NDC Renovates Columbia Heights Eyesore

Local developer The Neighborhood Development Company (NDC) has commenced work on Columbia Courts, an 11-unit boutique condominium project at 1225 Fairmont Street, NW in Columbia Heights.  Columbia Courts will replace the unattractive apartment building at the same address, the appearance of which has been even worse by sitting vacant and unkept.

"We just recently broke ground," says Juan Powell, Principal at NDC.  "Well, I shouldn't say break ground - we're doing a comprehensive renovation of the existing structure.  Gutting it, redoing everything.  We started renovations last month and we expect to be done by September or October."

NDC won the rights to redevelop the building at 1225 Fairmont through a competitive solicitation process overseen by the District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).  The property had previously been under the control of the Development Corporation of Columbia Heights (DCCH), which, in conjunction with five tenant households, made a winning bid of $427,000 for the property at a 2001 HUD auction.  But by 2010, the building had fallen vacant, and the District was soliciting bids for a new development.

Columbia Courts will feature a large interior landscaped courtyard, balcony units, and below-grade parking. And while all the units will be designated "affordable," they will all include finishes such as "wood floors, hard surface countertops, and stainless steel appliances."

NDC Builders, an affiliate of The Neighborhood Development Company, is the general contractor on the project, and PGN Architects spearheaded the redesign.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Neighborhood Report: Georgia Avenue

Much has been promised of Georgia Avenue, without fulfillment. Some developers, like Chris Donatelli at the Petworth Metro, have made an impact, while miles of underutilized land changed little on one of Washington DC's major corridors. At last, investment on the avenue has arrived. Below is a summary of the improvement now underway.

The Great Streets Project, a centerpiece of the revitalization of middle Georgia Avenue, is in full swing with single lane closures tying up Taylor to Upshur Streets for much of the month. Plans include better lighting at intersections and at pedestrian level, more trees, and repaved sidewalks.

The Heights, at 3232 Georgia Avenue, will offer 69 units and 10,000 s.f. of ground floor retail, is behind schedule. The Neighborhood Development Company (NDC) project had been slated for completion for early 2011, but has been pushed to a third quarter opening. Half the units will be offered as affordable housing.

The Vue is a smaller, privately financed project at Georgia Avenue and Morton Street; 7,000 s.f. of retail space and 112 market rate apartments. Also an NDC project, the completion date is farther on the horizon since the zoning hearing was rescheduled for late this month.

3813 - 3829 Georgia Ave: This Donatelli project on a neglected strip will provide 5000 s.f. of retail and 5000 s.f. of restaurant space. It also includes Chez Billy, formerly Billy Simpson's House of Seafood, at 3815 Georgia Ave. The restaurant, to be run by Thievery Corporation's Eric Hilton and brother Ian Hilton, had been designated for the National Register of Historic Places for its role in the social and political culture of D.C.'s African American community.

Opening has been delayed because of the owners' focus on other projects, namely American Ice Company and the soon to open Blackbyrd Warehouse next to the Hilton-owned Marvin at 2005 14th Street. Projected opening date for Chez Billy is June.

At the southern end of that strip is 3801 Georgia Avenue: Donatelli's seven-story multifamily - The Griffin - is near completion, slated for July or August, 49 units for sale or lease (not yet decided). Designed by Eric Colbert and Associates, the building is residential only, no retail.

6925-6529 Georgia Ave: Blue Skye Construction has been chosen by the city to build 24 mixed income units in this fenced off, undeveloped lot on upper Georgia Avenue. The District bid the project out in 2009 and chose Blue Sky in early 2010, but the District is still grinding through the approval process.

Howard Town Center: In negotiations for an anchor grocer, Howard Town Center is seeing delays that bump the completion date to 2013 or beyond. Ongoing negotiations to obtain a grocer for what would be Georgia Avenue's largest mixed-use project have been inconclusive, and CastleRock Partners, Howard University's chosen developer for the site, has yet to move forward. CastleRock was selected in early 2009 to build up to 450 apartments, a grocery store, and a large retail component.

Georgia Ave Safeway: According to Duball LLC, groundbreaking for what will become the second largest Safeway in the city at 3830 Georgia Avenue won't occur until a year to a year and a half from now. Duball said at this month's ANC meeting that they will focus on permitting and securing approval for the Planned Unit Development. Expect completion in two to three years, at best.

Park Morton: Though Hamel Builders is on site to break ground in the joint venture between the Warrenton Group and Landex Companies on the $130 million dollar, 500 unit housing project, they're still waiting for permits says Tom McManus, Studio Director of Wiencek Associates Architects and Planners, the firm responsible for the project's design.

