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

Builders Break Ground on New Northwest One Residence in NoMa

Yesterday, developers broke ground on the first residential project Northwest One New Community at 2 M Street, NE, a 12-story, 314-unit residential building in NoMa. Led by developer William C. Smith + Co. along with The Warrenton Group, opening of the $92 million building is expected in late 2013.

Nearly a third of the units will be designated for low-income tenants, with 59 units set aside for former the Temple Court residents (30% of AMI), demolished to make way for this project, and 34 units available for those making 60% of AMI, with retail on the first floor.

Construction was initially expected to be underway in March, but was delayed due to lack of funding. Northwest One was approved by the City Council in 2005, began gearing up in 2008 and the new Walker-Jones School, followed by the first residential component, the SeVerna, which broke ground last summer. 2 M Street was designed by Eric Colbert & Associates.

There will be 4,100 s.f. of ground floor retail and an 8,000 s.f. courtyard above two levels of underground parking, offering between 184 and 192 spots. The 290,000 s.f. building will be concrete, "clad with masonry, decorative metals and soaring full height windows," according to WCS. 2 M Street is estimated to be taking $82 million of the total $700 million needed for NW1, which includes in all: 1,600 units of mixed-income housing, and 220,000 s.f. of commercial/retail space.

NW1 is one of five projects being realized by the New Communities Initiative, a public-private partnership to develop areas that exhibit "high rates of poverty and unemployment, as well as blight and deterioration of the housing stock." The other four projects are Barry Farm (Ward 8), Lincoln Heights (Ward 7), Richardson Dwellings (Ward 7), and Park Morton (Ward 1). WCS Construction is building the residence.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Northwest One's Site 2 on its Way Up

In less than one month, according to the office of Victor Hoskins, the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, construction will "officially" begin on another piece of the District's $700-million-dollar Northwest One New Community at 2 M Street, NE, known as "Site 2 (of Phase 1)", where a 12-story, 314-unit residential-and-retail building will go up.

With all permits in place, and pre-construction activity having begun on site last month, the official groundbreaking, by general contractor WCS Construction, is slated for September 12th.

Construction was initially expected to be underway in March, and when questioned about stalled District developments at a WDCAR event in mid-July, Hoskins pointed to NW1 as an example of an active site. "We are currently bringing the community to that location," said Hoskins, of the project's footprint around North Capitol Street in Ward 6, both in and west of NoMa.

NW1, approved by Council in 2005, began gearing up in 2008 and the new Walker-Jones School was the first completed component, followed by the first residential component, the SeVerna, which broke ground last summer.

According to Jose Sousa at DMPED, the "slowing of debt markets" was the cause of the delay, which affected both the development team, led by William C. Smith + Co. along with The Warrenton Group, and the District. The group, Sousa explained, "adapted by securing FHA mortgage insurance from HUD." Final confirmation and approval of the HUD transaction is imminent, said Sousa.

With construction expected to last 28 months, the 314-unit apartment building, designed by Eric Colbert & Associates, should be complete at the end of 2013.

Of the 314 units, 221 will be rented at market rate, 59 units will be set aside for former Temple Court residents (30% of AMI), and 34 units will be available for those making 60% of AMI.

There will be 4,100 s.f. of ground floor retail and an 8,000 s.f. courtyard above two levels of underground parking, offering between 184 and 192 spots. The 290,000 s.f. building will be concrete, "clad with masonry, decorative metals and soaring full height windows," according to WCS.

2 M Street is estimated to be taking $82 million of the total $700 million needed for NW1, which includes in all: 1,600 units of mixed-income housing, 40,000 s.f. of retail, and 220,000 s.f. of commercial office space.

NW1 is one of five projects being realized by the New Communities Initiative, a public-private partnership that aims to develop areas that exhibit "high rates of poverty and unemployment, as well as blight and deterioration of the housing stock." The other four projects are Barry Farm (Ward 8), Lincoln Heights (Ward 7), Richardson Dwellings (Ward 7), and Park Morton (Ward 1). 

