"Home Again" Hones in on LeDroit Park

Seven years and a new mayor later, the Vacant and Abandoned Housing Initiative is still flush with properties for redevelopment. Established by former Mayor Anthony Williams in 2002, the initiative – better known to the public as “Home Again” – was tasked with converting “vacant and abandoned buildings into quality, affordable homes.” Now, two years after being awarded a bundle of unoccupied LeDroit Park properties, aptly-titled DC developer, the Neighborhood Development Company (NDC), is gearing up to begin work on the first installment of their “Home Again” redevelopment projects at 1915 6^th Street, NW.

Currently a vacant lot straddled by several historic LeDroit Park homes, NDC is aiming to reinvigorate the long vacant parcel with a new three-story “historicist” condominium development. Designed by PGN Architects, the building will outwardly appear to be a brick townhouse with “a rusticated base, precast accents and wood windows” and measure in at 1,300 square feet. The project is currently scheduled to begin construction in July 2009 - after missing the mark last September. NDC previously accrued the approval of both the LeDroit Park Civic Association and Historic Preservation Review Board in summer of 2008.

Diminutive though it may be, the 1915 6^th project is just the first of ten “Home Again” properties under the control of NDC; next up for development will be duel derelict structures, just outside of LeDroit proper, at 902 and 904 T Street, NW. In all, NDC plans to squeeze 22 units – 4 of which of will be priced at affordable housing rates – out of their LeDroit Park lemons.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

"Affordable Luxury" Coming to Southeast DC

With a style they're labeling "affordable luxury," M&A Development and the Neighborhood Development Company are bringing 15 new condo units to 1751-1759 W Street, SE. The development is being marketed with some flair, such as the third dubbed "Fab Five” units – affordable apartments reserved for the "income restricted" - "once in a lifetime" prices that start at $104,900. (Maybe true if you were born after 2003, anyway.)

Coming in with 2, 3 or 4-bedroom floorplans, development at the W Street Condos will be divided between adjoining rowhouses, backed with 21 parking spaces, and surrounded by what the development team describes as "secure, gated landscaped grounds." Sizes of the 3 and 4-bedroom units is said to surpass 1,800 square feet, while residents are expected to benefit from the development’s lack of through traffic.

Uniquely, the homes are modular, built and assembled off-site, then inserted into their respective building’s frame. Although originally intended to open for business in fall of this year, NDC is now projecting a second quarter 2009 completion date for the new condos.

Like some other small scale projects underway in the burgeoning community, the W Street Condos are already touting their close proximity to major Southeast redevelopment initiatives in the offing. The W Street Condos press packet lists no less than 13 projects in "Anacostia and Congress Heights" that it reassuringly directs attention towards – none of which have have yet moved beyond the initial planning stages but which, nevertheless, may someday actually occur. These include the redevelopment of St. Elizabeths East, the Poplar Point Soccer Stadium, the Anacostia streetcar line and the Anacostia Gateway. We hope they do. Axis

Project Taken to New Heights on Georgia Avenue

Like a snowball rolling downhill, the number of residential developments on Georgia Avenue is getting bigger by the minute. The latest project on the boards is The Heights at Georgia Avenue by the Neighborhood Development Company (NDC) - a 100,000 square foot mixed-use building that will feature 100% affordable housing. Besides adding 69 new apartments to the Petworth real estate market, the project at the intersection of Georgia Avenue & Lamont Street NW will also add roughly 10,000 square feet of retail to the mix. The developer is currently engaged in talks with a hardware retailer about the site and hopes have a sit-down restaurant in place when The Heights opens its doors in early 2011.

The Heights' all-affordable status has put it in a unique position with the District of Columbia. This week, Councilmember Jim Graham will introduce a bill before the City Council that aims to grant the project an exemption from property taxes for the next 40 years - provided it maintains an at least 50% margin of affordable housing in that time. The proposal should be voted upon sometime this fall.

NDC president Adrian G. Washington told DC Mud that ANC approval for The Heights at Georgia is forthcoming. “We’ve met with the ANC on several occasions and gotten a letter of support from the single-member district commissioner…We’re actually going tomorrow and we hope they will formally approve it.”

