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A new 17-story mixed-use project may soon grace the skyline of Bethesda now that Bainbridge Companies closed on the Monty site at 4918 St. Elmo Avenue, just blocks from the Bethesda Metro. Bainbridge had been under contract with property owner Robert Hillerson since 2008 and settled just last week. The Monty will bring 200 rental units, including 30 moderately priced dwelling units, 7,200 s.f. of retail and four levels of below-grade parking to a site currently occupied by vacant one- and two-story office and retail buildings. Bainbridge worked with Hillerson and architects SK&I to gain project approval last summer and is in the process of obtaining building permits. Demolition and excavation are said to begin this fall and the entire project should deliver in October 2012.
According to Thomas Keady, President of Development for Bainbridge, the project receive unanimous approval from the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC) and will be the first high-rise mixed-use project to be constructed under the Woodmont Sector Plan. Keady said his firm, which has projects along the east coast but is concentrated in Florida, chose the location because of its proximity to the Metro, restaurants and shops, scoring high for walkability.
Today, Anacostia's Sheridan Station development kicks off with a ground breaking for the first phase of the HOPE VI residential project. The 344 mixed-income housing units are funded in part thanks to a $20 million HOPE VI competitive grant that the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) received from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2008. Sheridan Station’s 11 acres in Anacostia are owned jointly by the DC Housing Authority and William C. Smith & Co.
Though the project was initially set to begin construction in January of this year, DCHA only recently closed on financing. Phase 1 of the 344-unit Sheridan Station, formerly Sheridan Terrace, will revolve around an initial 114 units of public housing and 69 Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) units. The 114 units will deliver in the form of a 104 unit multi-family building and 10 single-family rental units. At least 25 of the public housing units available in Phase 1 will be reserved for current Barry Farm residents. Phases 2 and 3 of the redevelopment will begin once all units in Phase 1 are filled, but the entire project is expected to be complete by 2015.
The multifamily building is registered with the US Green Building Counsel for LEED Certification Gold. Green features include a 100 KW solar photovoltaic array which provides 30% of the buildings core energy, a vegetative green roof, and an 8000 gallon rainwater retention cistern underneath the slab of the building. The building will also have a health and wellness center which will provide general family practice care for the neighborhood, provided by Core Health. Construction on the first phase is expected to be complete in December 2011.
When all three phases are complete, the 344 units will be almost double the amount of the original Sheridan Terrace - a troubled project that was torn down in 1997. As with the original Sheridan Terrace, the new-and-improved Sheridan Station will contain 183 public housing rental units. An additional 161 units will go up for sale; 117 of these will be sold at market rate and another 44 will be sold as affordable units.
As lead developer, Smith partnered with Union Temple CDC and Jackson Investment Co. to form Sheridan Terrace Redevelopment LLC. Sheridan Station will comprise a small piece of the Barry Farm/Park Chester/Wade Road redevelopment planned for Ward 8. The project was designed by Bethesda's SK&I Architects, which furnished the seven different building designs that will include landscaped green space and a pedestrian trail.
According to sources close to the project, developer Monty LLC's planned-17-story, mixed-use building, The Monty, located at St. Elmo and Fairmont Avenues in Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle, may witness development activity within the next few months. 
So if the details of the design are finalized and the site plan has been approved, does that mean building permits are on the horizon?
that planned amenities like The Monty's rooftop pool and sweeping terraces are not currently so easy to come by in Woodmont Triangle.
is understandably uneasy when it comes to speculating about potential groundbreaking dates for his Monty project.
Constitution Square, NoMa's largest mixed-use project, received a Gold ranking today from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The project was awarded an enviable Gold ranking in the LEED ND category for sustainable neighborhood development.
website, the system "integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism, and green building" into one rating. Alicia Call at HOK Architecture adds that the ND ranking "its a little bit more stringent than the other rating systems...but with a focus on community development." In short, the ranking is an endorsement of Metro-oriented, mixed-use, sustainable construction.
its current course, the planned, $2 billion Greenbelt Station development may well go down as one of the biggest - though certainly one of many - debacles of mixed-use, high-density construction in the region.Greenbelt Station is the 
brainchild of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and the late A.H. Smith Jr. whose estate still owns most of the land that hugs the beltway just south of where I-95 blends into the beltway.
It was Smith's father who first began mining the land around the (then) rail road tracks in 1916 and created the asphalt plants that supplied the I-495 portion of the Capitol Beltway the raw materials that built it.
In 1996, WMATA announced that it would be redeveloping its part of the land adjacent to the Metro. Smith Jr. approached Metro about combining their efforts and creating a ginormous, high-density, townhouse and shopping development. Lessard Architectural Group was brought in to create a site plan, showing the nuts and bolts of how the separately-owned portions of the development could link together. And with that, the ill-fated Greenbelt Development was born.
