City To Open Bids for Lot at Florida and Sherman Avenues

The District government is releasing its request for proposals for a long-term ground lease for a city-owned lot at the corner of Florida and Sherman Avenues.  The solicitation could go live as early as today or Monday, a city official told DCMud (Update, since original publication of this article the city has published the RFP).  While one developer reportedly already has detailed plans for the site, the open bid puts one of the District's more visible sites up for bid in a neighborhood where developers are already planning extensive construction.

City-owned lot, corner of Florida and Sherman. Image: DMPED

The request from DC's Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) for proposals for its 1.4 acre lot near DC's fast-growing U Street Corridor and Howard University is much-anticipated.

According to the Washington Post, developer JBG plans to bid on the lot and has announced a collaboration with national food retailer Harris Teeter that - if JBG wins the bid - would bring a grocery store to the site.

JBG already has a stake in the grocery store business in the area.  In July, the DCist broke news about the company's plans to build a Trader Joe's in its apartment building now construction at 14th and U Street.  JBG also controls the adjacent Atlantic Plumbing parcel, as well as the Florida Avenue parcel just a few blocks away, planning nearly 1000 apartment units in all, leaving little question as to its qualifications.

The area has so far not seen competing supermarkets.  Howard University had plans with CastleRock Partners to put a grocery store at a planned mixed-use development, Howard Town Center, located at 2100-2146 Georgia Avenue.  But the Howard Town Center project has suffered delays and there is no date to break ground in sight.  There is also speculation about whether a grocery store at Florida and Sherman could hurt plans for a grocery store at Howard Town Center, and of course Shaw will soon have its own refurbished Giant in 18 months.

Florida Ave. Reconstruction Project. Image: DDOT

But with the U Street neighborhood surging, stakes on just about any lot in this fast-growing neighborhood are coveted.  And private developers aren't the only ones who are turning a focus on the area.  This summer, the city's department of transportation finalized a plan for a massive overhaul of Florida Avenue between U Street and the Sherman Avenue intersection where the city-owned lot sits.  The Florida Avenue Reconstruction Project calls for adding more bike lanes, widening sidewalks, and planting more trees.  The city also just finished a reconstruction of Sherman Avenue.

The solicitation is likely to bring proposals from multiple bidders.  Six bidders are competing to develop a nearby, city-owned lot called "Parcel 42"...and they are just the ones who made the short list.

Update:  The city has now released the RFP, available in this link.

Washington, D.C. real estate news

Gallaudet Kicks off Building Campaign with New Dorm

Opening this week will be a special building at Gallaudet University, a $16 million dormitory, designed by deaf students, for deaf students.  The new dorm is the first of a series of buildings to debut at the school for the deaf, and may even lead to national guidelines for deaf-friendly design and construction.

Creating a building to be used exclusively by deaf people has unique challenges, said Jeffrey Luker, chief architect with Quinn Evans, architect of record on the project.  Design needs include wider hallways, more open space, and doors that open automatically so that conversations aren't interrupted having to turn knobs or push handles.  Designers also had to concentrate on visual stimulation and light intrusion to maximize signing, giving a new dimension to interior design.

Gallaudet is now preparing its 10-year campus plan to submit to the DC Zoning Commission; its ambitious design is for at least a half dozen new buildings incorporating the same design guidelines that make spaces more livable and conducive to conversation, according to Hansel Bauman, Director of Campus Design & Planning for Gallaudet.  Bauman said that while design catering to the deaf is not a new concept, it is constantly reinvented.  Bauman instead intends to develop a set of guidelines based on this experience to benefit national design initiatives.

Bauman, an architect by training, highlights the use of color and light as extremely important.  "This is a visually centered environment, you are communicating visually - largely a signing environment - and that's important to understand from an architectural perspective because the building becomes a communications vehicle."  He notes that deaf people are constantly surveying the environment and people around them and need proper light without confusing visuals that would go unnoticed by most audiences.  Bauman points to mini-blinds, ubiquitous throughout the campus, that create a "vibration" as a background when you visually study someone signing in front of them.  "You have an extraordinary amount of visual activity."

