Developer Chosen for 5th & I

The District of Columbia announced this morning that it is partnering with developer Donohoe Companies to bring a high-end hotel, retail outlets and jazz club to the soon-to-be booming Mount Vernon Triangle. In a press conference held this morning, Washington DC Mayor Adrian Fenty laid out the changes that will soon be coming to the District- owned site at 5^th and I Streets NW and praised developments in the area as a whole.

"It's important that we move these projects fast, that we get them out to developers who know what to do with them and I think that...in less than a year we've demonstrated that we're not just holding onto these properties," said Fenty. "We're allowing them to be developed for the benefit of the community."

Those benefits will take the shape of a 475,000-square foot development, titled Arts at 5^th & I. The project will center around a new 260-room ME Hotel from luxury Spanish hotelier, Melia and also include - promoters say - a bicycle retailer, hardware store, book store/café and new outlet for the Zenith Art Gallery. Perhaps most exciting for local residents, who lobbied the city for more entertainment-oriented projects in the neighborhood during the 6 month bidding process, will be the addition of a new music venue in the form of the Boisdale Jazz Club – the first US location from the London-based chain of nightclubs.

A new apartment complex sporting 166 apartments will also be springing up on the site, with the developer pledging to a minimum of 50 affordable-housing units within the building. Rounding out the proposal is a 238-space underground parking garage. Groundbreaking is a projected 18 months away, following approval by the City Council.

Jad Donohoe of the Donohoe Companies outlined future plans for not only 5^th and I, but the rest of the Mount Vernon Triangle area as well. “We’re going to take this lot and then move up 5^th Street and take out those vacant properties,” he said. “[Donohoe is going to] redevelop that entire street and build on the investment that the city has already made in CityVista.”

The District’s selection of Donahue comes at the end of a 6 month bidding process that saw JBG, Buccini/Pollin, Potomac Investment Properties, and the winning Donohoe-managed joint proposal that included Holland Development, Spectrum Management, and Harris Development, all vying for a contract to build on the coveted Ward 6 parcel. With regards to how Donohoe’s joint proposal edged out the competition, Deputy Mayor Neil Albert said:

I took a look at their work and was very impressed with it. The community wanted entertainment as part of the development and they had a jazz club, which was well received…and then, they were going to pay us $7 million for this piece of land. They definitely had the best proposal. And that’s not just our rating, but community support was overwhelmingly in support of this proposal.

The 5 & I site was transferred into the city’s portfolio in October 2007 in the wake of the National Capital Revitalization Corp.’s (NCRC) dismantlement. DC's Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development then issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) early this year. The District is negotiating subsidies for the project with Donohoe at present and hopes to generate approximately $85 million in tax revenue from the Arts at 5^th and I project.

5th & I: The Final Four

March Madness it isn't, but the teams may be competing every bit as hard, and now its down to the final four. The District has narrowed its list of developers for its project at 5th and I Streets down to four: JBG, Buccini/Pollin, Potomac Investment Properties, and a group comprised of Holland Development, Donohoe Development, Spectrum Management, and Harris Development. 463 I Street, the half-acre site in Mt. Vernon Triangle, had attracted seven bids by the March 7 deadline, but three got voted off the island.

Since we now only had to research four proposals, instead of seven, we thought we would show you a preview of what to expect:

The Arts at 5th and I (Holland-Donohoe): A Shalom Baranes-designed creation (rendering below) that would reach 120 feet in height, with a swanky ME by Melia, a Spanish hotel chain opening their first venue in the States. Sitting on top of the 174-unit hotel would be a 96 unit residence, and underground (alleviating noise issues) would sport Boisdale, a London-based live jazz club.













Buccini/Pollin: With master Architect Sorg & Associates, BPG is planning a 130-foot, 12-story building that would house not just one but two hotels: A 186-room Aloft hotel and 128-bed Element hotel, sitting on top of a two-story, 30,000-s.f. entertainment venue called World Cafe Live.

