Armenian Museum to Renovate & Build Near White House

At the close of last week, the Historic Preservation Review Board gave unanimous approval to a concept design for the new Armenian Genocide Museum of America, which will take up its residence at the former Federal-American National Bank at 615 14th Street, NW. DC-based Martinez & Johnson Architecture designed the restoration and addition to the limestone-clad historic bank, designated as a landmark on both the DC and National Register.

The Armenian Genocide Museum of America will fully restore the 'elevated bank', a term used for banks that house their main hall on the second floor, both inside and out, to its former Neoclassical glory. Exterior workwill include the removal of a superimposed facade that Hahn Shoe Store, the longtime occupant of the street-level space, had constructed long ago, as well as a general restoration of the building's "vault-like exterior design," as described by HPRB.

Along with exterior upgrades, AGMA will restore the historic two-story banking hall, along with many other non-historic areas such as the former boardroom on the building's top level. According to Rouben Adalian, Director of the Armenian National Institute, the fact that the building is being turned into a museum will actually enhance the historical restoration process because so much focus is being devoted to the building's aesthetics.

With the intent of avoiding unnecessary stress to the historic travertine stairs from 14th street up to the central door and to accommodate the crowds it will surely attract, AGMA will construct a modern glass tower on an neighboring vacant lot to the east of the future-museum. The new building, which will be equal in height to the former bank, will serve to circulate the public through the exhibit, housing stairs, elevators, public amenities and generally serve as a public entrance. Said Adalian: "It will be a modern glass tower that will complement the historic building and a lot of care and attention is being given to make sure that it is a proper fit."

"The reason the museum board has been inclined toward a glass tower, something that lets in a lot of light, has a symbolic meaning, to the extent that genocide is a horrible story to recount. The old building, which is a very closed structure with dark interior spaces, seems to be a fitting setting for telling a dark story. And the glass tower stands in a contrast to that in order to let in light on the subject matter, to invite the public to come and visit and to learn from this terrible event and about the value of human rights."

The museum will be devoted to the Armenian culture, and as an educational exhibit of the genocide of over a million ethnic Armenians (plus some Greeks for good measure) by the Ottomans, starting in 1915; a fact still hotly contested by the Turkish Republic.

District Announces Developer Submissions for Mt. Vernon

The District announced Tuesday that its solicitation to develop a vacant half-acre site at Fifth and Eye streets (I Street, to purists), NW, in Mt. Vernon Triangle, grabbed the attention of seven developers. Deputy Mayor Neil O. Albert announced the names of the development teams that responded to the January Request for Proposal; bids were due March 7.

The District received proposals from Buccini/Pollin Group; Clark Realty Capital (which recently won the Poplar Point bid); Donohoe Development Co and Holland Development Group; JBG Cos.; MVT Associates, LLC; NDC-Jarvis; and Potomac Investment Properties, Inc.

"This is really one of the last sites left in the Mount Vernon Triangle," Albert said, speaking of the lot that will almost certainly have competition nearby, as several developments have been announced in the immediate vicinity. "This neighborhood has basically sprung up overnight and this site presents a great opportunity to add some dynamic uses to better serve the existing community and the new mix of office, retail and housing." The site will have the advantage of high visibility on Massachusetts Avenue, making it a dream at least for the marketers.

Proposals for the site include high-end retail such as hotels, restaurants, cafes, fitness clubs, spas and live entertainment venues. Some also included a residential aspect with apartments and condominiums (didn't they get the word that no one would finance condos?), which would include 30% affordable housing, according to the District's rules. Each plan featured underground parking with 100-plus spaces.

NDC-Jarvis proposed building a luxury boutique hotel connected to upscale condominiums (see rendering below), with the pair sharing concierge services and amenities. Proposed retail included a small home furnishings store, an upscale restaurant to serve the hotel and neighborhood. A small jazz performance venue would also be on the site.

"I think we are very invested in this neighborhood," said Adrian Washington, Principal with NDC, and former Anacostia Waterfront Commission frontman, whose current company has performed a number of apartment renovations and conversions throughout DC. "I think our proposal would be a great addition to neighborhood. It's the type of development that is not in the neighborhood right now. It is a boutique, high-end, architecturally distinctive project. And the restaurant would be a great addition to the neighborhood."

