Lowe Enterprises to Convert Wheaton Office Building to Residential High-Rise

Continuing Wheaton's rapid transformation from a withering suburb to a residential development hotspot, California-based Lowe Enterprises submitted a sketch plan to Montgomery County planners at the end of January that would transform the 5-story Computer Building at 11411 Georgia Avenue in Wheaton from a modest five-story office building into a 14-story residential high-rise.

The site, which Lowe purchased last fall for just over $8.2 million, is nestled between the Archstone Wheaton Station Apartments and the Metro Point Apartments, and across Reedie from the already approved 17-story Safeway/residential project from Patriot Realty. Two blocks down, Washington Property Co. is building 221 units on the former site of the First Baptist Church of Wheaton. Up a block is the Wheaton Metro station, whose bus bays are to be converted by B.F. Saul into an office complex. B.F. Saul is also consulting with the county about converting Wheaton Triangle, right across Georgia, into a massive mixed-use development that would bring nearly a million square feet of office space, retail, a hotel, and a public plaza to the area.

Interestingly, developers plan to build onto the existing building 11411 Georgia, rather than demolish and start from scratch.

"The building has very good bones," says Mark Rivers, Senior Vice President at Lowe Enterprises, by way of explanation. "The concrete structure can easily support the additional floors. It would just be a waste of time, money, and landfill space to tear it down and rebuild. Also, this building is narrow for an office building - about 60 feet wide. Residential buildings are generally narrower than office buildings, so that was a nice bit of luck."

The sketch plan application promises to "substantially transform the building aesthetic through comprehensive facade changes," listing balconies, vertical bays, and a "strong vertical element" at the northwest corner of the building, to lend it a "distinguishable identity." Developers intend to convert the building from glazed brick and boxy to "a contemporary slender tower clad in composite panels, glass and masonry." The Bonstra Haresign-designed tower will include up to 200 studios and one-bedroom dwellings, as well as 60-plus parking spaces on-site (though zoning doesn't require any).

Developers haven't yet decided if they'll include retail space on the ground floor, though they have plenty of time to decide, as construction is targeted for the beginning of next year. Though another residential tower in the area might seem excessive, developers, following a familiar blueprint, are confident that the expanding housing market in Wheaton will organically lead to an increase in demand for retail. Since county planners adopted the new, updated Wheaton Sector Plan in 2010, which aimed to revitalize the moribund area, development in Wheaton has revved up to high gear, even leading local uberdeveloper Leonard Greenberg to compare the area to Adams Morgan.

Wheaton, Maryland real estate development news

Fairgrounds at Nationals Stadium

With Washington Nationals opening day one month away, and Forest City's Yards project rounding third in delivering a retail pavilion to the Anacostia waterfront, one local team is getting ready to deliver the first large, integrated shopping district adjacent to the ballpark. A local arts group is working to deliver a pop-up retail experience on the block just north of the ballpark, on a now-vacant site owned by Akridge along the footpath between the Metro station and ballpark entrance. Underway is a self-contained, open-air retail and entertainment destination that will animate the baseball stadium's gateway with an imaginative mix of food, entertainment and shopping. Organizers will test a concept that has won accolades in New York and London - turning refurbished shipping containers into instant designer storefronts, creating an open marketplace that is part foodie festival and farmer's market, part entertainment venue and beer garden, and part shopping district. Playing off the success of London's BOXPARK Shoreditch and Brooklyn's DeKalb Market, the project will utilize the ultimate green idea - recycling - by turning salvaged shipping containers into architecturally imaginative shops. Promoters are signing up regional retailers for the seasonal market that will coincide with baseball season, and plan to open with a "preview party" on March 30th. Vendors are expected to be attracted to the instant retail site with some of the city's heaviest, if sporadic, foot traffic, while visitors to the ballpark - and the area's increasing residential population - get a timely market in place of a vacant lot that will last until the site is developed. Brooklyn's DeKalb Market (pictured above, courtesy Inhabitat) opened last year to much acclaim from the local community and has achieved cult status as a regional urban infill amenity. Boxcars-as-architecture has premiered in other cities, but the Half Street Fairgrounds is the first U.S. version as a pop-up shopping destination. The site is being created by Akridge, Bo Blair of Georgetown Events, which operated The Bullpen on the site, and Mike Berman of Diverse Markets Management, which operates the Flea Market at Eastern Market and the Downtown Holiday Market at Penn Quarter, and designed by Christy Schlesinger of Schlesinger Architects. The team expects to program some of the site full-time, with special events and heightened programming on game days. "We really appreciate being invited by Fairgrounds entrepreneur Bo Blair to participate in this exciting venture," Berman said, calling it an opportunity for "incubating creative businesses for this new neighborhood and for the city." Capitol Riverfront BID Director Michael Stevens noted that the neighborhood will have "9 to 10 restaurants open in the next 11 months," calling the chance for immediate retail a "cool, edgy concept" that will "brand the neighborhood, and give ballpark patrons another option." The BID will partner with the Fairgrounds to provide a Wednesday noon-time concert series beginning in May. Retail leasing is being handled by DCRE Real Estate.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Sky House Kicks Off in Southwest

