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

The Shaw Redemption

Five metro area developers came together last night to highlight their major (and we mean major) plans for the District's Shaw neighborhood. Hosted by the Shaw Main Streets initiative, the developers on hand included Douglas Development (Wonder Bread Factory), Marriott Hotels (Washington Marquis Marriott), Roadside Development (City Market at O), Metropolitan Development (Kelsey Gardens) and Hines Interests (CityCenter DC).

Douglas Development
The keynote of Douglas' presentation was the long-gestating revitalization of the former Wonder Bread Factory at 641 S Street NW. Contrary to initial plans, the building will not be razed. The developer has obtained the original plans for the facade and will, to the best of their ability, restore the building to its original 1922 appearance. An additional story will be added to bring the building up to 5-stories and 150,000 square feet. The project has been summarily approved by the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) and is aiming for groundbreaking in approximately 7 months, following permit approval. The developer expects construction on the GTM-designed facility to take no more than a year. Once completed, the former Wonder Bread facility will neighbor the proposed Radio One development (the outline of which can be seen in the accompanying renderings).

Several other Douglas projects underway in Shaw were also briefly touched upon. The developer’s proposed development at 600 New York Avenue NW is on hold due to the current economic situation and "lack of synergy," as is their proposed redevelopment of the Howard CVS.

Other projects, however, have had much more luck getting off the ground. The former site of Popeye’s at Florida & N Streets NW will complete its expansion and renovation in the next 3-4 months and will house a Fatburger chain restaurant, a cell phone retailer and office space. Another Douglas mixed-use development at 9^th & N Streets, NW will include ground floor retail, office space and apartments. Although poised to begin construction in the coming weeks, leases for the site will not be sought until the project is completed.

Marriott HotelsThe long-proposed (circa 2001) Washington Marriott Marquis Hotel at 9^th Street & Massachusetts Avenue, NW, long envisioned as an anchor servicing the Washington Convention Center across the street, is now slated to break ground in the first quarter of 2009. Overseen by the Quadrangle Development Corporation and designed as joint venture between TBS Architects and Cooper Carry Architecture, the building comes in at over 1 million square feet. The 13-story project will feature 1250 rooms, 2-3 restaurants, a ballroom and meeting space and a 400 space underground parking garage – all enclosed under an all-glass atrium. Additionally, the Pepco power station and AFL building currently on the site will also be incorporated into the hotel’s footprint, with the latter being converted to hold 42 hotel rooms. The Marriott representative on hand described it as “one of the most complex projects we’ve ever worked on.” The project is hoping to achieve an LEED silver certification.

Roadside Development

The City Market at O is shaping up to bring big changes to the current site of Giant Food on O Street NW. The mixed-use development will feature a new Giant store that will retain the old façade of the O Street Market and was hailed, as least by the pitchmen, as outclassing the new CityVista Safeway in both style and function. Additionally, the site will give way to a new 200 room, limited-use hotel, a large-scale fitness center, a 6000 square foot independent restaurant featuring a local chef, and 600 apartments and condominiums targeted towards “young professionals.” 8^th Street will also reopen for pedestrian use between the two buildings on the site, parking for the facilities will be moved underground. Roadside showcased some interesting architectural features on the buildings, including a 2-story projection on the residential building – currently referred to as “the diving board.” The developers are currently in negotiations with the Deputy Mayor’s Office for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) to receive Tax Increment Financing for the project and are hoping for a September 2009 groundbreaking.

Metropolitan DevelopmentThough Metropolitan’s Kelsey Gardens has been recently covered by DCMud, the developer still had a few surprises on hand for their presentation. Architects will employ the increasingly common urban technique of breaking the 14,800-square foot, 297-unit building into five distinct facades, in order to affect the appearance of being constructed during different time periods by different architects. Roofs of the “buildings” will be 50% green and feature both private and public terraces. The development will be complimented by 2 levels of underground parking that will feature preferred parking spaces for “energy efficient vehicles” (i.e., hybrids). The project is shooting for 2011 completion.

Hines Interests
The final presentation of the evening concerned the redevelopment of the site of the old convention center, Hines Interests and Archstone’s CityCenter DC project. Designed by Foster + Partners and Shalom Baranes Architects, the 10-acre site is being envisioned as “a new neighborhood for downtown.” Comprised of 4 separate parcels centered around the now-closed (and eventually to be reopened) intersection of 10^th and I Streets NW, the ambitious project is to include 400,000 square feet of retail space, 1,074 residential and hotel units, 1,064,000 square feet of office space, more than 2000 parking spaces and a public park. The hotel on the site is envisioned as a 4 or 4 ½ star facility, while the developer is aiming to lure home furnishing and fashion retailers (possibly a department store) as well – in order to serve the needs of downtown residents and not specifically tourists. The Hines representative on hand posited that the project was 85% ready to go and would be seeking general contractor in the next few weeks.

