Sheridan Station Celebrates Opening, Now Nearly Half Built

Ribbons were cut today at Sheridan Station, a $100-million effort by the D.C. Housing Authority and William C. Smith & Co. to redevelop 11 acres in Ward 8 that once held the public housing complex Sheridan Terrace, torn down in 1997.

The ceremony this afternoon marked the completion of Phase I (of three), which delivered 114 apartment units (with gym, business center, etc.) to Barry Farm/Anacostia, confirms Carol Chatham, spokesperson for William C. Smith + Co.

Construction on the first phase of the project began in May of 2010. Now complete, the apartment building, designed by SK&I, is in the queue for LEED-Platinum certification (the highest certification possible from the U.S. Green Building Council), due to incorporation of rooftop solar panels that will generate energy to cover 30 percent of the building's needs, a rainwater collection cistern, LED lights, and low-VOC materials - among other green building tactics.

Expected to be in attendance today were the appropriate local and federal government representatives on behalf of DCHA, the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, and DMPED - all celebrating the ability to fund the project, which includes the use of a $20-million HOPE VI HUD grant and ARRA funds.

Phase two - 80 for-sale townhomes - is under construction now; 22 of these townhomes are currently for sale and will deliver in February of next year. Chatham added that three are under contract now. The third and final phase is still in development, a start date has not been specified.

The 11 acres of Sheridan Station are jointly owned by DCHA and William C. Smith & Co. As lead developer, Smith partnered with Union Temple CDC and Jackson Investment Co. to form Sheridan Terrace Redevelopment, LLC.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Demolition Making Way For Madison Apartment in Alexandria

Demolition has begun at 800 N. Henry Street in Old Town Alexandria, the site claimed by the Madison, a two-building apartment complex developed by Equity Residential. According to Dirk Geratz, principal planner for the City of Alexandria, construction is to begin in November.  Equity Residential took over sole responsibility of the project last year and can be credited for its revival. The development had been idle after Alexandria City Council approval came three years ago; idle "due in part to the economy over the last several years," according to the City. New construction costs, estimated to be around $37 million, will be spread across two 5- and 7-story buildings containing 360 apartment units, nearly 9,700 s.f. of ground-floor retail and 45,280 s.f. of "open space" - public plaza, courtyard and rooftop pool - designed by SK&I, which was brought on as the architect in 2010, replacing Cooper Carry. 

In February, the plan was both bumped up and scaled back from what was approved in 2008 - whereas the number of apartment units increased, from 344 to 360, retail space was cut, from 23,000 s.f. to 9,672 s.f., and the number of parking spaces trimmed by nearly 100 spots (from 561 to 464). Retail space will be located on the corner of North Henry and Madison Streets. Varied styles and materials will be incorporated throughout the property in an effort to make the whole development appear as several distinct entities. A new private access street will connect North Fayette to North Henry Street. The development, initially meant to be underway in 2009, is located two blocks from the Braddock Metro stop in West Old Town; the project awaited approval in 2007 due to the incoming Braddock Metro Small Area Plan, which was adopted by Council in March of 2008. 

Article amendment: SK&I was brought on as the project architect (replacing Cooper Carry) in 2010, when Equity Residential took over sole responsibility of the project; Trammell Crow Co. was a development partner in 2008, when the project was first approved. This article has been updated to reflect these facts.

Alexandria Virginia retail and real estate development news

Resurrection: Coming Home to Two Hundred Years of Military History

By

Beth Herman

En route from France on the USS Olympia, the body of World War I’s Unknown Soldier passed through the history-imbued Washington Navy Yard on its way to the Capitol Rotunda, and ultimately Arlington National Cemetery. Created to build and maintain ships more than 200 years ago, and becoming the world’s largest naval ordnance plant by World War II, the Navy Yard—and especially its 221,500 s.f. foundry building — were home to the design and construction of weapons used in every war from 1883 until the 1960s, when the Yard became the ceremonial and administrative hub for the U.S. Navy.