As the re-remoderization of Southwest Washington D.C. continues, this time without a Soviet flare, Urban Atlantic Development and JBG have started work on the transformation of Sky House I & II, the concrete layers of the old EPA government building on 1150 4th Street, and across the street at 1151 4th Street. With Wiencek & Associates Architects & Planners on board for the exterior and RD Jones + Associates for the interiors, the project will deliver some 530 units to the Southwest Waterfront area in late 2013 or early 2014.
The development team is keen on delivering an environmentally sustainable, LEED certified, twin building project. This project is another step continued revitalization of housing in the Southwest quadrant. With a mix of studio, one & two bedroom units, with the average unit size only 675 s.f. The two buildings will have different ownership structures, but both will have 20% of the units set aside for affordable housing. With the two tallest buildings in Southwest, developers are touting the unique views ("Sky") available from the rooftop deck and pool. The Sky projects complete the area around Waterfront Station - at least until the surface parking lots are addressed - with the office complex having completed in 2009, Safeway having reopened in the spring of 2010, and Waterfront Towers having converted to condos in 2009.

There will be a "groundbreaking" ceremony with Mayor Vincent Gray in attendance today at 9:30am.
Washington D.C. real estate development news

Your Next Place

By Franklin Schneider

This fully-renovated Colonial is extremely charming - large rooms with a great open-ish floor plan that leads you naturally from space to space. The different color-schemed rooms really won me over, and the house is so deceptively big inside that halfway through I got all confused. ("That can't be another room up ahead, it's got to be a mirror. But if it's a mirror, shouldn't I be able to see my reflection in it? Am I a vampire?!")

There's a ton of closet space, a pantry, a beautiful sitting room, and three working fireplaces. There's also a large built-in shoe closet (much better than your present system, i.e. piles), and a fantastic massive patio out back, surrounded by a tiered stone garden. Not massive like "you could get a grill AND a table out there," massive like "you could stage a celebrity wedding back there."

The crown jewel of the house, the master bedroom suite is maybe the most masterful bedroom suite I've ever encountered. The bedroom is very fine, yes, and the working fireplace definitely takes it to the "next level" (I imagine squabbling with my girlfriend over who gets to work the remote and then just flinging it into a roaring fire), but the thing that tipped the balance was the bathroom. Aside from being very fine, it has heated floors! This legitimately blew my mind. I didn't even know this was a thing. (Do I sound like a yokel right now? Are you all laughing at me? I don't even care.) I'd crank these babies up full blast year round, even in the summertime. When you've got heated floors, why not flaunt them? (Words to live by, if you ask me.)