Washington DC retail and commercial real estate news

Tax Abatement For NW1 On the Way, Groundbreaking Around the Bend

Phase One of the Northwest One project, located at 2 M Street NE, is progressing steadily towards their predicted 2011 late first quarter groundbreaking. A tax abatement bill for the property passed smoothly through the first round of deliberation at last week's District Council meeting, and has been put on the consent calender for the next Whole Council meeting on the 21st. The 10 year abatement would begin in the fiscal year 2015, and relieve developers from up to $5.7 million in District property dues. Developers at William C. Smith and Co. also report that they're nearly half way through the process to lock up financing through HUD’s Section 220 loan program. It seems a waiting game on multiple fronts, with plenty of time to cover all the bases before construction begins; project manager Steve Green reports, "We're in for every building permit there is."

The 12-story building, designed by Eric Colbert & Associates, is the first new construction project under the District-conceived New Communities Initiative, a program aimed at improving both the physical and social conditions of some of the District's most troubled neighborhoods. Not only will the transformation offer affordable places to live, but will also include social services; comprehensive efforts will be made towards connecting residents with job opportunities, offer guidance towards financial stability, and programs to reduce crime and substance abuse. The new construction, to be carried out by WCS Construction, will offer upon completion 314 units, as well as an on-site fitness center, pool, and basketball court. Fifty-nine of the residential units will be reserved for those earning 30% AMI, 34 at 60% AMI, and the remaining 221 will be rented at market rate. The building will also include 4,000 s.f. of ground floor retail.

Earning a lot of firsts, the building will be the initial installment of the Northwest One Initiative, the first neighborhood makeover of the New Communities program. The expansive project will offer much-needed development-first-aide for the scarred, crime-plagued real estate extending from K Street in the south to New York Avenue in the north, and stretching from North Capitol Street in the east to New Jersey Avenue in the west. The initial building will claim $82 million of the estimated total of $700 million in development and construction costs. The project's next phase will likely be the construction of a building directly to the north of phase one, but developers aren't getting ahead of themselves just yet; the lengthy two-year construction time for the first phase projects a delivery in the early part of 2013.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Dupont Underground Plans Unveiled

Last night, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) hosted a meeting at the Dupont Hotel to introduce interested parties, mostly journalists and artist-types, to the selected development team and their preliminary plans for the 100,000 s.f. space known as "Dupont Underground." After a failed endungeoned food court experiment in '95, and some 35 years without a viable solution for the neglected Dupont Circle trolley station, DMPED and the development team believe they've "cut the Gordian knot" of Dupont Underground. Having released an RFP in March, the District received two official offers. Eventually deeming one "unresponsive," DMPED officials have decided to move forward and go public with the lone development plans. Spearheaded by Arts Coalition for Dupont Underground (ACDU), a registered not-for-profit "comprising artists and designers, businesspeople and community leaders," and in partnership with J.M. Zell, the newly chosen development team will look to deliver an "important cultural institution highlighting Washington’s rightful place on the cultural map." In other words, developers will transform the rat-friendly bunker, "stretching nearly eight blocks long," into a high-brow cultural center: part art gallery showcasing local talent, part sophisticated "top-tier" dining venue, part wine-swirling hobnobbing-goodness. Developers cited their "optimal goal" for delivery of the ten-million-dollar, 40,000 s.f. phase one as somewhere between 24 and 36 months, or two to three years.

