Shops at Dakota Crossing and Costco to Start Now, Open Next Year

It's official. The District and the developers of the Shops at Dakota Crossing - a forthcoming 42-acre big-box retail destination revolving around Costco - have struck a deal.

On Friday, the development team, facilitated by a $46.5-million construction loan, acquired the Fort Lincoln land from the District. In turn, the District pledged a final $17 million in tax increment financing (TIF) subsidies. The site is now ready for construction to begin on the 430,000-s.f. mall, capping a portion of the city's urban renewal retail redevelopment vision for Fort Lincoln that dates back to the '70s.

Joint developers Trammel Crow Companies, Fort Lincoln New Town Corporation (FLNTC), and CSG Urban Partners (a CBE partner) will commence site work immediately ("any day now" sources say) to prepare for a formal ground breaking - likely in January or February - under general contractor Harvey Cleary.

The approximately $60-million project, with urban planning/architecture by Bignell Watkins Hasser, was also on hold pending environmental approvals, secured about a month ago says Cel Bernardino, VP of Development and Construction for FLNTC. Bernadino adds that despite skeptical press of late, the project still has the interest of several big retailers, and that the loss of Target, which is halting expansion nationwide, is not fatal. In addition to Dakota Crossing, Target at one time was also considering - but abandoned - both Georgetown Park and Skyland.

All incoming retailers will benefit from the $17 million in TIF subsidies from the District, which has supported the development as a neighborhood improvement initiative. Developers expect Costco to be open for business in less than a year - next November - just in time for large-scale, back-your-truck-up holiday shopping.

As for the rest , the Washington City Paper pointed out earlier this fall that it appears that the development is moving forward essentially on spec, after Shoppers Food Warehouse (and pharmacy) and Target pulled out of the site. But Bernardino says that although that lease has not been signed, Shoppers, along with plenty of others, did not back away and continue to eye the site, but that Costco is driving the project. "Costco has always been the big dog."

In all, the plan allows for 26 tenants in 13 buildings at the Shops, but as of now, only 182,060 of the 430,000 s.f. has been claimed by tenants: 154,000 s.f. by Costco and 28,060 s.f. by Marshalls. After Costco's building is delivered late next year, the rest of the development will continue to rise and retailers are expected to be able to settle into spaces by mid-2013.

CBRE has been responsible for leasing retail space at the Shops' site, which the company is marketing as "a strategic location on New York Avenue/Route 50... [with] easy access to an impressive 100,000 vehicles per day." Of these vehicle passersby, 2,500 will be able to swoop into a parking spot at the Shops.

Bounded by New York Avenue NE, South Dakota Avenue and 33rd Place, the location was hotly debated because the site is currently a forested area with wetlands that filter waste and prevent flooding. In order to move forward, the developers agreed to incorporate a new wetland into the site, with the design reviewed and approved by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA, and the District Dept. of the Environment.

Additionally, in April of 2010, the District committed $3 million toward an effort to construct stormwater management ponds that will support the entire 360-acre Fort Lincoln redevelopment area, which includes the $80-million residential portion, The Villages at Dakota Crossing, with 334 townhomes and condominiums. The first of three phases will be underway soon, development of the site (roads, etc.) has already begun. Ryan Homes expects the first phase - construction of 63 townhomes and 11 townhome condominums (2 condos contained in each, for a total of 22 condos) to begin to deliver in 2012. Sales have begun, and already 15 condos have sold.

In the decades since developers of the Shops have been trying to gain ground, players have come and gone, and then come back again. Before Trammel Crow was involved, it was The Peterson Companies, and before The Peterson Companies there was Federal Realty Investment Trust and Trammell Crow. When Peterson Companies bowed out in 2007, Trammell Crow Companies stepped back in.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

The Shops at Dakota Crossing to Break Ground in May

May will mark the groundbreaking for the big box shopping center - The Shops at Dakota Crossing - on New York Avenue and South Dakota Avenue, NE. The $52 million dollar project on 42 acres is a joint project between Fort Lincoln New Town Corporation, CSG Urban Partners, and Trammel Crow Company that will house 430,000 s.f. of buildings and include Costco, Target, Marshalls, and Shoppers Food Warehouse.

Costco is scheduled for an August 2012 opening, with the remainder of retailers to open in March 2013.

