JBG Smith Readies Another Apartment Building in Woodmont Triangle

Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle may be small in size (15 city blocks, give or take), but it continues to be one of the DC region's most active construction sites, delivering up some of the highest density in the region.  The latest of the projects is JBG Smith's apartment building, a 322-unit apartment building with retail, including an Orange Theory Fitness, along Wisconsin Avenue.

click image for photo gallery

Of course the world has changed since the start of the project, and design of the 420,000 s.f. building was revised from including originally approved 450 apartments down to 322 units, increasing the unit size and maintaining the same building envelope.  JBG declined to comment on the change.  15% of the units will be subsidized as required by the county.  Designed by NYC-based FX Collaborative, the building parallels Wisconsin Avenue with a staggered glass panel design, saving its more attractive curvilinear brick exterior to face Woodmont Avenue.  The 17 story project is expected to complete late this year, and will be joined shortly thereafter by the Marriott headquarters and hotel one block to the south.

Project:  7900 Wisconsin Avenue

Renderings: Libovich

Developer:  JBG Smith

Architect:  FX Collaborative

Construction: Plaza Construction

Use:  322 apartments, 20,000 s.f. of retail

Expected Completion:  Late 2020

Bethesda commercial real estate news

New Renderings of MoCo's Tallest Building

After building the tallest building in Montgomery County, JBG is putting the final touches on plans for an even taller building next door.  JBG's North Bethesda Market II (NoBe II), a second phase to the development that built the county's tallest structure, will add 400 new residences, 120,000 s.f. of retail, and a 150,000-s.f. office building when completed.  Renderings, completed by ArchiBIM, show the distinctive building rising above the 24-story tower now on the site.  Although a timeline has not been determined, JBG and co-developer MacFarlane Partners have been hoping to break ground on the 4.4 acre site in the first half of next year, producing an iconic, 26-story (300 ft) apartment building designed by Studios Architecture.

Montgomery County approved the building back in March.  The project furthers the goals of increased density and design along Rockville Pike, a goal that got a shot in the arm with the recent release of plans across the street for a replacement for the White Flint mall.  JBG owns more land to the south and west of the two sites, but for now, NoBe II is its sole focus in the area.  NoBe II will be completed in one phase, taking 2-to-3 years once construction starts.

Montgomery County real estate development news

Bozzuto Celebrates Start of Cathedral Commons

Demolition to make way for Cathedral Commons is now underway both officially and physically.  Bozzuto held a press conference this morning to celebrate work that began quietly this week to demolish two city blocks and replace it with a mixed-use development and Giant supermarket.  The 4-acre, $130 million project will add an improved, larger Giant as well as 137 apartment units, 8 townhouses, and a concourse with 125,000 s.f. of street front retail space.

What remains of the SunTrust building

Construction work on the project has been expected for the past year, and evidently close when construction fences went up last month.  The project was designed by JCA Architects of Reston. According to a press release:

Cathedral Commons will include 137 apartment units and eight townhomes, more than 500 parking spaces, and 128,000 square feet of vibrant retail anchored by a 56,000 square-foot state-of-the-art Giant Food, which will include full-service floral, bakery, meat, seafood and deli departments and an expanded offering of fresh produce, natural, organic, and gluten-free products as well as international items. Resident amenities in the spectacular community will include a boutique hotel-style lobby, lounge areas and library, fitness center, clubroom, conference room, and residential courtyards.

Babes Development OK'd by ANC

The Advisory Neighborhood Commission held a hearing last night to approve development at 4600 Wisconsin Ave., affectionately known as the "Babes" site in Tenleytown.  In a hearing competing with a Vice Presidential debate and sudden death National League playoff, the ANC voted in a lightly attended meeting to support the residential project as Douglas Development gets ready to present the same plans to the Zoning Commission

The approval, the culmination of a Memorandum of Understanding between Douglas Development, the building's owner, and the ANC, gets Douglas past the neighborhood and to a final zoning vote.  Douglas's zoning application calls for a 6-story building with 48,000 s.f. of residential use above 13,000 s.f. of retail.  After a heated battle with some neighborhood turf bullies that feared dozens of new cars clogging Tenleytown, Douglas prevailed on turning the bottom two floors into retail by offering a host of transportation amenities (off-street handicap parking, a bike room, bike racks on Wisconsin, and a "digital multimodal display" in the lobby that lists updated bus, rail, bikeshare and car share data) rather than the 87 parking spaces that would have been required under current zoning regulations.

Douglas fought a contentious battle with some in the neighborhood that wanted garage parking to mitigate street parking, but the neighborhood acquiesced when, among other things, when Douglas agreed that residents would not qualify for neighborhood parking stickers and that commercial tenants over 3,500 s.f. would provide free validated parking. Jonathan Bender, the ANC Commissioner in whose district the project is located, said it was a tough compromise that neither side was entirely happy with, but that it allowed the project to go forward.   "This is a tremendous advance in Tenleytown...even if the ANC supported it without the parking restriction the Zoning Commission would never have supported this [without that parking condition]."  The concept of allowing new development while forbidding tenants of new residential developments has long been a contested one, with new residents feeling boxed out by local home owners.

