A Black Belt in Kitchen Design

By Beth Herman

In the ever-evolving, big-ticket world of kitchen renovation, particularly in the toniest of D.C., northern Virginia and suburban Maryland neighborhoods where the average culinary redesign can cost $50,000 - $200,000, eviscerating the kitchen is not for the faint of heart. At the apogee of kitchen reinterpretation, former North Carolinian Beverly Glover-Wood of Bethesda-based Glover-Wood Interiors has spent the last decade transforming tired and/or inefficient kitchen spaces, emulating trends while simultaneously honoring timeless, traditional style (an admitted favorite).

“I love houses and hunkering down,” Glover-Wood said of her passion for residential design. “I love what dwellings give people: They’re a place of refuge. I love the solace a house gives you.” As for her deep-sea dive into kitchen design, Glover-Wood said at the outset of her design career in 2001, she’d envisioned doing everything residential work required – every room in the house, which is still the thrust of her business. However because clients continue to be centered on kitchens as seminal gathering places, creating spaces that reflect both the heart and hearth of the homeowner is often the direction of her work.

Pen to Panache

Leaning toward more classic design herself, Glover-Wood revealed that her father, an architect who retired only last year and is currently 88 years old, is every inch a contemporary architect and many of her kitchen (and other) designs are a confluence of different time periods. With an interior designer-mother and a sister also in the design world, Glover-Wood’s immersion into the industry was admittedly exciting and comprehensive (as a child she accompanied her father to some of his jobs), though unwitting.

“I didn’t go into design first and was actually an English lit major who worked as a writer and editor,” Glover-Wood revealed. “As a writer, you’re inner-focused because you’re creating in your brain. But as a designer, you’re always noting design out in the world: how buildings are designed; arrangements of furniture; color - which is wonderful. It’s a different kind of creativity.”

Applying her own creative stamp to kitchens, the designer has observed a shift in the last few years away from the “more is more” modus operandi back to thinking less is more. “Because our economy was booming, we were always going up, up, up and people were doing more and more grandiose things with their kitchens,” she recalled. “They had to have top-of-the-line everything: faucets; sinks; stoves – everything kept getting bigger.” She added that one can only have a kitchen that’s so big, because pretty soon it’s no longer a workable space.

Heat of the Moment

To that end, and with energy efficient appliances always paramount, many of her clients are moving away from the commercial stoves of the beginning of the decade into more practical appliances. Some of that may have to do with condo living in the District and retirees and empty nesters downsizing, she surmised. “Once you’ve had a 42-inch stove, with so many burners, and you’ve done all that (she added the mammoth stoves are harder to clean), you learn that you can do just as well with a 36- or 30-inch stove today. Viking and Wolf make more traditional products, with Dacor a little more contemporary, but all with special features perhaps not even available 10 years ago. “You can get a 30-inch GE glass top electric stove that has five burners and one that can handle a grill,” Glover-Wood said, also speaking to the age-old gas vs. electric debate. “I’ve always loved gas because it’s very quick,” she explained, “but the new electric cooktops are phenomenal in that they’re about as fast – or faster – and probably just as hot.” GE’s Advantium oven promotes what the manufacturer calls “speed cooking,” with features that include convection and microwave options.

Baby, It’s Cold Inside

Where refrigerators are concerned, Glover-Wood referenced a 19^th Street D.C. row house redesign where a neglected basement became the centerpiece of an active family’s home life. “It was a perfectly good basement (structurally) that walked out into the back yard with a hot tub,” she said, where the family did much of its entertaining. The basement was accordingly gutted and made into a play space for the children, as well as into a little kitchen to complement the primary one upstairs. “I was able to get small but really good appliances,” the designer said, noting the ice maker and tiny Viking stove, as well as a Lieber refrigerator – very narrow, to acclimate to the small space. “I’m also seeing a lot of under-counter refrigerators,” Glover-Wood said. “Doing two refrigerators but putting them under the counter works well in a small space.”

Trend-wise, in full-size spaces many people are opting for “counter-depth” refrigerators as opposed to the older 31-or 32-inch models. Explaining that a counter-depth refrigerator has a trajectory of only 25 inches from the wall (the handle may contribute to an extra inch), and the counter itself is 24 inches, aesthetically it works better “…and you don’t have a chance to grow green things in the back because you’ve forgotten about them,” the designer said. Revealing that she likes the look of stainless steel juxtaposed against warmer wood elements in so many kitchens today, the designer said stainless steel is better on a large appliance anyway so people don’t have a big wood refrigerator. “It’s a clean, contemporary look in the middle of a traditional kitchen,” she explained.

Counter Culture

“Some people are actually coming back to Formica and Wilsonart for countertops and saying, ‘It’s not so bad; maybe we should go with that,’” Glover-Wood affirmed, citing a digression from expensive granite. “I do think granite is dying out. It’s not quite as popular as it used to be,” she said. Acknowledging that so many products are in use today, she noted people are still using marble though at one time the industry thought it might phase itself out because it’s a softer material. “The British have been using it for eons, and I see it creeping back into kitchens,” she said, adding that quartz products such as CaesarStone, Silestone and Zodiaq have also remained in vogue. “People do want new things, but they are a little more balanced about how they spend their money,” she said, adding that the trend in islands – even small ones that respect a smaller space – can serve to eclipse a long trip from the sink to the refrigerator and may therefore be a practical investment. “I put a small, 18-inch-deep island into a 12x14-foot kitchen (in a new house, an island is generally 4X7 feet), where we only had 3 feet to walk around on each side, but that’s all you need,” she said.

Declaring that paint, for her, “is the be-all, end-all,” Glover-Wood said that if somebody just wants a new look, paint can entirely change the space. Whether you do it yourself or hire a professional, she explained, painting 1980s townhouse kitchen cabinets, for example, will refresh and modernize that space without spending thousands of dollars.

“I think the thing today is that everybody really wants a workable kitchen,” she said. “As designers, even with everything that’s out there, it’s our job to keep it that way.”

