Bryant Street - Rhode Island Avenue

Directly across the street from the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station, local developer MRP Realty is in the process of building what will be a 7-building, 13-acre project, one that will ultimately comprise 1.5m s.f. of residential development and 272,000 s.f. of retail.  The project is replacing a smattering of industrial and big box retail uses, but will nonetheless create a net gain in retail space once complete. The current phase will deliver 487 residential units and 47,000 s.f. of retail, including a 9-screen Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, all designed by SK&I Architecture.  One of the central features will be a retail-activated plaza oriented to the Metropolitan Branch Trail, connected to the adjacent Metro station via a new pedestrian bridge.

The project will be the first major project on the Rhode Island Avenue corridor since the completion of Rhode Island Row in 2012, despite serious attempts over the past two decades to build more density along the artery, attempts that began in earnest in 2009 with the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development calling for $1.2 billion in investment on a 3-mile section of Rhode Island Avenue.

click photo for image gallery

Project:  Bryant Street

Address:   600 Rhode Island Avenue, NE, Washington DC

Developer: MRP Realty

Architect:  SK&I Architecture

Construction:  CBG

Expected Completion:  Rolling completion with first deliveries scheduled for late 2020

Prior to construction

Washington DC retail and real estate development news

Abdo Envisions Condos for Empty Rhode Island Avenue Lot

You could call it a vindication. Or you could simply say the market finally changed.

Either way, Jim Abdo says he’s got revamped plans for the property he owns at 1427 and 1429 Rhode Island Avenue NW, the only vacant lot on that block and one of the few left in the neighborhood. The Logan Circle-based developer had been planning on erecting a 70-something unit apartment building there, but ran into opposition from neighbors due to its size. As of this past February, he had backed off from the project entirely.

The lot as it currently appears

Now he says he’s got new plans for the lot, which backs up to the P Street Whole Foods Market. Due to a steadily improving housing market and the increased availability of financing for condo construction, Abdo has returned to the plan he says he’d initially envisioned for the property before the economy tanked: a high-end condo building containing just a few units.

“My vision has always been a boutique building with a small number of units,” explained Abdo. “And every day and month I wait, the market comes back in my favor to do what I want. We think it’s a win-win for everyone, and it’s what the neighborhood will embrace.”

Abdo didn’t provide many details about what he has in mind, as the project hasn’t gone far beyond the basic concept stage. But he says he’s imagining a 90-foot high building that contains nine or ten units, each taking up an entire floor and potentially reached by elevators that open directly into the units.

That’s a big difference from the property’s previous iteration, which was an eight-story rental building conceived of at a time when condo financing was almost nonexistent. Although the design earned approvals from the Historic Preservation Review Board, neighbors objected to its density and Abdo eventually withdrew his plans.

The lot with its prior structures, which were knocked down in 2007

“I said, ‘Let’s revisit this thing,’” he explained.

Nothing’s happening anytime soon. The developer, who bought the property in 2001, says the company probably won’t start moving on the project until 2014. At that point, in-house architects will begin putting together design ideas and he’ll reach out to HPRB and the community.

It’s not like the firm doesn’t have enough going on as it is. Besides projects in Brookland and Arlington, Abdo is also planning to develop a spot a few dozen feet to the east: 1400 14th Street, a corner lot at the intersection of 14th Street and Rhode Island Avenue that currently includes a Caribou Coffee and Abdo’s own office (and next to the DCMud office). That project—a six-story building to include ground floor retail, one floor of offices, and some 30 residences—received HPRB approval a couple of months ago. Groundbreaking is set for next year.

That turns the block of Rhode Island between 14th and 15th streets a mini Abdo-ville. The developer owns another property on the block, and developed the two condo buildings framing the empty lot—the Zenith and the Willison—more than a decade ago.

Washington, D.C., real estate development news

Plans Presented for a New Woodridge Library

Despite its intense building spree over the past couple of years, the DC Public Library system isn’t quite finished. A final big project included in the budget for the city’s rebuilding of existing libraries is a redo of the Woodridge Library, located on Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast DC. On Monday night, architects Bing Thom and Wienceck + Associates met with local residents to introduce the new plans, which showed a three-story building with a roof deck, windows overlooking nearby Langdon Park, and a potential adjoining café.