Dubbed "The Avenue," the development located on the southwest corner of Newton Place and Georgia Avenue includes public housing. DCMud reported that the project was to take 14 months to build, but it has to start first.

2910 Georgia Avenue: The construction of this 22 unit, all-residential development is well underway. Developed by Art Linde of ASL International, the designer is Eric Colbert and Associates. Linde bought the property from Howard University in 2009 for $560,000.

Washington, D.C. real estate development news

NDC Proposes Redevelopment of Georgia Avenue Strip Mall

The Neighborhood Development Company (NDC), busy with their efforts to revitalize the Georgia Avenue Corridor, is now proposing a new mixed-use development just a block north of their already approved project "The Heights," set for the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Lamont Street, NW. "The Vue," at southeast corner of Georgia and Morton and just beginning the rezoning application, will rise seven-stories above the 7,000 s.f. ground floor retail and offer 112 residences. Forty-nine parking spaces will be provided below grade. Unlike The Heights, where developers reserved half of the units as affordable housing in return for special financing options awarded by HUD and a large tax abatement granted by the District Council, the $30 million Vue project will be privately financed and almost wholly priced at market-rate (the bare minimum of 8% of the new project's square footage will be marketed at 80% AMI in order to satisfy Inclusionary Zoning requirements).

NDC purchased the property for $2.2 million in 2009 and will raze a rather unremarkable strip shopping center to make way for their 118,160 s.f. project. A post office at 3321 Georgia Avenue, also on the site, will remain, the U.S. Postal Service could not be enticed out of their long term lease. With the help of project architect Grimm and Parker, NDC will incorporate the one-story post office into their new construction plans. "The entrance to the post office will be repositioned facing Georgia Avenue," explains NDC Principal Adrian Washington, "and the facade will be recast with brick to match the look of the first floor retail component."

Washington reports that while not many of the details have yet to come to life, several green features are in the works, as well as an indoor gym and media center. He expects "some really good, local retail" to occupy the ground floor spaces, likely restaurants and cafes. Down the street, where many online commenters were clamoring for Trader Joe's to become the 10,000 s.f. retail anchor of The Heights, a deal has not been reached with any specific tenant. "We've been in talks with Gary Cha [President] of Yes! Organic Market and a couple hardware supply stores," says Washington, "but no commitments have been made."

Back up the street, The Vue's zoning application was recently set down by the Zoning Commission. NDC's legal representative Kyrus Lamont Freeman at Holland & Knight expects the hearing to be scheduled for late February, about the same time Washington's team anticipates a groundbreaking at The Heights. In anticipation of the Zoning review process, developers have already briefed local entities on their new development plans; most recently NDC met with the The Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force and have scheduled an informal meeting with ANC 1A for December 8th. While the Vue's completion is distant, Adrian Washington expects to deliver the building within sixteenth months of a construction start, placing a ribbon cutting somewhere during second quarter of 2012.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

New Apartments to Surface on Georgia Avenue

The Heights at Georgia Avenue is closer to beginning construction this summer, a little over a year after the development team received zoning approval to replace surface parking lots and older commercial buildings with a new mixed-use development. Project partners Neighborhood Development Company (NDC) and non-profit Mi Casa, Inc. have filed for construction permits to build the six-story, 69-unit apartment building. The new building, at the corner of Georgia Ave. and Lamont Street, will sit only a few blocks from the planned development at Park Morton. Estimates have the building delivering in early 2012, a bit behind its original plans for opening in early 2011.

The development team is working with Grimm + Parker Architects on the design. The project will have a green roof, with solar panels that power some of the common area lighting. Adrian Washington, a Principal at NDC, said the design team wanted to make a statement about the "important corner" and that the rooftop trellis element "creates a strong corner" for the block, while the rest of the design strikes a balance between a contemporary building and something that "fits with the neighborhood." The apartment building will deliver over 10,000 s.f. of ground floor retail and 69 rental units, half of which will be affordable housing available at 60% to 80% AMI. Within walking distance to the Georgia Avenue/Petworth metro station, the building will offer residents 29 below-grade parking spaces.

Since receiving zoning approval in March of 2009, the development team has been working on finalizing plans to apply for permits, negotiating relocation agreements with existing businesses and securing financing. In January, the District Council approved a $447,000 tax abatement for the project and the team has an application in with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for additional financing options. "We're on track for everything...the financing is what is slowing us down" explained Washington. The HUD application process is "taking a lot longer than we thought it would take," he added, but the federal housing agency is "the only game in town," so wait they must.

