The Wine Man Cometh

By Beth Herman

It's his time, by design. For venerated former French pastry chef Michel Richard (writer’s note: in the 1980s, my Valley girl friends and I doubled our Jane Fonda workouts due to weekly pillages of his S. Robertson Blvd. patisserie in L.A.), reinventing himself as a celebrated Hollywood restaurateur, and then again in Washington, has had several iterations, but maybe none as personal as his latest venture: Michel.

Hanging his toque in the former Maestro (restaurant) space at the Ritz-Carlton, Tyson’s Corner, Richard encouraged his friends at Group Goetz Architects (GGA) to use a pinch - or maybe a gallon - of alchemy in creating a space that naturally reflected his signature style and food, but genuinely trumpeted the wine connoisseur within. With his D.C.-based Citronelle and more moderately-priced and GGA-designed Central, restaurants representing a more high-end and down-in-the-(Manhattan) boroughs kind of ambience, respectively, the concept for Michel is more bistro than urbane, though Richard’s sophisticated palate and passion for the grape are manifested in its velour fabrics and deep, sumptuous colors.

"He wanted the look to be contemporary but also like going to a winery, a vineyard,” said GGA Principal Al Gooden, noting the celebrity chef’s robust personality and penchant for randomly seating himself at a table to ask surprised diners how he’s doing. “He’s not interested in your coming, eating and going,” Gooden continued, explaining that the traditional measure of restaurant success is the quick turnover. “He wants you to make an event of it.”

Wood, Walls and Wine

Located off the 4^th floor Ritz Carlton lobby, the 4,800 s.f. Michel came together in a warp speed-like 14 weeks, thanks to Forrester Construction Company, with a magic budget of about $800,000 (far less than most high-end restaurants of its ilk). The space boasts a 19-ft.-tall glass wine room displaying all of the restaurant’s wines, adjacent to the space’s entrance stairs, and at the bottom of the stairs, where the maître d’ is posted, a pickled grey wood wall – actually a large sliding door – swings out and becomes a total opening, according to Gooden, with the effect both dramatic and contemporary. For the first image as diners enter the restaurant, which takes into account what Gooden called Richard’s “unproclaimed logo: the tossing of plates” (echoed in Citronelle and Central), the architects used LED lighting to illuminate a 6-foot stack of translucent plates, 3 feet in diameter, which appear to float as they are tossed into the air. In the dining area, raised leaf-pattern bolsters in a light green color, such as one might see in a vineyard, complement burgundy banquettes and mahogany tables redolent of wine country colors. Built for 124 patrons, which includes the option to incorporate 16 seats of a private dining room directly into the space, Gooden said among the room’s focal points is the 9x3½-foot chef’s table made of honey-colored alabaster with deep purple veining. Strategically backlit (it glows), the team decided to suspend the table with cable using one small leg to stabilize it.

Retaining the previous restaurant’s coffered ceilings, the architects removed crown molding and added silver leaf which they uplit so that it sparkles like champagne. A white tensile fabric, suspended from the ceiling in individual bowl-like fashion, contains LED lighting that meanders from various purples to greens to ambers, and an open kitchen design makes diners a part of the process. “Michel wants you to have a real experience here,” Gooden affirmed. “The funny thing about the space is that the color scheme, lighting and selection of materials is very regal,” he said, acknowledging his client’s homage to quality and great wine, “but the seating and placing of elements are all very casual – very relaxing.”

Energy, Efficiency and Eggs

Avoiding landfills by retaining some of Maestro’s elements for sustainability purposes was paramount in Richard’s plans. To that end much of the older kitchen equipment - such as grills, steaming pots and fryers - was refurbished, with the addition of more efficient burners. Various functions of the Ritz’s current restaurant kitchen (or room service restaurant kitchen, as Gooden referred to it), shared space with the former Maestro kitchen, and Richard elected to maintain the shared facilities, such as the dishwashing area, though some Energy Star equipment had to be purchased. “It saves energy and saved hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of construction,” Gooden said. “It was a very good move.” In best practices form, any new woods used in the restaurant space, including the entrance’s grey pickled wood wall, were reconstituted and came from within 500 miles. Adhesive for the ceiling’s silver leaf was low-VOC, carpeting has a minimum 30 percent recycled product and fabrics and finishes were all local and readily available.

Noting that the firm really had two clients, Richard and the hotel, Gooden said Ritz-Carlton, owned by Host Hotels and Resorts, was adamant about being involved in the design and all approvals. “The restaurant is, after all, only accessible through the hotel, without its own entrance,” Gooden explained, adding that the corporate design team was present throughout the entire process. “They were definitely active, which worked out really well because the great thing is they are really excited,” he said, noting the plan to position Michel, which the restaurateur has designated his flagship, as a “destination restaurant,” with customers coming to dine and then perhaps deciding to stay over (the opposite of most hotels). Additionally, like his predecessor in the space, Richard has elected to serve breakfast, as well as lunch and dinner, to perpetuate the D.C. “power breakfast” paradigm, but ideally with his own signature patisserie offerings – the hallmark of his early career.