Hilton Residential Addition Gets 2-Year Extension from HPRB

After purchasing the iconic Hilton for $290 million in May of 2007, a pair of California dreamers (and developers), LA-based Lowe Enterprises Inc. and Beverly Hills-based Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds (CJUF), are still hoping to follow through on their intentions of adding an apartment tower to the 1,119-room hotel. Unfortunately the market has been rather uncooperative, to say the least, since their vision first started taking shape. With architectural drawings in hand, courtesy of Hany Hassan of Beyer Blinder Belle, developers earned the support of the Historic Preservation Office (HPO) in 2008. There has been little action since.

As Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer Steve Calcott explained to the Review Board (HPRB) earlier this week, like so many others development, "this project has been put on hold due to the depreciation in real estate values, increasingly stringent lending requirements for residential projects, and general economic downturn." This time represented by Architectural Historian Andi Adams of Goulston Storrs, developers successfully acquired a two-year extension on their nearly expired HPRB consent as per Calcott's recommendation. It was a more somber success than their 2008 victory.

The extension is precautionary, as their approved plans and stated course of action are far from set in stone. Project developers recently submitted construction plans and a permit application, and reviewers determined that the plans are inadequately detailed and proposed alterations that would require further HPO vetting and HPRB final approval. VP of Construction Managment Mike Mansager at the Lowe's Washington Hilton confirmed that the project was on hold, and that details like number of units and architectural specifics remain up in the air. "This is entirely market-driven," he explained, "everything is in flux and subject to change." Dansinger did admit that a two year extension doesn't mean two years of inaction, as the project could get moving again quickly if the market continues to improve.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

The Arts at 5th & I: Closer Than They Were

Development partners Donohoe Companies and Holland Development of the highly anticipated high-end hotel, retail outlets, and jazz club crowned "The Arts" think they are close to wrapping up negotiations with DMPED over the disposition of the currently District-owned site at 5th and I Streets NW. The heart of the project is a 260-room ME Hotel from luxury Spanish hotelier, Melia that promises to "seduce the open mind with art, design, music, and cuisine" (according their website). Perhaps more exciting for the neighborhood is the included Boisdale Jazz Club – the first US location from the London-based chain of nightclubs. It literally packs the previously promised music, cuisine, and libations into one smooth package. Also providing cuisine will be Cappuccinos, a "unique urban style cafe." The mind-seducing design is courtesy of Shalom Baranes, while the art will hang in what will become the Zenith Gallery's new home. Ninety-six mixed income residents are also included in the development plans.

Memphis Holland of Holland Development says that she and her team are optimistic that financing will be wrapped up by mid-December. Talks concerning the release of the property from the District to developers are "still in process" according to Holland. She promised, however, that they are "closer then they were," and hopes to have a deal finalized by the end of the year. But even if the deal can't be wrapped up prior to Vincent Gray's inauguration as Mayor, Holland explained that "we've been in communication with Gray's transition team for some time, and they're on board." Such words point to slow but steady movement in the right direction, but certainly do not serve as a precursor to groundwork, as the Zoning process awaits, and architectural details must be ironed out through a succession of informal and formal meetings.

Correction: Jad Donohoe of the Donohoe Companies recently contacted DCMud to amend one of the above facts, saying "I’m the project manager on this effort, and we are not in talks with the Gray team." Memphis Holland confirms this misinformation and apologized for the error. It should be affirmed, however, that the current DMPED staff has been in communication for some time now with Gray's transition team members, briefing them on all major projects.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Classically Styled Townhomes in Old Town Get a Modern Kick

Sponsored Story

These days it seems every new proposed multifamily condominium in the metro area has some sort of green roof involved, but it's rare that one reads or hears about green-roofed townhomes. For architect and developer Sassan Gharai of SGA Companies, who recently finished a twin home project in Old Town, it seemed logical to offset the heat island effect with a little rooftop landscaping, no matter what size the building. The rooftop not only provides environmentally friendly greenery, but a superb deck that offers spectacular views of the Monument and the District's treasures lying just beyond the Potomac. Listing agent Alan Dalton of ADMC Realty Group says of the property, "This is an unusual amount of space for Old Town, with both modern finishes and classic charm of the historic neighborhood—and everything you could need at your fingertips. Another rare treat is the phenomenal 1,000-square foot master suite with fireplace, luxury bath and walk-in closet that is the size of most bedrooms!"

While many of Georgetown's luxurious old homes offer an explicit glimpse of economic tensions, as two, three million dollar brick mansions stand opposite decaying subsidized apartment complexes, Gharai's newly finished rowhouses offer a vision of a modern, sustainable, mixed-income community. Just down the street development group EYA are spearheading the long overdue redevelopment of the rundown James Bland Additions, currently operated by Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA). The five full blocks of redevelopment will be named Old Town Commons, adding 245 market-rate and 134 affordable homes to the neighborhood. This more attractive and harmonious juxtaposition of diverse and distinct socioeconomic groups is mirrored in the design of Gharai's building, as the the simple aesthetic is reflected onto two halves of the home, one half utilizing brick, and the other employing side paneling.

Although each home is accompanied by a spacious backyard and two parking spaces, other modes of a transit are readily available. Each home has two parking spaces, and is located just four blocks west of the Braddock Road Metro. Residents can enjoy the outdoors in their spacious backyards or head four blocks east to the Potomac River for a walk, run, or bike ride on the beautiful Mount Vernon Trail. There's plenty of space indoor to explore as well, as each home swells to a whopping 4,000 s.f., making sure there's enough room for the five bedrooms, five-and-a-half baths, lower level au-pair suite or home office with kitchen and separate entrance, elegant, state-of-the-art kitchen, and living and dining rooms. If all this sounds like a great place to call home, make your next address 712 Wythe Street for $1,249,000. Having labored some five years through the trying zoning approval process in Alexandria, Gharai says he is looking forward to finally finding two happy families to enjoy the comforts of his creativity.

