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.

McMansions II: Palisades

While George Soros is enjoying "a very good crisis," he is not alone. As work proceeds on 46 custom homes in the Palisades, at least some new home buyers are paying nearly $2m for a development of custom-built, embassy-sized homes in Northwest Washington DC. The Phillips Park development - overseen by international businessmen William Pryor and Felipe Paraud - will be delivering 46 "estate homes" with sprawling 9,000 to 17,000 square foot lots near the intersection of Foxhall Road and W Street, NW over the course of the next year.

Proof positive that not everyone is suffering, twenty-two of the available lots are already under contract, according to the real estate agent representing the project, Long and Foster's Susie Maguire. The custom-built homes themselves will measure in at 4,500 to 9,000 s.f. and sport designs from variety of architectural firms, including Barnes Vanze, David Jones, Muse and Neumann Lewis Buchanan. Priced from $1.5m, the homes began sales a little more than two years ago,

Phillips Park’s big price tag is in keeping with the parcel’s prestigious former use; it was formerly the site of “Dunmarlin,” a 26-room, 17,000-s.f. mansion owned by philanthropists Duncan and Marjorie Phillips - best known to metro area residents as the patrons behind the Phillips Collection art museum in Dupont Circle. 

The historic mansion was controversially demolished following its sale to Saudi businessman Rafik Harir in 1988. At the time, its $13 million price point was the largest sum ever paid for a residence in the District.

As the development is custom-built, construction is ongoing, but the first few homes sold will begin to deliver later this month. Gibson Builders, Horizon Builders, O’Neill Development, Lifecraft Builders and MB VISNIC are all serving as contractors on the project. Financing is provided by ING Direct. UPDATE: Palisades Park is a shared listing between Long & Foster and the firm of Arnold, Bradley, Sargent, Davy and Chew, Inc.

DC's Palisades Demolition Clears Way for Single Family Homes

Encore Development and engineers Dewberry and Davis are currently on site at 4800 U Street, NW, where they are parlaying the former site of a single-family Palisades home into eight development lots. Encore purchased the property, which stands only a block from MacArthur Boulevard, in 2007 and subsequently razed the home at the site soon thereafter.

“We actually bought a 3.2 acre parcel there and sold half of it to the St. Patrick’s School. We retained the other half for ourselves,” said Encore principal Steve Kay. According to him, though Encore has already received numerous inquiries from other development teams looking to acquire the property, the roughly 9,000 square foot lots will most likely be sold ala carte to would-be owners once work ends sometime in “the May to June timeframe.”

As Encore’s interest in the site will feature no new construction, the developer needed little clearance to proceed with their subdivision. “It’s a matter-of-right project and all of the lots have frontage on either 48^th or U Streets…We did meet with ANC, but there was no approval process,” said Kay. “But there will be 8 houses there, as soon I release the lots for sale.”