Robert Holland of Holland Development Group, co-developer with Donohoe Development Co., said their design would include a Shalom Baranes-designed hotel. "As far as I know, many of the developers were proposing hotel/apartments, a mixed-use development, with some local neighborhood retail," Holland said. "Our difference is that we have identified a Spanish hotel chain to go in there, along with a 10,000-s.f. restaurant jazz venue. It's a London-based established jazz club, not a big commercial destination jazz club, but more local, with very excellent food. It should be a great a compliment to the neighborhood."

Mount Vernon Triangle spans 15 blocks over 30 acres, and already includes more than four million square feet of development, such as CityVista, which is well into the back nine of its 441-unit condo project next door.

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development will study the proposals over the next few weeks and will schedule a public meeting for the community to hear presentations from each of the development teams.

Washington DC real estate development news

Douglas Development Postpones F Street

Jemal's Up Against the Wall LLC, a subsidiary of Douglas Development, has postponed tomorrow's public hearing in order to further prepare their plans for an 11-story mixed-use project at 1000 F Street, NW. The Office of Planning deemed the design worthy of public scrutiny three months ago but Douglas Development has rescheduled the hearing for January 24, 2008.

Douglas has proposed 91,000 s.f. of office space and more than 6,000 s.f. of ground-level retail to be constructed in an L-shaped corner building on the site, a mere block away from the Metro Center station and two blocks from Gallery Place. In addition, the ubiquitous developer will provide more than five dozen underground parking spaces to facilitate commuting-ease.

Most intriguingly, the two-story "Waffle Shop" on the site, the lease for which expired in September forcing the proprietors down the street, is going to be rehabilitated...and moved. Douglas had initially received approval to destroy the eatery by the Historic Planning Review Board, but the local community was distressed about losing their beloved landmark. Douglas met with the Art Deco Society of Washington, the DC Preservation League, the Historic Preservation Office and the Committee of 100 on the Federal City regarding the matter and agreed to save the waffle shop, bowing to community requests, by dismantling the shop piece by piece and relocating it to an undetermined site near Mt. Vernon Square, though Douglas has waffled on the exact location.

Due to further historical presence on the lot, Shalom Baranes Architects will craftily engineer the new office building to incorporate a historic commercial building on the southwest corner of the lot. Douglas Development will preserve the building's battered facade, storefront, windows and canopies, "returning the building to the way it appeared almost 100 years ago," according to the Office of Planning's set-down report.

Douglas Development acquired the site in the fall of 2006 from Maryland-based Greenhill Companies, for roughly $15 million. The Historic Preservation Review Board has extensively reviewed the plans and approved the concept along with local ANC 2C, which voted unanimously to support the project. Shalom Baranes is designing the structure with terra cotta facade to "[evoke] a similarity with [the] historic masonry buildings," according to the Office of Planning.

PN Hoffman Plans New Condo in Penn Quarter

Following up information first reported this May, Washington DC PN Hoffman has announced preliminary plans to redevelop the church located at 10th & G Sts., NW, into a 140-unit condominium building. The developer will raze the First Congregational Church currently on the site to construct a "super contemporary" building. The agreement has not yet been finalized, leaving details about the project’s design still fluid. No construction or sales dates will likely be available this year. The project is located adjacent to the old Convention Center, slated to become an enormous mixed-use development by 2009. This latest acquisition adds to the 4 large projects the developer is already building in the area, and to several other sizable projects in the developer’s pipeline.

Chianti Conversion?

Hard as it may be to envision, the possibility of a District without old standby A.V. Ristorante Italiano may soon come to pass. Months of whispers were proven true this week, when developer Douglas Jemal finally confirmed that he bought the Mount Vernon Square lot where A.V. now sits, for an undisclosed price, with plans to purchase the rest of this block on New York Avenue between Sixth and Seventh Streets NW (between the new Convention Center and the in-progress Yale Steam Laundry condo project) for conversion to office and retail space. A Washington institution, A.V. has been serving old-school red-sauced pasta and wine to regulars since 1949. The restaurant is expected to close in October 2007.