Old Town Alexandria, VA Real Estate Development News

Forest City's Parcel D: The Yards Gets Moving

Last month Forest City presented their updated plans for a mixed-use development at the Yards to the local ANC, gratefully receiving a vote of approval. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) also voiced their support for the project earlier this year. And now the proposal, which sees rental apartments stacked atop ground floor retail, goes before the Zoning Commission next month in hopes of earning final approval. Dubbed "Parcel D," the project is one of the first phases of new construction at The Yards, a Southeast waterfront redevelopment site that will eventually feature 2,800 residential units, 1.8 million s.f. of new office space, and 400,000 s.f. of retail shops and dining places. Forest City already delivered the promised 5.5 acre, riverfront Yards Park early this summer. An expansive, vacant parking lot currently occupies the development site at the southeast corner of 4th and M St.

Under their current Parcel D plans, two towers totaling 225 apartments (20% of which will be offered as affordable housing at 50% of AMI) will rise 102 feet in the air, extending from a single differentiated base structure that will house the 50,000 s.f. grocery store (rumored to be Harris Teeter) a 30,000 s.f. health club, and a few smaller "neighborhood-serving" retail spaces. Developers are in final negotiations with several tenants, and will make announcements as soon as leases are executed, for now renderings reveal them simply as "grocery" and "health club." Below grade parking will serve the retail uses, while a third floor parking deck sandwiched between the grocery store and apartment towers will provide spaces for residents.

Project Manager Alex Nyhan of Forest City told ANC6D that he and his team were optimistic that the predicted LEED Silver certification could be upgraded to an ambitious Gold rating by the project's end. Shalom Baranes is responsible for the building design, which has evolved significantly over the last three years as architects and developers responded to the suggestions of the HPRB, the NCPC, and the surrounding community. While plans are firming up, there is still plenty of work to be done. Senior Vice President of Development Ramsey Meiser at Forest City explains that even if all goes swimmingly next month at the zoning hearing, architectural plans will still need to be finalized, and building permits must be secured, likely a six to ninth month process. "I'm hoping to have construction under way by the middle part of next year," Meiser says. Once a groundbreaking happens, excavation and subsequent construction is expected to last 20-24 months.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Rosslyn Mixed Income Apartments Redeveloped "Using Density Not Dollars"

In their quest to redevelop Key Boulevard apartments, AHC Inc. has adopted a slightly augmented proposal and a brand new motto: "Using density, not dollars." That is the team's credo for tackling the challenge of nearly doubling the number of affordable housing units on the 1.24 acre site while staying within limited density allowed by the County's Zoning guidelines. But with available space near public transit in Arlington quickly drying up, AHC is relishing the chance to secure affordable, transit-oriented apartments near one of the busiest Metro stations in the D.C. region.

Although traditionally the goal of AHC Inc is to pack as much affordable housing into a development as possible, with this project half of the proposed 160-170 units reserved as affordable housing. But developing a mixed income community makes the project more financially sustainable, and most-importantly, negates the need for County subsidies, a selling-point in the approval process. Indeed, compromise is the name of the game, and in cooperation with the surrounding neighborhoods, developers have reduced the bulky mass and originally proposed height of eight-stories, to a slimmer, more manageable, and community-requested six floors. But support for the building's size and density is far from overwhelming, so developers will continue to appeal for more widespread community input and support, as they feel theirs is a worthy cause.

Built in the 1940s, the aging affordable apartment community is a reminder of inequality and inefficiency amidst the ever-expanding hustle and bustle of the business-centric Rosslyn. Not far from where two of the regions soon-to-be-tallest buildings recently broke ground, aging heating systems, inefficient windows and appliances, no central air conditioning, and handicap accessibility issues make the 41-unit building at 1545 Key Boulevard a candidate ripe for a radical makeover.

To put their new motto to the test, AHC is proposing to transfer development rights from an affordable apartment community they finished renovating in 2007. Because the project adhered closely to the historic character of the Gates of Ballston aesthetic, with its low-rise garden-style design, the project remained under developed, leaving excess development rights available for transfer and reuse. This technique is rather common, reports AHC, but transferring rights from one neighborhood to another (Ballston to Rosslyn) is "an innovative approach to maximizing affordable opportunities in the transit corridor." Although it's uncommon to transfer development rights from projects separated by some two miles, developers believe the opportunity to create transit-oriented, energy-efficient, affordable housing justifies the unique strategy.

Preliminary architectural schematics for the 70 ft. tall building are being offered by WDG Architecture. Developers have purposefully offered limited detail in their renderings; in order to remain adaptable and responsive to the always evolving back and forth of the community involvement process; Joseph P. Weatherly, Senior Project Manager at AHC explained his team had refrained from "engaging WDG to put too many specific ideas on paper until we feel like we have more comprehensive support from the entire community." However, designers have included planning for a rooftop terrace and green roof. The proposal also includes underground parking, a community center, neighboring park, and a landscaped courtyard. The community center would serve as a base for various resident programming, including after-school programs for children. AHC continues to work diligently alongside Bush Construction Corp., their general contractor and development partner. But with community dialog still ongoing, and the County Site Plan approval process still to come, developers don't expect construction to commence until at least January of 2012, and the expected delivery date arriving some twenty four months later.

Arlington, VA Real Estate Development News

The Evolution of Cavemen and Castaways

By Beth Herman

In prehistoric times,it was a means to keep warm and char that woolly mammoth (please pass the salt), and in the 2000 film “Cast Away,” Tom Hanks unabashedly called himself a god on the night he created it. But in the dense, exploding, urban atmosphere of today, a roaring fire isn’t the answer.

For Reston, Va.-based LeMay Erickson Willcox Architects, purveyors of safety design and creators of more than 50 fire and rescue facilities over three decades, the structures they build in response to the demand for fire and rescue services in expanding metropolitan areas are the real answers, and maybe in more ways than one.

