Ballpark: Build It and They Will Come, They Might Even Stay

It's a good thing that the Nationals' standing as perhaps baseball's worst team ever will likely have no effect the residences of the surrounding neighborhood. The Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District (BID) has issued its second quarter residential statistics for 2009, showing how desirable the area is to reside in, and it looks like the cliched Costner-ism of "build it and they will come" is working...for some more than others. EYA's Capitol Quarter townhome development appears to be the leader of the pack of with "88 of 113 (market rate) units sold" - though sales began in the fall of 2006. With prices starting at $630,000, EYA can be content with its position as the only new single-family home project in the area, and their only competition in the area are the dreaded c-word – condominiums – and its Capitol Quarter has generated a slew of favorable media coverage for its tre trendy green construction practices and subsequent “LEED for Homes” certification. Proof positive that condos are indeed still on the sluggish side, Texas-based developer JPI’s pair of Capitol Riverfront condos. Or at least they were considered as condos before the Big Crash - The Axiom at Capitol Yards, The Jefferson at Capitol Yards and Faison's Onyx on First (pictured) – are now all renting as apartments. But according to the BID, the buildings have achieved 60% occupancy of their collective 960 units. That leaves approximately 384 empty units on the market, despite the fact the first completed building, The Jefferson opened its doors one year ago this month. It’s presumably that same dearth of buyers that made JPI go rental with their third area building, 909 at Capitol Yards; so far with less success than its predecessors. According to the BID report, only “25% of the 237 units” at 909 – but the project began renting only in the spring of this year. The developer has been trying to court the young, urbanista demographic for the building by advertising amenities like yoga studios, communal Nintendo Wiis and a residents-only bar/pub. JPI's tentative plans for a fifth and final 415-unit apartment building at 23 Eye Street still remain on the table, at least officially. Valhal Corporation’s Capitol Hill Tower Condo-op is still trudging along with "80% of 344 units sold." That would seem an admirable rate of occupancy had the building not opened early in 2006, with sales almost a year before that. Not mentioned in the BID stats is the Cohen Companies' Velocity condo project, the 200 unit condo nearing completion, but for which sales are reportedly not, well, high velocity. Nonetheless, the BID reports that, in total, there are now “an estimated 1,863 residents living in the Capitol Riverfront , with over 2,000 residents expected by the end of the year.” You could be one of the lucky 137 by year's end. Ghost town or boom town? You be the judge. 

UPDATE: Says Ted Skirbunt, Director of Research & Information Systems at the BID: "JPI’s buildings were always going to be rental from the beginning. The only building thus far to convert from condos to rental apartments is the Onyx."

Washington DC commercial retail and real estate news

Canal Parc Seeks PUD Approval in July

Willco Residential, LLC and New York-based developers Athena Group will head back before the District of Columbia Zoning Commission next month to hammer out the lingering entitlements stalling their planned residential redevelopment of the Riverside Hospital - an aging psychiatric facility at 4460 MacArthur Boulevard in Northwest DC's Palisades neighborhood.

Long viewed as undesirable element in the affluent community (the hospital last made the news when it was faulted with abuse of a minor in 2007), the development team is hoping to demolish the site and start anew with Canal Parc - 37 brick townhomes, developed via the LEED Neighborhood Development program, to replace the long-term care facility. Little, though, has been heard of the project since a raze application for the hospital was filed last August and Willco Residential President, Gary S. Cohen tells DCmud that his team is still in the midst of negotiating the planned unit development process with city authorities.

“[Right now], we’re trying to get the PUD. When we get the PUD, we’ll move ahead. Right now, we’re still working on the entitlements,” he said. “There’s been action, but the Zoning Commission hasn’t voted on it yet…We’re hoping that at the hearing in July they’ll take the vote. We’ve also been working with the neighborhood and trying to resolve some issues.”

The Office of Planning threw their support behind the project in November 2008, but stopped short of a full-on approval of the site plan due to in-progress talks with the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Department about a turn-around area within the development. Additional issues, mostly stemming from the economy, have kept Canal Parc from heading down the fast track, but Cohen is confident that once the project’s finer details are in place, the market will be receptive to a another residential project.

“I’m looking forward to getting off the ground and starting. I do think that by the time we deliver, the market will be at a better place and there won’t be as much supply because there’s not much between now and the next few years. So I think the timing could work out really well. It’s just a question of getting some the pieces that I don’t necessarily control in their proper place,” he said.

As such, a schedule for demolition and construction of the Lessard Group-designed development has yet to be set in stone, but should be much clearer following next month’s Zoning Commission hearing. “I’m hoping it’s on the sooner side,” said Cohen.

Homes Near the Pros in Capitol Heights

The Redskins may (still) disappoint, but the same can’t be said of the impact that construction of their newest home at FedEx Field has had on the surrounding Prince George's County (Capitol Heights) community. The area has been awash in new retail and commercial development since the Skins came calling in 1997 and, now, a handful of developers are aiming to transform Capitol Heights into the area’s newest suburban commuter enclave.

