Latest "Beltway Condos" Go Live

Continuing the trend of condo conversions, sales reservations began on Tuesday at the grand opening of The Strand of Alexandria, a 221-unit apartment- now-condo community near the Landmark section of Alexandria. Built in 1991-92, The Strand offers the usual clubhouse amenities of a pool, "party room," picnic area and exercise room, with six floorplans, wall-to-wall carpeting and a parking spot thrown in. A spokesman for McWilliams Ballard said prices had not yet been finalized but estimated 1 bedroom units selling from the low-to-high $200s, and 2 bedrooms from the low-to-high $300s The conversion is expected to complete in the fall.

The Chase is On – Grand Opening This Weekend

What’s rarer than finding a needle in a haystack? How about moderately priced condos in downtown Bethesda, near the metro and steps to shops and restaurants? This could explain the interest surrounding the grand opening this weekend (May 18-19, 10-4 pm) of The Chase at Bethesda (7500 Woodmont Avenue). The Chase is the conversion of a late 1980s apartment complex by Monument Realty into modern condos, with renovated kitchens (granite, stainless steel, etc.), bathrooms, and hardwood floors. There are also two lit tennis courts and pools, and a fitness center. Pricing starts in the mid-$200s for Jr. One Bedrooms (474 s.f. - a bit tiny) and goes up to the $800s for Two Bedroom and Den units (1241 s.f.). According to a Chase sales agent, contracts cannot be written until after this weekend, and only by appointment (already they are full for June appointments).

Major Prince William Development Derailed

A major developer’s plan to build 6,800 new homes in Prince William County was pulled off the table this past Wednesday, according to a report in the Washington Business Journal. Brookfield Homes had submitted plans in 2004 for a 1,500-acre project named Brentswood just south of Interstate 66 near the Route 29 interchange. The project would have also included the developer committing $100 million to the rebuilding of these roads to accommodate the increased congestion, as well as a new Virginia Railway Express station near the Nissan Pavilion east of Gainesville. It is not currently known the reason for this recent decision, though opposition to the project has grown steadily over perceived traffic and overdevelopment issues, and the county planning staff had recently voted to recommend denial of the proposal.

Tax Hike Moves Forward

Late last week, the full DC Council passed a measure on first reading to increase recordation and transfer taxes on both commercial and residential properties in the District from 1.1% to 1.35%. The measure must pass the Council on a second reading, expected in the next two weeks, and be signed by the Mayor to become laws. If passed by the full Council, residential and commercial buyers and sellers will each pay 1.35% of the purchase price of a property. This increase in recordation and transfer taxes is expected to generate $76.6 million in additional revenue for the District. Advocates of this proposal claim this money will be used for "affordable housing," but this proposal designates only $3 million for workforce housing. But where the city government taketh away, the feds give back. President Bush signed into law on Wednesday an extension of the 15% rate on capital gains, applying to the sale of most property, which was to increase next year when the last law expires.

DC Moves Forward with Land Near Stadium

The DC Government, whom has been leasing a three-story 38,311-sf office building, located at 95 M ST. SW (essentially a Barry Bonds home run (or not w/out Balko) from the proposed site of the new Nationals Stadium) from the United Way of the National Capital Area, has stopped dragging its feet and paid $15.3 million for the property. This parcel was a hot commodity and was bid on by many local and national development companies because it is a property that provides future mixed-use redevelopment opportunities of 195,552 sf under existing C-3-A zoning and the potential for additional density through a Planned Unit Development process in the emerging ballpark district (according to GlobeSt.com). Jayne Shister, senior vice president, Cassidy & Pinkard, represented the seller, United Way of the National Capital Area. Although there are no plans yet for development, the Stadium is going up, and if they build it ... you know.