Washington said his team has spoken with two or three potential tenants, but no one wants to make a commitment this far in advance, "nothing much is going to happen until you've got a building that is coming up." The developer described the attitude he and his partners at MiCasa have for the project as "bullish." That said, Washington admits "developing infill sites in the city especially in neighborhoods in transition is hard" especially in this "very difficult economic environment."

The developers purchased the property in June of 2008 for $2.75 million under the entity Georgia and Lamont Limited Partnership. Hamel Builders is the general contractor.

Washington DC real estate and development news

Lower Georgia Avenue Pines for Development

No one doubts that development throughout the greater Washington DC area has slumped. Minimal solace may be had knowing that DC is faring better than the rest of the nation, but even within DC some pockets seem destined to be condemned to all bust and no boom. Case in point: lower Georgia Avenue.

Despite much virtual ink being spilled on the development potential of the southern end of Georgia Avenue, the potential seems lost, as projects big and small fail to start. The same could once be said of the street's more northern leg, but thanks to recent projects like CVS (pictured, right), the District's RFPs and of course Chris Donatelli, Chris Donatelli and Chris Donatelli, the atmosphere is finally changing. But not to the south.

Park Morton and Howard Town Center are supposed to breathe life into the moribund boulevard, but neither project has begun. In fairness, Park Morton was only awarded in October 2009, though the timeline is still fuzzy and the District's budget to assist such projects is tight. The District's attempt to turn the Bruce Monroe school into a mixed-use project has failed, despite an RFP and ceremonial demolition. Even smaller renovations appear non-existent, with streetfront stores a window to DC's past.

For-sale lots sit vacant. The owner of a lot at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Kenyon Street in NW, is looking to sell his land and plans for $1.4 million. The property had been in the hands of Carthage Development, which asked $3m for the land and plans. 3205 Georgia Avenue LLC then purchased the lots in 2007 for a combined total of $1.4 million, but over two years of interest payments later, planning for a mixed-use project left the owner with construction permits in hand, but no construction. Designs call for a 21,000 s.f., five-story, matter-of-right development with retail, second floor office space and 18 residential units on the third through fifth floors in a building designed by Maiden and Associates.

Just to the south at Hobart Street, another vacant block long sported a for-sale sign until Howard University sold the lots in November to 2910 Georgia Ave LLC for $560,000. Now permits have been filed for a 22-unit four-story residential building with 11 parking spaces. As far as permitting goes, the project is on track, though the status of financing is always a guessing game.

Slightly to the north is another planned residential development, The Heights, which sits at 3232 Georgia Avenue, just down the street from the planned development at Park Morton. Despite inklings that project partners Neighborhood Development Company and non-profit developer, Mi Casa, Inc., were looking for a general contractor to begin construction this spring, work has yet to begin. The new, six-story, almost 86,000 s.f. project is among the more promising in the area.

In a neighborhood with so many potential projects, something may yet give, and the start of one large projects may be the shot heard round the city. But for now, long, hard fought battles for each development will be the way of lower Georgia Avenue.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Justice Park Showdown

Four development groups are vying for the opportunity build new residential on the site of the former Justice Park, a 12,000 s.f. parcel at 1421 Euclid Street N.W. in Columbia Heights. At an ANC meeting yesterday, teams presented their visions and their reasons to "pick me," though the plans all essentially create the same affordable residential product. As the developers compete over design, community benefits and financing capabilities, one group has less-than-subtly accused the rest of making empty promises. Though that sounds a lot like hot air, it gets to the core of an issue raised by our readers in response to DCMud articles on recent RFP awards and the opaque selection process for winning projects. It will be interesting to see if such a message resonates with the community and if it effects a change in the selection process in the Mayor's office. We're doubtful.

The Argos Group/Potomac Investment Partners joined forces with Sorg Architects and Ellisdale Construction to present a condo building with 34 units, 12 of which will be affordable. The futuristic, Jetson-like glass design will be built to LEED standards and offer 40 parking spaces. The team boasted local credentials and a relationship with the Fraternal Order of Police; we don't know what that has to do with getting the bid but it sounds impressive doesn't it? In the 30-slide presentation, the group did not discuss how the project would be financed, save for one bullet point, on the 29th slide, citing "financial capabilities." Hmm, doesn't quite ooze confidence.

Next up is the Euclid Community Partners, comprised of Dantes Partners, Perdomo Group and Capitol Construction Enterprises. The group proposes 37 units - all affordable rentals - for households earning at or below $60,000 a year. The spin for Euclid was that there are plenty of available luxury condos for high-earners nearby, but not enough workforce housing; they are filling a need in the community. The development team also boasts an available, self-financed $550,000 pre-development budget, claiming that the project would not require District funding. Now that's something to give pause. Dantes had luck on another RFP recently as part of the West End Development project team.