The Spark

Back in 2006, when the City of Alexandria sought a redevelopment plan to revitalize Potomac Yard, a former rail yard sited in the city’s north end which for more than 100 years served as the area’s primary freight yard and extended all the way into Arlington County, the idea of mixing rescue with residents was completely unprecedented according to firm principal Paul Erickson.

“We’re not aware of any other building in the U.S. that combines an apartment structure with a fire station,” Erickson said of the prototype mixed-use design for The Station at Potomac Yard No. 9. “We believe there are one or two overseas: one in London and there might be one in South Africa, but we’re not aware of any here.”

Very much a collaborative effort where the collegiality on the project was “infectious,” Erickson was quick to emphasize, the 170,000 s.f. structure, which includes two below grade parking floors and was earmarked as both low-income and affordable housing, is the painstaking result of the efforts of legions of civil engineers, traffic consultants, historic and design review entities, fire and housing office officials, sound consultants, sustainability inspectors, a “forward thinking” general contractor–Whiting-Turner Contracting Company–and two architecture firms. “It was the best team spirit of any project I’ve been involved in since the beginning,” Erickson affirmed. “One of the distinguishing characteristics of this one was everybody sort of catching a vision of something that was unique and had never been done.” What’s more, because the City was exploring how best to manage a master redevelopment plan for the area, it wanted to make sure that if things were built, they could be protected, Erickson said, referencing the 22,500 s.f. fire station component.

Vibrations Under Fire

According to LeMay Erickson Willcox senior associate Lynn Reda, director of the firm’s public safety studio, most of the projected noise concerns had more to do with the operation of the fire station and the vibration between it and the 64 residential units above than the fear of whining sirens. “They’re not supposed to turn their sirens on until they are off the property,” Reda said, adding they are naturally traveling away from the building. To that end, acoustic technology experts Polysonics Corporation was retained, resulting in the design of a special sound-abating slab between the fire station’s ceiling and the residences above. “We were certainly concerned about vibration,” Reda said, noting that the parking garage and fire station consist largely of poured concrete while the units above are wood frame structures: the change in materials mitigating sound. Because of the station’s four pendulous 14x14-ft. bay apparatus doors (plus one more for HAZMAT trailers) that open and close several times in a 24-hour period, instead of traditional overhead doors with ceiling-mount motors that would impact the units above, the architects used “side-parting” doors. Additionally, the 1,2 and 3-bedroom residences above are arranged in a U-shape around the apparatus bays, which further attenuates sound from beneath.

Fire Walls (and roofs and floors)

Where sustainability is concerned, two different green ratings systems were applied, one to the fire station to achieve LEED Silver, with the residences submitting to EarthCraft certification. According to Reda and Erickson, EarthCraft, which is residential in nature, dispatches inspectors during construction to examine the thermal envelope and is more focused on energy conservation including appliances, for example, that have Energy Star ratings. For the building’s LEED credentials, Reda said 100 percent of the parking is below grade, considered exemplary performance from the heat island effect. The sloped red metal roof has a high SRI (solar reflective index), as does a concealed mechanical well behind it. Arriscraft block– visible at the base of the building and which provides the appearance of a heavily-rusticated stone base but is essentially veneer–is regional. Cement block, which comprises the station’s interior walls, has an inherent recycled content and wood used in doors and cabinetry is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)-certified. Occupancy sensors for lighting and occupant-controlled thermal elements are present, as is radiant heat in the floors of 15 bunk rooms. “One of the reasons we did that is because they are located above the cold, two-level parking garage and sleeping rooms need to be warm in winter,” Reda affirmed. A small municipal park sited in front along with perimeter plantings, irrigated by rainwater from garage-based cisterns that collect roof water, qualifies for green space.

Where There’s Smoke

For Erickson, whose grandfather was a firefighter (though he never knew him) in St. Paul, Minnesota, and for Reda, whose reputation for “living the job” comes from her constant immersion in firefighter training exercises and overnights at stations on out of town projects, fire and rescue station work is proverbially in their blood.

“I’ve cut open roofs, extinguished car fires, done search and rescue through smoke-filled houses,” Reda said (much in the way an actor may research a role). Because firefighters have their own culture, and characteristics of their culture may vary significantly from city to city, state to state, region to region, Erickson and Reda said it is important to understand how one city for which they are designing a facility might do things as opposed to people and factors that influenced the last project. “It’s important to be able to ask the questions that will help you design that building and not change them (the firefighters) culturally into something they don’t want to be,” Reda said.

Additionally, safety facility design has metamorphosed from the smaller, sparse, utilitarian structures of 20 and 30 years ago into the framework that needs to support escalating urban areas, as well as a changing firefighter demographic. “Back in 1979, there really weren’t any women in fire and rescue emergency services and that’s changed a lot,” Erickson reflected. “At Potomac Yard, you’ll see gender-neutral spaces that include private bunk rooms with individual restrooms consisting of a lavatory, shower and water closet.” According to Erickson, this allows for flexibility of shift and demographics. “It’s a pretty elegant solution to staffing and gender issues,” he said. With fitness paramount to employee health and morale, the architects said relatively sophisticated gym spaces with high enough ceilings to accommodate state-of-the-art equipment are encouraged in their designs, and not simply the dumb bells-in-the-basement stock of older stations.

“And from a firefighting perspective, equipment such as ambulances, engine and ladder trucks – they’ve gotten bigger and bigger and bigger,” Reda said, noting sometimes the older facilities cannot be retrofitted to accommodate them and stations must be built larger. What’s more, she cited a greater understanding of the impact of firefighting on gear itself (it costs $1,000 to suit-up a professional), and the trend in building climate-and light-controlled storage rooms to manage gear’s off-gas toxins following a fire.

On Fire Now!