"We focused on that history—so much history,” said Sabine Roy, owner and principal of SR/A Interior Design LLC, when the firm was commissioned by developer Forest City Washington, with SK&I Architectural Design Group, to turn the brunt of the landmark building into a singular residential property: Foundry Lofts, 301 Tingey Street SE. “We based our design on research with the naval archives, the Library of Congress, historical photographs, antique documentation–whatever we could do,” she affirmed.

Informed by 200 years of military lore, Roy said the structure’s context allowed the firm to be more “modern and urban” in its interior design concept, noting a combination of new construction (which this facility was not) and modern may result in an environment that is too cold. “But with an historic building, you already have this warm, worn look,” she explained, adding it’s been “humanized.”

That said, attracting active professionals to its 170 units and amenities was a programmatic priority, high on the list of design determinants. Boasting elements such as a sunken conversation area in the concrete lobby and a courtyard—where war ships were once fashioned—reincarnated into a sleek social club, the addition of an outdoor fireplace, cinema, and rooftop garden terrace with seating and art make Foundry Lofts a rare residential experience.

Anchors away

Fraught with pendulous columns that supported an industrial floor plan, the building was also higher than the street and not meant to be entered from the sidewalk, but rather the water, so ships could be launched, Roy explained. Consequently the concrete lobby floor had to be elevated a few feet to street level, though a designated seating area, replete with new fireplace and modern art, was left below grade for a sunken effect.

According to Roy, the foundry had been constructed as a “rectangular donut with enormous courtyard in the middle for ships.” With SK&I Architectural Design Group creating 170 residences—33 of them newly-constructed two-level penthouses on the 5^th and 6^th floors, all are designed to discharge on one side into a windowed corridor that directs residents’ attention to the 4,400 s.f. social courtyard below.

An indoor courtyard-adjacent space, designated as a party room, was extended further into the courtyard, with a modern outdoor fireplace—glowing winter and summer— visible from inside as well. Atop the party room, a rooftop terrace with metal sculptures and Asian-style grasses create a Zen garden effect, according to Roy, with soft, strategic lighting limited to showcasing the art. From a large stair, residents can descend into the courtyard to play bocce or relax in hammocks, or on colossal square ottomans that seat up to five, and which are lit from the center. Old movie nights at the courtyard’s outdoor cinema will be a lot of fun, Roy suggested, envisioning classic black-and-white movies and martini parties for residents and their guests.

Columns, canons and carpeting

“When we entered the building,” Roy said of the team’s initial foray in early 2010, there was nothing new though it had been cleaned up. You just saw the structural columns and old heating systems and exterior walls.” All in all, she said, it was “an emotional experience when you think about the consequences of what was built here—what it did to the rest of the nation.”

In an effort to retain much of the historical fabric, a legion of pendulous structural columns was left alone including one “smack in the middle of the lobby,” Roy said. A challenge due to their size and girth, the designer said the lobby column, specifically, became a focal point, with a dressing added to accommodate adornments such as flowers. A Civil War-era canon unearthed during renovation that had later seen action aboard the USS Raritan was installed in the lobby, and will help distract from the behemoth column. The juxtaposition of the historical lobby with contemporary fabrics, furniture and modern art in the space is a further manifestation of Foundry Lofts’ aesthetic.

With dislodged historical components like the repurposed canon integral to the building’s design and sustainability, the latter is achieved on many levels. Roy said all elements—carpeting; furniture; paint; backings—are recycled content or post-consumer recycled material. The party room is bamboo, and courtyard flooring is earth-friendly Trex.

According to Forest City Washington’s Senior Vice President of Development Ramsey Meiser, Foundry Lofts’ mixed-use component includes three retail spaces, two of which have been leased to Pot Belly’s and Kruba Thai and Sushi, which will be open in the first quarter of 2012.

“This building is so unique in its adaptive reuse of an existing building,” Meiser said, noting he is buoyed by marketplace reaction and the results of preleasing efforts for residences which will be available at the end of October or beginning of November of the current year.

MRP to Begin Phase One of Washington Gateway in NoMa

MRP Realty will soon move forward with a long- awaited three-phase, 1-million-sf mixed-use project on 3 acres in northern NoMa. Matthew Robinson, Senior VP of MRP, says the $360-million project known as Washington Gateway will break ground before the end of the year, with the first phase residential and retail. The project has been planned since at least 2006, with several near starts over the past 5 years.

