Showing posts with label Southeast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Southeast. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Bigger, Greener: Skyland Files Another Zoning Amendment

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Washington DC real estate development - Rappaport's Skyland project files another plan to move the southeast real estate project forwardSkyland - the very name implies the ever distant horizon - is back for another zoning review to fully entitle the real estate development project, this time to fit Walmart into the equation.

The most recent change regarding the large ‘town center’ complex is a PUD amendment that was submitted late last week by the development team behind the project. The original PUD was approved by the Office of Zoning in September 2010, but that was before Walmart signed on as the development’s anchor store last fall. The inclusion of the mega-retailer necessitated a number of changes to the plan—though nothing particularly substantive, according to the application. “The proposed PUD modification application is NOT proposing significant changes to the approved PUD project,” reads the document.
Walmart to anchor Skyland project in southeast DC if Rappaport builds the site
That means the development will continue to include 450-500 residential units, some of which will be townhomes and/or affordable housing, and retail space leasing will increase only slightly, from 311,000 s.f. to 342,000 total s.f.

The most serious change appears to be a decrease in the number of parking spaces needed. The total number will be down by about 300 “which meets one of the Office of Planning’s goals,” Matt Ritz, a vice president at William C Smith &. Company, pointed out.  Smith is one of the members of the development team, along with The Rappaport Companies, Harrison Malone Development, the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization, and the Washington East Foundation.
Washington DC real estate project - Skyland developer Rappaport tries again
Other changes include lowering the height of parts of the building Walmart will occupy, slightly reducing the number of townhouses, and topping a section of the project with solar panels and a green roof, rather than with a final layer of parking as originally planned.

Washington DC real estate mega project - Skyland developer Rappaport and WC Smith file another plan
The revamped development should include slightly more green space, and the application hints at more ‘green’ elements to come: “Walmart has several sustainable goals for this project which will be achieved by the following features: use of water efficient faucets and toilets; implementation of an energy management system; high-efficiency HVAC design; LED lighting; sun shading devices on the roof; and a construction waste stream management program."

Washington DC real estate mega project - Skyland developer Rappaport tries againRitz is hoping the project will get a hearing with the Zoning Commission before the end of the year and a public hearing sometime around March 2013. But it’s all up in the air. “The dates are with a grain of salt,” he said. “It’s all contingent on the Zoning Commission.” And the company is still a very long way from soliciting construction bids.

Still, as slowly as it’s going, there is definitely movement occurring at Skyland. In September, the city celebrated the start of a demolition process of some of the buildings in the existing shopping center. And of seven legal cases that were pending in early 2011 - all linked to the city's use of eminent domain on the project--only one is still unresolved.

Washington, D.C., real estate development news

Monday, September 17, 2012

Today in Pictures - Canal Park

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Canal Park map, Washington DC, Blake DicksonWork on southeast DC's Canal Park is nearing the final stage, District of Columbia residents will soon be enjoying a new park near the Anacostia waterfront.  The project got underway in February of 2011, shepherded by the Canal Park Development Association
Washington DC canal Park, Blake Dickson Real Estate
The 3 acres of landscaping take up 3 city blocks just north of the ballpark, and will offer "a stunning urban park on the site of the historic Washington Canal" with a large pavilion/restaurant (LEED certified) designed by Studios Architecture and two smaller pavilions, 2 large fountains, wintertime ice skating rink, rain garden, multiple lawn spaces, an electric car charging station, and bicycle racks.  Philadelphia-based OLIN is the landscape architect.

The federal government owns the land in arrangement that gives control to the District, which in turn has a 20-year agreement with the Canal Park Development Association to develop and manage the land.  Retail leasing is being handled by Blake Dickson Real Estate.