First and foremost, the Glenwood Hills development at Central Avenue and Addison Road is currently set for a large-scale expansion, per a recent approval by the Prince George's County Planning Board. The project - the first phase of which boasted 90 single-family homes, 117 townhouses and a "central recreational pod" - was sold by the original owners, Avanti Properties Group and Upshire Realty Advisors, to Berman Enterprises in 2006. Now, the new management is planning to get underway on 63 new single-family homes and 134 duplexes in February 2010. The new homes will range in size from 1,873 to 3,596 square feet. Berman has also presented the Planning Board will a proposal for Phase III that is planned to include another 45 single-family homes, along with 144 “multifamily dwelling units.”

Closer to the DC line, the Beazer Homes Corporation is set to proceed on a single-family development. Their Brighton Place development on Rollins Avenue is planned include 68 single-family homes and 60 townhouse units, ranging in size from 2,100 to 3,000 square feet. Construction has yet to commence on home one, but the developer has priced the standalone units from the mid-$300s with the townhomes starting in the mid-$200s.

Townhouses are also the order of business for the Villages at Peppermill, a project from Structures Unlimited and Foster Communities that broke ground in 2006 on a 20-acre plot with the already established 50s-era Peppermill Village development. While the 96 homes at Central Avenue and Cindy Lane are still aiming to reach their proposed 2010 completion date, a few details have fallen by the wayside in the interceding months since the project was first announced. Namely, both a proposed community center and police substation with the development have been nixed by the developer.

That, however, hasn’t stopped Structures Unlimited President Kareem Abdus-Salaam from pushing for more development in the Capitol Heights area. Two weeks ago, he was one of the local entrepreneurs involved with Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson’s proposal for the land transfer from Metro to the County to make way for a new 24,000 seat DC United Stadium at the site of the current Morgan Boulevard Station. If that $195 million dollar project comes to fruition (something which the District government couldn’t pull off at Poplar Point), perhaps it will wind up finishing what FedEx Field started more than a decade ago.

Prince George's County, Maryland real estate development news

Howard Scraps Plans for LeDroit Park Development

Howard University 's Community Capital Projects division (CCP) has abandoned plans for their “New Homes at Historic LeDroit Park” project, according to University officials. Nonetheless, they don’t seem too keen on telling the neighbors.

Located at the corner of 5^th Street and Oakdale Place, NW, directly behind the Howard University Hospital, CCP had been advertising on the long vacant lot by boasting a laundry list of members on their development team, including Sorg and Associates as architects, Essex Construction Inc. as “construction consultants”, Howard President H. Patrick Swygert as “development sponsor” and Riggs Bank as a co-sponsor.

Curiously, Sorg and Associates told DCmud they have never heard of any such project, Swygert resigned his post as University President almost a year ago and Riggs Bank merged with PNC in 2005. What gives?

“The lots are being marketed for sale,” said Kerry-Ann Hamilton, Howard’s Media Relations Manager. “The University is not developing the parcels in question.” Curiously enough, however, they didn’t respond to inquiries regarding the cost of the mysterious parcel, which has yet to be advertised - in any capacity - as being for sale.

Thinking perhaps the project’s fortunes were tied to the University’s once ballyhooed LeDroit Park Initiative, DCmud questioned the head of the Initiative, Maybelle Taylor Bennett of the Howard University Community Association. She declined to comment on the status of the “New Homes” parcel or the Initiative as a whole – which is the product of a partnership between the University and (hard swallow) the Fannie Mae Foundation. Suffice it to say, the Initiative’s plans for “a new mixed-use Town Center on Georgia Avenue that will include community-serving retail and apartment housing” are probably not imminent.

UPDATE: Howard has since directed DCmud to the Menkiti Group, who is currently listing the 4,420 square lot at 2025 5th Street, NW for $430,000. According to their site, it is the "last remaining parcel from the HU/LeDroit Revitalization initiative."

McMansion Watch: Chevy Chase

Even through the worst of economic slowdowns, the Montgomery County hamlet of Chevy Chase has proven to be one of the most insulated from market declines - at least with regard to home values. The fact may have something to do with schools, proximity to DC and Metro, walkability or history, but certainly housing is the dominant factor, and close-in single family homes have fared best. Which helps explain the surfeit of increasingly imposing, over-sized homes that have dominated the architectural style of new homes. With that in mind, here's a look at some projects currently underway:

Properties 1 & 2: 3823 Bradley Lane

Two single family homes will soon be situated on these dual 17,000 square foot development lots, which formerly hosted the now-demolished Nigerian ambassador's residence.

Developer: Sandy Spring Classic Homes

Architect: GTM Architects

Builder: Sandy Spring Builders, LLC

3810 Club Drive

Formerly home to a split-level rambler that has increasingly become the target of developers, this parcel has been reborn as a goldenrod...chateau? Or English manor, we're not sure.

Developer: Mitchell & Company

Architect: Mitchell & Company

Builder: Mitchell & Company

3516 Turner Lane

Wrapping up construction next month, this garage-centric home sits on a 7,000 foot lot a block over from Chevy Chase's only (and tre exclusive) shopping center on Brookville Road. The convenience will only run you $2,199,000.

Developer: McNamara Bros., Inc.

Architect: Studio Z Design Concepts

Builder: McNamara Bros., Inc.