At the intersection of Florida and New York Avenue, NE, the Washington Gateway development team will seek financing on a rolling basis. As for now, the team is focused solely on phase one: 400 units of residential in an 11-story building with 5,200 sf of retail.

In terms of getting the first phase off the ground, all seems to be in line for MRP. An equity partner is in place, construction loans are in the works, construction (sheeting/shoring/excavation) permits have been applied for, and a building permit will be filed at the end of September, according to Robinson. One year into construction, MRP plans to start phase two, which will consist entirely of office space. Further down the road, phase three will consist of office space and a retail component.

Nearly 1 million square feet of built area in all, the three-building project consists of approximately 350,000 sf of residential, 600,000 sf of office, and 12,200 sf of retail. The original plan called for significantly less residential space - 260 units versus 400 - with the space going to a 181-room hotel - a component that was scratched due to changing market needs as perceived by the development team.

Robinson says that getting rid of the hotel component, "makes the residential building better. The additional space allows for greater residential amenities [in the form of] increased shared spaces, [including] an extensive 3,700 square foot club room, and two-story fitness center." A rooftop pool and lounge area will offer "Capitol dome views," adds Robinson.

The 11-story residential building was designed by SK&I, and will be built under general contractor Davis Construction. Construction, if underway before the end of the year, should be complete within the next two years. The two 11-story office buildings, to be included in phase two and three, were designed by Gensler. And although the same height, the grade on site varies by about 40', confirms Robinson, creating a height variation optical illusion.

The overall design of the whole Washington Gateway project is a hollowed-out glassy triangle (labeled number 3 on the map to the left), offering an inner triangle of public space, accessible by an opening on Florida Avenue. All retail will front Florida Ave; retail tenants are being pursued, though phase one will be built on spec. Retail will most likely include "neighborhood serving retail," says Robinson, including sidewalk cafes.

Also a part of the development will be a widening, and repaving of the sidewalks along both Florida and New York Avenues. New trees and street furnishings will be added, and landscape architecture design will be the work of Oculus.

"It's exciting right now in NoMa," says Robinson. Washington Gateway will be followed by Camden Property Trust's 60 L Street, NE (1 & II), located just east of the new NPR headquarters currently under construction. Camden's 60 L Street will become NoMa's largest residential building, with 730 units, if it goes through as planned.

Mill Creek Residential's NoMa West, the largest single-phase residential project in NoMa to date includes 603 apartments with a single retail store. Located north of the FedEx building (just north of Washington Gateway) the Mill Creek project broke ground in March, and aims to finish in the spring of 2014.

Several other projects with substantial residential and office space are planned for the NoMa BID, including the Bristol Group's NoMa Station (II - IV), a follow-up to One NoMa Station (400,000 sf office, and 5,000 sf retail) next door at 131 M Street. NoMa Station II-IV is a massive mixed use project to front 1st Street between M and L Streets, NE, made up of: 700,000 sf office, 50,000 sf retail, and 700 residential units.

8/30 correction: 350,000 s.f. of residential, not 290,000 s.f.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Bainbridge Starting on 17-Story Bethesda Apartments

If Bethesda Row has bloomed into the urban village experience, Woodmont Triangle may one day be its downtown. While no large projects have begun in the quadrant just north of Bethesda Row - though many have been planned - that is about to change in a big way. The Bainbridge Companies will begin construction this week on their 17-story, highly amenitized apartment building a few blocks north of the Bethesda Metro station. Once known as the Monty, the project will be rebranded as "Bainbridge Bethesda" by the Florida based developer.

One of the tallest projects in the area, the apartment building will feature a four-story underground parking garage and is meant to animate both the skyline and street level, the former with its height and periodically receding facade, and the latter with a new pedestrian boulevard that will feature retail and art, breaking up the block and endowing the building with a corner presence.
Some sources say the project could cost $80m to build. The selling feature, to developers, is the raised amenities, placed at the top to take advantage of views over Bethesda and Washington D.C. The building will feature a gym leading out to a 15th floor terrace and rooftop pool. "Obviously that's really expensive real estate that high that we're forgoing, but its the kind of thing that inspires people on a daily basis" says Josh Wooldridge, Senior Development Director with Bainbridge. "You just can't compare that to a gym in a basement."