"The visual noise of the architecture needs to be modulated well.  Traditional lighting is in a room with a high contrast of dark and light...what we try to do is create an environment with a much more muted, diffused light," says Bauman.  As for colors: "try to pick hues that contrast human skin tones with saturated colors" to set of uses of rooms.  "Walking aisles need to be easy to navigate, then you tend to focus less on navigation than on conversation."

Architect Jeffrey Luker adds further that "visual cues are very important when you're deaf. You need to be able to pick up those cues quickly when you're walking."  Space is key, he said. "There's a preference in deaf communities that there not be walls. You need clear sight lines. One of the advantages is that with deaf people you can communicate at long distances. There's no disruption, its just visual...To the extent possible we've tried to put in place these guidelines into this building."

The building is the first new dorm in the university's plan to renew its housing stock.  The 85,000 square foot building will have two floors of offices and workspace on the first floor, and four floors of open dormitories with 175 beds where some of the university's 1870 students can sign across halls and floors.

"You can sign almost one hundred yards away with someone, or have a conversation with someone in a second floor dorm while you're the courtyard, without bothering anyone else," says Luker. "We've gotten our expertise in deaf space design from Gallaudet itself.  Deaf students are part of the design, every step of the design we've tested with the deaf community."

Because of the school's specialized focus, it foresees only modest growth in the student population, but Bauman sees a need to replace its aging building stock with replacements designed to assist and appeal to the deaf population.  The school also owns 4 acres next door at the Union Market site, currently used as a parking lot, but has no current plans to incorporate that into the Campus Plan or sell to Union Market's developer.

The new dorm comes as the area begins to enjoy a renaissance, with H Street booming - first in nightlife and now in residential construction - and the ever-imminent trolley line getting closer, MRP is beginning their transformative project next door, and now Union Market is opening as a restaurant destination.   Sigal Construction built the dormitory.

Washington D.C. real estate development news.  Photos credit Gallaudet University.

Capital City Market to Get Pop-Up Restaurants?

For several years now, DC's Capital City/Florida Avenue Market area has had its generous, but fully stocked, 27 acres ogled by big developers and investors - MRP Realty, Sang Oh Development, J Street, Edens & Avant, to name a few - without any action post-PUD approval or, in one case, even District support.

Yet a new role to be assumed by Richard Brandenburg, well-known D.C.-area foodie and formerly of the ThinkFoodGroup, signals that some real development could be happening in the market area, and soon. Brandenburg has been hired by Edens & Avant, a large national property developer and owner, as its director of culinary strategy - a newly created position. As reported by the Washington Post - Brandenburg's job will center on restaurants and the Capital City Market. Sources familiar with the project now say Brandenburg is planning pop-up restaurants as a short term way to enliven the space.

Eventually, Brandenburg sees the potentially valuable commercial land as a "wholesale-retail center with multiple restaurants, a culinary school, even a USDA hub." But Edens & Avant's long-term goals for its property - based on Brandenburg's ambitions - might be a while in the making.

Edens & Avant controls approximately 140,000 square feet (3.2 acres) of land on the eastern edge of the market along 6th Street, NE, through a joint venture with J Street Development. The property slated for new culinary inputs borders Gallaudet and co-mingles 3.8 acres owned by the university. With low overhead and no real commitment, pop-up restaurants have been touted as a venue offering restaurateurs the freedom to experiment with concepts, without a large up front financial commitment. It's also a way to get money coming in quickly, as an intrepid chef, or property owner, and is a growing trend in big cities nationwide.

There have been many plans for redevelopment of the market over the past decade, including a small area plan by the Office of Planning in 2009, but the market has been a real estate quagmire: 120 lots, with 108 owned by 68 different entities, many still operational. No word yet on whether Edens & Avant and J Street are looking to roll up their shirt sleeves and try to acquire more market property.

