizing one aspect. It’s really about making sure we’re addressing everybody’s needs when we’re out in the field doing our work, and I think for far too long, nationally, we focused too much on cars. So we’re trying to focus on beauty of the public space, sustainability—you know we take care of over 140,000 trees in this city—so every project, we now look very hard at the urban tree canopy. We actually have an arborist over in our permitting office. And we make sure that we’re addressing the needs of pedestrians and cyclists for their safety.

DCMUD: You’ve already answered question how do you get to work, but do you do bike sharing to get here or do you use your own bike?

GK: So bike sharing’s great. I worked in the car sharing industry and the way it works now is you take a car and you’ve got to bring it back to where you found it. So it’s good for leaving home, going shopping, you bring it back. The great thing about bike sharing is it’s point to point. But generally you don’t have a bike [share station] at your house. But the goal is that when we locate more stations, we can actually push them out into the neighborhoods so that people can use them more for commuting. My bike’s down in the garage, so I ride my bike or I walk. If I have to do something immediately after work like in Virginia, I might bring my car. I have a little Smart Car.

DCMUD: You don’t have to defend your car.

GK: Well, you know. I don’t really need it to be honest, but I like it. It’s a cute car.

DCMUD: Do your friends ever complain to you about commuting and transportation in DC? [Do you get complaints like] “It took me 20 minutes to get to work today, you need to fix this…”

GK: Oh, my friends will text me and say, “I think the signal timing’s screwed up at 18th Street.” And yeah, I take all the feedback from friends and people that aren’t friends. Whenever people write us and they want us to look at something we always look at it and we always respond. But yeah, your friends can be your biggest detractors.

DCMUD: Is there anything else you wanted to add about DDOT or your plans for the future? Or what it’s been like to have had this position?

GK: Well, it’s been great. I need to thank the Mayor, Dan Tangherlini, and Neil Albert you know for giving me this opportunity. It’s something I never thought I’d be doing—working in the government. It’s just a great experience. I feel like we’re doing a lot of great work. And it took me probably 6 months to get my feet under me. And now I feel like I’m really putting together a strategic vision for the future that we’ll be able to execute over the next 24 months. So you’re going to see a lot of new energy, and direction, and work out of the agency over the next two years.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Land Dispositions Receive Council Approval

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Donatelli Development, Blue Skye, Minnesota-Benning, Banneker VenturesA 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. Donatelli Development, Blue Skye, Minnesota-Benning, Banneker Ventures1. 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, Donatelli Development, Blue Skye, Minnesota-Benning, Banneker VenturesUrbanMatters 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. Strand Theater redevelopment, Minnesota-Benning, Adrian Fenty

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