Union Market's New Skyline

With 5 construction projects underway in Union Market's front yard, the scene is changing rapidly and dramatically, with the 2 story neighborhood suddenly developing a skyline. One of those projects is about reach its full height, adding another apartment building to the commercial development mix.  NYC-based Ranger Properties' project at 400 Florida Avenue is nearly topped out at 11 stories plus penthouse (120 feet), adding 110 apartments to the largely residential population rising around the warehouse district when it finishes mid to late next year.

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Designed by SK+I, construction on the multi-family building began in December of last year, and will soon include a sister building next door - a MOB Hotel is planned for the vacant portion on Florida Avenue, with 144 keys planned for next year. With construction by Paradigm and interior design by AJC Interiors, 400 Florida Avenue has little to obstruct its sight lines across the Mall just a 3 block walk from the Metro, a walk that will get shorter when a new pedestrian tunnel is carved out under the rails to connect the Metro entrance with the eastern side of Noma.  SK+I  also designed the Edison next door, as well as a batch of nearby neighbors, including Reed Street, the Apollo on H Street, and Bryant Street on Rhode Island Avenue.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

DC's Best Water Views Opening Next Month

A Washington DC address - and a view of the water - are nearly oxymoronic desires.  At least until next month, when RiverPoint opens at the southern tip of Buzzard Point with 485 apartments and 70,000 s.f. of retail next month.  The southwestern promontory of DC was, not long ago, an industrial no-man's land, but real estate development has recently and rapidly shifted the landscape toward much trendier uses, including a strong retail presence on the waterfront.  The mixed use project by Akridge, Western Development, Orr Partners and Jefferson Development Group is close to  completion on what is very nearly the southern tip of southwest DC.  The conversion of the former Coast Guard headquarters was achieved by Antunovich Associates, the same firm that designed the conversion of the Watermark, the other Coast Guard headquarters building a block away, another office-to residential project by Douglas Development that delivered this summer.

In keeping with its location highlighting river views, RiverPoint features a rooftop pool with views that stretch well down the Potomac, and beyond the Frederic Douglass Memorial Bridge (still under construction).  Development of the land also completes one more section of the Anacostia River Trail, which will soon connect under the FDMB, making an easy walk or bike to the Navy Yard or Anacostia. 70,000 s.f. of retail will include restaurants by Greg Casten (of ProFish, Ivy City Smokehouse, Nick's Riverside Grill and Tony & Joe's), and by Spike Gjerde, a James Beard chef that until recently ran A Rake's Progress at the line hotel in Adams Morgan.  Architect Joe Antunovich noted the challenges of converting such a large building from "a very sturdy headquarters, but we were able to carve out atrium spaces to let light deep into the building that created more views of the water."  Antunovich called Buzzard Point "a sleeping giant, neglected for so long, and yet so close to so many things."  The firm had to remove the second floor to accommodate retail, noting the unhelpful 10 foot slab-to-slab floor plates required removal of a floor to allow for 20 foot ceiling heights in the retail.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

Starburst Delta Towers

The starburst intersection in northeast DC, a name given for the five main corridors that radiate outward is, like its astrophysical counterpart that generates exceptionally high star formation, the epicenter of a great deal of commercial development in a relatively small space.  The next real estate project to complete, at the hub of the five corridors (Benning Rd., Florida Avenue, H Street, Maryland Avenue and Bladensburg Road) is the Delta Towers project that faces H Street but carries a Bladensburg Road address.

Delta Towers will be joining Phase 2 of Kettler's Flats at Atlas, adding 325 rental units to Maryland Avenue early next year, 1402 H Street, which completed 28 condos last year, 180 apartment units at 1701 H Street (still being contested) and the gestating Hechinger Mall redevelopment which will transform 8.6 acres into an enormous mixed-use project, to name just a few.

The project is owned by the historic Delta Sigma Theta sorority (founded by Howard University graduates), and includes the '60's era tower next door.  Partnering with Dantes Partners and Gilbane Building Company, the new Delta towers will include 179 subsidized apartments entirely for seniors.  The project is the culmination of decades of work, according to Tom Donaghy of KGD Architecture, the project architect.  On the design of the building for seniors, Donaghy noted the differences from traditional apartment buildings, such as differentiated designs and colors by floor to help with navigation and, to fight loneliness, a double-sided entrance that meets in a central gathering space, as well as universal design principals that make access within individual units easier.  On top, the residents will have their own spaces for private gardens, and the Delta sorority will maintain their headquarters in the new building when it completes late this year.

Project:  Delta Towers

Address:  808 Bladensburg Rd, NE, Washington DC

Developer:  Dantes Partners, Gilbane Building Company

Architect:  KGD Architecture

Construction:  Bozzuto Construction

Interior Design: Determined by Design

Use:  179 subsidized apartments

Expected Completion:  Q4 2020

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Washington D.C. retail and real estate development news

Valor Development Moving on New Residential near H Street Corridor

Developers are set to break ground this month on an $11 million dollar residential project that will bring 84 new condominiums to DC's H Street Corridor.  The five story building will  replace vacant church buildings at 1350 Maryland Avenue NE, at the intersection with 14th Street and south of H Street.