The project is a long time coming, having been before the county planning board for 5 years. Bainbridge purchased the site with approvals last summer, and expected to break ground almost immediately, but equity issues have held up construction, which has been billed as nearly imminent since that time. Now Bainbridge has corralled equity partners, including Greek shipping company Restis Group and DC-based National Real Estate Advisors, along with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to provide the needed capital, having closed on financing just two weeks ago today. Since the county adopted the Woodmont Sector Plan 6 years ago, no highrises have been built in the area (Lionsgate was planned previously).

Bainbridge will now start 3-4 weeks of demolition, followed by an estimated 18-20 months of construction. The building will take over mostly vacant retail space, replacing it with a 20-foot wide pedestrian passageway that links Fairmont and St. Elmo Streets, with retail fronting both streets. Wooldridge says design of the 7500 s.f. of retail will be finalized next year when the project is under construction.

Architects at SK&I have designed a LEED Silver project with green roof that will be notably taller than the low density architecture of Woodmont Triangle. "We'll be 5 stories taller than anything else around" says Wooldridge, although the 174-foot project will fall short of the Clark building at 200 feet. With demolition permits in hand, site work will commence immediately.

Bethesda, MD real estate development news

Constitution Square Breaks Ground on Phase 2

StonebridgeCarras broke ground this week on their second phase of Constitution Square, queuing up another residential element in Noma's largest development. The construction will add 203 rental units to the mixed-use endeavor on Noma's northern edge, with another office phase to follow by July. StonebridgeCarras principal Doug Firstenberg says the 203 unit apartment building, designed by SK&I Architects, will be geared toward smaller, highly amenitized units to capture the segment of the market that has performed best next door at Flats 130, which Firstenberg says has been leasing more than 30 units per month and is now 45% occupied.

Stonebridge just now completed Two Constitution Square, which it also built without a tenant, and though Firstenberg initially banked on another large federal tenant, focus has now shifted to private tenants with the expected slowing of the expansion of the federal government and with it federal leasing.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Hilton Garden - NoMa's 2nd Hotel Opens Late April

The Hilton Garden Inn will open April 22nd in NoMa, the second hotel in the burgeoning neighborhood, offering the area's only sit-down dining room, named Watershed (see menu in the link), headed by well-known D.C. chef, Todd Gray of Equinox.

This is especially good news for residents of The Flats 130 (of which 31% of 400 apartments are leased) Loree Grand at Union Place (of which 77 % of 212 apartments are leased) and Senate Square Towers (of which 95% of 432 units are leased).

As part of the first phase of Constitution Square, StonebridgeCarras was among the most bullish developers in NoMa. Their projects include the recently opened, 50,000 s.f. Harris Teeter in One Constitution Square at the corner of 1st and M Streets N.E., The grocery chain signed a 20-year lease for the site with Stonebridge in 2009. Constitution Square will also house 440 apartments, 905,000 s.f. of office space, and an additional 30,000 s.f. of retail. StonebridgeCarras broke ground on the hotel in 2008.


SK&I Architects designed the core and shell of the hotel, while Texas-based Paradigm Design helmed design of the interior (see renderings) for the 13-story, 204 room hotel which offers a fitness center, indoor pool, jacuzzi, free wi-fi, and adjustable beds. Lisa Haude, President of Paradigm, said the hotel is, "very clean, contemporary, and simple." The lobby showcases wood paneling and a floating glass staircase, with an aqua-blue, beige, taupe and ivory color scheme with wood accents. Todd Gray's Watershed offers and intimate bar area with a casual, open dining room with communal bar height and standard tables and booths as well as patio seating.