Edens & Avant is "temporarily holding off on discussing [Brandenburg's] full position" until he is officially on board, says a press release, along with its vision for its market property, though a media contact noted that Brandenburg will have a broad role that will impact the entire Edens & Avante portfolio of 125 properties along the East Coast.

The Capital City/Florida Avenue Market is the current incarnation of the Union Terminal Market, opened in 1928 to replace D.C.'s Center Market, first opened in 1802, which was razed to make way for the National Archives.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Banneker Ventures Questioned on Development Process

Pressure on Mayor Adrian Fenty heated up today as questions increased about the Mayor's developer selection process amid news that WMATA may be backing away from Banneker Ventures as a development partner. Banneker has been awarded numerous projects worth tens of millions of dollars by the Mayor's office despite its perceived lack of development experience.

Today, the WMATA board removed the Banneker project "The Jazz @ Florida Avenue" at 8th and Florida Avenue from the agenda for the real estate committee next Thursday, at which time it would have taken-up a joint development agreement for the WMATA-owned property. Today's move comes after WMATA issued a 120-day extension on the agreement in September 2009. Banneker was chosen for the project in June of 2008, but has not yet started work on the site. More than a year later it announced it would partner with Bank of America and had petitioned for government funds, advances that were to have moved the project forward. The developer had already been pledged a $7m TIF grant from the District.

The move by WMATA likely comes in response to questions raised first by this publication about justification for awarding so many projects to a team with so little apparent experience, then by the CityPaper and Washington Post about the how the relationship between Banneker's founder and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty may have affected the selection process. The two men attended Howard University and were in the same fraternity.

In addition to the WMATA site on Florida Avenue, the virtually unknown Banneker has been selected by the District on numerous multi-million dollar projects throughout the city, despite a large roster of construction and development firms available for such projects as private financing for construction was drying up. Banneker's luck began in late 2007 when it was selected by the District to be part of the $700 million Northwest One project. Around the same time, Banneker was named as a master planner on the monstrous Park Morton project (see DC's summary). Despite lack of movement in those two projects, or on its private projects (see more below) it was then selected for a string of projects such as the WMATA site in June of 2008, and by DC for the iconic Strand Theater in July of that year, then in October to head the $33m Deanwood Community Center project. In October of last year the District named Landex Corp, Spectrum Management and the Warrenton Group as developers of Park Morton. The Warrenton Group is run by a former Banneker member that has also had a contentious relationship with the city.

Park Morton raised eyebrows at the Mayor's development process for yet another reason; the District announced just last October that the Mayor had selected its team members for Park Morton in part because that development team said it controlled and would bring the Central Union Mission site into the development plan, increasing its scope. DCMud learned a few days later that the Missions' owners had never agreed to transfer their property to the development team, calling into question the District's selection process and the claims made by the development team to secure the project. Banneker is also being considered for its development offer at Hill East, a massive 50-acre parcel on the Anacostia River. Banneker's publicly-funded projects at the WMATA site, the Strand, Park Morton have yet to break ground.

In a contentious radio interview on the Kojo Nnamdi show following the announcement, Omar Karim, founder and principal at Banneker Ventures, called out the WMATA board for further delaying review of the agreement on the RFP awarded in 2008. In the interview, Karim, who dismissed suggestions that the board had legitimate concerns, argued that WMATA continued to "move the bar" on his project for "political" reasons. The Jazz @ Florida Avenue would theoretically bring 124 apartment units above 20,000 s.f. of ground floor retail and a 61-space parking garage to 3 flea market-sporting lots.

Tom Sherwood, resident analyst at NPR, asked Karim how many contracts he had received prior to Fenty taking office, to which Sherwood ultimately answered his own question with "none." Asked specifically about his experience, Karim answered that he had solid development experience at a large firm prior to starting Banneker, but would not name the firm or elaborate on the experience. As for Banneker's experience, Karim could only cite that his firm held an office building in Silver Spring and an unspecified site in which he "has been in conversations with Safeway about developing." At the time of publication, Safeway was unable to confirm or deny these conversations.