1340 Maryland Ave. - Rendering: Valor Development

Will Lansing of Valor Development, project developer, told DCMud plans call for one and two-bedroom units and a roof deck.  Former plans called for a mix of retail and residential, but the latest of the iteration of the project is residential only.  Eichberg Construction is the general contractor on the project and the architectural firm is PGN Architects.  Launched under the moniker The Maia, the name of the project has also changed, Lansing said.  The building's new name is The Maryland.

"I think it will be a nice [building] for that neighborhood," Lansing told DCMud.  "For the most part, that neighborhood is all row houses, a scattered bunch of small condo buildings, but otherwise mostly apartments, so we’ll be pretty much the only condo inventory coming online in that neighborhood for a while."

DC's District Department of Transportation (DDOT) says it expects to start streetcar service with 10 stops along a two mile stretch of H Street by 2014.  The city also says this first of several lines in the proposed future $1.5 billion DC Streetcar project, when it goes online, will raise property values all along the H Street corridor.  Now, two retail clusters anchor the east and west ends of the corridor, and The Maryland is on new developments are sprouting up beyond the street too.

*Amanda Abrams contributed reporting for this story.

Today in Pictures - DC's First Walmart

Washington D.C.'s first Walmart may be a year from completion, but the building is already well underway.  The mixed-use building at 77 H Street, NW, broke ground this spring, the first of 6 planned for the District to get underway - an 80,000 s.f. Walmart in the middle, apartments on either side.

"The planning and preparation is moving ahead quickly," said Charlie Maier, an outside spokesman on behalf of Chevy Chase-based JBG Companies. JBG Rosenfeld, JBG's sister company which focuses on mixed-use retail and will also partner on the project. Walmart has already signed its lease for the site, which will be known going forward as 77 H, as it will line up along H Street on its southern edge.

MV+A Architects, which designed the Whole Foods at 15th and P as well as mixed-use projects in Tyson's Corner, Alexandria and Herndon, along with The Preston Partnership, creator of the Kentlands plan in Gaithersburg will serve as designers, Maier said. JBG has already gotten its construction and zoning permits for the apartment and retail complex that will be built on the site, he said. "We've already started planning for a groundbreaking," he said.

Earlier this week, parts of the Ward 6 site along H Street, not far from Massachusetts Ave., and Union Station had been fenced-off and signage erected. The complex will include about 300 apartments on 280,000 feet along H Street and an 80,000 square-foot store. 

Washington, D.C. retail and real estate news

10 Questions with ... Anthony Lanier

10 Questions is a new weekly feature in which we interview some of the leading District figures in real estate, architecture, development, and planning. This week's subject ... Anthony Lanier, president and owner of EastBanc.

Born in Brazil and raised in Austria, Lanier, informally known as the "King of Georgetown," arrived in DC in the Eighties, and over the years has almost singlehandedly transformed once-sleepy Georgetown into a dynamic, European-style pedestrian center.  It's a testament to his influence that when his company recently acquired properties in the U Street NW and H Street NE corridors, it was hailed as a definitive milestone in these areas' return to viability.



1.  What's a typical day for you?

Fifteen hours long!

2.  What or who is your biggest influence?

My kids.  If they can do it, so should I.

3.What neighborhood do you live in?

Georgetown.

4.  What is your biggest DC pet peeve?

The village/pedestrian context.

5.  What is the #1 most played song on your iPod?

I don't own an iPod.

6.  Favorite DC haunt?

Kafe Leopold.

7.  What's your favorite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon?

Sit in my garden.

8.  If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Somewhere between Salzburg and Bozen (Bolzano).

9.  If you couldn't be a.businessman, what would you be?

I think I'd be an intellectual.

10.  Name one thing most people don't know about you.

I really like turtles.

Today in Pictures - CityCenter DC

CityCenter DC - the mega development in the heart of downtown - is at last celebrating an executed lease for office space at the two office buildings on 11th Street.  Law firm giant Covington and Burling officially announced this week they will occupy 420,000 s.f. in the office buildings when they move in the summer of 2014, accounting for 80% of the office space.  Developers Archstone and Hines and Qatari financial backer Barwa Bank.

The 10-acre project will feature two condominiums, two apartment buildings, and the two office buildings, as well as 295,000 s.f. of retail that developers are hoping will create a new fashion center downtown.  Developers hope to turn over the retail space to tenants in late 2013, with retailers beginning to open in early 2014.  In their excitement at the office lease, Hines released a new rendering of the office building at 10th & H Streets.

Below are photos of the project from this week:

Photography by Rey Lopez