Washington, D.C. Real Estate Development News

Bethesda's Smashing Summer

Lattes, IPads, Peg Perego strollers - downtown Bethesda on a wild night. But Bethesda's tranquil, manicured status is about to come to an end. By late summer, developers will take over the downtown, digging holes, tearing up streets, and reshaping the downtown streetscape now dominated by moms in heels. Relax, its only temporary. But by July, a pair of local developers say they plan to dig out the two metered parking lots in the center of Bethesda and close Woodmont Avenue for almost two years as they construct a giant underground parking garage, erect two new buildings that will extend Bethesda Row, and reconfigure the Woodmont Ave - Bethesda Ave intersection.

Stonebridge Associates and PN Hoffman, real estate developers selected by the county to joint-venture the project, have approved plans for an 88 unit condominium on the east side of Woodmont and a 170-unit residence (sale or rentals not determined) on the west side of the rebuilt street, a public-private underground parking garage 5 stories deep with 300 private spaces and 1100 public ones, and 40,000 s.f. of retail that will grace Bethesda and Woodmont Avenues, extending Bethesda Row south by a full block, built for small scale retailers. The buildings were designed by Bethesda's SK&I Architectural Design Group,

But all that infrastructure can only come with construction, and lots of it. And while developers are breaking eggs for the $150m development, they will also take the opportunity to remedy the distorted "X" of the intersection, shortening crosswalks and drawing together corners, giving Woodmont a more graceful, traffic-calming arch. Developers intend to close Woodmont south of Bethesda Avenue for up to 20 months, build the garage underneath, then deed the street back to the city.

The first building will be the Darcy, an 88-unit condominium (pictured, top), with 60 market rate condos and 28 home buyers getting subsidized views overlooking Bethesda Row; marketing and sales by PN Hoffman is expected to start "very shortly" says Stonebridge founding principal Doug Firstenberg. Retail will wrap around the building's first floor.

Next at bat is the more complicated west side of Woodmont, with 170 or so units still in the design phase and carrying the brunt of street-grade storefronts. Retail will be mostly parceled into smallish shops that roughly match Bethesda's current shopping district, with an anchor tenant as large as 9,000 s.f., large but significantly smaller than the Barnes & Noble across the street.

Stonebridge-Hoffman also has an agreement with the county to rebuild the adjacent section of the Capital Crescent bike trail, better integrating the path into downtown and fixing its dead end into Bethesda Avenue, where developers will widen and landscape the path with pavers. "Now there will be a place to stop" says Stonebridge's Firstenberg. "You will have a beautiful hardscape telling you you're in the middle of this urban area." Firstenberg also has plans for a bike drop-off on Woodmont once the residences are complete, now that bikers are loosing their unloading point, with a connection behind the building to the trail.

But developers will bury the most controversial portion, the project's 1400-space garage, for which the county approved $89m in 2008, a decision many saw as unwise, unnecessary, and wasteful. The complex land agreement with the county, which owns the land, requires developers to pay the county in a plan Firstenberg calls "tantamount to an air rights deal." The county will pay the Stonebridge team for its costs to build the public parking, up to $89m. "We're certainly hoping to spend less" says Firstenberg, who notes falling construction costs. "The construction world has changed." Project architect Federico Olivera Sala of SK&I notes that the team is "trying to reduce" the overall number of parking spaces.

But transit and smart growth organizations, while applauding the overall development as urban in-fill and transit-oriented, have called parking a boondoggle that puts cars before public transit, with a Metro stop two blocks away and the Purple Line coming soon across the street. "Montgomery County could lease parking from nearby office spaces. We need more flexible strategies...I think looking at pricing is the only way to effectively manage parking, there's plenty of parking within a couple of blocks. Given everyone's budget crisis, spending $80,000 per space hardly seems like a strategic investment," says Cheryl Cort of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, which opposed the spending. Firstenberg disagrees. "There is clearly a parking shortage in Bethesda... Bethesda is one of the county's prime economic engines. Other developers have large projects coming up in the area, those are all major plans. There's a parking shortage today, much less when all the development takes place."