Now, for the self-proclaimed heavy hitter: Mosaic Urban Partners, Bogdan Builders and Bonstra Haresign Architects. The team promoted plans for their "Justicia" (ick, try again), a 27-unit, four story residential building with 8 "income restricted homeownership units." The Justicia team tried to rattle the competition in a two-fold strategy. First, by raising concerns about other groups' abilities to finance and deliver on projects, especially in these tough economic times. Bogdan claims they have abilities, pointing to their Logan Station project, which finished sales in 2009 - a tricky point, since they actually finished build-out in 2007, well before construction financing dried up. Mosaic also argued that a smaller project, like theirs, does not require any zoning approval and is therefore a better bet than one that does. Fair enough, though the competing designs could gain ANC support and probably will not make too many waves during zoning review.

Finally, the Neighborhood Development Company (NDC), with partners Hamel Builders and PGN Architects, propose a 39-unit, 5-story condo building. The project would offer 12 of the units as affordable and boast LEED Silver design elements. The only team to give a timeline, the NDC team indicated the project would require a zoning change, meaning the building would likely deliver during the first half of 2013. NDC has delivered projects like The Residences at Georgia Avenue during the financing crunch, though the team did not indicate whether or not it would require District funding.

According to the timeline on the website for the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, a winner should be announced this month.

Washington DC real estate development news


Correction: The developers pointed out to DCMud that though the Logan Station project finished in 2007, their Cityscape on Belmont project was financed and sold out during the crunch. 

CityVista

CityVista Condos, 475 K St., NW, Washington DC
CityVista Apartments, 460 L St., NW, Washington DC

The CityVista complex in Mt. Vernon Triangle is comprised of 3 separate buildings: the "L" at City Vista with 149 condominiums, the K at CityVista with 292 condominiums, and the "V" with 244 apartments, which completed and began renting in Q3 2008. The K is 12 stories high with underground parking, with 59 subsidized condos. The L is slightly smaller, taking up 134,000 s.f. with 119 market rate and 30 low-income units. The project was built on the site of the former wax museum, in an area that still struggles with many underutilized lots that had offered promising development.

CityVista features 110,000 s.f. of retail - an "urban" Safeway with banking and dry-cleaning services, hardware store and Results gym. Building amenities include rooftop terraces and pool, a one-acre private elevated interior plaza, and underground parking. Developed by a group led by Lowe Enterprises, and by L.A.-based CIM, Bundy Development, and NDC, with land acquired from now-defunct NCRC. Architectural design was by Torti Gallas of Silver Spring and Michael Marshall, construction by James Davis Construction Company. Groundreaking occurred in May, 2006; sales, by Mayhood, began late 2005. Occupancy began in September, 2007 with delivery of the first units at the L, completion of the entire development was in late 2008. Condo prices started in the mid $300's for one-bedroom condos, mid-$400's for two-bedroom condos.

Post your comments about CityVista below:

District Council Hands Out Tax Breaks to Developers

Today, the District of Columbia Council approved three bills that would exempt several developers from property taxes throughout the city, with one exemption lasting indefinitely. Yup. Indefinitely. Councilmembers were handing out tax abatements like candy at a parade to Affordable Housing Opportunities Inc., Neighborhood Development Company, and Donatelli Development. The tax abatements come in exchange for residential developments that provide housing at affordable levels in communities ranging from Georgia Avenue to Columbia Heights, Congress Heights to Naylor Road. Though abatements are often offered as a preemptive tool to encourage affordable housing, the Donatelli project delivered last July; the abatement in this case softens the blow of a major condo development that turned rental when the financial headwinds were too strong.

Donatelli's Park Place, which opened atop the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro station last summer boasting 156 rental apartments and 5 rowhouses, offered 20% of the units to low-income tenants. Park Place is a $71 million, 200,000 square-foot housing and retail project. The abatement begins FY 2009 and exempts the developer from property taxes for the next 10 years and increases by 10% for the years 11 through 20 until the point at which the developer is paying full property taxes. In 20 years. Though, according to Brian DeBose, Communications Director for Councilmember Jim Graham, this is the an unusual request from Donatelli, whose projects have consistently set aside affordable housing, without any expectation of tax abatement. Graham saw fit to support the developer, a DC resident, and to "better advantage the building" during an economic downturn.

Neighborhood Development Company's The Heights on Georgia Avenue proposes to bring 69 new residential units and ground floor retail with half of the units set aside as affordable. The Georgia Avenue site was acquired by a partnership of NDC and Mi Casa Inc. – a DC-based non-profit that specializes in restoring aging properties and converting them into affordable housing. Architect Graham Parker designed the building, which will come in at a cost of approximately $25 million. The project received the vote of approval from the ANC for the zoning adjustments needed to bring in the development. The abatement for The Heights is the same as the Park Place abatement.

