One of the largest single-phase residential developments in the city's recent history broke ground in
NoMa this week.
Mill Creek Residential Trust LLC will build
NoMa West, three five-story buildings on a 4.3 acre site that will add 603 predominantly market rate apartments to the burgeoning neighborhood.
The Preston Partnership LLC is
responsible for the design, and
R.D. Jones & Associates will do interior work.
Formerly owned by
Trammell Crow Residential, which had promised work was "imminent" at several points in the past, the land was transferred by two former principal partners who left Trammell Crow to join the Dallas-based firm. Financing was orchestrated through
Berkshire Income Realty and
PNC Bank. The site was purchased in 2007, at which point the developers adjusted the 2005 PUD to what amounts to the current plans.
"We are lucky to have weathered the storm that has halted so many development projects in the area and around the country," said
Sam Simone,
Managing Director of Mill Creek Residential Trust LLC. "We're also lucky to be developing in a city that's been as protected from the economic downturn as Washington, D.C."
Positioned at Eckington Place immediately behind the FedEx shipping center, within the
NoMa BID, Q Street will run through the development (see map), allowing for the creation of a pedestrian thoroughfare between the three buildings, which "actually look like six, because we wanted to break up the elevation," said Simone.
Building 100 (for now, until it's renamed) offers warehouse loft designs while Building 200 features more glass and a modern feel. Building 300 is parsed in two parts: one offers traditional rowhouse architecture while the other riffs on the modern design of Building 200. Amenities for the complex include two pools, two club rooms, a media theater room, a small park, and e-lounge, not to mention a paltry 1250 s.f. of retail - downsized from the initial plan for 15,000 s.f. unveiled back in 2006. Simone anticipates the project will span three years to complete.
Development has been a musical chairs game, with owner CSX having
selected Fairfield Residential to build the project in 2004, before
handing off to Trammell Crow, with each successive developer intending to begin construction in the short term.
Washington, D.C. real estate development news