DC Lays Out Billion-Dollar Plan for Old Convention Center Site

It took five years of planning and much wringing of hands, but DC officials and developers have finally delivered a master plan for the 10.2 acres of prime real estate where the old Washington Convention Center once stood. This major parcel (bounded by 11th Street to the west, New York Avenue to the north, 9th Street to the east, and H Street to the south) will soon, it is said, be home to nine buildings, containing almost 400,000 square feet of office space, 770 apartments and condominiums, and about 300,000 square feet of retail. In addition, developers envision a $180 million library, and hope to reopen long-closed 10th and I Streets. Two green plazas are also being considered for this land, for hosting concerts and events. Ground is expected to be broken in 2008, with project completion slated for 2011.

PN Hoffman, DC Church to Develop Housing Next to MLK Library

While details are still scarce, the Washington Business Journal is reporting that the First Congregational Church - located at 10th and G Streets NW (the same block as the MLK Library) - is planning to work with developer PN Hoffman to redevelop its half-acre property into "market-rate" housing, including a new sanctuary and a homeless-services center. PN Hoffman has estimated that First Congregational could generate up to $13 million from the project in total, depending on the final plans. First Congregational has resided at this location since the 1860s, with its current complex opening in the early 1960s. This project will continue the East End's radical makeover from desolate streets into a residential location.

Government Pulls Plug on Developers' Dreams for Walter Reed

On Wednesday, May 10, the Department of Defense - owners of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center located between 16th Street and Georgia Avenue in Northwest Washington - announced to DC officials that it has decided to accept applications from the General Services Administration (GSA) and Department of State to use all 113 acres of this campus. Walter Reed is scheduled to be closed by the Army in 2011. GSA officials expect to use about 34 acres of this land, and State will use about 80 acres. This decision comes as a major blow to city officials and developers, whose starry-eyed visions saw the availability of this prime real estate as offering a unique chance to expand one of the city's most attractive mixed-race, solidly middle-class neighborhoods with a combination of new single-family homes and medium-density townhouses, with a park and a school and a neighborhood recreation center - development that would have also helped advance the revitalization of retail businesses along Georgia Avenue.

Capitol Square to Begin Taking Reservations This Weekend

On Saturday, May 13, Capitol Square, a 24-unit condominium conversation Capitol Hill at 1520 Independence Ave., SE, will begin taking reservations for its units. Of course, nothing in life is free, including having the right to spend a lot of money on a new home - to reserve a unit, you will need $5,000 plus a pre-approval letter from a lender (you can leave your first-born home). But, on the bright side, they will be bribing you with shiny objects at this opening, offering flat screen TV's and iPods. One bedroom units are expected to start in the mid-$200s, and two-bedroom units from the low $300s All offer contemporary design and upgrades, and parking is available.

DC Wakes Up, Realizes It's Surrounded By Water

This past Monday (May 1) marked the due date for development companies interested in the redevelopment of almost 50 acres of land along the Washington Channel (now home to big, mediocre restaurants and clubs) in Southwest DC to submit proposals to the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation (AWC). Seventeen developers heeded the call, including local firms Akridge, JBG, Trammell Crow. The AWC is dreaming of a gleaming new $500 million waterfront full of “maritime-themed” (uh-oh) housing and retail. If legal hurdles over the land are cleared by the DC Council, the AWC can expect to complete its hold on the property and begin the redevelopment process, with a developer (or developers) selected by the end of the year. Together with the AWC’s development of an entertainment district around the new Nationals ballpark, Southwest DC should expect some radical changes over the next few years.

DC USA Project in Columbia Heights Breaks Ground

On May 6 starting at 11 a.m., the National Capital
Revitalization Corporation (NCRC), together with
developers including Grid Properties and The
Development Corporation of Columbia Heights, will
break ground on the new DC USA project in Columbia
Heights. The event will begin at 11 a.m. on Hiatt
Place between Irving and Park Road. DC USA will be
a 500,000 square foot urban retail and entertainment
center next to the Columbia Heights metro that will be anchored by Target and include Bed, Bath and Beyond, Washington Sports Club, and Best Buy. It is expected to generate more than $12 million in new tax revenue per year for the city and will create more than 1,000 permanent and 700 construction jobs. Completion is scheduled for early 2008.