SmithGroup is currently in the preliminary stages of designing an elegant new wardrobe for the currently raw and unfinished underground tunnel, and WCS Construction has signed on to build the finalized plans. Phase one will consist of 20,000 s.f. of gallery space and 20,000 s.f. of concession space (potentially a restaurant, wine-bar, and cafe). Developers expect that pending leases with a high-end restaurateur and winery of some sort will enable a loan covering three-fourth of phase one construction costs. The remaining quarter will be left to fund-raising efforts. Developers promised they "are not counting on any District financial support." Phase two will consist of an additional 60,000 s.f. of cultural space, its construction wholly dependent on the financial success of phase one and the growth of the endowment. Citing formerly rotting and now reimagined public and cultural spaces like New York City's "The High Line" (an unused elevated rail-line turned public park) and Saint-Nazaire, France's "Alveole 14" (an abandoned submarine bunker turned art-space), developers expressed their hopes of creating a cultural attraction that will even "attract international tourists from Berlin and Paris." Considering the last Dupont Underground project failed to lure their own citizens down for a lunch-time burger, it seems the difficulty of the task ahead looms rather large.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Northwest One Project Aims to be First New Residence in Northwest One

Northwest One's race for the first residential project is showing some contest. The development team for the SeVerna had forecasted earlier this year that their 60-unit affordable housing project would get moving this summer, which DCMud reported last spring, but construction has not yet taken place, and now William C. Smith & Co claims their $80 million, 314-unit "classy, rental building" will in fact be the first to break ground - next spring. But not so, says Jose Sousa, a spokesman with Mayor Adrian Fenty's office, the SeVerna's developers settled on their property August 12 and will be breaking ground, at least officially, "in the next couple of weeks."

The District has already built the Walker Jones Education Campus, a school and recreation center, officially the first successful portion of the redevelopment plan, but it remains unclear where its next students will come from, as neither the Severna developers ( MissionFirst Development, The Henson Development Company and Golden Rule Apartments, Inc.) nor William C. Smith have offered a definitive date for actual construction. William C. Smith's proposed building will stand twelve stories tall upon completion,

with a small ground-floor retail component, a first installment on the larger Northwest One Initiative (part of the New Communities Project), a $700 million redevelopment project in Ward 6, providing a makeover for the scarred, crime-infested real estate extending from K Street in the
south to New York Avenue in the north, and stretching from North Capitol Street in the east to New Jersey Avenue in the west. In 2007, the Mayor and DMPED awarded the rights to the redevelopment project to One Vision Development Partners headed by William C. Smith & Co in partnership with Jair Lynch, with Banneker Ventures and affordable housing provider Community Preservation and Development Corporation also involved with portions of the larger project. As promised, the building will offer 93 affordable units, 30% of the total apartments.

The first parcel (out of a total of 5 or 6) will be situated on the corner of North Capitol and M Street, NE, technically in NoMa. Architectural designs are courtesy of Eric Colbert & Associates; William C. Smith-affiliated WCS Construction will build the structure. Architect Brian Bukowski says the industrial nature of this part of DC was the major inspiration for a unifying aesthetic theme. "We wanted to give the building an updated post-industrial flavor," Bukowski explained. The exposed fixed post steel, generous use of red brick, and angular, geometric fenestration seem to bear out his claim. But if on whole the building brings to mind a downtown warehouse, the ten two-level townhouses serve as a friendlier introduction to the large facade on the M Street side of the building. The townhomes and accompanying courtyard will help relate to the residential-nature of the immediate neighborhoods. Loading and and parking access will be relegated to the opposite site of the building on Patterson Avenue. A roof penthouse will crown the building.

The main rooftop will not only provide panoramic views, but will also be ornamented with a landscaped green terrace and lap pool. A rain harvesting cistern on the roof will conserve run-off and curb water consumption; low-flow showers will further aid the conservation effort. On what will likely be a crowded roof are several solar panels, funneling electricity to the building's energy grid. In the end, residents will be able to brag about one of the greenest roofs in the city, collecting water, converting the sun's rays into usable energy, and deflecting thermal load with it's organic plant life, all aspects in an effort to earn a LEED Silver certification, with the possibility of becoming the first LEED Gold-rated multifamily residential building in the District.