5009 Hawthorne Place NW
5 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths
$1,125,000

An Addition Less Ordinary

by Beth Herman

Though art aficionados and friendly Francophiles Margaret Rubino and Sal Fiorito wanted more for their standard brick post war Chevy Chase, Md. home, an addition that spoke precisely the same language was not—in parlance of the country they adore—de rigueur.

Defying their standard two-story, 1,200 s.f. Colonial brick issue with a series of small rooms, including an inefficient kitchen also acting as a kind of hallway—a deterrent to their love of food and entertaining, Rubino, Fiorito and architect Steve Lawlor envisioned a kind of colossal glass room with a view, or perhaps two views.

One would extend outward to nature and the couple’s lush gardens, and the other, inherently more poetic, would foster an appreciation of an eclectic, intimate collection of the couple’s cherished art and objects. With all of that, the homeowners did seek some integration of the existing and new structures so that the addition wasn’t isolated “like an appendage,” Rubino said. Much like a disparate, though pleasurable piece of art categorized as mixed media, there needed to be cohesion between the elements.

Accordingly, a faux-Colonial fireplace was replaced with a gleaming marble surround, and openings between the rooms on the ground floor were notably enlarged so the inside of the house felt much more modern in light of the addition, Rubino explained. With Fiorito’s background in glasswork and architectural sculpture, an architectural glass front door he designed for the existing Colonial replaced a tired, traditional entrance, flanked by flush, contemporary porch lighting.

Mapplethorpe, machines and minestrone

“The addition itself is a reaction to the post war house—it’s not like we were trying to extract its DNA—we are playing off the house,” said architect Steve Lawlor. Referencing Leo Marx’s 1964 literary criticism “The Machine in the Garden,” a metaphor for contradictions in society and challenges to our own thinking or interior landscapes, Lawlor indicated the new space was to be a paean to the homeowners' unconventional tastes and ideals.

For globe-trekking interior and garden designer Rubino, owner of D.C.’s—and pre-9/11 NYC's—Rooms and Gardens (featuring early 20^th century French antiques, vintage and other kinds of French furnishings, art and garden art), a kitchen/gallery space in which to relax, entertain and quietly showcase decades of cherished art was the goal. Objects that included sculpture — such as polychrome bloody saint’s feet found in Paris, furnishings and photography(Rubino’d been photographed herself by Robert Mapplethorpe) featuring a Jim Sanborn radium clock image — clearly needed a platform, albeit an informal one. For Fiorito, a driving force for many years behind Washington’s emerging and burgeoning art scene, including the pioneering Washington Project for the Arts (WPA), a place to showcase his art collection as well as his love of cooking was high on the agenda.

Siting the new construction at the rear, the original living and dining rooms (the latter subsequently turned into a study) were left in the existing part of the residence, with the living room wall bumped out for a more fluid entry into the new space. The old kitchen became a side entrance, transformed into a mudroom and transitional point to the rest of the house. With the addition conceived of as one large space, a new terrace for al fresco dining can be accessed through ceiling-height glass doors that open to the outdoors.

Defined by sweeping glass and clad in low-maintenance Galvalume (sheet steel) siding and stucco, which worked well with the new space’s massing, the stark contrast to the existing structure’s nondescript brick is apparent. “Hardiplank or wood wouldn’t have looked right, and stone didn’t fit in with the aesthetic they were interested in,” Lawlor said.

Pendant lights and partial nudes

For the interior, the homeowners chose the finishes, and Fiorito built and/or installed them, including marble countertops, ipe flooring and a combination of stained, rift-cut wood and high-gloss lacquered cabinets. White walls act as a clean canvas. “It’s intended to be a relatively minimal palette to showcase the art,” Lawlor said, adding, “…it’s hard for me to tell in this project where the architecture ends and the interior design begins.”

Amiably called “provocative” in everything they do by the architect, the homeowners acquired a life-sized semi-nude (named Tanya) by photographer Chan Chao, featuring the result on a divided pantry door that projects into the space. “A partially-clad woman in the kitchen isn’t for everybody, but it’s exactly them,” Lawlor said, noting because most everything else is built in, the pantry door’s three-dimensional aspect makes it a real focal point.