Remembering Jane Jacobs

Last week’s sad passing of Jane Jacobs – the influential critic of urban planning whose 1961 treatise The Death and Life of Great American Cities kick-started the preservationist movement – had me thinking about what would have befell many of our beautiful urban cores without her tough stand. It also made me remember the 1950’s master urban “renewal” plans for Washington – some that were unfortunately carried through to city-life sucking completion (e.g., Southwest DC), and others disasters luckily averted – such as blasting I-95 through the heart of DC.

Ever wonder why, when you take the I-395 North exit off the Southwest-Southeast Freeway, it suddenly and abruptly dead-ends at New York Avenue? Well, that wasn’t the plan. The original scheme was for I-95 to cut straight through the heart of Washington and Prince George's County, straight north up to the Capital Beltway. Established and historic Northeast Washington neighborhoods in the way were to be sliced in half by the highway. Luckily, coming in the aftermath of the preservationist movement started by Jacobs, these neighborhoods stood in strong opposition to the plan, and in 1977 the city decided to take the earmarked highway funding and instead diverted it to the ongoing construction of the metro system.

Today, all these intact rowhouses, Victorians, and Colonials in Shaw, Mt. Vernon Triangle, Brookland, and Hyattsville, etc. – once seen as expendable - are sought-after, desirable homes for both the established families in these neighborhoods and new arrivals in the city. Sometimes less meddling, just letting communities “be” and encouraging unplanned, natural grow is the simple – and right - answer.

Hyattsville "Arts District" Community Moves Ahead

Bethesda- based real estate developer EYA's Redevelopment of Route 1 of Hyattsville into a city center with residential, commercial and retail takes a step forward next week with sales beginning for the first residential units. The project is the beginning of a $115m effort to redevelop the vacant site to eventually include approximately 300 townhomes, 200 condos, and ground floor retail.

The run down auto-oriented strip is intended to become a "walkable" community, essentially incorporating its own town center by concurrently developing both the residential and retail in one project, with the Lustine showroom being converted into a gallery, community center and gym. EYA’s recent projects have included similar large scale residential development in Potomac, MD and near the National’s new stadium in Washington DC. Smart Growth Alliance awarded the development its Smart Growth Award in 2005.

Bob Peck Chevrolet Drives Off Into Sunset

On Saturday, April 29, the last car will be driven off the Bob Peck Chevrolet sales lot in Ballston – marking the end of one era and the start of a new commercial and residential life for this prime piece of real estate at the corner of Wilson Boulevard and Glebe Road, across from the Ballston Commons Mall. The Bob Peck showroom, with its sheets of tall, angled glass and "Back to the Future" retro-circular design, has been an architectural fixture in Northern Virginia for over 40 years, evening garnering the cover of US News and World Report when first built. The land has been sold to JBG Development, which is planning to build a 12-story office complex as well as four-story townhouses.  The completion date is yet to be determined.

Arlington Virginia commercial real estate news

Woodward Building Begins Transformation to Apartments

The Woodward Building, an historic 11-story steel- frame landmark located at 15th and H Streets, NW (733 15th Street) near the U.S. Treasury, has begun a major transformation from shabby office space into a luxury apartment building. The Woodward, originally constructed in 1910 for the owner of the Woodward & Lothrop department stores, has housed untold numbers of lawyers, bankers, and most recently an eclectic bunch of associations. The Woodward Building's owner, SJG Properties, is constructing 189 high-end apartments renting from about $1,300 a month for a studio to $4,500 a month for a 1,500-square-foot unit. There will also be 10,000 square feet of retail space and parking for 130 cars. SJG hopes to have the renovation completed and the apartments ready for occupancy by the Fall of 2007.