So what about that Silver Spring office building? That would presumably be 814 Thayer Avenue. Banneker purchased the site in May of 2006, submitted plans later in the year, and in July 2007 obtained Montgomery County Planning Board approval of a preliminary plan for a 52-unit residential building, a plan that was reviewed in November of 2007. The next step would be site plan approval, but, to date, the team has not even submitted a site plan to the planning staff for certification. Banneker will need a certified plan before the group can file for any construction permits for the property, making the September 2010 ground breaking date seem, at best, optimistic.

The 5-story Thayer project, designed by Sorg & Associates, would entail construction of a 53-unit condominium, in place of National Association of the Deaf office building. Joshua Sloan, a staff reviewer at the MNCPPC, provided an update on the project, "my understanding is that they want to amend their proposal, but I have not seen anything. I suppose it is "officially still pending." Sloan and his comments are the last stop before Banneker can proceed, a process which "can take a week or a year...depending on the Applicant’s response time to comments."

Banneker's website also boasts the Pattern Shop Lofts on the Waterfront, a project led by Forest City Washington that has not yet broken ground. Banneker registered with the District government as a small, minority-owned business in 2005.

Washington, DC real estate development news

The Floridian Goes South?

Buyers at The Floridian condominium in Shaw received some unwelcome if unfortunately common news last week when they were informed they would be unable to settle on their contracts until a lien and lawsuit involving one of the lenders was resolved. The condo project at 919-929 Florida Avenue, by Kady Development, has been funded by "a number of different" lenders, including Bank of America. Contract holders have had their settlements delayed until the disputes are resolved.

"The situation is that the seller, about three weeks ago, disclosed to all of our potential purchasers and [current] owners that he is having an issue with the lender and hopes to get it resolved within - what he said at the time - a month, but that he couldn’t be certain. So, we've been working with anyone who is under contract and new potential buyers and telling them that information,” said Gerard DiRuggiero of Urban Land Company.

“[We] can’t settle [contracts] at the moment. So, it’s just weekly updates and we’ve cleared that with all the buyers. Again, people are remarkably flexible and we’re giving them the information that we know. The residents seem to be handling it well and they love the building and the location,” said DiRuggiero. The Florida Avenue project sits amid several sites that were intended for development, such as the Atlantic Plumbing site, but that never materialized.

However, as of last week, the 118-units in the development’s dual, Eric Colbert-designed 8-story towers boasted an occupancy rate of 50% according to the sales team, though DC government records show only 29 recorded sales - after having begun sales in October 2005 and beginning settlements in the first half of 2008. Like the Metropole, a nearby project which was taken over by the lender in April and has been all but invisible since, the Floridian’s sales center at 913 Florida Avenue, NW, remains technically open for business…for now, at least, but without a date certain for resolving the issue. The project was built by Tompkins Builders.

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DC’s Newest Development District is…the Florida Avenue Market?

Just around the corner from the ongoing revitalization effort that is NoMa, the Office of Planning (OP) is setting its sights on a similarly minded redevelopment initiative: transforming DC’s wholesaler haven, the Florida Avenue Market, into a “vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood that protects the look and feel of the historic retail markets” while also bring new residential, retail and office projects to the Northeast site.

With the aid of CORE Architecture and Design, EHT Traceries, Inc. and Economic Research Associates, OP released their findings on just how to achieve that seemingly insurmountable task (the surrounding area includes two of the District’s most notorious neighborhoods: Trinidad and Ivy City) late last month in the Florida Avenue Market Small Area Plan. The report details an impressive list of obstacles in the way of redevelopment – even for a city with as many impressive redevelopment challenges as Washington.