JBG: No catchy name yet, but with design by New York-based FXFOWLE (we're not being obnoxious, they spell it in all caps), the project would include a 230-bed hotel, 187 market rate residences, 34 subsidized residential units, and 44,000 s.f. of retail/commercial space "appropriately scaled to serve the community" with "priority to local retailers." In addition to the subject parcel, JBG will add its contract negotiations with the sellers of adjacent parcels, upping the space that could be developed.

i5 (Potomac Investment Properties): And since it looks like a hotel is destined to occupy the site, PIP is proposing a 79-room Avalon hotel - an independent four-star hotel now in Portland and, it claims, only the 7th LEED certified hotel on the planet. Capping the hotel would be 84 units of mixed income apartments, some of which would be dedicated to artists who would live, work, and just plain be creative on site. Designed by Martinez & Johnson Architecture, the whole building would be designed to achieve a LEED Gold rating. But forget environmentalism, Constantine Stavropolous - owner of Tryst, Open City, and the Diner - would open a fourth retail venue on site (we don't want to bias the decision makers, but they make the only good cappuccino in the city). The scrupulous reader has already realized that PIP has a far smaller total unit count, an intentional decision that building the project as Matter of Right, rather than seeking zoning changes, would allow it to start the project 'within a year' of gaining control of the site.

Ballpark Area Scores Another Office Building

Donohoe Realty sat before the Zoning Commission yesterday evening and got the first set of approvals on their proposed office building at 1111 New Jersey Avenue, which will sit at the intersection of New Jersey Avenue and M Streets, SE, right on top of the Navy Yard Metro station. The building had gone through the Board of Zoning Adjustment application process back in May of last year for 'essentially' the same project, but since then Donohoe acquired the adjacent Navy Yard metro site, which fronts M Street. This new addition to the site now requires the Zoning Commission, rather than BZA, to weigh in. The Commission approved the plans 4 to 0.

WDG Architecture designed the office building to sit 11 stories high, with a total of 200,000 s.f. of space within shouting distance of Nationals stadium, just south of St. Matthews Church and adjacent to the Opus office building currently under construction. The offices will sit atop three-underground levels of parking and a single story of ground floor retail. The rooftop will have dual uses: half will be a mechanical penthouse while the other half will be exposed with rooftop terraces.

WDG's Siti Abdul Rahman explained the design of the building during the Zoning Commission's last public hearing:"What we did is we created a very simple, plain, curtain wall glass, very pristine vaults with minimal architectural detail on this facade which is facing M Street...it wraps around towards New Jersey Avenue, and on New Jersey Avenue, what we did is we added a bit more texture onto the facade by creating a horizontal architectural metal banding glass. So it became a bit more texture[d]...To tie these two walls together, we added a metal vertical element and that will run down to the building and ties down to a metal and glass canopy. We also use[d] a more clear glass to benefit the retail spaces."

The next step is to get NCPC's nod - after which Zoning will give their approving order and construction permits can be sought.

Montgomery County Planning Board Reviews Mixed-Use Designs for Silver Spring Project

On Thursday, October 26, the Montgomery County Planning Board of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MC-MNCPPC) heard proposals from three development teams competing to design and build a new mixed-use project on 3.24 acres at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Spring Street, at the northwestern entrance to downtown Silver Spring. The development will include the new headquarters for the Montgomery County Park and Planning Commission (MCPPC), as well as workforce housing and retail. The three development teams selected to make presentations were: (1) Silver Place Joint-Venture, LLC (Donohoe Companies, Otis Warren & Company and MCF Investment Company), which is proposing to erect three buildings on the site (one residential, one mixed-use with residential, office space, and retail, and the PPC headquarters; (2) SilverPlace, LLC (Bozutto Group, Spaulding & Slye, and Harrison Development), which would build a 358-unit residential and mixed-use building along Georgia Avenue, with a specialized grocery store, and a nine-story office headquarters for PPC; and (3) PN Hoffman / Stonebridge Associates, which would build residential and retail on this site, and a new PPC headquarters at a different lot already owned by the team. The MC-MNCPPC is expected to make a decision on a winning team in early 2007, with redevelopment of the site completed by 2010.