For his part of the project, Smith took on a partner, developer Daniel Colton. Together they formed GB Development to develop the South Core and, until 2007, their townhouse/retail/multi-family residential project seemed to be on track for a 2008 groundbreaking. But then things got messy.
The development was supposed to be the apotheosis of a from-scratch, mixed-use community, with retail, entertainment, office space, hotel, and literally thousands of new homes in the heart of Prince George's County.
Designed by SK&I, the 240-acre parcel was to be split between a South Core of Pulte Homes townhouses and a North Core consisting of 2.3 million s.f. of office and retail space, plus 2,200 new homes. Built between neighborhoods where pickup trucks populate the driveways of unassuming one-story homes, and where there is no architecture to speak of, the development would replace a large mining operation still in use, a large surface parking lot, and at least some of the forested hills - with died-in-the-wool neocontemporary suburbanism at a Metro station.
But then everything that could go wrong, did. And today Greenbelt Station finds itself tangled in news of bankruptcy, allegations of fraud, dissolving partnerships, and inaction. Assistant Planning Director for the City of Greenbelt, Terri Hruby, tells DCMud that as far as she knows, the Smith portion of the development is "basically on hold," adding that to date "what's been approved has been a concept plan and one portion of the townhouse site plan. Another plan has been submitted, but hasn't gone anywhere."
e age of 74, leaving the project jointly in the hands of his estate and with his business partner, Daniel Colton.
tro Greenbelt Station project.
Mass Court, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington DC
sits just 3 blocks from the Judiciary Square Metro and at I-395 ramp, making travel easy, and Penn Quarter is only a few blocks away. The Capitol is a 10-minute walk.
Union Row Condominiums, 2125 14th St., NW, Washington DC 
glass-dominated facade, which offers some city views. Condo sales began in early 2006, the building sold out in early 2010. The project includes a Yes! organic market, with many similar neighboring projects such as the Nehemiah Center and View14 adding more retail in the near future.
The rounded facade was designed to fit strategically above the bend in the Metrorail tunnel that passes directly below. The Warehouses at Union Row feature 52 split-level and single level "townhouse style" condos in a converted and expanded warehouse - 2 parallel buildings separated by a courtyard, with some 3-level condos featuring floor to ceiling windows. 
The Warehouse is in keeping with PNH's trademark: loft-style developments with exposed utility features and exposed concrete ceilings; the physical structure offers a unique alternative to the cubed edifices more common to the area. The warehouse condominiums are located directly behind the Flats at Union Row, providing a sheltered space just off busy 14th Street. Once a forgotten part of Washington DC, this section of the District is destined to become more of a residential core with a strong commercial strip running through it.
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NoMa's Constitution Square is filling in nicely. After securing Harris Teeter last year to occupy 50,000 s.f., StonebridgeCarras, Constitution Square's developer, announced the signing of five more retail leases today. A diverse group of tenants will occupy an additional 17,000 s.f., coming online to serve the 5,000 new employees headed for NoMa this year, as well as residents of the 750 apartments set to finish later in the year.
TD Bank will be NoMa’s first 
full-service banking facility with a 5,200 s.f. space. Feeding hungry workers will be Potbelly's and Constitution Café. Keeping them awake will be the responsibility of Tynan Coffee & Tea, which already operates in Columbia Heights. And adding a bit of starch, Georgetown Valet drycleaners are beefing up with yet another store added to its many throughout the District. All retailers are expected to open later this year.
Accordingly, Harris Teeter is poised to begin interior upfit of its SK&I Architects-designed store, making it the first grocery store in NoMa. The chain is currently seeking a general contractor to build the interior and should make a selection by the end of February. Clark Construction, the General Contractor for the entire Constitution Square project, is scheduled to finish the exterior and the core of the 50,000 s.f. space in time to turn it over to Harris Teeter for interior construction in late March or early April.
According to Glen Thomson of Harris Teeter, the store at the corner of First and M Streets, NE, might open as early as November. The grocery chain signed a 20-year lease for the site with Stonebridge in 2009. The District is providing a tax incentive to assist with the cost of providing 150 parking spaces for the Harris Teeter store, as it did with the DC USA Center in Columbia Heights. The two-phase Constitution Square project kicked off in April of 2008 and will eventually include a 206-room Hilton hotel, 440 apartments, and 340,000 s.f. of office space. 
Capitol Hill Tower, 1000 New Jersey Ave., SE, Washington DC
Capitol Hill Tower was built by Valhal Corporation of New York, completing in May, 2006. The 334-unit building is a "condo-op" (more coop than condo), with some of the best pricing in the city at the time of sale, with 12 studios, 209 1-beds, 120 2-beds and 3 3-bedroom units. Sales began in October 2005, and continued through 2010. Building amenities include a pool, fitness center, and attended front desk; pets allowed. Finishes are simple and plain - the building will never win awards for design either inside or out - but its draws are the proximity to Metro (one block) and to the ballpark.