“We teamed with a lot of really good people to make this happen,” Gooden said of the project. “You can sit down and totally focus on the experience.”

Photo credit: Len Depas and Sokol Kokoshi

Archstone Pushes Back NoMa Start Date

It's easy to get excited by the mere promise of progress these days; excitement, however, is still no substitute for financing. In March, Archstone announced they would be breaking ground in April on its residential project at 1st and M Streets, NE in NoMa, a project that will fill out First Street as one of the latest empty parcels on that strip, along with Constitution Square which is just completing across the street. But as June slips away, the parking lot remains, sans construction. Senior Vice President Rob Seldin of Archstone now aims to break ground in July, financing depending.

Seldin said he hopes to have a "firm loan closing and start date" in the next few weeks. Archstone's 469 rental residential units will replace a surface parking as the first of two phases; the total project will bring 1.5 million s.f.: 500,000 of which will be in the Davis Carter Scott- designed residential building (with a nugget of ground floor retail at the corner of M and First). A parking garage will provide 421 spots on three levels below grade. The new building will increase residential space in NoMa by over 50 percent. Phase 2 is also planned as a residential building. Forrester Construction is the general contractor for the project.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Archstone Pushes the Envelope with NoMa Residential

Archstone says it will break ground in April on one of the first new developments to do so in the "downtown core" this year, increasing residential space in NoMa by over 50 percent. Archstone's 469 rental residential units, which will replace a surface parking lot at 1st and M Streets, NE, will be the first of two phases; the total project will bring 1.5 million s.f. If everything goes according to plan, the first phase should deliver in spring 2012, the second phase, also residential, does not yet have a start date.

When Archstone Senior Vice President Rob Seldin began working with his architects at Davis Carter Scott, the team realized they had a blank slate and could make a statement that would set the tone for the area with their design. As Doug Carter, a founding Principal at Davis Carter Scott, said about Seldin, "he has a record of trying to push the envelope and this building is no different."

Carter said the challenge of a large, phased project is to make something that is "interesting all the way around" and to avoid making the structure look "entirely long and boring." So his team changed the massing and the color and texture of the materials by detailing the masonry horizontally, using the precast concrete to create a wavy element in the facade and designing striking glass corner towers. Carter added that the design is meant to draw people in to want to live there and to be a "fixture of the urban landscape" that never bores passersby. Rather than design a traditional, conservative "plain Jane" building often found in DC, said Carter, his team strove to make Archstone's NoMa building "a little more forward looking" with a design that is "exciting and stimulating."

The 500,000 s.f. building will be almost entirely residential save one small ground-floor retail area at the corner of M and First Streets, NE. A parking garage, not included in the s.f. calculation, will provide 421 spots on three levels below grade. The ground floor will include 20,000 s.f. of amenities for residents, including a library, meeting rooms, kitchen, movie theater and even an outside movie area for up to 20 people. Then there's the rooftop pool, a hot commodity to be certain.

The new building will deliver in time for residents to take advantage of what will then be a fully operational Harris Teeter across the street. Liz Price, President of the NoMa BID, said the new residential is "key to the next wave" of commercial development and will help NoMa "continue to attract new retail and restaurants."

Archstone's Seldin said he has been "encouraged by the continuing construction and leasing" in other properties in NoMa. "Ours will be an outstanding addition to a great area." The general contractor for the project is Forrester Construction.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Tenley-Janney Loses Apartments, Gains Consensus

In a surprise announcement from Mayor Adrian Fenty at Janney Elementary this afternoon, the ongoing battle between the Tenleytown community and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development over the mixed-use redevelopment of the Tenley-Friendship Library seems to have drawn to a close. The District announced today that it has split with developer LCOR Inc., which had previously been awarded rights to construct the library at the site, along with 174 rental apartments, by the Fenty administration this past July.

The District’s relationship with LCOR, however, went suspiciously unmentioned by Fenty or his staff during the duration of the press conference - an especially conspicuous omission, given that Deputy Mayor Neil Albert had previously reaffirmed his office's commitment to moving forward with the LCOR-led redevelopment as recently as January. Off-the-record sources from inside the District government confirmed that the change of direction at the Janney site had little to do the contentious war of words between the Tenleytown community’s reps on the DC City Council and ODMPED, but that instead, LCOR has been forced to the sidelines due the company’s inability to secure financing in the troubled credit market. For the District’s part, they’re leaving the door to mixed-use development open for the near future.