Alluding to the firm’s website, Erickson said despite so many requirements there is no uniform design response for fire stations. “You’ll see some very contemporary designs, as well as those that try to take on historic characteristics and blend into an historic neighborhood,” he explained, noting that because of Rust Orling Architecture’s (the second firm involved) high standing for work within an historical context in Alexandria, fulfilling the requisites of the design review board, planning commission, town council and neighbors to develop the character of the building’s exterior was supremely achieved. The result, Erickson said, is a “Richardsonian-Romanesque kind of architecture, but done in a Virginia brick that blends the image of a civic building with the particulars of Old Town Alexandria.” In fact, among the multitude of awards the building has received is a 2007 U.S. Council of Mayors’ Award and a 2010 Craftsmanship Award.

With a project in Durham, New Hampshire and two projects in development in the District that will apply similar mixed-use principals, one where an 1895 horse-drawn pumper on Georgia Avenue will yield to affordable housing and improved emergency response with one proverbial stroke, Erickson indicated word is getting around. And with creativity extending to financing, in Alexandria some of the cost of the $23 million project was defrayed by funding sources and options that included the developer, Potomac Yard Development, contributing just over $14 million for both the fire station and residential components, plus donating the land, and by using Virginia Development Housing Authority (VDHA) tax credits.

“I think what this all really demonstrates is that you can think outside of the box,” Erickson said.

An H Street Spring

H Street's gritty, scrappy texture is giving way. In its place, the northeast corridor's devotees will soon find supermarkets, condos, smart retail, upscale apartment buildings, and trolleys clanging by pricey latte vendors. Long predicted, the year 2011 looks ready to bear out prognostications of a gentrification and resurgence that had seemed, until now, like a mirage, always ahead, always retreating. With last week's announcement that Giant officials had signed an agreement to anchor the northeast corner of 3rd and H, kickstarting Steuart Investment Co's long dormant development and blessing H Street with its first full-sized supermarket, the strip has become one of the hottest sites for development plans.

The Steuart project will add 215 apartments above the Giant, along with additional retail space. Around it, development booms. The District just announced a 16-unit residential project by Wall Development at 12th and H that should kick off next year, and at the eastern end Clark broke ground on a 257-unit apartment complex in October, as did an Aldi supermarket destined for the starburst intersection next year. And the biggest project by far will be Rappaport's 400-unit residence that will fill H Street from 8th to 10th Streets, while Dreyfus' plans for Capitol Place, a 300-unit residence opposite the future Giant, are loaded and ready for the right moment. And the trolleys, of course, are on the way.

Things could have been so different. Just two years ago a New York team went bankrupt betting on H Street and lost their 432-unit building at auction. The Giant will sit on the former BP site, a plot that was intended to house an interstate truck-servicing megaplex. Akridge's dreams to connect H Street with downtown by burying the rail yard at Union Station haven't progressed, and the most consequential projects have not yet broken ground, so the volte-face is not guaranteed, but its looking like its going to be a big year for H Street.

Washington DC real estate development news

Florida Ave Jungle to Make Way for Condos

The overgrown lots at 1421-1423 Florida Avenue NW have changed hands several times over the last few years, but finally rest in the palms of a developer intent on moving forward with construction. Originally attracting the interest of Kady Group some time ago, the properties were acquired by Bogdan Builders in 2007 for $550,000, and now the paperwork is all but signed in a deal that sees the vacant lots into the arms of Sassan Gharai, founder of SGA Companies. In September, Gharai presented his plans for a six-story, 16-unit condominium to the Meridian Hill Neighborhood Association, and last month Chris Colross of SGA Architects presented his firm's plans to the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB). The Board adhered to assigned reviewer and preservation specialist Eldra D. Walker's recommendation to "approve the proposal in concept, delegating final approval to staff."

Rising 60 feet, the masonry clad apartment building will stack ten 2-bedroom/2-bath units and 4 studios atop an eight-space ground-floor garage. The roof of the garage will support a first-floor terrace garden, and each unit will feature either a full or Juliet balcony. While the proposed setback penthouses and an 8-to 12-foot elevator overrun are not counted toward a building’s height and do not require a zoning variance, the project still must go before the BZA, as the parking garage will require the frequently unpopular curb cut on Florida Avenue, resulting in the loss of one parking space (gasp).

Fitting snuggly into the rapidly transformed Greater U Street Historic District, SGA offers their staple - a traditionally inspired design sampling materials found throughout the storied neighborhood: brick, 2/2 windows, stone accents, and metal panels. "The building’s front, side and rear elevations will be fully articulated with ordered fenestration, brick pilasters with stone caps, and horizontal bands of stone," explains Eldra D. Walker, while "large recessed brick panels and a modern embattlement will crown the new structure." Despite the building's height, Walker found the architectural aesthetic to be "understated, calm, and residential in character."

Gharai seems to have his hands full designing and developing as of late, with news that his long-delayed Ecco Park is "back on track." Since Gharai delivered the Butterfield House in 2008 in the market has seen better days, to say the least, but some developers apparently smell a recovery. Quoted recently in the Takoma Park Newsletter, Gharai explained the significance of his decision to kick the 235 Carroll Street NW project back in gear: “I think what it shows is the market’s finally coming around because the banks are willing to lend again.” His optimism must also be the inspiration behind his plans to acquire and develop the lush Meridian Hill property, and hopefully a sign of more good news and development activity to come.

Washington D.C. commercial real estate blog

More H Street Development in the Works

Several vacant and blighted District-owned lots on the 1100 block of H Street, northeast are set for considerable improvements, as the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) has recently announced their partnership with Wall Development in constructing a five-story residential building with ground-floor retail on the site. Constructed as a matter-of-right project (requiring no Zoning variances), and usurping addresses 1113 through 1117 on the south side of H Street, the 16,000 s.f. building will house 16 one-bedroom units. Approximately 2,000 s.f. of ground floor space will be reserved for a retail component, preferably occupied by a local business.