The pursuit of retailers at Dakota Crossing has been at least a decade in the making with Costco the lead in committing to the site. The plans had been hindered by two obstacles, the primary one being the controversy that ensued over paving the current wetland that filters waste and prevents flooding; Ft. Lincoln New Town Corp. has responded by creating new wetlands reviewed by the US Army Corp of Engineers, the EPA and DC DOE. The second hurdle had been the delay in inspiring additional retailers to sign on to the location.

The shops at Dakota Crossing are part of an extensive development of the area that had started in the 70's under the city's Urban Renewal Plan. The development includes 1370 residential units, including condos and rentals that were built during the 1980’s and 1990’s; the 127-unit Wesley House senior apartments opened early last summer; and 209 town homes were completed in July 2010 that have sold out at an average listing price of $460,000.

Still in the works are the Villages at Dakota Crossing situated at Ft. Lincoln Drive and 33rd Street N.E., an $80 M, 334 town house and condo project for which the January ground breaking has been delayed, as well as the Ft. Lincoln multi-family development of 352 units on target to break ground in 2012. Townhouse construction on the 54 City Homes at Fort Lincoln started this past January.

Despite Fort Lincoln's stated commitment to the environment regarding the retail project in particular - with cisterns, green roofs, green walls, and other low-impact development measures - dismay over the 2000-plus surface parking spaces has fueled the ire of community groups and residents. On its website Anacostia Riverkeepers wrote, "The developer has proposed ways to mitigate storm water, but. . . [we do not] feel the proposed plan goes far enough. Anacostia Riverkeeper is not opposed to the project per se but believes strongly the proposal should be redesigned to protect the existing wetlands and control stormwater pollution in the Anacostia Watershed."Washington, DC Commercial Real Estate Development News

City Homes at Fort Lincoln

56 new townhouse- style condos may soon greet visitors entering DC from Maryland on Bladensburg Road, if the Board of Zoning Adjustment can be convinced. Developer Fort Lincoln-Eastern Avenue, LLC, is planning a set of townhouses to be built on a 2.5 acre site in the developing northeast neighborhood of Fort Lincoln. The developer pitched City Homes at Fort Lincoln to the Board of Zoning Adjustment yesterday, and will hear the final outcome on Tuesday at a special public meeting.

The announcement is being held up as the BZA awaits a report from the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission. The plan, as originally submitted, was to build 62 units in 31 stacked townhouses but those total figures have been reduced to 56 units in 28 townhomes. The townhomes will be split between four separate buildings on the L-shaped site bounded by Fort Lincoln Drive to the east, Bladensburg Road to the west and Eastern Ave to the north.

The condominiums will average approximately 1200 s.f. each, with two to three bedrooms per unit and their own rear loaded garage. Another 56 spots will be located in the driveway. The current submission to zoning calls for a 40,000 s.f. rain garden adjacent to Bladensburg Road to help treat storm water as it leaves the site.

The Office of Planning, in their memo to the BZA dated last week, supported the project, calling the current site "underdeveloped," among other things. The location seems a popular location for residential uses; the Washington Overlook Condominiums, the Thurgood Marshall School and the Pineview Court Condominiums all sit within shouting distance of vacant site.

OP also cited the project's compliance with the Fort Lincoln Urban Renewal Area Plan, better known as FLURA. Adopted in 1972, FLURA established a "new town" site in the area bounded by S. Dakota Ave to the west, Anacostia Park to the south and Prince George's County to the east. The plan aims to create "an attractive and racially, socially, economically and functionally inclusive community" in a "physical arrangement of activities and uses which respect the area, environmental character and maximizes urban amenities and livability." OP concluded that City Homes at Fort Lincoln "generally [furthers] the overall goals and objectives of the [FLURA] plan," and recommended BZA's approval.

Developers are targeting the working-class and expect prices to range from $275,000 to $375,000, adding that they hope this helps continue the urban renewal plan for the Fort Lincoln area. "We're excited about this project. It is work-force housing. It's really aimed at schoolteachers, police officers, firefighters. It's housing that will allow them to live in the city they are working in," said Cell Bernardino of Fort Lincoln Realty

According to the Concordia Group, a partner on this project, the ANC is in support of the development. Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of this year, pending Zoning approval. Fort Lincoln Realty is currently building Dakota Crossing, also in NE. Construction began in the spring of 2006 and is still continuing; out of 209 townhouses, about 150 have been sold, from $450,000 to $500,000 each.