The meeting, held at the existing library, was crowded with roughly 50 residents, according to library spokesman George Williams. Many had submitted suggestions earlier in the year for what they’d like to see in a new facility: a business center that included a fax machine, up-to-date books, more sitting areas, and better computers, lighting and restrooms.

The designs incorporated some of those hopes. While the skin of the building isn’t visible in the drawings and 3-D models, the structure is clearly airy, open and organic. From the outside, the facility’s most notable feature is its broad roof, designed to glow at night.  Internally, a series of balconies open the atmosphere, and a circular third story reading room looks out on a wide terrace largely shaded by the trellaced roof. Throughout the structure, southeastern walls are lined with windows to take advantage of the green hills of adjacent Langdon Park.

There are still lots of maybes on the table—like whether the facility will include that café, something residents throughout the city have clamored for in their libraries, but which doesn’t yet exist in any of the new structures. The architects would also like to close Hamlin Street, an east-west artery that runs just in front of the library, and create a public plaza instead. Williams said that library officials are discussing the issue with other government departments - and are also talking about how many parking spots can be accommodated on the site.

The presentation was largely well received by residents, who are by all accounts eager to see their library transform like so many others in the city. The only library within miles, the Woodridge facility is a squat, two-story brick structure built in 1958 that encompasses about 19,500 square feet. The new structure, which is fully funded at $16.5 million, would be approximately 22,500 s.f.

Library advocates and Rhode Island Avenue residents rejoiced when the architecture team was announced in April. Bing Thom, based in Canada, is responsible for the much-heralded renovated Arena Stage in Southwest, and the local Wienceck + Associates built the new Francis Gregory and Washington Highlands libraries. The Friends of Woodridge Library held a “meet and greet” to introduce Thom to the community in May, and Chief Librarian Ginnie Cooper traveled to British Columbia earlier this month to examine a library designed by Thom there.

Demolition is scheduled to begin next summer. The new library is slated to open in 2015.

Correction: The library is a two-story structure. The original post described it as having only one story.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Today in Pictures - Rhode Island Row

After years of urban planning-speak about the untapped potential of Rhode Island Avenue, many false starts notwithstanding, its first major project is now coming online. Rhode Island Row, the joint venture between A&R Development and Bethesda-based Urban Atlantic, is on the way to a September completion. The 8.5 acre, $109,000,000 project with 274 new residential units above 70,000 s.f. of retail broke ground in May of 2010, with some District help, and sits along a new and expanding bike trail, just a scoot away from bustling NoMa. Rhode Island Row - formerly Rhode Island Station - was designed by the (now defunct) Lessard Group, but switched to Lessard Design. Developers completed the first few residential units in December, and have now delivered 2 of 8 phases of the two residential buildings. 59 of the units are now open, and most of those have already been leased, according to Caroline Kenney of Urban Atlantic. "There's a seriously wide mix of people geographically and demographically," she notes, and that despite the Avenue's inglorious past, "this part of the city is finally getting to be on the map." Of course being right on the red line and bike trail is not a bad marketing hook, and the development team has capitalized with "a ton of bike storage". Kenney said she hopes to have a Capital Bikeshare location on site in the future. Retail tenants are also on the way, with CVS the first to sign on. While Kenney won't divulge names of other retailers, she says 60% of the retail is unofficially spoken for. In all, the project will have 531 parking spaces, some of which will be short term retail parking, plus the new 215-space Metro garage.

Once just a theory...

