Construction began only a handful of days ago on
Canal Parc, a 34-unit townhouse development to take the place of the now-demolished
Riverside Psychiatric Hospital at 4460 MacArthur Blvd, NW. The for-sale units are on track to occupy prime clifftop real estate overlooking the Potomac River in the Palisades, now that
Duball has purchased the project and brought in a new architect.
The property was purchased in early 2006 by New York-based The Athena Group, who brought on DC-based
Willco Residential LLC as lead developer of a 41-unit PUD project in July of 2007. A raze permit was sought in
August of 2008 to level the controversial private, for-profit Riverside, which
ran into trouble in 2007.
In 2008, the
DC Office of Planning was in favor of the density-decreased, 37-unit LEED Neighborhood Development (ND)-certified version of the project, however the skimmed-down version was still an ire to the
Palisades Citizens' Association (PCA). The plan was cut to
34 units in 2009.
The
DC Office of Zoning approved the Willco Residential-run, and
Lessard Group-designed PUD project in March of 2010, after a significant lapse of time from final plan presentation in late 2009. Due to the delay, rumors circulated about the solvency of project developers, which turned out to be half truths - there was financial trouble, but not on Willco's end, instead The Athena Group is currently liquidating many of its properties across the country.
Gary Cohen, president and founder of Willco, says the property was put up for sale by Athena in 2010, and a triple-joint-venture led by Duball LLC "blew away the competition," purchasing the land for $12 million early this year.
Getting right to work, the trio of
Duball,
Buvermo Properties and
Stanley Martin Companies LLC, dubbed "
Duball MacArthur LLC" completed initial site work this past spring, after the hospital was razed in February. Site grading, backfill and compaction is currently underway with Duball in charge of project management, and Stanley Martin in control of tangible construction.
Although the original Lessard Group design still holds,
Pinnacle Design completed construction documents for the current venture, and is considered to be the architect currently on the project.
Marc Dubick, president and founder of Duball, says that the 34-unit project will deliver the first townhouse to the market by the end of the year. A 2008 estimate for the sale of the townhouses was between $1.3 and $1.7 million; updated prices have not been released. Foreseeing that construction will roll along at a two-townhouse-per-month pace, Dubick predicts that the project will be complete in 17 months.
The 2.7 acre property will contain over 100,000 g.s.f., and townhouse units will range from 2200 sf to over 3500 sf. Dubick says the variation in unit designs results in "two different products within the same community." Although there are two prototypes, Dubick adds that all units will be "state of the art, luxury" townhouses.
Other ongoings for Duball include its transit-oriented, Safeway-anchored multifamily development at 3830 Georgia Avenue NW, which will begin construction in mid-to-late 2012, says Dubick. The project is currently undergoing the entitlement process.
Update: An earlier version of this article incorrectly estimated the percentage of built area on site.
Washington D.C. Real Estate development news
Safeway officially announced today that it will close its Petworth store on September 8th to make way for the mixed-use development that has been long planned for the site. The new store, to be developed by Duball, is scheduled to open mid 2014, with a 62,000 s.f. facility that will be the third largest in the city, triple the size of the current store. Five floors of residential will sit atop the supermarket at 3830 Georgia Ave. Torti Gallas designed the new building.
Duball LLC and Safeway have announced a start date for their Safeway project at 3830
Georgia Avenue. The project, announced several years ago, will develop
a 62,000 s.f. Safeway with 220 apartment units above. The development will replace the dated 21,000 Safeway building. A groundbreaking ceremony will be held September 19th.
The "transit oriented state-of-the-are Safeway," sitting on 1.56 acres, is one block north of the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro and will include 86 below grade spaces for customers and 135 spaces for residents. The development agreement, worked out between landowner Safeway and developer Duball, keeps Safeway as the owner of the land with Duball granted development rights for residential units and parking on top of the Safeway.
The Zoning Commission will consider approval of the Petworth Safeway PUD and related map amendment during a public hearing today.
Co-owners Duball and Safeway seek to rezone the property at 3830 Georgia Avenue, NW to allow for a mixed-use, Safeway-anchored, 5-story multifamily residential project designed by Torti Gallas and Partners, expected to be underway this time next year.
Replacing the "stinky" Safeway, will be a new 62,400 s.f. Safeway and 86 below-grade parking spaces, both components of the development will be owned by Safeway; Duball will own the 5-story, 220-unit residential building and 135 parking spaces devoted to residents (located below the Safeway parking pad).
After two years on maneuvering, Duball (a joint venture between Reston-based Duball LLC and LA-based CIM Group) is now expected to break ground in early 2008 on its Rockville Town Center project, a $240 million, two residential-tower complex in downtown Rockville just one block west of the Rockville metro station and bounded by East Montgomery Avenue, Maryland Avenue and Monroe Street. Duball plans to develop 485 homes, 45,300 sf of street-level retail, and about 1,400 garage spaces on this 3-acre plot, with architecture by Torti Gallas. Final project review by Rockville planning officials is scheduled for this month, after which applicable permits will be acquired. Construction is expected to be completed by 2011. While these units are believed to be condos, there is still a possibility that the developer will instead make them rentals. If apartments are built, then a hotel might also be constructed on the site (an approved use according to Rockville officials). The Rockville Town Center project has gone through some morphing over the years, with Akridge being the original owner of the site and planning a tall 300-unit building that met opposition due to its height. In 2006, Akridge sold the site to Duball for $34.5 million.
Duball (a joint venture between Reston - based Duball, LLC and LA-based CIM Group) recently purchased a 3.2 acre site from Akridge on Rockville Town Square, on which they plan to develop 485 homes, 40,000 s.f. of street-level retail and about 1,400 garage spaces. The new development, to be designed by Torti Gallas, is just 1 block West of the Rockville Metro and bounded by Monroe St., Maryland St., E. Middle, and Montgomery Ave. Duball will develop 2 mixed-use high-rise residential towers, with the lots bisected by a new North-South street to be called "Renaissance St." with the western building to be about 18 stories and the eastern building about 15 stories, to be developed and sold in 2 phases. The developer estimates that construction is likely to commence in '07. The developers, also now co-developing Lionsgate in Bethesda, anticipate marketing toward the more affluent buyers with average units to end up somewhere around 1200 square feet. The full plan has not yet received county approval.