Douglas also agreed to a check list of other neighborhood upgrades, including contributing up to $600,000 to underground utilities in front of the project, building a CaBi station at its expense if DDOT does not build one in the immediate vicinity on its own within 2 years, and enhancing the triangular park across the street.

The site has long been planned as a residential location, a previous owner intended high-end condos on the site, and though Douglas initially floated a plan for office space above retail after purchasing the property in January of 2009 (the site had been a pool hall recently), it soon began developing a plan for housing above the retail.  Click here for the most recent images of the project.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Construction Work Begins on Cathedral Commons

Initial construction work has begun on the Giant Supermarket site at 3336 Wisconsin Avenue, a 4-acre site that will be redeveloped into a mixed-use community known as Cathedral Commons.  The $130 million project has been more than a decade in the making, and will create a new, larger Giant as well as 137 apartment units, 8 townhouses, and a concourse with 125,000 s.f. of street front retail space.

Giant had been fighting a devoted neighbor- hood opposition group for years, but scored some decisive legal victories in 2011 and obtained financial partner Bozzuto Group to give the project the final kick needed to start development.  While no formal announcement was issued by the team, partners in the project have been saying for weeks that construction would be imminent, and construction crews began erecting fences Monday afternoon.  

The supermarket, one of the last major groceries to begin (a much needed) renovation, closed in March.  Renderings and descriptions for the new Giant show a wide-aisled suburban-style supermarket resembling its Bethesda counterpart more than the reimagined urban supermarket being promised by developers of the CityMarket at O.  The project was designed by JCA Architects of Reston, which is also responsible for the design work at Union Market.

Update:  A spokesperson for the project notes that Bozzuto is not only the financial partner but also the developer and joint venture partner with Giant, and that no formal date has been announced regarding an official groundbreaking.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

107-Year-Old Cleveland Park Home Dodges Bullet

A 107-year-old home in Cleveland Park has received a last minute pardon from razing, after the property was sold to a new owner and plans to develop the site for the moment shelved.

"The raze application and the concept proposal have been withdrawn," confirms Steve Callcott, Deputy Preservation Officer at Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB). "We received notification from their attorney that the property has been sold to a different owner."

The saga of the marginalized home at 3211 Wisconsin Avenue was set to come to an abrupt end, as the last owners had sought permission to raze the house to make way for a six-story apartment building.

Previous developers at Hastings Development had proposed a wholesale relocation of the house, from its Wisconsin Avenue location in Cleveland Park to a vacant lot at 3118 Quebec Place NW.  A 2008 report from Hastings Development described the sad case of a home that had "lost its setting" and was "pressed between multifamily apartment buildings."  Pictures illustrating this point depicted a forlorn two story house dwarfed on each side by looming monoliths and fronted by a hectic thoroughfare.  Encroachment was gradual; to the south, an eight-story apartment building was constructed in 1958, and to the north, a (most unsightly) seven-story building went up in the Eighties.  In contrast, 3211 was a modest, two-story frame house, set back from the street with a small front yard.  

But the HPRB rejected this proposal, later saying that the "new location and context was inappropriate for the building," despite the fact that its initial report found the Quebec Place lot "would provide a more visually compatible context of similarly sized and scaled single family houses."  An HPRB report noted that the house was "deteriorating and vacant" and was "in need of substantial repair" as well as missing the original porches. Additionally, there was speculation that the original builder and architect of record, a Treasury Department bookkeeper named Donald Macleod (he built the house for his sister Euphemia), had simply copied the plans for the house out of a builder's manual or pattern book, theoretically reducing the house's value as a historical artifact.

Following the denial of the relocation request, developers changed gears and planned to raze the house and build a six-story apartment building much like the surrounding ones - that is, until the property changed hands at the last minute.  So what's next for the once-endangered house?

"We have no applications pending [regarding 3211 Wisconsin]," says Callcott.  "We're not exactly sure what's going to happen to it."

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Construction for Cathedral Commons a Step Closer

A sign today announces the parking lot of the now-closed Giant Food at 3336 Wisconsin Ave. will close April 23 to prepare for construction of Cathedral Commons. The grocery store closed last week, but the parking lot remained open. Crews also have removed the classic Giant sign on the building.

Bozzuto, Giant's financial partner for the project, posted a site plan yesterday for the $125 million mixed-use development that will span two blocks along Wisconsin Avenue.

Street-Works is developing the site that will have a new Giant Food anchoring 128,000 s.f. of new retail space. The site also will include 137 apartments, eight townhouses and 500 parking spaces.

A raze permit for the Giant as well as other parts of the 3300 block were approved Jan. 30th by the Historic Preservation Office according to documents released by the Office. Permit applications for the 3400 block also were filed.

Washington, D.C., real estate development news

Mid-Pike Plaza Warmly Received By MoCo Planning Board

The Montgomery County Planning Board gave initial approval last week to the preliminary site plans for Pike & Rose, the replacement for Mid-Pike Plaza, an ambitious vision that would dramatically transform a 24-acre parcel in White Flint, at the intersection of Rockville Pike and Old Georgetown Road.