A bill submitted by Councilmember Marion Barry also provides indefinite tax abatement on two properties owned by Affordable Housing Opportunities Inc. (AHO), and even paying back taxes already received from FY 2008. The exempted are the former Wilson Court Apartments at 523-525 Mellon Street SE, purchased in 2008 for $1.5 million, and 2765 Naylor Road in SE, which the developer purchased in July 2008 for $2.8 million. Nelson Architects designed the renovations for both buildings. Plans for the former property include 36 single room units and 15 efficiencies, including two for on-site staff. The units will be made available to special needs single adults all with initial incomes at or below 30 to 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI). Neighbors have objected strongly to the proposed use, but Troy Swan of SOME indicated the project plans may change since the Mellon Street project did not receive any Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). The latter AHO property on Naylor Road will include 40 units at or below 60% AMI and received a LIHTC award from the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) in August.


The approval of AHO's abatement for Naylor Road and Mellon Street comes despite a June letter from Natwar M. Gandhi, the District's Chief Financial Officer, stating funds are "not sufficient in the FY 2009 budget or the proposed FY 2010 through FY 2013 budget" indicating the total negative fiscal impact through FY 2013 would total $383,700. Though abatement bill also includes an amendment that would supposedly offset the cost of the lost taxes through parking meters.


Washington, DC real estate and development news.

Image of 523 Mellon Street SE Courtesy of South East Socialite.

District Announces Contenders for Downtown School Redevelopment

In their second announcement in as many weeks, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Planning has revealed the teams vying for redevelopment of a DC public school – this time for Thaddeus Stevens Elementary School at 1050 21^st Street, NW. The school was "the first modern school in the District built for African-American students,” is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was the last DC public school to host a First Child when Amy Carter attended in the 1970's. Much like last week’s announcement of competitors for the Hine Junior High School site near Eastern Market, ODMPED says the proposals they’ve received include "various combinations of new housing, office space, hotels and neighborhood-serving retail" for the surrounding K Street/Foggy Bottom area.
The Stevens project has only seen three would-be development teams: Peebles Development LLC/The Walker Group; the Moddie Turay Company; and, lastly,the Neighborhood Development Company, in partnership with Equity Residential (which also has a bid in for the Eastern Market school) remain in contention. After initially soliciting the project in late 2008, the Deputy Mayor’s office has apparently knocked two-thirds of the responsive developers – including the Capitol Hill BID, Akridge and Donohoe Development – out of contention. 

"[The final] three teams have presented some interesting ideas and demonstrated the capacity to get the project done,” said newly minted City Administrator Neil Albert via press release.  The three teams and ODMPED reps will be on-hand to present their competing plans at a community meeting on June 11th. The forum will be held at the Francis-Stevens Education Campus at 2425 N Street, NW and begin at 6:30 pm.

Residences Open for Business on Georgia Ave.

The Neighborhood Development Company (NDC) officially cut the ribbon today on Petworth's newest residential project: the Residences at Georgia Avenue. With mortgage interest rates hitting an all time low, and condo prices having dipped, homes may be more affordable than ever; nonetheless, with Mayor Adrian Fenty on hand today, the developer celebrated the $28 million building at 4100 Georgia Avenue, NW, 72-units of affordable housing and a new Yes! Organic grocery store, scheduled to open this coming summer.

"This project is a perfect example of how we can leverage our resources to both greatly improve the vitality of Georgia Avenue and provide residents with the kind of high quality and convenient neighborhood amenities they both expect and deserve," said Fenty.

The District's Department of Housing and Community Development and Housing Finance Agency cumulatively contributed almost $20 million towards the project; NDC will also receive more than half a million dollars in tax incremental financing from the city for their next scheduled project, The Heights on Georgia Avenue. DCmud recently discussed NDC’s upcoming slate with founder and CEO, Adrian G. Washington in a recent interview.

Industry Insight: Adrian G. Washington of the Neighborhood Development Company

As the founder and CEO of the Neighborhood Development Company (NDC), Adrian G. Washington has overseen numerous development initiatives in the District with a primary focus on boutique condominiums and affordable housing in Columbia Heights and along a resurgent Georgia Avenue corridor. In between working on a current slate of projects that includes the Residences at Georgia Avenue, the Heights on Georgia Avenue and a proposal for the mixed-income redevelopment of the Park Morton public housing complex, Mr. Washington spoke with DCmud about the state of development in the District of Columbia, the challenges of affordable housing and what the future of the residential market. 

Can you give us an overview of the company? 