Though the crime rate in the surrounding communities goes unmentioned, here’s what OP sees as its primary concerns. Firstly, current zoning statutes prohibit residential development in the industrial zone - a problem that two nearby developments, the Washington Gateway and the Gateway Market and Residences, have been able to circumvent through the PUD process. Secondly, the Market area is comprised of 120 lots with 68 different owners – a ratio that will make acquisition by the city a costly, confusing and time consuming proposition. Lastly, of those lots, many are, in the words of OP, “underdeveloped” or vacant, which gives potential developers little or nothing to work with.

However, OP hopes to relieve that burden somewhat with their framework for potential redevelopment. Taking into account the site’s historic significance (the Center Market first opened in 1802; the flagship Union Terminal Market in 1928), current conditions and infrastructure, current economic and real estate analyses, and community input – “achieved through a series of community planning sessions, property ownership workshops, and through an Advisory Committee” that included City Councilmembers Tommy Wells and Harry Thomas, Jr., the ANCs 5 and 6, Gallaudet University, and Apollo Development – OP has arrived at a preferred mix of commercial and residential uses for the market area (pictured). In an ideal scenario, the Florida Avenue Market will become a new destination by linking NoMa, the New York/Florida Avenue Metro and the neighboring Gallaudet campus into cohesive, walkable and, yes, friendly, whole.

To that effect, the plan outlines extensive overhauls for each prime thoroughfare in the Market area - including the to-be-reopened 3^rd Street – with rehabilitated historic buildings, public parks, new signage and linkage to the Metropolitan Branch Trail. All of this would be done according to “Deaf Design Space principles,” in order to make the area welcoming for Gallaudet’s 1500 strong student population. Sound like a challenge? It will be, but OP hopes to relieve some of the burden from developers by encouraging a 20% tax credit towards the renovation of historic buildings on site.

Presumably to fill in the many remaining question marks (and gear up for an oncoming onslaught of RFPs), OP will be hosting a “Mayoral Hearing” concerning the Market on May 18, 2009 from 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM at Gallaudet’s Merrill Learning Center Building . The meeting will be open to the public - with questions and comments on the Area Plan encouraged. OP’s two-part plan for the Market can be read in its entirety here.

Jemal's Retail Trick on 14th Street

Douglas Development is in the process of acquiring the necessary permits to raze a vacant auto lot at 2221 14^th Street, NW. According to Douglas Jemal, President of Douglas Development, his corporation acquired the bafflingly named "Latino Auto Sale" five years ago; now, under the creative title of "Jemal's Hookers, LLC," he’s planning to scrap it for a new retail development intended to service the increasingly crowded 14^th and U Street corridor.

Though Jemal has yet to set a timeline for when the diminutive brick auto shop and adjoining parking lot will meet the wrecking ball and shovel, he has already taken on George Meyers of GTM Architects, Inc. to design a two-story 10,000 square foot retail development for the site.

"We’re getting permitted and getting it designed, so that, hopefully, when this market does turn around, we can get something done,” said Jemal. Understandable, but just what’s the story behind the tasteful moniker of his limited liability company? “Long before you were around,” laughed Jemal, “there were always hookers on that corner [at 14^th and Florida Avenue].”

These days, the intersection is decidedly more family friendly, with PN Hoffman's Union Row project just a few doors down, both Jair Lynch’s Solea Condominiums and Level 2 Development’s View 14 are currently under construction directly across the street. Damn you, gentrification.