Mayor Proposes Moving MLK Memorial Library

In a roundtable discussion this week, DC Mayor Anthony Williams announced his plan to move the MLK Memorial Library at 9th and G Sts. to the former Convention Center site, and to lease the troubled former library. The Mayor, who has previously called for a new library on the now vacant site, has proposed leasing the building now housing the library and using the revenue to support the new, state of the art library. The Mayor’s plan would preserve the boxy 4 story building, long troubled by inadequate space, design problems, and what many view as a less than inspiring design. Preservationists have fought to keep the library as the only DC example of architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who designed the building in 1972.

Prescott (Old Town) and Lionsgate (Bethesda) Begin Sales

Sales are now starting for two new condo projects in the DC region – the Prescott in Old Town Alexandria, and Lionsgate in Bethesda. The Prescott, located at 1115 Cameron Street, will be a low-rise building with 64 condos (58 two-bedrooms and 6 one-bedrooms) priced from the $400s to over $1 million. Delivery date is expected early '07. Meanwhile in Bethesda, Lionsgate (7710 Woodmont Avenue at the corner of Old Georgetown Road) will be a 12 story building with 158 units, and will offer 1 bedrooms with den, two and two-bedroom plus den options with square footage ranging from 825 to 2500 square feet. Pricing from the high $600's to $2 million.

Washington DC real estate development news

The Flats at Blagden Alley to Start Taking Reservations

The Flats at Blagden Alley, a much-talked about project from Walnut Street Development, located one block from the new Convention Center in the rapidly developing Shaw community, has just announced that it will start taking reservations from interested buyers. The Flats will be comprised of 45 residential condos, ground floor retail, artist lofts, and office space for associations and small businesses. There will be a mix of studios, one, one with den, and two bedroom units, penthouses with balconies and terraces, duplexes, and lofts, with prices starting in the high $200s and going into the $800s for the penthouses.

National Harbor Developers Announce Hotel Plans

Developers at National Harbor announced today five new hotels that will occupy the 300-acre project on the Potomac: Residence by Marriott, Hampton Hotel, Westin, Fairfield Resorts, and Aloft. The site, in Prince George's County just south of the I-495 / I-95 intersection, will offer prime waterfront where the Potomac both widens and deepens, allowing waterfront vistas and a convenient marina and harbor that real estate developers say will be 15 minutes by boat from Washington DC. The project, which broke ground last year, will offer a strong southern pull for the area's large scale development long conspicuous in DC and across the river in Alexandria but comparatively rare in P.G. County. The impact could be stunning to a region with an industrial maritime history that now makes little use of its extended waterfront. While DC's own waterfront development takes shape near Nationals Stadium and, at a sloth's pace, in Southwest, developers at National Harbor had already announced plans for the regions largest hotel, a 1500 room Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center that will open in 2008. That great sucking sound is DC's tax base moving to P.G. County. DC hotels, with an occupancy rate currently below 70%, are projected to contribute $51m just in direct tax revenue in FY 2006 in the District, a fact not lost on planners in P.G. County. National Harbor has also been approved for 2500 residential units – all in the form of condos - with mixed residential and retail buildings slated to occupy prime waterfront and main street locations in 2009. 

Maryland, real estate development news

Nehemiah Center Faces the Reaper

Level2 Development of DC announced a preliminary plan for developing the Nehemiah Center, a block-long strip mall at 2400 14^th Street between Columbia Heights and U Street. The developer, already marketing View14 condominiums just across the street at 14^th and Florida Ave., is partnering with Chicago-based Centrum Properties for both projects. The team hopes the weight of the two projects will bring a transformation of the area into a “retail anchor” by adding parking, 20,000 square feet of retail and 225 residential units replacing the out-of-place shopping center, and 17,000 s.f. of retail and 170 condos at View14. Shalom Baranes will design the newest project, which should start construction late next year. A spokesman said Level2 purchased the Nehemiah Center for “approximately $13m” and envisions the area as a “gateway between Columbia Heights and the 14 ^th & U corridor, an area largely bypassed by local development.” No name has yet been adopted for the new project.