Still very much in the preliminary conceptual stages of design, H-Street based firm Norman Smith Architecture have offered basic drawings of the planned building but continue to fine-tune their renderings in response to community input. Aside from architectural preferences, community members have communicated concerns about needed repairs to the currently existing drainage system and rear alley. They've also voiced their wish to avoid the likely frustrations of development-generated traffic in the alley. Furthermore, local residents have expressed a desire for additional neighborhood-serving retail beyond new restaurants or bars (of which there are a growing number).

Taurus Development Group will serve as general contractor, overseeing construction that is expected to result in a LEED Certified (the base level of certification) status at completion. Estimated development costs are anticipated to total roughly $4.3 million (including land acquisition costs), according to Stan Wall of Wall Development. Subject to DC Council approval, the official land disposition should be finalized in December. But it will take almost another year to finalize the land purchase and financing, with a groundbreaking following shortly after, and construction completion expected in December of 2012.

Although a ribbon cutting lies at least two years off, developers are still giddy to get the ball rolling, as H Street continues to sprout new projects. Wall explains: "I am excited to have the opportunity to build upon the momentum of redevelopment that has been occurring in the H Street corridor over the past several years." Unlike some of the monolithic super-blocks developed downtown, H Street has been slowly but surely revitalized in what seems to be a more organic fashion. Wall says he's proud to further develop what he articulates as H Street's "own unique look and feel that is eclectic and exciting."

While the development itself will be a much-need community benefit, the District will also require the project to achieve minimum targets for CBE business participation. Wall says he is delighted to cooperate to these ends. Providing affordable housing is also an ever-present and important component: there will be two units at 80% AMI and two units at 50% AMI. Additionally, the development, design, and construction teams plan to partner with Phelps Architecture, Engineering, and Construction High School in order to utilize the development process for valuable learning opportunities (site visits to the project, guest speakers at the school, donations of surplus construction materials, etc.). Sounds like a win, win, win.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Hill's Old Naval Hospital Halfway to Rebirth

In June 1866, a 24-year-old African American seaman named Benjamin Drummond became the first patient to be treated at what was then the state-of-the-art Naval Hospital (more recently known as the Old Naval Hospital). Having escaped from a Confederate prison in Galveston, Texas, Drummond attempted to return to duty as a Union sailor, but complications from a gunshot wound suffered three years prior while serving in the Gulf of Mexico forced him to seek medical attention in Washington DC. Drummond was discharged in 1868 with a government pension. The Old Naval Hospital has served many purposes since it first served Drummond in the 19th century, but until recently the stately structure has sat lonely, abandoned, and slowly rotting. Now, after a festive groundbreaking in July, the historic landmark is roughly halfway to its completed $10 million renovation and highly anticipated reincarnation as the community-oriented Hill Center at 9th and Pennsylvania Avenue, SE.

In 2002 the locally-spawned Old Naval Hospital Foundation (ONHF) submitted a comprehensive plan for the property's renovation and reuse as an "educational center for children and adults and a gathering place for community residents" to the city. After earning the endorsement of the Historic Preservation Review Board in 2009, and following the culmination of several years of securing federal grants ($5.5 million of District funds, and $2 million from the federal government), the ONHF is currently moving swiftly forward with plans to open the Hill Center by next summer.

David Bell of Bell Architects PC, a local firm specializing in historic preservation and adaptive reuse projects, helped draw up design plans for the renovation, and continues to work closely with the Foundation. Rosemary Freeman, handling public affairs for the Foundation, explained that her community and the ONHF wishes to "blend the old with the new, so to leave this historic property to our children and future citizens, as well as save lots of energy dollars going forward." In tandem with the development team and architects, the community endeavored to these ends, ensuring that several "nifty, environmentally sustainable, energy-efficient components" were included in the design plans. Two of those gadgets were recently installed, as 32 150-feet-deep geothermal heating wells are nearing completion, and an energy saving machine-room-less elevator was recently shafted into the structure. "We feel it is a model for historic renovations using 'green' technologies," Freeman boasts. Architect Bell believes the geothermal wells to be the "first ground source heat pump of this scale in an historic building in Washington DC."

The Center will offer nine fourth-floor offices, rented to local non-profits hungry for affordable operating space. The rest of the building will offer classrooms and multipurpose meeting spaces (one room will hold 100 people) for "activities, learning, meetings, lectures, classes, exhibits, performances, and civic and social functions for people of all ages and interests." Once the doors are reopened, visitors can expect "drawing and painting, music, parenting, creative writing, cooking and more." A portion of the building will serve to commemorate the proud history of the Naval Hospital, and the Carriage House will be transformed into a "family-friendly cafe." The Foundation is leading mid-construction tours this afternoon for savvy journalist-types to show off their achievements.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Convention Center Marriott: Going Forward, Looking Back

Today it all becomes double super official, as suits and helmets mix it up at the site of the future convention center Marriott Marquis hotel this morning for an official groundbreaking. Construction began last month to build the 1175 rooms that will be owned by The Washington Convention and Sports Authority (WCSA), operated by Marriott, designed by TBS Architects and Cooper Carry Architecture, developed by Quadrangle Development and Capstone Development, on land owned by the District of Columbia. Got that? Okay, for those attending today's event that want to keep the players straight, here's a recap of the last decade of the ups and downs that got us here:

In 2001, the city issues an RFP for construction of a convention center hotel, with the Convention Center then just starting construction; the city calls for a privately funded hotel. DC chose neither of the proposals submitted by Marriott or Hilton, but subsequently announces it has chosen Marriott as a partner. Spring of 2003, the Convention Center opens amid high expectations and early success, but over time conventioneers have difficulty securing large blocks of rooms and opt for other locations; hopes of a post-construction neighborhood renaissance are unrealized. The Washington Convention Center Authority Act of 1994 is amended to further fund the Authority to build a hotel to service the convention center and add yet more convention space. Initial plans call for 1400-1500 rooms in a building that would span both sides of L Street and become the largest hotel in the city.