Parking shortage or not, in 3 years Bethesdans will have another garage, an extended Bethesda Row, and calm, freshly paved streets for quiet meandering. Which should be just about the time that JBG digs up the opposite intersection to build a 200,000 s.f. office tower and 250-unit residential tower, and most likely the start of construction for Bethesda's Purple Line station in 2014 right next door. Looks like Bethesda is about to get busy.

Bethesda, Maryland Real Estate Development News

Equity Underway on Lyon Park Apartments

Equity Residential is now officially bullish on the DC market, having broken ground several weeks ago on its newest apartment project in Arlington's Lyon Park neighborhood. With its confidence in the Washington DC area market boosted by its success at 425 Mass, a new but empty building that Equity bought after foreclosure for $167m and then filled more than 70% of its 557 units, Equity is now taking on a project that also struggled for several years in a neighborhood not quite obvious for its retail and residential potential.

The project at 2201 Pershing Drive will replace several dated stripmalls with 188 rental apartments on top of a substantial 33,000 s.f. of retail base. Equity, the largest owner-operator of apartments in the country with 133,000 units (and counting), owns the adjoining Sheffield Court apartment building, so it presumably knows something about the not-entirely-obvious site away from the Clarendon Boulevard golden strip. Despite the large retail footprint, individual shops will be scaled small for local-serving operators, and Equity representatives say they have not even begun trying to secure tenants yet.

Marty McKenna of Equity says

his company will complete the apartments in the third quarter of 2012, a culmination of years of waiting for a project once anticipated to break ground in 2008 under plans approved for a previous developer by Arlington County in January of 2008. Designed by Bethesda-based SK&I, the traditional brick, stone masonry, glass, and cementitious fiberboard sided structure consists of two buildings, each using the same materials and rising four and five stories - LEED certified as part of the county's approval - with 18 subsidized apartments and parking behind each building for the retail and one level below-grade parking for residents.

The Washington Smart Growth Alliance has given the project the smart thumbs up, prodded by the stripmalls-into-anything philosophy, despite the generous

concession to the automobile, but helped by the 85 bicycle spaces and proximity to bus routes. Equity will salvage the small historic facades by dismantling the limestone blocks, cleaning them, and reassembling them back into contemporary apartment building. Demolition should be complete within the next 2-3 weeks. Details from Abbey Road, the previous developer, are available on their website.

Arlington, Virginia Real Estate Development News

Stonebridge to Start Phase 2 in NoMa

Real estate developer StonebridgeCarras and financier Walton Street Capital are betting on NoMa again, announcing they will start the next speculative phase of Constitution Square in May. Stonebridge is just now completing Two Constitution Square, which it also built without a tenant, a bet that paid off big when it sold the property in May for $305m to Northwestern Mutual, and now Sarah Krouse reports in the Washington Business Journal that the Bethesda-based developer will attempt an encore with another speculative phase. Principal Doug Firstenberg tells DCMud that next May his company will break ground simultaneously on a 200-unit apartment building and 345,000 s.f. of office space and, rounding out a good week, that Harris Teeter will open at Constitution Square on December 8th and that Equinox founder and chef Todd Grey will now open a sit down restaurant in the newly completed phase 1.

Firstenberg, who pre-leased 100% of Phase 1 to GSA and DOJ before trading the building, said Phase 2 will be "targeted to go after some of these large GSA bids that are out there." Stonebridge will again use SK&I Architects to design the residential space and HOK Architecture for the commercial portion. The residences are expected to be available by late 2012, the office space should be ready for the first tenants in early 2013. The third and final phase of the 7-acre site, still in conception, will add 470,000 s.f of office space.

Firstenberg says the restaurant, to open in March along with the hotel, will be "NoMa's first upscale, sit down restaurant," good news for residents at the Flats 130 where 60 of 440 units have leased since its opening October 1st, and where significant retail leases have already been signed. Stonebridge is expected to flip the office building once lease-up is complete. "We're not long term owners in the project" said Firstenberg.

Washington DC real estate development news

Bethesda Highrise Sets January Start Date

Bethesda's Monty will be underway by January, say developers of the 17-story apartment building, planning what will be the neighborhood's second tallest building. Florida based developer Bainbridge Companies closed on the Monty site just this June and expect to build by "late January," the only Woodmont Triangle project with construction timelines despite the area's long list of expectant projects.