SK&I Architectural Design Group designed the building, which was assembled by Tompkins Builders. This was definitely a pioneering project for the area, surrounded at first by vacant lots and industrial sites, but the opening of the Nationals Stadium has changed that somewhat, and now significant residential and office construction is underway, as well as a nearby bike path along the Anacostia as part of the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood.
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Jenkins Row, 1391 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Washington DC
amenities reflect the original intent (more amenities, less expensive finishes). Contracting problems forced the delay of construction, and many of the original buyers to back out. The 247-unit wood-framed building finally delivered in September of 2007, with prices starting from $250,000 for a studio and from $378,000 for one bedroom, prices that ultimately went down considerably.
Associates approved in 2007. In a joint press release this week, The Action Committee for Transit (ACT) and the Montgomery County Group of the Sierra Club blasted the five and four-story parking garages that will comprise Lot 31 as wasteful, poorly-planned targets for taxpayer money.
Chevy Chase may get its first Whole Foods, the much-anticipated second "anchor" to the Shops at Wisconsin Place, by the spring of 2010. While the Bethesda-Chevy Chase corridor may 
seem like a scripted stage setting for the Whole Foods phenomenon, Chevy Chasers have until now had to drive all the way down to Tenley for their organic Gruyere, or eke by (gasp) on Giant or TJ's foodstuffs.
clear that they don't want any outside media reps speaking on their behalf."
After two years of construction and $90 million spent, the SK&I-designed View 14 started accepting leases this month as the building prepares 
for its first tenants to move in by the end of the month. A joint project of Level 2 Development and Centrum Properties, View14 sits at the intersection of 14th Street NW and Florida Avenue, on a site that once held the Petrovitch body shop and a dozen two-story Comcast satellite dishes - few neighbors were sad to see them go. The project will soon lose the remaining 14 story antenna tower; that alone is a welcome change for neighbors. View 14 stretches U Street northward, where half a dozen projects are in either the planning or construction stage within a single block of the new apartment building.
Though originally planned as a condominium endeavor, View 14 now offers 185 rental studio, one and two bedroom units with floor to ceiling glass windows and outdoor spaces on 80% of the apartments. David Franco, a Principal at Level 2 Development, boasted of the building's rooftop views, ranging "from the Potomac River to the Wilson Bridge." Not too shabby.
Franco described the building as initially looking like a "solid sheet of glass window wall," which upon closer review "responds to the bend in the road" by breaking up the western facade into "varying volumes of glass wall." He added 
that the goal was always to create a "stunning piece of architecture" that acts as a "gateway to and from the U Street Corridor and Columbia Heights."
The general contractor is Clark Construction, interior architecture is by Studio Architecture and interior modeling by 14th Street neighbor Vastu.
Washington DC real estate news
Big changes are in the works in Washington DC's Ward 8 beginning this winter. Phase 1 of the highly anticipated Sheridan Terrace public housing redevelopment is slated to begin construction in January 
or February 2010 - depending on when the D.C. Housing Authority finally closes on financing for the project.
When all three phases of Sheridan Terrace development are entirely completed, the 344 units will be almost double the amount of the original Sheridan Terrace - a troubled project that was torn down in 1997. As with the original, the new-and-improved Sheridan Terrace will contain 183 public housing rental units. An additional 161 units will go up for sale; 117 of these will be sold at market rate and another 44 will be sold as affordable units. Units will consist of a mix of townhouses, "manor houses" (i.e. three-bedrooms), and apartments with anywhere from one to three bedrooms.
At the completion of the project, Sheridan Terrace Redevelopment LLC will be reimbursed with a Low Income Housing Tax Credit equal to the cost incurred for the development of 73 of the low income housing units. Housing Authority Project Manager Kerry Smyser estimates the cost of the entire redevelopment at $21,477,853 - although this number has been on the rise ever since the DC Housing Authority won a nearly $6 million Hope VI Grant for the project back in March of 2008.
As a requirement of the Hope VI Grant, former residents will have first dibs on public housing units offered in this reincarnation. But as Ward 8 Commissioner William Ellis explains, luring old tenants back may not be easy. “The Sheridan Terrace community was really displaced” by the 1997 razing of the dilapidated, crime-ridden housing project. "It’s been a long time since many people from the original Sheridan Terrace have actually even lived in the neighborhood.”
The city has taken steps to avoid repeat circumstances by ensuring that at least 25 of the public housing units available in Phase 1 will be reserved for current Barry Farm residents—another Ward 8 redevelopment project on the horizon.
Other changes in the Ward 8 community, like the new Savoy Elementary School and planned renovations of neighborhood parks and recreation centers, are going a long way in reassuring Ward 8 residents that the newly developed Sheridan Terrace will play a positive part in changing the landscape of their community. “Now,” says Commissioner Ellis hopefully, “if we could just get some more restaurants.” 