“There is the possibility that after the library is built, sometime in the future, there may be additional mixed-use on that site,” said Fenty, to a mixed reaction of both applause and boos – an illustration of just how divisive the residential component of the school/library redevelopment had become, even among Janney staff and parents.

With LCOR out of the picture (for now) and no residential units stacked atop of it, the library over the metro station will top out at a simple two stories and measure in at 22,000 square feet, based on designs by the Freelon Group. Forrester Construction has signed on as general contractor and the building will seek a LEED silver certification.

Whether today's deal is a bow to market forces or just public relations peacemaking (or both), ODMPED didn’t end the goodwill there; the schedule for construction of the new library and concurrent renovations to Janney Elementary, it was announced, has been significantly accelerated. Fenty pledged that the new library will be open by the end of 2010, while renovations to Janney, once scheduled to begin in 2014, “could begin as soon as December.” Both Fenty and Allen Y. Lew, Executive Director of Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, agreed that an architect for the renovation will be selected by June; other details, including whether the school will remain open during construction, had yet to be confirmed. According to Lew, the renovation could take as little as thirteen months.

First Project Underway at Minnesota-Benning

Mayor Fenty and officials from the Office of Property Management were on hand today to break ground on the new Department of Employee Services (DOES) headquarters - soon to be erected at 4058 Minnesota Avenue NE. This is the second such project in the immediate area, as just last month, Donatelli Development announced they would be developing a $108 million mixed-use project on an adjoining parcel.

The new 229,000 square foot DOES building will include a "one-stop employment and business center," a community meeting room, a local retail incubator and, of course, enough office space for roughly 500 employees. A green roof is also in the works.

Designed by DC-based architects Devrouax & Purnell, construction of the $48 million facility is being overseen by EEC of DC, Inc. and Forrester Construction (one of the few local development companies that say they are actually hiring at the moment). The new headquarters is expected to be completed in early 2011.

Fenty and company used the occasion to kill two birds with one microphone, as he also used the opportunity to announce the appointment of Joseph Walsh as the new Director of DOES. Walsh was poached by the District from his last post as Director of Policy and Planning in the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development under Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Here’s to hoping Mr. Walsh likes this job more than his old forty-syllable job title once the paint dries on that new HQ.

Northwest One Unfolds

On Monday, DC finally began work on the Northwest One site, the ambitious but still conceptual site located across the street from NoMa, on the northwest side of North Capitol Street. DC Mayor Adrian Fenty initiated the first groundbreaking of Northwest One by commencing demolition of Terrell Junior High School, at 1000 1st St. NW, making space for a new $47 million mixed use facility including a new school, library, and recreation center. The Northwest One site is bounded on the east by North Capitol, on the west by New Jersey Ave., and on the south by K Street. The District, through Forrester Construction, will replace the junior high and the distressed Sursum Corda and Temple Courts housing projects, which haven't been doing much to bring up property values in the neighborhood.

The next stage of development will be to demolish Temple Court, which the District bought last summer and has begun relocating tenants in anticipation of tearing down the building this summer; both housing projects remain mostly occupied at this point. Ordinarily, the District would build replacement housing before evacuation of existing subsidized housing, but according to Sean Madigan of DC's Office of Planning, the condition of the projects is "so bad" that the Fenty administration decided to purge and demolish immediately.

The District currently owns most of the entire development site, part of which was acquired when it took control of and disbanded NCRC last year; the remainder is owned by the DC Housing Authority. Late last year, the District selected One Vision Development Partners, a joint venture between William C. Smith, Jair Lynch, Banneker Ventures, and CPDC, as its development partner for the entire project. Details of the project - both the scope of development and compensation to the development team - have yet to be finalized, but the team has proposed the construction of more than 1,600 new apartments, condos and townhouses priced for mixed-income buyers and renters, as well as a 21,000-s.f. clinic, about 40,000 s.f. of retail and 220,000 s.f. of office space. According to Madigan, an increase in density and the "right mix" will be crucial to the success of the project. Once the administration comes to an agreement with the developer, the project will be placed on the lap of the city Council for approval.

Immediately replacing Terrell Junior High will be the Walker Jones school, library, recreation center and athletic fields, a project that Mayor Fenty described as being "a first-class facility from top to bottom." "If we are to expect excellence from our students we've got to provide great facilities that promote an integrated environment for learning," Fenty added Monday during his on-site speech. According to the Office of Planning and Economic Development, Walker Jones will be one of the first new schools constructed during Fenty's reign, and it will be ready, says he, in time for the kick-off of the 2009 school year. The new Walker Jones will house 100,000 s.f. of classroom, a 20,000-s.f. community recreation center and a 5,000-s.f. library along with some new playgrounds and sports fields. The entire project is expected to meet the District's green building standards.