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Rhode Island Avenue Northeast: Development "Hotspot"

The corner of 4th and Rhode Island Avenue, NE, may be one of the District's least celebrated corners, but an area hitherto untapped by real estate developers, is finally getting attention. Thanks to PERS Development, a plan to remodel an abandoned 32-unit building at 329 Rhode Island Avenue NE will soon be underway, making way for "hip, boutique, luxury condominium homes." Just a few blocks east of the Rhode Island Ave - Brentwood Metro, the project will build off the local momentum of Baltimore-based A&R Development Corp's 8.5 acre, $108 million project (including 274 new residential rental units and 70,000 s.f. of ground floor retail) that broke ground this spring on the former WMATA parking lot, making the vicinity a "transit oriented developer hot spot." PERS Development is a young and ambitious team with four completed projects under their belts, and now two more in the works. All four of their finished developments have sold out, the last being Sky DC in Randall Highlands. On their four previous projects, PERS has specialized in small, moderately-priced condos. But as advertised, this endeavor seems destined to be slightly more high end than the units sold in Randall Heights for $200,000. However, while PERS President and CEO, Ramin Bassam is promising a "very, high-end boutique product," a price point between high $200,000s and $350,000 proves value also remains a priority. Marty Zupancic of Marcus & Millichap brokered the deal that sees the property travel from the reluctant hands of the previous owner Byung S. Shin of BSS Partnership to the more purposeful and enterprising hands of the developer.

The development will come as welcome news to local residents, but especially so for neighbor Steven Conn who several months ago compiled a slide show of evidence in an effort to convince DCRA that the building at 329 Rhode Island was a hindrance and hazard to the community, and therefore should be classified as "blighted." Local blogger Dan Silverman gave voice to Conn and his cause by highlighting the property with the honorable distinction of the Horse's Ass Award. The District was in the midst of designating the building as blighted and condemned only two months ago, but PERS was able to step in, usher through the necessary building improvements, and remove said designations, enabling the financing and property transaction to go through, and development plans to move forward. The top floors of the building were significantly damaged by a fire that raged in the evening hours of July 31st last summer. While the neglected building, singed, dirty, and windows boarded, is an eyesore at the moment, its proximity to the metro and its location on a highly visible island-like street corner, makes the property apparently attractive to real estate developers. In a press release, Bassam stressed that: “This project represents a great opportunity to fulfill the growing demand for luxury condominiums in the District of Columbia by delivering a high end product in an under-served submarket at a time when supply is getting tight. It has just the type of character and location that we have been looking for.”

SGA Arcitects have been contracted for the design, and initial renderings should be finalized later this week. The building will transform from a sordid blemish of a property into ultramodern, highly-wired chic condos. Each unit will be outfitted with wi-fi and iPad docking stations. Other amenities include a state-of-the-art glass-enclosed gym, a rooftop deck outfitted with a European shower, and various community lounges. Units will be planked with natural bamboo flooring. The bottom floor will reserve room for five retail tenants, an amenity that new owner Bassam says is desperately needed in the neighborhood. "A late weeknight trip to the McDonald's across the street is an at least twenty minute wait in line, there are not enough retail options at the moment," explains Bassam. The often elusive project financing of the acquisition and needed construction, normally the last piece of the development puzzle, is already in place, compliments of Bethesda-based Monument Bank.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

District to Give Money to Start Rhode Island Mixed-Use

Today the District government announced it will provide financing for development team Urban Atlantic and A&R Development Corp, meaning plans can now move forward to transform the 8.5 acre surface parking lot at the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station, one of DC's most stalled projects, into a sizable mixed-use neighborhood, Rhode Island Station. The District will provide $7.2 million in financing through a PILOT note toward the $108 million project, which will bring 274 residential rental units above 70,000 s.f. of retail in two buildings. Additional financing will come from the federal government in the form of Federal New Market Tax Credits and a traditional HUD-backed loan. Today's announcement marks a significant step toward the execution of the District's Great Streets Plan for Rhode Island Avenue.

The developers today also closed on their ground lease agreement with WMATA, which has been working with the development teams for almost a decade since Metro's initial Request for Proposal in 2001. As part of the exchange with metro, the development will provide a 215-car WMATA garage alongside the busy Rhode Island Avenue/Brentwood Metro station.


According to a release from the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development's office, the residential project will include 54 (or 20%) affordable housing units at 60% area median income. Rhode Island Station - formerly Brentwood Town Center - will also include a community center and two private parking garages for residents. Designed by Lessard Group Architects, the project will feature ground floor retail with sidewalk cafes and "heavy landscaping" along the streets.