The preliminary plan, from Rockville-based REIT Federal Realty Investment Trust, proposes to convert the existing surface-parking-and-strip-mall into mixed-use pedestrian- and bike-friendly mega-development with interspersed public green spaces. The final buildout, which was designed by WDG Architecture and Baltimore-based Design Collective, would come in at just under 3.5 million square feet, with approximately half of that total being residential. A list of tenants for the finished development includes AT&T, Bank of America, and CVS, among many others, including - notably - an 8-screen, reserved-seating iPic theater.

Though the project represents a massive facelift for the area, planners have surprisingly received no complaints regarding the project from adjacent property owners or other members of the public, and the planning board was largely receptive to the plans at last week's meeting. Of course, final approval is contingent on developers meeting a long list of conditions, including providing recreation facilities, street improvements, bike parking, vegetated rooftops, and a per-residential-unit payment of just over 1800 dollars to Montgomery County schools.

In accordance with the latest trends in urban planning, plans for Mid-Pike Plaza place heavy emphasis on pedestrian-friendly access, traffic reduction, public spaces, and green solutions. The project, for example, includes a "road diet" that would sharply reduce traffic in the area, largely by reducing Old Georgetown Road to four lanes from six, and a "dramatic" reduction in parking. Phase One also includes generous apportioning of public green spaces; included in the site plan are two pedestrian plazas and a public green that would altogether account for 1.3 acres (of a total 6.7 Phase One acres). Planners have also required Federal Realty to include vegetated roofs on most of the buildings. Smaller pockets parks are splashed throughout the development, and most of the public spaces will be linked by a "recreation loop" of bike lanes and walking paths.

Construction is slated to commence in three phases, proceeding roughly from the southwest corner of the property and proceeding roughly northeast. Phase One, tentatively scheduled to break ground this August, will start with Building 10, located in the very southwesterly corner, a 200-foot-tall, 319-unit residential building with 13,300 square feet of commercial space, Building 11 (directly to the east of Building 10), a 100-foot-tall 251,000 square foot u-shaped office tower with ground floor commercial space, and Building 12, a 70-foot building which will front Old Georgetown Road, and consist of 174 residential units and just over 50,000 square feet of commercial space. Per an agreement with the county, the two residential buildings in Phase One would offer 12.5% moderately priced dwelling units (MPDUs). Phase Two would represent the approximate center of the trapezoidal parcel, and Phase Three would complete the north end of the development as well as fill in spaces on the west and southeast margins.

North Bethesda real estate development news

Wisconsin Ave. Giant to Close In March as Cathedral Commons Gears Up

The Giant supermarket at 3336 Wisconsin Avenue, NW will close in March in preparation for the construction of Cathedral Commons, according to a spokeswoman for the supermarket chain.

Sharon Robinson, an outside spokeswoman on behalf of Giant said that construction for the $125 million project will begin this quarter. A raze permit for the building as well as other parts of the 3300 block were approved Jan. 30th by the Historic Preservation Office according to documents released this week by the Office. Meanwhile, the Giant Pharmacy has closed, and Starbucks cafe in the 3400 block also closed this week; its building also has a date with the wrecking ball as part of the project.

(Photo by Ken Johnson)

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 400, which represents Giant employees at the Wisconsin Ave. store, were also given notice this week that the location will close within the next 30 days to begin razing the old building.

The UFCW employees won't lose their jobs, but will be transferred to other Giant stores in the region, according to UFCW Local 400 Secretary Mark Federici.

Developer Street-Works, which also designed much of Bethesda Row, has designed Cathedral Commons to bring 137 apartments, eight town homes and more than 125,000 s.f. of retail space, including 56,000 s.f. to replace the 50-year old store.

For the past decade, Cathedral Commons has been ground-zero for redevelopment politics, pitting anti-development activists versus the food store and its financial partner The Bozzuto Group.

Meanwhile, Giant, like its fellow unionized grocery chain Safeway, is facing increasing pressure to improve or replace its smaller-footage legacy stores like the one on Wisconsin Avenue, one of the least liked supermarkets in the District.

That's the result of stiff competition from non-unionized upscale chains like Harris Teeter and Whole Foods, which have entered the District in force, as well as discount food sellers like Walmart, which just this week began work for a groundbreaking at its first store in the District at New Jersey Avenue and H Street.

Pleasanton, California-based Safeway Inc. is also looking to replace its 35,000 s.f. Safeway in Tenleytown, less than a mile away, with a five-story mixed use project that will bring a new 56,000 s.f. store to the neighborhood. But that project likely won't get started until the new Cathedral Commons Giant is ready and open for business. Giant also closed their large Shaw supermarket last September, in advance of what will (in two years) become an anchor supermarket and residential project in Shaw.

Update: According to Sharon Robinson, the above-mentioned spokesman, a date has not been set for closure of the Giant.

Washington D.C. real estate development news