Though Bainbridge only recently acquired the land, the deal had been in the works for several years and came with the original SK&I designs and the county's approvals, leading Bainbridge to predict that demolition of the current retail stores would commence by the fall. The mid-block apartment building will feature a 20-foot wide pedestrian right of way connecting Fairmont St. with St. Elmo's Avenue with retail fronting both streets as well as the ped path, cutting the long block and giving the building a corner presence. At 174 feet plus mechanicals, The Monty - a name that current team will retain - will be slightly shorter than the 200 foot Clark building.

"It will be very tall for the area, so its going to be like a sculpture" said Senior Associate Federico Olivera-Sala. "It will be shaped in a way that will give it some articulation, it disintegrates as the building goes up, like a box at the bottom, but parts start to disappear as it rises. This is meant to animate the Skyline of Bethesda." The building will feature a gym and terrace on the 15th floor for fitness buffs that prefer a view, and four levels of below-grade parking.

The Monty will bring 200 rental units with 30 moderately priced dwelling units and should begin occupancy by early 2013, the first high-rise mixed-use project to be constructed under the Woodmont Sector Plan. The project owners hope to achieve LEED Silver certification; a minimum of LEED certified is required for projects in the area.

Bethesda, MD real estate development news

Arlington Boulevard Development Ready to Break Ground with New Owners

In January of 2008, the Arlington County Board approved plans to redevelop two "decaying old" strip malls at 2201 N. Pershing Drive into a mixed-use development consisting of 188 residential units over 35,000 s.f. of ground floor retail space. The project plans were originally developed by Abbey Road Property Group and anticipated to break ground in late 2009. But like so many development plans approved in 2008 just before the market rolled southward, the property has idled for the last two years. That may change. Equity Residential acquired the property and the accompanying development plans earlier this spring, and now the project looks set to move forward. In September, developers held a preliminary meeting with the Lyon Park Citizens Association, during which the attending public was informed of impending construction. Currently in the process of securing final building permits, and looking to award a general contracting bid next week, the development team expects to break ground on the project by December of this year.

Designed by SK&I, the traditional composite of brick, stone masonry, glass, and Hardie paneling (brick-like "cementitious" fiberboard product) will be set back several feet atop the glassy ground floor retail facade. The project consists of two buildings, each utilizing the same materials and rising four and five stories, designed to be LEED certified. Of the 188 units, 18 will be designated as affordable dwelling units. Structured parking behind each building will service retail shoppers, while a one level below-grade garage will provide parking for residents. Each building will hug its own small, central, landscaped courtyard, outfitted with benches, trees, shrubbery, and a small water fountain.

The Washington Smart Growth Alliance lists "reusing older shopping centers as a key smart growth strategy," making this development an apparent choice for its "Recognized Smart Growth Project" designation despite not being adjacent to a metro station (Clarendon Metro is about 7 blocks or three quarters of a mile). But adjacency to major bus routes makes the project a better example of urban in-fill. The influx of new restaurants and shops set to occupy the future retail spaces will make for an more walkable living experience for residents given the lack of immediate options. To further encourage public transit and green transportation alternatives, and garner more green points, over 85 bicycle spaces are being included in the design.

Pedestrians in Arlington may find it difficult to recognize any semblance of a recession on the street, but residential developments that were once popping up like spring tulips have been largely absent since the financial collapse. But clearly, Equity senses a barometric change. By investing in what is currently a relatively isolated block across from Ft. Myer, Equity Residential seems to be banking on a widening of the dense but narrow Ballston to Rosslyn corridor. While many projects remain on ice, signs of a thaw are significant. With such major local projects now on the docket such as 1812 N. Moore's speculative build out, Rosslyn Commons, and Skanska's Rosslyn office project, indicators of increased construction are apparent. Or perhaps Equity is enjoying the greater DC market, having signed leases with 182 new tenants within its first 90 days at its recently acquired 425 Mass Ave apartment, and is hoping for the same kind of success across the river.

Arlington, VA Real Estate Development News