The complete project is said to be in the ballpark of $700 million in new development. After production of the new school and its amenities, the District will then focus on the new housing, of which a third will be market rate, a third will be affordable, and a third will serve as workforce, some of which will serve as replacement housing for current residents. Madigan referenced NPR's recent decision to build its new facilities across the street from the site as "a huge vote of confidence for Northwest One."

SE to See New Charter School

Last week, the Board of Zoning Adjust- ment approved plans for KIPP DC to build the second phase of their charter school development at 4801 Benning Road, SE. Phase one, which started construction last March, is set to finish this April, allowing phase two to begin shortly thereafter. Both phases were designed by a joint venture architectural team: Studio 27 and Devrouax and Purnell.

KIPP stands for Knowledge Is Power Programs, and is self described as being "a network of free open-enrollment college preparatory public schools in under-resourced communities throughout the United States." KIPP DC is part of the larger national network; the charter school currently operates on four campuses in the District: AIM, LEAP, KEY and WILL academies. The charter school is aiming to reach more kids on their own turf. Real Estate Director Alex Shawe explains: "The simplest answer is that KIPP DC is one of the highest performing public schools in the entire District, and it's important to have a campus that's located near where the majority of our students actually live. And it's also important for those students to have a facility that matches our high expectations of academic performance."

The total plan will create two schools for KIPP, a 56,000 s.f. elementary school which can hold up to 600 students, and the recently approved 29,000 s.f. middle school, which can hold up to 320 studious youngsters. The school's new home is a 51,000 s.f. site which used to house the old Benning supermarket, now demolished. Construction of the new schools is so far privately funded, though it is anticipated that tax exempt bonds will be issued in the Spring to help finance the project. Forrester Construction is building the facilities; KIPP plans to be finished with the entire development by February of 2009.

But don't think that this new school will give your kids a better shot at getting in; KIPP is already at capacity this year. The new campus is going to allow KEY and LEAP academies to move out of their leased space and into a permanent home. KEY, for fifth through eighth graders, currently enrolls 320 students, LEAP will eventually house pre-kindergarten to fourth graders. KIPP claims that in a 2005 Stanford verbal and math test, KIPP students scored in the 92nd and 71st percentiles, respectively; local neighborhood school students scored an worrying 22% and 21%. In that same year, incoming fifth graders scored an average of 31% on a math test; in the Spring those test scores rocketed to 94%.

Bids Close Today on DC Food Bank Warehouse

Today was the end of the bidding phase for a project that will provide a new distribution center and much-needed office space for Capitol Area Food Bank at 4900 Sixth Street, NE, just three blocks from Providence Hospital, adjacent to the Fort Totten Metro tracks. Jair Lynch, the owner's agent for CAFB, attracted five bidders to the development: Turner Construction, Smoot Construction, Forrester Construction, Epstein Construction, Gilford Construction and E.E. Reed Construction - a winner should be announced in a few weeks. McDonald Williams Banks Architects designed the new distribution facility.

CAFB purchased the site in December of 2005 for $10.35 million with a little help from Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) in the form of a $1.5 million loan, and had help from the Department of Housing and Community Development. According to LISC: "The new facility will not only allow CAFB to expand programs now stalled due to space constraints, but will increase efficiencies of product movement, provide additional storage space for both dry and refrigerated food donations, increase truck access through a greater number of varied dock spaces, and install a re-packaging room that will allow them to accept bulk donations. It will also provide much needed administrative space that will allow for improved management of programs and general administration."

MWB has designed a 40-foot tall, 110,000-s.f. distribution center and found a way to use an existing 2-story, 25,000 s.f. office space for CAFB's staff by gutting and renovating its interior. "We will keep the existing masonry on the exterior of the current office and the interior will be maintained and restored, keeping a majority of the existing terrazo floor intact. In the warehouse, the exterior will be clad with metal panels and of course the interior will be concrete slab equipped with a racking system to store the foodstuffs," said Andre Banks, principal at McDonald Williams Banks.

The total project will entail 145,000 s.f. of renovation and new construction; an estimate puts a price tag at around $25 million.

CAFB claims they need the new site because they are outgrowing their old digs at 645 Taylor Street, NE. According to the US Census Bureau, more than 600,000 DC metro-residents are "at risk of, or experiencing hunger." CAFB's old site allowed them to serve about 275,000 local residents, but they're hoping with the larger spaces they can have a more efficient and widespread effect.

"The gist of why we're doing this is that the need is growing. A new facility will enable us to get access to more food, in and out to our member agencies. In addition, we will be able to significantly enhance and increase our outreach programs such as nutrition education, life-skills and empowerment," said Brian Smith, Chief Operating Officer at CAFB. The do-gooders hope to move in to their new facility within the next year.

Washington DC commercial property news