I’ve been doing this for about twenty years. I started out as basic as it gets - rehabbing brownstones – and moved up from there. Then, I worked for a big corporate real estate company called the National Housing Partnership and we did a lot of affordable housing stuff. I started NDC about ten years ago by doing really the same sorts of things – rehabbing brownstones. By the next year, we were doing 4-unit buildings, then 10-unit buildings and it sort of just got bigger and bigger. It really kind of took off about five years ago. I brought in my partner here and a couple of junior partners, a couple of vice presidents who really brought it up to a professional level. We started doing bigger projects. We were lucky to be on teams that got selected to do CityVista and the old Convention Center site, now called City Center. We really kind of rode the condo boom when it was hot; we had a lot of really cool boutique projects. So it started out focusing on Columbia Heights because we’re always emerging neighborhood focused. When Columbia Heights became more established, we sort of shifted it. So for our last projects, we’ve done a lot of stuff up and down Georgia Avenue – projects like the Lofts at Brightwood and Lamont Street Lofts. We’ve also done some affordable rental projects like the Residences at Georgia Avenue. As the economy shifted, we started doing more affordable rental projects. Our Heights at Georgia Avenue project will be almost like a sister project – same size, same kind of concept with affordable housing on top and retail on the ground floor. Then we proposed on the Park Morton site and we’ll also be proposing on two of the DC school sites. We’ve teamed with EYA on the Hines School site and with Equity Residential on the Stevens School site. 

Indeed, most of your new construction seems to be focused on Georgia Avenue.  Are you still bullish on the area? 

We hope so. We like it. We’re headquartered here and I live about five minutes away. We’ve always been focused on this area and we just saw it as the next “cool neighborhood.” You have Columbia Heights to the east and with Georgia being a Great Street, the city’s been really interested in what we’re doing and certainly helped out on a lot of things. We’ll be coordinating with them for some of the infrastructure improvements with Great Streets. It’s a really great transportation corridor. It’s got some good parcels that are available and, particularly at the start, there were some great industrial buildings that you could convert to lofts. There's not as much now, but it’s a great area and we kind of adopted it as our backyard. We really wanted to be focused on particular neighborhoods, which is where we are. 

How does the current state of the market affect a company that’s primarily focused on affordable housing? 

I think it’s been good and bad. When things started getting tougher, most people - me included – said affordable housing financing is not going to be affected by the credit crisis. Well, in fact, it has. The most popular mechanism for financing affordable housing is the low income housing tax credit, where essentially you get credits that allow companies to reduce their taxes. Well, a lot fewer companies have taxable gains these days, so the market for that – while it hasn’t crashed – has declined considerably. Also, the District a lot of times provided gap financing. A lot of that comes from the Housing Production Trust Fund that is funded by sale and recordation taxes. At the same time, the gaps have gotten bigger because construction costs went up and land values went up. The District used to be fairly flush and now they’re pretty tight. That’s been a little challenging, but the good thing is that the demand is still there. Land prices are starting to retract a little bit and construction costs are starting to mitigate. So it’s much tougher, just like private development is much tougher. But I think DC is really strong market with basic fundamentals like what you can rent things for and demand. I really haven’t seen things as bad yet as I read in the papers and I’m optimistic because demand for things like condos and rentals really haven’t declined as much as the headlines suggest. 

One crucial element of development is retail. CityVista, of course, has a Safeway and your newly completed building, the Residences at Georgia Avenue, is planned to include a Yes! Organic Market. How do you go about making neighborhoods once thought undesirable attractive to retailers?

Those were two very different cases. In terms of CityVista, Safeway was part of the team right from the beginning. Actually, before we became part of the team, Safeway and Lowe Enterprises, our partners, were already linked to that project. Safeway saw it as a great place to put a new urban model Safeway. The thing with Yes! Organic is that we approached them very early on. We didn’t have a broker or anything. They just saw it as a great location. We had some personal connections with Gary Cha, the head of the company, and, as matter of fact, he liked it much that he wanted to buy it because he saw the potential of the neighborhood and said, “I want to get in on the ground floor.” That’s how we’ve done it. We had the Meridian Restaurant at our Lofts at Brightwood project and it was the same type of thing – a really entrepreneurial retailer that was willing to take a chance and invest in the neighborhood in the same way we were. That’s how we traditionally work – not through brokerage channels, but with retailers who’ve really gotten it and want to get in early on a project and help design the project to meet their specifications. It sort of goes together. 

At this point, it’s safe to say that CityVista has been a success, while other projects in the immediate area have stumbled. What would you chalk that up to? 