The development team originally won final zoning approval in April 2007 and were initially scheduled to begin construction July 2008. Clearly that time line did not work out. A ground breaking is not tentatively scheduled for May of this year and construction could complete in summer of 2013, if everything goes according to plan this time around.

The surrounding area has had many plans in the works over the years, see Brookland Square for example, which have not been able to get past the planning stage.

Washington, DC real estate development news

K Street Think Tank Seeks PUD Approval for New Scott Circle HQ

Representatives of Jones Lang LaSalle and Hickok Hickok Cole Architects will head before the National Capital Planning Commission again this Thursday to discuss their Second Stage PUD application for a new Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) headquarters on one of the last empty lots in DC's Golden Triangle.

The influential DC think tank purchased the commercial parking lot at 1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW - formerly the site of a Gramercy Inn just off of Scott Circle - from Gould Properties in 2007 with the intent of constructing a new 130,000 square foot HQ to replace their aging K Street office space. Though CSIS has had to pursue $100 million plus of revenue bond funding from the District to fund the project, their purchase did come with one positive upshot. Gould had previously secured Stage I PUD approval for the site, leaving the CSIS' designated development team free to move on the project's design phase.

Since that time, Hickok's initial designs have taken a minor shave - resulting in the loss of 16,000 square feet worth of floor area and 12 of the original 90 parking spaces. At the same time, it has gained a green roof (in the hopes of achieving a LEED silver certification) and will still top out at 9-stories. CSIS' original timeline remains in place for a 2012/2013 completion. The project previously won approval from the DC Zoning Commission just last week.

With their new glass-faced HQ up and running, the former K Street defense industry influence peddlers will neighbor another prominent non-profit of a decidedly more liberal bent, the Human Rights Campaign - which should make for interesting, inside-the-Beltway bedfellows at the local Starbucks.

DC Scouts $1.2 Billion in New Development for Rhode Island Avenue

"Think of Rhode Island Avenue NE as a 'diamond' - a largely un-mined yet valuable investment opportunity."

So begins the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development's (ODMPED) Draft Rhode Island Avenue NE Economic Development Plan. Focusing on corridor's three-mile stretch through Northeast Washington, the report recommends "over $1.2 billion in new investments in housing, retail, office and public art" over the next 16 years for the surrounding communities of Brentwood, Brookland, Eckington, Edgewood, Langdon and Woodridge.

Developed under the auspices of the Mayor's Great Streets Initiative with contributions from everyone from the three local ANC 5 commissions to WMATA to the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, among many, many others, the "diamond" draft hopes to realize more than 3,000 new residential units, almost 600,000 square feet of office space and over 500,000 square feet of retail along Rhode Island Avenue by 2025 – the earliest of which could deliver by 2011. In doing so, they hope to lure residents and shoppers back from surrounding counties, in order “to capture a portion of the $1 billion in retail sales revenues (and jobs) lost each year to other jurisdictions.”

As such, the plan highlights several promising projects already in the pipeline for the corridor, though delayed “until further change in the economic market”: Mid-City Urban and A&R Development’s mixed-use, 274-unit Rhode Island Station project; the H Street CDC’s 170-unit Rhode Island Avenue Gateway; and, lastly, Republic Land’s 257-unit Brookland Square development (pictured). In total, ODMPED states there are “as many as 14 residential development projects planned or proposed…[that could] include over 13,000 residential units combined.”

Beyond merely underlining Rhode Island Avenue’s Grade-A potential for mixed-use development, the draft plan also delves into suggestions for sustainable building practices, public art installations, small business development, job creation, safety improvements and smart growth transit options – the latter of which includes a proposal for new MARC station at Eastern Avenue and Wells Street on the Prince George’s County border near Mount Rainier (though previously suggested alternatives, like a Rhode Island Avenue street car line, rapid bus transit service, or extension of Metro’s Yellow Line are no longer being considered at this time.)

As the “diamond” draft is broken down into four distinct sub-areas - 3rd to 12th Streets NE, 12th to 18th Streets NE, 18th Street to South Dakota Avenue, NE and South Dakota to Eastern Avenue, NE – residents are encouraged to peruse the recommendations made for their specific neighborhoods and submit comments to Great Streets Coordinator, Derrick Woody. ODMPED will hold an open forum to discuss the plan during the week of September 7th “to formally receive any other comments on the plan before it is finalized.”