Washington DC canal Park, Blake Dickson Real Estate

Washington DC canal Park, Blake Dickson Real Estate

Blake Dickson retail leasing, Washington DC

Blake Dickson retail brokerage leases space on Capitol Hill

Blake Dickson Real Estate, Washington DC property company

Blake Dickson Commercial Property, Washington DC

Washington DC retail for lease - Blake Dickson

Washington DC commercial property leasing by Blake Dickson

Blake Dickson real estate Washington DC leasing

Washington DC construction news

Washington DC commercial real estate, Blake Dickson

Washington DC commercial real estate

Washington DC commercial real estate, Blake Dickson retail for lease

Monday, August 13, 2012

District Issues New Development Rights Near Stadium, Buzzard Point

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The DC government today issued a request for proposals for up to 300,000 s.f. of development rights near the ballpark and Buzzard Point, inviting developers to bid on land within the "Capitol Gateway" overlay areas of southwest and southeast DC.

The District of Columbia, through the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED), is putting development rights up for bid in the form of Combined Lot Development rights - additional square footage for landholders within the overlay.  The areas are designated for mixed use development, under the current regime developers are able to combine two lots and transfer density between them.  The initiative unveiled today adds an additional 300,000 s.f. of development rights within the zone, increasing the density within the high-growth corridor that lines the Anacostia waterfront.

The Request for Expressions of Interest was issued in an 8-page publication - a more streamlined version than past requests, reducing the technical compliance burden on developers. Responses to the request are due August 31st.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Lumber Shed Construction at the Yards Begins this Week

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Construction begins this week on the Lumber Shed, an adaptive reuse component that will become the retail centerpiece of the Yards, a Forest City project. The Shed is set to be completed in the third quarter of 2013, according to a press release.

The Yards, which is one of the largest projects in Southeast D.C., has been named the best new public space by City Paper. Seven restaurants and a Harris Teeter were announced this past year in the boilermaker shops, and recently, the Alatmarea Restaurant Group of New York City announced a new Osteria Morini restaurant to open in The Yards in summer 2013.

The area was formerly the Navy Yard Annex then the Naval Gun Factory. Forest City Washington received the chance to redevelop the 42-acre riverfront property site in 2004, and construction began on several parcels within the yards in 2007.

When finished, the Yards will be a 5.5 million s.f. development, completed during three phases during the next 10 to 20 years.

The Lumber Shed - formerly owning up to its name - is located on the edge of the Yards park overlooking the Anacostia River.  The Shed will be a 30,000 s.f., two-level, retail, glass pavilion, which will temporarily house Forest City’s offices on the second floor and include five restaurants.

The inclusion of Osteria Morini and Forest City’s offices means the building is 60 percent leased.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Monday, February 06, 2012

Florida Rock Development Reboots, Meets Resistance

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With demolition of the concrete plant finally complete, RiverFront on the Anacostia, the on-again off-again Southeast waterfront mega-project is on, again - pending various hearings, presentations, meetings, and ultimate approval of some very substantial changes to the zoning application.
Developers Patriot Transportation Holding Inc. and Midatlantic Realty Partners LLC (MRP) filed a modification with the Zoning Commission last month to, among other things, modify the Phase One building from an office complex to a residential building. The proposed residential building would be nine stories tall and include up to 350 units, 286 underground parking spaces, and 300,000 square feet of gross floor area (8% of which would be set aside for affordable housing at 80% of AMI). The new filing retains the 12,500 s.f. of retail space for lease, but now wants to earmark 7,000 s.f. as "flex space" or "residential amenity space."

Last week, the Zoning Commission gave their first impressions of the new plans, and it wasn't pretty. One commissioner called it "an affront" and a "bastardization," even going so far as to suggest the developers might have to start the PUD process from square one. Another excoriated the developers from reducing the initial 80,000 s.f. of retail space to under 24,000 s.f. in the latest filing, with 7,000 of that possibly being converted to non-retail "flex space." Even the most positive board member damned the project with faint praise - characterizing it as an improvement on the original PUD, but "boring" and "simplistic." In the end, the board deferred a decision, and the next public hearing is on February 13.
The new building, designed by SK&I, is U-shaped, facing the river, with a private inner courtyard. On the east side is a planned greenspace (Anacostia Plaza) and on the west side, in between the Phase One building and the Phase Two (also residential) building, another large plaza (the Mews) that "privileges pedestrians over vehicles." The new landscape plan, by Oculus, uses the idea of "ecotone" (in the report, this is defined as "an ecological term referring to the transitional zone between two ecologies") to create an impressive stormwater management and filtration system that will both provide lush public native plant green spaces, and filter runoff. (And the Anacostia River can use all the help it can get.)