 It’s funny because we just had a case study that ULI did and they put together all the people –developers, contractors, lawyers and architects. One of the things that we talked about was doing a true mixed-use project – some condos, some apartments and retail. It’s really hard from a construction standpoint, from a legal standpoint, from an architectural standpoint, but if you get right and you get the right mix…synergy is a corny term, but it really applies to this. We got this great Safeway, we got Busboys and Poets and we have a real mix of retailers at the base, all of which people really want. These kind of lifestyle-type things help it be a place where people really want to be. NoMa is still kind of an emerging neighborhood and people want to feel like they have a sense of community – a place where they can live, they go downstairs to shop, they can go out to eat, they can go to go the gym. And not just a little in-house gym, but a really cool gym like Results. It’s a really cool place and what we’ve seen is that it’s drawn people from all over. You think it would be people who live in different parts of DC, but we have people from Prince George’s County and Virginia. It’s just been a nice sort of synergy and I think the rental component energizes the condo component and the condo component energizes the retail component and vice versa. And I think it’s priced right. It’s not entry-level pricing, but it’s not super-luxury pricing either and a lot of people can afford it. We knew we were going to sell like that.

NDC has a record of vying for some prominent District issued RFPs, including Park Morton, CityVista and 5th and I. How would you characterize your relationship with the Fenty administration and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development? 

I’m not an insider or anything, but I value and appreciate what they’re doing and I’d like to think that they feel the same about us. I feel that our goals converge. They’re interested in developing Georgia Avenue and we are too. They’re interested in promoting local businesses and I live in the city, I work in the city and I hire people in the city. It’s matter of being on the same page and understanding their challenges. For me, having been inside the government at one time, I understand what it’s like to be on the other side of the table - the challenges that you have from a political perspective and from a legal perspective. A lot of times, you go through these long agreements with people and can seem like, “Why are they asking for that? It makes no sense.” Having been on the other side of the table, I understand that they have to get certain things through certain offices and fiscal years and so on. Having spent a bit of time in their shoes helps me understand what their hot buttons are and what’s important. That helps the negotiation process. The important thing is that we share the same goals. We want improve neighborhoods. We want to work with the community. Like most developers, we feel that we have to reflect what’s going on and what people are looking for. 

Are there any details that you can share about your proposal for the redevelopment of Park Morton? 

The first thing that I really want to emphasize is that we’ve teamed with a really great partner. They're called Community Builders. They’re Boston-based, but they have a DC office. They’re really the leading non-profit developer in the country. They’ve done over 20,000 units in terms of projects. They really specialize in these sorts of difficult public housing transformations. They have a great human capital program and do things like job training, education and public safety – things that affordable housing demands. Our team, with our local knowledge and our skill, is a great combination. Essentially, we stuck pretty close to the plan that was developed when we were part of the task force that designed the original Park Morton plan that was in the RFP submission. They’re looking for a three-phase plan – roughly a third, a third, a third - that will provide homes for all the current people who are there and then mix them up with moderate income and market rate. It’s, give or take, 500 units of housing. We’ll be demolishing this area [along Park Road] for Phase I and building a total of 195 units. We’ll have [a separate] building dedicated to senior citizens and mixed-income units. Prior to demolition, we would provide for the relocation of families that are in there now and put them in units in and around the area, so they could stay in the neighborhood. We’d then demolish the [second area along Morton Street] and move people into the first phase, along with new people from outside the community and build another roughly 250 units. Then, finally the third [along Lamont Street] would be building condominiums. By that point, we think the neighborhood will have improved, the market will have improved and that it would a great place to do a condominium building. 

Many owners of undeveloped property are now caught between inability to get financing and maturity default. How is NDC positioned to make it through the next two or so years? 

I think we’re well positioned. We’re either lucky or smart. I’m happy to take either one. We’ve done condo projects over the years and about two years ago, we began to sort of feel something in the air. Four years ago, if you built something, people were lining up. As far as two years ago, things began to slow down and we decided to decrease our exposure to condos. We did a couple of projects, but they were very value priced and we were able to sell out of those. Right now, we have zero exposure to condos. Our project across the street, the Residences at Georgia Avenue, is a moderate income rental. We’re in lease up now and we’re getting tons of responses, so we feel very good about how that project is going to perform. The Heights on Georgia Avenue that’s basically across the street from Park Morton, we just got through with PUD and we’re just looking for financing now. Again, we think we’ve created a product that’s moderately priced and we’re pretty optimistic that we’ll get financing for that. We think that we’re in a very good place. We’re lucky to be part of CityVista that, amidst all the problems, is performing well. We’re well-positioned and I think it’s a great time to be a developer. A lot of newcomers and weaker competitors will be going away. It’s more challenging – you need more creativity – but that’s kind of cool.  