More Apartments Convert to Private Ownership

Despite the gloomy forecasts of various media declaring an oversaturated condo market, apartments still aren’t safe from conversions. The latest downtown DC conversions include a pair of historic buildings undergoing renovations by local developers for impending sales as condominium units. The newest converts are The Grant, a historic 40-unit building at 1314 Massachusetts Ave., NW, and the Chastleton, an 86 year-old building at 1701 16^th St., NW, with developer Keener-Squire converting its remaining apartments. Despite the supposed malaise of the market, condos in Metro-centered neighborhoods have been the least affected in the region; and with financing costs rising and construction costs, well, going through the roof, conversions offer developers relatively speedy, low-cost alternatives to developing increasingly scarce land. Condo conversions are dead; long live the condo conversion!

Hertz Building on New York Ave. is Plowed Under

The Hertz building at 11th Street and New York Avenue in downtown Washington DC has finally yielded to development. The unsightly, 2-story building that housed the local Hertz car rental was for years about the only active business in the vicinity, but had recently become overwhelmed by the nearby development surrounding the old Convention Center. The property sold in 2004 to Tishman Speyer for $21m, but Hertz's lease continued until recently, and Hertz closed the office in May. Demolition began this month to make way for an 11-story, 173,000 s.f. office tower to match development underway on all sides of the project. Upon completion in Spring 2008 the building will offer about 10,000 s.f. of street-level retail and 10 stories of office space. No tenants have yet been announced for the project.

Goodbye, China Doll

After almost 40 years, China Doll, located in Chinatown at 627 H Street NW, has decided to exchange chow mein for cold hard cash. The Lee family, owners of the two-story restaurant, sold the building to a developer late last year, though the official acknowledgment of this sale wasn't made until the business served its final meals last week. While the Lee family is keeping the purchasing developer a secret, it appears the building will be part of a residential, retail and office project.

DC’s Downtown Parking Lots Disappear

So much for easy parking downtown. For those who prefer surface parking over the subterranean alternative, downtown DC just got more difficult as the last of the surface parking lots is developed into office space. The latest lot to go was at E St. between 8th and 9th Streets, adjacent to the Hotel Monaco. In its place will rise a joint venture by Boston Properties and KEG 1 Associates to produce a Class A office building with three levels of parking, two roof top decks, a fitness center and 325,000 sf of rentable office space. Construction commenced in April, with occupancy planned for October 1, 2007, on which date DLA Piper Rudnick is scheduled to become the first occupant. According to Boston Properties, 271,000 sf of office is already spoken for, and The Washington Stage Guild has leased 11,000 of the 16,000 sf of retail space. Downtown DC office space has some of the highest occupancy rates in the country, with many buildings currently above 95 percent occupancy.

DC Lays Out Billion-Dollar Plan for Old Convention Center Site

It took five years of planning and much wringing of hands, but DC officials and developers have finally delivered a master plan for the 10.2 acres of prime real estate where the old Washington Convention Center once stood. This major parcel (bounded by 11th Street to the west, New York Avenue to the north, 9th Street to the east, and H Street to the south) will soon, it is said, be home to nine buildings, containing almost 400,000 square feet of office space, 770 apartments and condominiums, and about 300,000 square feet of retail. In addition, developers envision a $180 million library, and hope to reopen long-closed 10th and I Streets. Two green plazas are also being considered for this land, for hosting concerts and events. Ground is expected to be broken in 2008, with project completion slated for 2011.

Woodward Building Begins Transformation to Apartments

The Woodward Building, an historic 11-story steel- frame landmark located at 15th and H Streets, NW (733 15th Street) near the U.S. Treasury, has begun a major transformation from shabby office space into a luxury apartment building. The Woodward, originally constructed in 1910 for the owner of the Woodward & Lothrop department stores, has housed untold numbers of lawyers, bankers, and most recently an eclectic bunch of associations. The Woodward Building's owner, SJG Properties, is constructing 189 high-end apartments renting from about $1,300 a month for a studio to $4,500 a month for a 1,500-square-foot unit. There will also be 10,000 square feet of retail space and parking for 130 cars. SJG hopes to have the renovation completed and the apartments ready for occupancy by the Fall of 2007.