William C. Smith is in the final steps of negotiating the lease agreement with the District, and although financing is not in place, developers are working toward securing funds, still optimistic that groundbreaking will happen in the late first quarter or early second quarter of next year. A request for subcontracting bids has been issued by WCS, a sign that the developers and teammates are serious about moving forward. The estimated 20-24 month construction time places delivery in the early part of 2013.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Northwest One Announcement on the Horizon

It appears that construction is imminent on the next phase of development at Northwest One, the ambitious, $700m mixed-income housing project in the bursting NoMa neighborhood. Developer William C. Smith & Co. has been collecting subcontractors and is expected to announce shortly a schedule for work at the vacant parking lot - formerly the Temple Court Apartments - at the intersection of North Capitol and M Streets.

William C. Smith & Co. partnered with Jair Lynch, affordable housing providers Community Preservation and Development Corporation, and the Warrenton Group (formerly of Banneker Ventures) to create One Vision Development Partners, a Certified Business Enterprise that promises to create jobs for DC workers during the subcontracting phase of development.

Planned along a five-block stretch of North Capitol Street, the mixed-income Northwest One community is being born out of a need to confront the high crime and poverty rates within the public housing developments in the area.

Deputy Mayor’s Office Spokesman Sean Madigan told DCMud that a formal announcement about the city’s plans may appear as early as next week once they’ve finished “working out a few of these details” about timelines and participants. Until that happens, most participants in the project have been mum about details.

Eric Colbert, whose architecture firm Eric Colbert & Associates will design the 12-story 2 M Street NE building, confirmed that this portion of the mixed-use development will include 4,600 s.f. of ground floor retail, 326 apartment units, 10 town houses, and a rooftop pool.

Although William C. Smith & Co's affiliated WCS Construction team will handle the main contracting of the building at 2 M Street NE, W. Christopher Smith, Jr. pledged a 40% CBE (designated "local" business enterprise) goal at a July Northwest One public round table.

Congress Heights Project to Stimulate Neighborhood "On the Edge"

Yet another project, originally planned as condominiums, will now be developed as affordable rentals, this time in the Congress Heights neighborhood. William C. Smith & Co. (WCS Development) will soon begin the interior fit of 82 units in three apartment buildings at 13th and Mississippi Ave SE, across from Oxon Run Park and walking distance from the Congress Heights Metro Station. The developer expects construction to begin by March 2010 after financing issues delayed the project initially slated for completion in Spring 2008. Jeffrey Smith, Project Manager at WCS, said the switch to rental, with 50 of the 82 units slotted to be 975 s.f. two-bedroom, two-bath rental apartment homes, will make available spacious apartments "not really equaled" in the neighborhood. The condos will total 98,000 s.f. with an added 429-square-foot bump-out to accommodate the two-bedrooms. An original surface parking lot and an additional new lot will provide 56 parking spaces total for the property. Smith said the area of Congress Heights is "on the edge" of a lot of new development with several projects in pre-development and completed projects like Savoy Court delivering new units. He said the community is looking forward to the infusion to "help stabilize their neighborhood." All of the units will be affordable for individuals making 60 percent or less of Area Median Income in accordance with Department of Housing and Community Development's (DHCD) 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits. To comply with DHCD's standards for the tax credits, the building is designed to meet and exceed DC's Green Communities standards, featuring roofs with Energy Star reflectivity standards, low-flush plumbing fixtures and even green (not the color) carpeting. Gutting the interior, the first phase of construction which began quite some time ago, is now 95% complete. Describing the project as "almost like new construction" Smith indicated that the only remaining elements of the original structure are the external walls and the floors. Smith said the developers are "anxious" to get moving on the next phase of construction and that they have all of their permits lined up. Now if that financing would just come through... The project architect is Eric Colbert and Associates and WCS Construction, LLC is the General Contractor, but the project is still in the planning phase for subcontractor bidding for around $4 million worth of work. According to Smith the total cost of the project is estimated at $19 million.

Washington DC commercial real estate news