By early 2007, after numerous iterations of design and location, the District swaps its old convention center site for Kingdon Gould's site at 9th & Mass., Gould retains the northeast corner of what may one day become the CityCenter project. In September of 2007, Mayor Adrian Fenty announces that DC has signed a new agreement with Marriott for the hotel, now dialed back to around 1100 rooms on only one block; Marriott, which does not own the hotels it operates, agrees to lease the property for 99 years. The hotel will feature additional meeting space, an underground tunnel connecting to the Convention Center, and a glass canopied courtyard. The building will feature over 100,000 s.f. of meeting and ballroom space, 25,000 s.f. of retail, and 385 parking spaces. Marriott agrees to earn a LEED Silver rating and hangs on to the land north of L Street, now a decaying row of storefronts.

In June of 2008, HPRB considers plans for an 1100 room hotel, ultimately approving it as long as the American Federation of Labor building (pictured) is spared. With a deal inked involving Quadrangle and Capstone, construction seems near at hand, but the unfolding financial crisis drains developers of financing, halting progress.

In April 2008, the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center opens just south of the District inside a $2 billion project with 5 new hotels, a serious competitor for DC's convention trade. In 2009, an agitated Mayor Fenty pursues a public financing option that would have committed the Authority to picking up the $530,000,000 tab in full and proposed legislation that would have removed Quadrangle in place of a city funded program. The Council balked at the cost, and in July of 2009 the Council passes legislation, the New Convention Center Hotel Amendments Act of 2009, granting the WCSA authority to spend more than $200m to go toward construction, up from the previous $135m, with the rest to come from developers.

In August of 2009, Fenty signs the bill with much fanfare, construction of an 1175-key hotel appears imminent, but just two months later, a JBG-controlled company sues the city to delay consummation of the deal, alleging impropriety in DC's awarding process, in what some suspect was related to JBG's disagreement with Marriott over development of their Woodley Park project. JBG contends the city gave the development team a sweetheart deal financed by the city that it never offered the competition. In January of 2010, the Authority countersues JBG, alleging JBG intended to "extort" the city. JBG's suit was dismissed by a Superior Court judge in March.

In July, Marriott, the city and JBG said they had reached a deal to end the stalemate, planning then goes into high gear. By September of 2010, the city authorized WCSA to release $250m in bonds, and in early October preliminary groundwork gets underway. On October 20th the Authority announces it has sold its entire $250m bond release, clearing the last foreseeable hurdle. Today at 11, with speeches that seem longer than the planning, the parties will officially break ground on the hotel.

The four-star hotel is expected to be complete by the spring of 2014.

Washington DC real estate development news

Silver Spring Park (aka Moda Vista) Moves Forward

In the works since 2007, Silver Spring Park, formerly known as the Moda Vista Residences, is moving forward in the good graces of Montgomery County Planning Board after the board approved the developer's final Site Plan last week. Fenton Group, LLC's application offered a bet-hedging vision that includes office, retail, apartment, and hotel components. The local Silver-Spring firm, headed by Ulysses Glee, has some twenty years of residential development experience, but this ambitious project will be by far their most significant to date.

The one and a half acre site, a consolidation of seven lots located at the northwest corner of the block bounded by Silver Spring Avenue and Fenton Street, and popularly known as the former location of the Fenton Street Market, will make way for a 59,870 s.f., 60-foot-tall Fairfield Inn & Suites hotel with 110 rooms, a 28,170 s.f. office building, and a 58-unit apartment building. A total of 9,234 s.f. ground floor retail will be split between the hotel and office building, while the hotel and apartment buildings will share underground parking facilities. Developers explained that the retail spaces will likely house boutique-sized businesses.

To satisfy County zoning requirements, seven of the proposed apartments will be moderately priced (or MPDUs for jargon junkies), five will be reserved as workforce housing. The streetscapes fronting Fenton and Silver Spring Avenue will get a full makeover as proposed by the developer. Fenton has also committed to earn LEED Silver certification for each of the new buildings. LEED-lovers and the County Arborist might be upset that three trees exceeding 30 inches in diameter will be lost during the necessary bulldozing during construction, but don't fret, as developers are including 14 newly planted canopy trees and 22 mid-story trees as part of their landscape plan.

But these concessions weren't quite enough to please County planners, as the 20% on-site public-use space obligation still needed fulfilling. Fenton's proposed 8,543 "pocket-park" only satisfies 17% of that requirement; as a result, developers will hand over $152,728 to Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning to fund the design and construction of a new bike station at Gene Lynch Urban Park, adjacent to the nearby Silver Spring Transit Center.

Gordon & Greenberg Architects provided architectural designs for the new buildings, while Burgess & Niple shouldered all of the site planning work. Developers expect another six months to finalize construction plans and secure building permits, with construction completion anticipated to arrive 12 to 18 months after the optimistic Spring 2011 groundbreaking.

Silver Spring, MD Real Estate Development News

History, Secrecy, and Preservation in Downtown DC

Call it delicious irony. The U.S. Secret Service, the organization that has seemingly unchallengeable power to take over sites - land, buildings, streets - that it feels it needs to protect the POTUS, are finding it difficult to take over a single building for office space in downtown Washington DC. The building - the historic Webster School - has remained empty for a decade while the agency has been unable to afford renovation, despite its enormous budget and long term lease of the property.

DC residents boxed out of the botched 2009 presidential inauguration and suffering from an ever widening security perimeter around the President may be forgiven a bit of spite toward the enigmatic agency (not that we aren't happy idling in our car for 30 minutes in advance of a Vice Presidential motorcade, and don't even get us started on the Salahi debacle). But the Service says "financial constraints" prevent it from renovating the skeletal eyesore located across the street from the Old Convention Center site and has no plans in the works for the darkened building.

