The Parks at Walter Reed - Part II

Continued from Part I

In 2013, the District chose the team of  Hines, Urban Atlantic and Triden as Master Developer, with Torti Gallas as the master planner, charged with redevelopment of the equivalent of a small town, beginning with the removal of the 2.7m square foot brutalist hospital, a-year long endeavor due to its massive size, conducted by demolition giant NorthStar Contracting Group.  The team then lead a $700m investment reintegrate the site back into the city, removing barriers and regrading to allow street connections.  "We connected streets everywhere the grade would allow us" said John Torti of his firm's efforts to conform the site to the city's carefully detailed plan.  

15 of the 66 acres are preserved as open space, with "many many parks sprinkled throughout."  Dahlia Street is to become a main entrance and go through State Department's portion, which has promised to connect it through.  Add to that 182 units of senior housing, 500 condos, 1200 apartments, nearly 200,000 s.f. of office, 150,000 s.f. of hotel, 260,000 s.f. of retail (including of course the 40,000 s.f. Whole Foods), as well as a 350,000 s.f. research facility by Children's National Health System and a new ambulatory care center by Howard University, incorporating many of the historic buildings on the site.   The project is being phased over many years, but the Vale (300 unit apartment building) and the Brooks (89 condo units) are set to be the first major deliveries early next year.

Washington DC commercial property news

The Brooks at Walter Reed

Construction has topped out on the Brooks, a wood-framed, 77,000 s.f., 89-unit condominium fronting Georgia Avenue as part of the Parks at Walter Reed, one of the first of numerous projects replacing the historic medical campus.  The Parks will ultimately deliver 2100 residential units, 175,000 s.f. of retail, 300,000 s.f. of office, and a hotel, for over 3m square feet of very mixed use development, spearheaded by Urban Atlantic and Hines. Whole Foods has already signed on as an anchor tenant within the master planned community, a section for the Children's National Research & Innovation Campus and the State Department's Foreign Mission Center is also underway.  Sales for the condominium began early last fall.

click for photo gallery

Project:  The Brooks

Address:  1000 Butternut Street, NW, Washington DC

Developer: Urban Atlantic, Hines, and Triden

Architect:  Torti Gallas + Partners

Construction:  Paradigm

Use: 89 condominium units

Expected Completion:  Winter 2020

Washington DC retail and real estate development news

Today in Pictures - CityCenter DC

CityCenter DC - the mega development in the heart of downtown - is at last celebrating an executed lease for office space at the two office buildings on 11th Street.  Law firm giant Covington and Burling officially announced this week they will occupy 420,000 s.f. in the office buildings when they move in the summer of 2014, accounting for 80% of the office space.  Developers Archstone and Hines and Qatari financial backer Barwa Bank.

The 10-acre project will feature two condominiums, two apartment buildings, and the two office buildings, as well as 295,000 s.f. of retail that developers are hoping will create a new fashion center downtown.  Developers hope to turn over the retail space to tenants in late 2013, with retailers beginning to open in early 2014.  In their excitement at the office lease, Hines released a new rendering of the office building at 10th & H Streets.

Below are photos of the project from this week:

Photography by Rey Lopez

Today in Pictures - CityCenter

Work on CityCenterDC continues.  The project's plans for nearly 700 units of housing, 185,000 s.f. of retail, and 520,000 s.f. of office space are now rising well above ground.  Below are recent pictures of the site.