Washington DC commercial property news

WMATA: Florida Avenue Developer Selected

After announcing yesterday that a decision on the year-old Florida Avenue RFP would not be forthcoming, WMATA's Board of Directors met today in a closed-door session and selected a development team. The decision regarding three lots adjacent to the Shaw-Howard Metro had been held off since May of last year, when bids were submitted, and WMATA Media Contact Angela Gates had prognosticated that a decision would not be made "for another six months." In a surprise decision, WMATA officials today gave its staff permission to negotiate a Development Agreement with Banneker Ventures LLC, Metropolis Development Company, LLC, and District Development Group, LLC. The transit authority did not formalize terms of an agreement, so today's announcement opens negotiations between the winning bidders and WMATA to come to agreement on development of the site, but no final plan is certain. The contest for the site had been between nine submissions in response to last year's RFP, and had been winnowed down to three as of yesterday. WMATA's press release stated exuberantly that "the team has the experience to complete the project," though cited only Metropolis Development's experience, pointing to its completion of Langston Lofts, one of the DC developers earliest projects. The 80-unit condominium was built by MDC above a Metro line, requiring coordination with WMATA to produce caissons to straddle the existing tunnel. According to WMATA's Board Action/Information Summary, "The developer provided a better financial offer than its closest competitor and the same type of development - four to five stories of residential units over a ground floor devoted to retail and arts uses...The third competitor did not meet appraisal benchmarks." Despite the surprise timing of the decision, Merrick Malone, principal and Executive Vice President of Metropolis was upbeat about the project: "Metropolis has proven demonstration to build on top of the Metro tunnel, we know how to go through this process."

Washington DC commercial real estate news

WMATA's Florida Avenue Project: And Then There Were None?

WMATA, which holds title to three key parcels of land on Florida Avenue in Shaw, wants someone to develop its vacant land. But not that badly. WMATA issued an RFP for the properties in April of last year, and nine developers got in line quickly to explain why they should be chosen, but Metro apparently wasn't in a rush to chose a suitor.

According to Angela Gates, Media Relations person for WMATA, board officials will meet today in a closed session to continue the selection process. "There won't be a public announcement for another six months," Gates said.

The process began in April of 2007, when WMATA announced it had received an uninvited offer for the three parcels, located between 7th and 9th Streets on the south side of Florida Avenue. Because WMATA's rules require that it consider competing bids, the Metro authority issued an RFP the same month and required responses by May 30, 2007.

Proposals were due in May of last year at which time nine developers submitted plans, so why, a year later are applicants and neighbors still without an idea of what kind of development WMATA seeks for the land?

Gates said Metro delayed the decision to find a developer for the joint development project because the "Board of Directors wanted further information" on the selection process. WMATA said their questions about the method of selection are confidential, but that the process included, "review of the quality and value of the proposals, the qualifications and experience of the proposers, the ability to implement the project as proposed and the consistency of the proposals with WMATA's needs as well as local development policies and needs." Sounds pretty straightforward.

Gates said there were two stages of the review process and that all applicants still in the running are local development firms, but could not release the names of any companies. In the first round, nine developers expressed interest, this pool was then narrowed down to six, who were invited to submit further proposals. In the second round, four bidders returned, two of which have since merged.

The parcels up for grabs, now an active flea market, is just one block from Howard University Hospital and the Washington Convention Center. Parcel one is 3,800 s.f. with frontage on 9th Street and Florida Avenue. Parcel two, a mere public alley away contains 8,600 s.f. and fronts 8th Street and Florida Avenue, and parcel three, on the other side of 8th street is the largest space at 16,472 s.f. that front Florida Avenue and 8th Street. The parcels are zoned a medium density community center zone that allows a maximum height of 65 feet, with up to 80 percent residential occupancy. The lots do, however, pose a challenge for potential developers. Each lot is encumbered by the Metro tunnel that passes below, limiting excavation to nineteen feet - so much for below-grade parking. According to the RFP, there will be incentives for below-market rate housing, arts, and other such community-serving features. The initial announcement says WMATA is open to both lease and purchase agreements, but prefers the former for obvious reasons.

While there seems to be no rush in achieving this, WMATA said, "The primary consideration in this case is remaining consistent with the local development plan, which supports transit-oriented development and promotes a mixed use of residential, office and retail space. Metro hopes that development around the Shaw-Howard U Metrorail station will help revitalize the area, promote transit-oriented development, increase activity and liveliness, continue U Street's rebirth and promote center city living."