Phases II (a 262K s.f., 130-foot tall residential building), III (326K s.f., 130-foot tall office building), and IV (275K s.f., 130-foot tall hotel) are unchanged. FRP anticipates a Q2 2013 groundbreaking, with move-ins starting in Q1 2015, and everything wrapped up by that summer.
Big picture, the plan is cut from the same cloth as the plans for the Wharf and the Maryland Avenue redevelopments. (There are only so many ways to skin a cat, after all.) Much like those plans, this latest filing is hoping that their conversion of the Phase One building from office to residential "will provide the critical mass of people necessary in order to support future office and retail uses." Of course, this could take a while, which is the thinking behind the "flex space." What if they build it, but people don't come? The plan also asks for permission to use the Phase II/III/IV sites for interim projects like a farmer's market or temporary retail, rather than letting those spaces remain dormant. It's a good strategy to lure more people to the area, and can only help not just their development, but the neighborhood as a whole as it gears up to make the transition to world-class waterfront. But first, developers need to win over the Zoning Commission, which is proving to be a harder task than they may have anticipated. 

Monday, January 16, 2012

Skyland Struggles Towards Uncertain Timeline

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With the specter of a Wal-Mart vs. Safeway showdown over a decade-old exclusivity covenant having receded, the District can get back to resolving the many other issues standing in the way of the Skyland redevelopment in Southeast DC, a top priority of Mayor Vincent Gray’s embattled administration. But can Skyland overcome the many hurdles it faces?

Safeway, one of the District’s top private employers (15 stores), and high-profile retail anchor Wal-Mart squared off in November over an agreement Safeway had entered into with the owners of the shopping center, Skyland LLC, to bar certain types of competitors from the property after Safeway relocated to a nearby shopping center. Each side issued bland statements but retained powerful advisors; Safeway hired Maryland lobbyist Bruce Bereano, famously an ex-fraternity brother of Mayor Gray, and Wal-Mart hired David Wilmot, a local dealmaker who co-hosted a fundraiser with Mayor Gray just last month. Fast-forward a couple of days, and the matter was suddenly settled.

"A covenant exists on one lot of the many that comprise the Skyland redevelopment site," says Nimita Shah, Project Manager in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) by way of clarification. “The District is in discussions with Safeway about the removal of the covenant and anticipates a resolution in the upcoming year. However, it is important to note that the Safeway covenant noted above will have no impact on the proposed Wal-Mart that is to be included in the redevelopment, given that its placement on the site is outside of the affected lot.”

Either no one at Safeway or Wal-Mart actually read the covenant before throwing down their respective gauntlets, or the issue was quietly resolved through backroom horsetrading (the very sort of thing that Gray denounced when he pledged to bring transparency to the mayor's office). At any rate, with this issue put to bed, does this mean that Skyland faces a clear runway to approval and groundbreaking? Far from it.

Since first seizing Skyland in 2005 by invoking eminent domain, the District has spent over $12 million on settlements. Three more tenants settled in 2011 – Hong Kong Inn, Hilltop Cleaners, and New York Fried Chicken – leaving perhaps as few as one holdout, though according to the District there are over a dozen tenants are still operating at Skyland. “Fifteen tenants remain in operation at Skyland," says Shah. “The District is in the process of working will all of the remaining tenants to coordinate their relocations over the upcoming year.”