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. The Heights will be their second brand-new new construction project (the first being the Rittenhouse Project in Brightwood). The building is being designed by architect Graham Parker and will come in at a cost of approximately $25 million. Construction is slated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The Heights is only one of numerous projects currently in development in the Petworth neighborhood. Up the street at 4136 Georgia, Formant Development's proposed 57-unit, 7 story condominium tower is still scheduled to go to ground in 2009. Meanwhile, Donatelli Development’s Park Place is currently under construction and their proposed project across the street at 3801 Georgia recently issued a BID to contractors. These twin projects are joined by the massive redevelopment just up the street of the Park Morton public housing complex.

UPDATE: The Heights at Georgia Avenue's final address has been confirmed as 3232 Georgia Avenue NW - across the street from the NDC's Lamont Lofts project that was completed in 2005.

Washington D.C. real estate development

District Announces Developer Submissions for Mt. Vernon

The District announced Tuesday that its solicitation to develop a vacant half-acre site at Fifth and Eye streets (I Street, to purists), NW, in Mt. Vernon Triangle, grabbed the attention of seven developers. Deputy Mayor Neil O. Albert announced the names of the development teams that responded to the January Request for Proposal; bids were due March 7.

The District received proposals from Buccini/Pollin Group; Clark Realty Capital (which recently won the Poplar Point bid); Donohoe Development Co and Holland Development Group; JBG Cos.; MVT Associates, LLC; NDC-Jarvis; and Potomac Investment Properties, Inc.

"This is really one of the last sites left in the Mount Vernon Triangle," Albert said, speaking of the lot that will almost certainly have competition nearby, as several developments have been announced in the immediate vicinity. "This neighborhood has basically sprung up overnight and this site presents a great opportunity to add some dynamic uses to better serve the existing community and the new mix of office, retail and housing." The site will have the advantage of high visibility on Massachusetts Avenue, making it a dream at least for the marketers.

Proposals for the site include high-end retail such as hotels, restaurants, cafes, fitness clubs, spas and live entertainment venues. Some also included a residential aspect with apartments and condominiums (didn't they get the word that no one would finance condos?), which would include 30% affordable housing, according to the District's rules. Each plan featured underground parking with 100-plus spaces.

NDC-Jarvis proposed building a luxury boutique hotel connected to upscale condominiums (see rendering below), with the pair sharing concierge services and amenities. Proposed retail included a small home furnishings store, an upscale restaurant to serve the hotel and neighborhood. A small jazz performance venue would also be on the site.

"I think we are very invested in this neighborhood," said Adrian Washington, Principal with NDC, and former Anacostia Waterfront Commission frontman, whose current company has performed a number of apartment renovations and conversions throughout DC. "I think our proposal would be a great addition to neighborhood. It's the type of development that is not in the neighborhood right now. It is a boutique, high-end, architecturally distinctive project. And the restaurant would be a great addition to the neighborhood."

Robert Holland of Holland Development Group, co-developer with Donohoe Development Co., said their design would include a Shalom Baranes-designed hotel. "As far as I know, many of the developers were proposing hotel/apartments, a mixed-use development, with some local neighborhood retail," Holland said. "Our difference is that we have identified a Spanish hotel chain to go in there, along with a 10,000-s.f. restaurant jazz venue. It's a London-based established jazz club, not a big commercial destination jazz club, but more local, with very excellent food. It should be a great a compliment to the neighborhood."

Mount Vernon Triangle spans 15 blocks over 30 acres, and already includes more than four million square feet of development, such as CityVista, which is well into the back nine of its 441-unit condo project next door.

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development will study the proposals over the next few weeks and will schedule a public meeting for the community to hear presentations from each of the development teams.

Washington DC real estate development news

Petworth Project Gets Nod

A Washington DC Council committee this week gave an approval to a project in the 4100 block of Georgia Avenue by allowing closure of the alley between Georgia Ave., Kansas Ave., and Taylor St. The local ANC has already given its approval for the Neighborhood Development Corp (NDC) to construct a mixed-use rental development just north of the Petworth Metro, expected to contain 72 affordable apartments, with construction to start this Fall (artist's rendering of building is pictured). Included will be 10,500 square feet of retail and 57 underground parking spaces. The Petworth construction boom comes as nearby condo projects Park Place (completion in 2008) prepares to start sales shortly, and as Georgia Avenue readies for a new rapid transit bus running from Silver Spring to the National Archives. The novel rapid transit will operate new 40- foot buses beginning the end of September, reducing the number of stops from 54 to 14, and will be equipped with an emitter that lengthens the timing of green lights to allow the bus to pass through.