Is it possible to be profitable selling new construction there in this environment? 

I think so. It has to be the right place and the right design. And one of the really crazy but cool things is that things change so quickly. Our focus has been on the kind of building - it’s called podium style - that has first floor retail with four or five stories of residential above it. It’s a stick-built product. What happened in the last few years is that the delta between concrete buildings and stick-built really expanded. This was kind of a nice sweet spot in terms of building a building that’s six-stories high, but the cost per square foot was a lot lower. That was the threshold and, if you wanted to go any higher than that, you’d have to go with concrete. We really looked at this as model for the Heights and Park Morton and we’ve seen prices for this come down. What we don’t know is if concrete construction is going to come back down and become much more competitive. You’ve got to moderate, just from a supply and demand perspective – not just in the US, but around the world. A lot of stuff is clearly not going to get built. Commodity prices, concrete construction, oil and gas, steel – all that’s come down and the demand for labor has come down as well. 

Do you see NDC starting any market-rate condominium projects in the near future? 

Oh yeah, absolutely. Whether you’re condo or rental, I think that DC is great place to live. I think in terms of a competitive advantage, with the new administration and the Stimulus Package, that the city is becoming more in demand. I liked the city before the market went down and I like it even more now. I think that supply and demand is going to come back into balance. We’re seeing things like the month’s inventory start to come down. Real estate is cyclical. We had a particularly strong up cycle and now we’ve had a particularly strong down cycle, but it’s going to come back. Just in terms of how long it takes to do things, if you look at the demand, I think the trade-up buyer has kind of decreased a little bit and speculative investment buyer has gone away completely. But that first-time buyer and the price point from three to five hundred thousand has pretty much stayed there. But nothing’s getting built. Nobody, for any kind of project of any significant size, is starting. There’s nothing in the pipeline now and the way these projects work is that if you’re not in the pipeline now, you’re not going to deliver for at least three years – more like four or five. As the economy straightens itself out and demand is solid and starts to increase, the supply is going to be way low. Things that will be delivering in two, three or four years, I think there will be a great market for. We could easily do a boutique building of under a hundred units in that time frame. I’m really bullish on that.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

The Residences Delivering on Georgia Avenue

The Neighborhood Development Company’s Residences at Georgia Avenue just finished construction, thanks to Hamel Builders. The 72-unit "affordable" apartment building sits in the heart of Petworth at 4100 Georgia Avenue, NW.

Financed by $28 million from a laundry list of contributors, including the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency, the District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development, the Wachovia Affordable Housing Community Development Corporation and MMA Financial, NDC founder Adrian Washington says, “The Residences is a shining example of what can be accomplished when the private sector works hand in hand with the community and the District government to move neighborhoods forward.” The project was designed by local architects, Wiencek and Associates.

The project, which broke ground in September 2007, will also be home to the District’s second Yes! Organic Market in as many years (the first opened at PN Hoffman’s Union Row development in November). The new, 10,000 square foot Yes! - Petworth’s first boutique grocer – will open this coming summer following completion of its own independent, interior build-out.

In the meantime, the Residences at Georgia itself will become an official addition to the Georgia Avenue corridor after a ribbon-cutting ceremony – to be attended by Mayor Adrian Fenty and Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser - on March 31^st at 10:30 AM.

Washington DC real estate development news

Prospects Announced for Park Morton

Following last summer's Request for Proposals, Deputy Mayor Neil Albert has announced the three development teams contending for the $170 million redevelopment of the Park Morton housing project in Northwest Washington. Per the specifications of the RFP, all three are vying to reinvent the troubled public housing complex with more than 500 new units of affordable and market-rate housing and 10,000 square foot park.

The teams named by Albert are the Park Morton Partners (Pennrose Properties, LLC, FM Atlantic, LLC, and Harrison Adaoha, LLC); another Park Morton Partners (Neighborhood Development Company and Community Builders, Inc.); and, lastly, Park View Partners (Landex Corp., Warrenton Group and Spectrum Management).

"We need a partner that [is] capable of more than just building housing,” said Albert in a prepared statement. “We are looking for someone who is committed to building a healthier, safer new community. This response, especially in light of the current economic conditions, speaks volumes about the value of this opportunity.”

The Park Morton project was greenlighted under the of the New Communities initiative – a District-led program to transform blighted public housing complexes into “mixed-use, mixed-income communities." Other such developments targeted for redevelopment by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (ODMPED) include the long-gestating Northwest One, Barry Farm and the Lincoln Heights/Richardson Dwellings in Northeast.

According ODMPED, the bidding development teams will make public presentations regarding this plans for Park Morton at an unscheduled time “later this spring.”