This is the second such draft plan released by the Deputy's Mayor's office in as many months; in early May, they posted their proposed plans for redeveloping the Florida Avenue Market into "vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood."

New Shaw Library Seeks Out Stimulus Funds

Three years after it was initially scheduled for completion, work is finally underway on the long awaited Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library. And the fact that excavation is now bristling along at the Rhode Island Avenue, NW site, courtesy of Forrester Construction, isn’t the only piece of good news for Shaw bibliophiles. Officials at DC Public Libraries (DCPL) now tell DCmud that some features originally envisioned for the new library –but that had to be shelved following drastic budget cuts in 2008 – could be restored, courtesy of an application for $282,000 worth of federal stimulus funds that is currently pending with the District Department of the Environment.

"[In] the initial design, we hoped to have a vegetative green roof on the library,” said DCPL spokesman George Williams. “From the conceptual design to putting together how much it would cost to actually build the library, the vegetative green roof was a feature that initially we could not afford. With the availability of stimulus funds, we thought it would be a great opportunity to put the roof back on…It was something that the library wanted and that the community around the library wanted as well.”

Moreover, the community has been wanting any sign of progress on the new 20,000 square foot, LEED-certified, Davis Brody Bond-designed library since its’ predecessor closed in 2004. Though the project formally broke ground this past November, work at the site has only recently geared up – a slow pace, even by DC standards. Nonetheless, DCPL pledges that not only were the delays warranted, but that they’ve also found a means to keep the public updated on progress at the site.

“[We were] making sure that we had all the appropriate permits, approvals and traffic plans taken care of…I don’t believe that our end time changed and we’re looking at scheduling the new library to open in spring 2010,” said Williams.        "We are now doing excavation and foundation work. There are roughly nine milestones [during construction] and we are now on the third…We’re going to put signs up that track what those milestones are as we reach them.”

According to DCPL, the milestones they have to achieve are, in ascending order, steel work, building exterior, interior construction, interior finishes and finally move-in. The agency is putting the building’s penultimate stage of development up for public debate and will hold sessions to “check out the interior finishes and furniture choices” at the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Interim Library on June 15th from 12:00-1:00 pm, June 16th from 5:30-6:30 pm, June 17th 12:00-1:00 pm and June 18 from 5:30-6:30 pm.

Slow and Steady for Rhode Island Station

Construction will begin in July for Rhode Island Station, a 370,000 s.f. mixed-use development planned for the current Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station. The project, by Rhode Island Avenue Metro, LLC - a partnership of Mid-City Urban LLC and A&R Development - formerly known as Brentwood Town Center, won final zoning approval in April 2007, but will not finally close and begin construction until July.

Rhode Island Station will include a series of four-story buildings with three floors of residential rental apartments above one, ground floor of retail. At its completion, the project will have 274 rental apartments and 70,000 s.f. of retail space in what is now the Metro station’s parking lot.

As DCmud reported in June of last year, the developers have launched retail-leasing efforts, but have not yet announced final tenants.

“We really spent the last year permitting and finalizing. There were two approval processes to go through because it was a joint development with Metro, so it did take a bit longer,” said Caroline Kenney, a development associate for Mid-City Urban, LLC.

She added that commuters will not be inconvenienced by the construction as protected sidewalks will keep the Metro station fully accessible.






“We are currently focusing on getting to the construction,” Kenney said. “We want to give it a vibrant feel, but be pedestrian-oriented and friendly. We want it to blend into the surrounding area.”

That may be a challenge given the somewhat decrepit buildings across from the current Metro driveway. A February 2008 Ward 5 Development Report based on records from the Councilmember’s office did show eight projects within a mile of the station, including Macy Development’s Basilica Lofts, and Menkiti Group Development’s Illora Condos, but most of the new buildings are or will be on the other side of the tracks, behind the station. Given the nature of DC’s development, however, the rest of Rhode Island Ave. probably won’t be far behind.

Upon completion in July 2010, Metro users, shoppers, and residents will also have access to 400 parking spaces in the parking garage planned for the project.