The school, built in 1882, was used to educate naturalized citizens and by DCPS for many years, but saw its last use in the '90s. The National Treasury Employees Union bought the building for $2m and sought to demolish it (claiming special merit for its needs) to make way for a new headquarters, a move thankfully checked by the Historic Preservation Review Board, which then landmarked the building. GSA subsequently exercised eminent domain on behalf of the Secret Service, which hoped to renovate the school as an adjunct facility to its headquarters next door amid rumors of a pending museum for the site. The Service, with an annual budget this year of $1,500,000,000, says it lacks appropriate funding but needs the space for its 7,000 worldwide employees (it won't give the number of employees in DC). "We have plans to make it usable space for Secret Service employees" says Robert Novy, a spokesperson for the Service, dismissing museum theories.

Legally protected from demolition, the building is also being protected from death by natural causes with a minor structural renovation. But with the hole-plugging came exterior scaffolding and plywood sidewalk canopy that has lasted for several years, annoying neighbors, and the Service says it has no immediate intentions, or even designs, to change that until it receives dedicated construction funds. In the interim, the building has been vacant since the Clinton years, a fact that may be noted by an administration that hopes to stanch charges of fiscal profligacy by cutting its inventory of vacant office space, not to mention ax-wielding Republicans that will begin arriving in town over the coming weeks.

So for the time being the corner of 10th and H will remain dark and fenced off, a less-than-inviting streetscape at night, unless the Secret Service can find a way to make money out of a public nuisance. Perhaps they should ask the Salahis.

Washington DC real estate development news

Designing to Foster Change

By Beth Herman

Sixty years ago, in a world where children were chastised for chewing gum and staying after school was tantamount to the end of the world, the concept of an entity like D.C.’s Children’s Law Center (CLC) would have been as remote an idea as bottled water.

With festering issues of abuse, neglect, education, health care, domestic violence and mental health defining young people in the 21^st century, and successfully navigating a complex and evolving child welfare system can mean the difference between a life of value and one of inconsequence, the Children’s Law Center, at 616 H Street, NW, stepped up to the plate some 14 years ago and has since become a significant arbiter of change in the foster care system.

Up Where We Belong

In 2006, faced with substandard office space, monochromatic colors and deteriorating furniture and facilities in their previous home at 15^th and I Streets (the organization had taken over an old law office 10 years earlier without modification or redesign), the CLC sought the advice of OTJ Architects while anticipating a move. In short, CLC wished to create a space that would both facilitate their mission and provide a source of encouragement and delight for the many adults and children who frequented the Center.

Working with OTJ partner Roger Sola-Sole, project architect Lisa Winkler and her team set about fulfilling the task of designing what the firm called a “child-centric” environment, yet one which corresponded to critical meetings and conferences, all within a highly restrictive $810,650 budget.

“They wanted a happier, lighter space, and they actually share offices,” Winkler said, relative to the 64-member move-in staff when the Center opened in 2007. “They really like to work in pairs,” she added, which they now do in 180 s.f. spaces, with some offices supporting even three employees. Single offices, at 120 s.f., also accommodate staff, with senior level employees in larger spaces and 13 workstations available for investigators should they choose to utilize them, according to Winkler.

With 16,600 s.f. on the third and part of the fourth floors of the building, the architects focused the tight budget on three main areas: the reception area on the third floor, the third floor elevator lobby and the children’s area. CLC had its own ideas about the use of primary colors, with OTJ introducing child-oriented materials into the mix. “The main color for their logo is blue,” Winkler explained, “so we wanted to focus on that blue and also brought in a bright red.” The boldness of the colors necessitated a fairly neutral carpet in a warm palette, so the architects chose a pale gold for the public spaces and a carpet tile that was both gold and blue for the Center’s lunch room/lounge area.

If I Had a Hammer

At the end of a hallway, silhouettes of children on red walls engaged in various activities keep that area playful, with Winkler explaining that in a nod to budgetary constraints, she’d identified the images online and recruited OTJ colleagues, and some Center staff, to paint them one weekend. “We had a paint day,” she recalled. “I went over and outlined them in a Sharpie marker the day before, then the next day some of us went over and painted them in black. It was a real combined effort.”

In an effort to create something structure-wise using children’s objects, Winkler said items such as Legos were bandied about, with the ultimate design decision focusing on marbles. To that end, four or five 8-foot tall divider windows filled with 3 feet of marbles (child height) punctuate the space, with the marbles – 350 pounds in all – resourcefully obtained from a Chinese toy trader’s website. A 17 x 13-foot playroom, where an entire corner is a floor-to-ceiling blackboard and a slide with portholes accommodates both children and adults, abuts a 12 x 12-foot teen center replete with computers and TV.

When You Wish Upon a Star

“In their old offices, it was all grey, but they tried to decorate and keep it fun,” Winkler also explained, adding that employees had name plaques outside their doors where they’d customized them. In the new space, the team affixed magnetic whiteboards to each office door for staff to personalize. A long mural hallway, in which the Center wanted a D.C.-focused design, portrays row houses and stick figure children to reflect the organization’s graphics. The children in the mural hold up blank whiteboard spaces to display the hundreds of thank you letters and artwork the Center receives each year. And in a tradition replicated from the Center’s former offices, the architects posted childhood photos of current Center staff in a space en route from the children’s play area, whereby young visitors can take their chances identifying exactly who’s now who.

On the fourth floor, an adult conference room which Winkler concedes is a bright primary blue, has an electric garage door at one end to open up to a lounge seating area across the hall, accommodating the entire staff when necessary. Winkler said the decision to incorporate a garage door was budget-based, and there also wasn’t space to stack a traditional operable partition.

Receiving a lot of donations in the form of clothing and toys, Winkler said the former office configuration left no space and provided no system to organize these items. Again with economics in mind, she chose an IKEA system and built a 180 s.f. room full of shelving, right off the play area.

“We did a lot with a little bit of money,” Winkler said. “We focused on important areas, but still made the rest of the space warm and inviting.”

Overall, the architects achieved a space that clearly articulates CLC’s mission and vision while providing its youngest visitors, many of whom have come from a world unimaginable to the rest of us, an opportunity to focus on being children.