Greyhound Bus Pulling Out of NoMa

Greyhound admitted last week that it may be on track for a departure. The inter-city bus company acknowledged its intention to sell its main DC station at 1005 First Street in the center of the NoMa development hotbed. While little has been finalized and Greyhound is hardly commenting, several sources say it will sell off its terminal and move several blocks south to Union Station. CB Richard Ellis Inc. is reportedly marketing the site.

“The property is on the market, Greyhound is interested in selling and consolidating to Union Station,” said Elizabeth Price, President of the NoMa BID. “I think it’s a great thing, it makes sense to leverage a great public transportation hub like Union Station and make it truly multi-modal. It also opens prime site on First Street for development that’s more consist with what is coming to the neighborhood.” The site takes up most of the block that borders L Street, and which is bisected by the railroad lines.

Price said sale of the property was “bound to happen.” She said other community leaders and developers would be pleased to have the site move towards re-development and join the surrounding flurry of retail, residential and mixed-use construction projects.

Greyhound, however, maintains that we should not get our hopes up. Spokesman Eric Wesley wouldn’t give a timeline or any details about how it would merge into Union Station, and maintained that nothing has been finalized.

“There have been no final agreements. We are still in talks with Union Station, but we don’t want to say that’s what we will do. We’ve had talks for 20 years. It’s hard to say which way the talks will go. There is no timeline,” Wesley said. Greyhound is currently the largest inter-city bus service in the country.

Akridge Names Shalom Baranes as Burnham Architect

Akridge will announce shortly that it has chosen DC-based Shalom Baranes as the architect for Burnham Place at Union Station, the behemoth development extending behind the station and over the railroad tracks. Back in November of 2006, Akridge Real Estate Services secured the purchase of 15 acres of air rights above the rail yard north of Union Station (pictured), from the General Services Administration for a hefty $10 million, setting precedent as the first sale of air rights by the federal government. At an estimated worth of $1 billion, Akridge's Burnham Place will extend north of Union station, past the Hopscotch Bridge on H Street, and house a 400-room hotel, residential towers and first-class office and retail space in a gargantuan 3 million-s.f. development. While the project has been on the radar of many a real estate habitué, few details and even fewer updates have been provided. “Burnham Place is an exciting and important project. We interviewed candidates around the world to find a world-class architect with a demonstrated sensitivity to the local context of this site,” says Matthew J. Klein, President of Akridge. “Shalom’s skills and capabilities aligned perfectly. We are eager to move forward with the design phase of this project.” 

For those wondering how a rail station can smoothly function with construction taking place above, consider Akridge's plan: support columns measuring twenty feet from the ground will be placed throughout the rail yard, upon which developers will place a concrete platform to serve as the foundation for the new floating city. Only after four years of technical negotiations with Amtrak was a conceptual construction plan decided upon. After entering into an extensive international search for a design firm, Akridge chosen Shalom Baranes, the masterminds behind the American Red Cross HQ and the Ritz Carlton Georgetown. "For a project of this magnitude in such an important location, we felt it was beneficial to have a local firm who knows the city and the city's needs." said Mary Margaret Plumridge, Director of Marketing at Akridge. Now, the project, named after the illustrious Union Station architect, is beginning to materialize on paper. Developers are just beginning to work on a master plan and PUD which will be submitted this year, although construction on the concrete footings won't begin until 2011. The plans involve a partnership with the federal government and the District Department Of Transportation to upgrade the transit facility, including: a second passenger concourse, an access road from Columbus Circle and an arcade that will connect Union Station to H street. Thanks to good planning, Akridge has the support of the folks at the Smart Growth Alliance and the Urban Land Institute (ULI); both have been effusive about the project since day one. "Burnham Place will contribute to a more cohesive Washington community with connections across the city both in the east/west and north/south directions, via the removal of the current rail yard barrier" added Plumridge.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

Akridge Receives Air Rights for Burnham Place at Union Station Project

DC developer Akridge has signed a deal with the US General Services Administration that gave the company the air rights over the train tracks behind Union Station, allowing Akridge to move forward with its Burnham Place at Union Station project, a 15-acres, mixed use complex to be located over the tracks and to the north and south of the Hopscotch Bridge (H St.), and west of 1st Street NE. The Burnham Place project will contain offices, retail (including medium-sized box store, residential towers, and a 400-room hotel. Burnham Place will also include a “comprehensive intermodal transportation center” that includes a new rail passenger concourse. Akridge hopes its project will anchor the new North of Massachusetts neighborhood (NoMa, for those who haven’t been exposed to this “hip” naming convention) and tap into the over 18 million passengers who use the Union Station metro annually. Akridge anticipates beginning construction in 2009 with the platform over the train tracks – this is expected to take three years to build. Work on the residential, office, and retail will then start.