Hill East: Douglas Takes Down the Colonel

Fresh on the heels of the Mayor's announcement that the Hill East redevelopment will soon get underway, Douglas Development is hatching its own project on Pennsylvania Avenue. Douglas, owner of the old Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) site on the corner of 15th and Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, has plans for a two-story office and retail project. But while the Mayor seems willing to take on neighborhood anti-development forces around the corner, Douglas plans only two stories in a low-density nod to local tastes. Zoning of the site allows the company to build up to four stories, but the developer’s feasibility study suggests a two-story structure that blends into the neighborhood in a curb to curb structure that eliminates the parking lot. Douglas will demolish the fast food restaurant and parking lot. The catch? The maximum g.s.f. for the site is 10,915 s.f., and the developer is required to provide 28 parking spaces. The proposed building, designed by Bethesda-based GTM Architects, is, according to the developer's study, 13,499 s.f., with no parking. 

So it seems that Douglas needs the neighbors on its side in order to get past the ANC and the Board of Zoning. According to Bert Randolph of ANC 6B, Douglas may not need to go through the Planned Unit Development (PUD) process; when the developer goes before the ANC, the Commission will review the proposal and make recommendations to oppose or approve the project. It will then go to the zoning board, at which time Randolph said neighborhood support becomes very important if the project is to grow wings. As of now, the proposal outlines 6,413 s.f. retail space on the ground floor and 7,085 s.f. office space on the second floor; rising to only about 28 feet in height - not ruffling the feathers of the community. The developer will have to write a Memorandum of Understanding with the neighbors in order to dodge the parking and s.f. zoning requirements. Although the Penn Corridorians are in a position to bargain, the neighbors can’t become too bossy as the developer could easily increase the height or return the site to another KFC or other venue for fried fare. Douglas' game of chicken seems to be working, so far the neighborhood clucking has been mostly positive about the developer's intentions. The next step is for the developer to go before the ANC on June 3rd. The KFC, part of the Yum! brand of restaurants, is one of 32,500 locations in the world. Soon to be 32,499, it seems.

Washington DC commercial property news

Douglas's Takoma Park Apartments Approved

Yesterday morning, the Board of Zoning Adjustment granted Douglas Development Corporation subsidiary Jemal’s TP Land, LLC final approval and entitlements for its paired apartment buildings at Maple and Willow Streets, NW, in the Takoma Park neighborhood. The development site sits about two blocks east of the Takoma Metro station, within a few feet of the Maryland border.

The 102,000-s.f. site sits in the middle of a block bounded by Maple, Willow and Carroll Streets and Sandy Spring Rd. NW; the future buildings will run parallel to Maple and Willow Streets, fronting Maple for 420 feet and Willow for 407 feet. The site is now occupied by three single family homes and a parking lot; the rest is vacant. In order to clear the way for the apartment buildings, Douglas will renovate and relocate the three homes to the south side of the site to "reinforce the transition between the existing community and the proposed development," according to the BZA application.

Douglas' now-approved buildings, designed by GTM Architects, are planned to top out at 40 feet, each with roughly 41,000 gross square feet, and each having 38 units - scaled back from the original 55,000-s.f. buildings with 40 units each. Douglas will have its landscapers provide more than 25,000 s.f. of green space on the site and plant a wall of evergreen trees on the north end of the lot - apparently to shield neighbors from views of the large surface parking lots that will dominate the complex. The BZA files describe the project as "incorporat[ing] details from the traditional Washington DC apartment buildings from the early part of the twentieth century. A belt course and decorated cornice line visually reduces the mass...while adding architectural interest to the building facade."

Albeit a few minor bumps regarding a roof stairwell that was a little too high and a little too close to the building's facade, Douglas' project has smoothly sailed through the application process, taking just 18 months from start to finish. The Historic Preservation Review Board, required to approve because the site since it lies in the Takoma Park Historic District, gave their assent in February of 2007, and the Office of Planning gave its benediction on November 5th.

A few neighbors complained of potential "flooding, traffic and street parking, [an] absentee landlord, crowding of existing homes and noise and the loss of green space," but the Office of Planning weighed in, saying that the project would have a "positive impact on the immediate neighborhood."

The project site sits across from the long-awaited Ecco Park condominium project, which SGA Architects had designed and planned for development at 235 Carroll Street, purchasing the site of the former gas station and remediating the soil in 2006, but which has yet to see construction begin despite several predictions of an imminent groundbreaking.

Douglas Development Brings Sister Apartment Buildings to Takoma Park

Douglas Development met with Takoma Park residents last week to present plans for a pair of 55,000 s.f. sister apartment buildings to be built between Willow and Maple Streets behind the once hotly debated CVS on Carroll Street. The buildings will be named after their respective street proximities, just three blocks from the Metro Station. The transit-oriented project will be built on several vacant lots and will force the relocation of three existing homes. Douglas Development, known for its work in Penn Quarter and commercial development, worked with GTM Architects, which has designed several multi-family homes including Tenley Townhomes. Each building will consist of four levels, three above ground, and a basement floor. The suburban-styled complexes will include balconies, detailed windows, and a large surface parking lot to provide one spot per dwelling. And though an apartment project is more savory than what often goes on behind drug stores, there has been a mixed reaction from the traditionally development-resistant neighborhood.

According to Melissa Cohen, an architect at GTM, "They (the neighbors) are skeptical. I think development is difficult and some of the projects in the neighborhood haven't been completed as they might have liked so there is some resistance." Cohen added that Douglas still has to meet with the Historic Preservation Review Board and the Zoning Commission; under ideal conditions, it will be another two years before the Maple and the Willow break ground. In related news, SGA Architects is currently preparing to build Ecco Park, an 85-unit condominium nearly across the street.