Everyone out by the end of 2012? Count Elaine Mittleman, an attorney who represents several Skyland tenants, among the skeptics. Mittleman contends the eminent domain proceedings have been slipshod and disorganized. “Wild ineptitude,” Mittleman snaps when asked to characterize the District’s handling of Skyland. Mittleman also provided DCMud with extensive correspondence between herself and the District that seems to raise questions about who holds the titles to seized Skyland properties, as well as concerns about the eventual turnover of Skyland to private developers, one of whom is a close associate of Mayor Gray’s, and has done repairs at his home.

Serious questions also remain regarding the project itself. There’s no firm consensus on whether Skyland is in fact a viable site for redevelopment; critics have pointed to the lack of public transportation options (the nearest Metro station, Anacostia, is a mile and a half away) and an already dicey traffic situation. There are also multiple competing projects in Southeast – St. Elizabeths East, Poplar Point, and Kenilworth-Parkside, just to name a few - as well as another Walmart planned nearby, on East Capitol Street. In the face of these doubts, the conventional wisdom is that with millions and years spent and so many promises made – none more than by the present administration - the District can hardly back out now.

Or can it?

People who point to the 2005 Supreme Court ruling that empowered the city of New London to oust intransigent homeowners so they could build a Pfizer plant as proof that Skyland is all but inevitable, overlook the fact that the Pfizer plant was never actually built. The drawn-out process of settling with and vacating tenants, as well as appeals and the administrative labyrinth of state seizure of property, can often outlast the patience of prospective tenants. Before Wal-Mart agreed to anchor Skyland, a similar Target deal fell through. Who's to say Wal-Mart won't walk, if litigation drags on for another year or three? Is Mayor Gray prepared to

Some cite the possibility that the District's resolve on Skyland is, at least in part, opportunistic. If it comes together, it will be a victory for some mayor's scorecard. But if it doesn't, that mayor (like the last three) can still curry favor with the voters of Southeast by telling them he tried. In fact, the prospect of a mayor fighting the good fight on behalf of the city's least-served quadrant, only to be stymied by other forces, is arguably a more valuable asset in a general election than a mere shopping center, however big and shiny. But the Mayor has been personally advancing the cause of Skyland to private businesses that might have a stake in the proposed development.

Elaine Mittleman disagreed with this cynical view of things – with conditions. Mittleman believes that the District sincerely wants Skyland, and wants it badly, but just got in over their heads. “The District courts rubber-stamped everything, basically, and there was never any comprehensive plan, just a back of the envelope thing,” Mittleman says. “It seems like they have just not put in the proper effort. It seems like they just magically thought it would happen.”

For their part, lead developer The Rappaport Companies, who won rights to Skyland way back in 2002, doesn’t seem the least bit perturbed by these latest developments, either stoically patient or just resigned to sticking it out for the long haul.

“The Skyland project is definitely gaining momentum, and the Mayor has made this a priority,” said Sheryl Simeck, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Rappaport. “But it is still too early in the process for us to be able to supply construction dates," (despite Mayor Gray's prediction it would break ground last year.) "The District continues to work on resolving the outstanding legal issues involving eminent domain. Development cannot start until these last few issues are resolved.” At this time, no one is prepared to say when that will be.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Today in Pictures - Boilermaker Shops

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Forest City has begun work in earnest on the boilermaker shops, its first retail pavilion at the Yards in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood. The building was constructed in 1919 as part of the Navy's largest shipbuilding factory, what would become the world's largest naval ordnance plant.

Forest City has announced the following tenants: Buzz Bakery and a brewery, both operated by the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, Austin Grill Express, Huey's 24/7 Diner, and BRB, all expected to open in late 2012. For more historic pictures, see the chronicler of all things southeast - JDLand.





Washington D.C. real estate development news. Photographs by Rey Lopez.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Today in Pictures - Florida Rock

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Just below Nationals Stadium, Patriot Transportation Holding Inc. and DC-based Midatlantic Realty Partners LLC, (MRP) began demolishing the concrete plant to make way for RiverFront on the Anacostia, 1.1 million s.f. of residential, office, retail and public access to the riverfront. Construction is expected to begin in 2013.




Washington D.C. real estate development news. Photos courtesy Rey Lopez.
 

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