“I can’t have full frontal nudity in the kitchen,” Rubino quipped, because of their young son. “But she’s actually more compelling the way she is.”

To court the sun and extend the addition’s vistas, fixed floor-to-ceiling light-cut windows, but with operable units at the bottom for ventilation, frame the garden as art.

When the sun goes down, eight Ko No aluminum pendant lights by Tre Ci Luce—six over the marble island and two over the kitchen table—that are lowered and raised manually provide ample task lighting on day-to-day activities. Additional low voltage recessed track lighting is “aim-able,” according to Lawlor, and can be directed toward the table, floor, walls or wherever favorite art and objects would benefit.

“The addition is probably more in the spirit of who the homeowners are than is the original house,” Lawlor said, noting the couple’s art is not just randomly collected, but infused with history and personal memories. “They wanted something different, something big and loft-like—an open space in which they can live with their art and feel comfortable.”

photos courtesy of Maxwell MacKenzie and Margaret Rubino

WPC's Wheaton Residential Project to Break Ground In May

Washington Property Company's 245-unit residential building at 10194 Georgia Avenue is on target for a spring groundbreaking, adding to the long list of greenlit revitalization projects in Wheaton. "We're out to bid now [for a general contractor], and hope to start construction in early May," said Daryl South, Vice President of Development for WPC. "Everything's ready to go."

Washington Property company acquired the 1.65-acre parcel, which is just steps from the Wheaton metro station, in 2005.

According to a site plan approved by Montgomery County planners in October of last year, the Preston Partnership-designed building will be a six-story u-shaped structure, opening to the south, with the interior space used for a swimming pool and greenspace. Designers used a "variety of masonry and glazing" as well as small parapets and height variations ... to minimize the sense of building mass." Underground, developers are shooting for at least 230 parking spaces spread over two levels, and will be required to offer 12.5% of the dwellings as (subsidized) MPDUs. The site is the former home of the First Baptist Church of Wheaton, which has relocated to Washington Christian Academy while construction on their new building in Olney is completed.

WPC's residential tower is just one of several projects that have gained recent momentum in downtown Wheaton; just a few blocks north is the already approved 17-story Safeway/residential project from Patriot Realty, and across from that is the Computer Building, set to be converted by Lowe Enterprises into a residential tower. At the Wheaton Metro station, bus bays are to be converted into an office complex by B.F. Saul, which is also in talks with the county about converting nearby Wheaton Triangle into a massive mixed-use megadevelopment that would bring nearly a million square feet of office space, retail, a hotel, and a public plaza to the area.

Wheaton, Maryland real estate development news

Today in Pictures - Rhode Island Row

After years of urban planning-speak about the untapped potential of Rhode Island Avenue, many false starts notwithstanding, its first major project is now coming online. Rhode Island Row, the joint venture between A&R Development and Bethesda-based Urban Atlantic, is on the way to a September completion. The 8.5 acre, $109,000,000 project with 274 new residential units above 70,000 s.f. of retail broke ground in May of 2010, with some District help, and sits along a new and expanding bike trail, just a scoot away from bustling NoMa. Rhode Island Row - formerly Rhode Island Station - was designed by the (now defunct) Lessard Group, but switched to Lessard Design. Developers completed the first few residential units in December, and have now delivered 2 of 8 phases of the two residential buildings. 59 of the units are now open, and most of those have already been leased, according to Caroline Kenney of Urban Atlantic. "There's a seriously wide mix of people geographically and demographically," she notes, and that despite the Avenue's inglorious past, "this part of the city is finally getting to be on the map." Of course being right on the red line and bike trail is not a bad marketing hook, and the development team has capitalized with "a ton of bike storage". Kenney said she hopes to have a Capital Bikeshare location on site in the future. Retail tenants are also on the way, with CVS the first to sign on. While Kenney won't divulge names of other retailers, she says 60% of the retail is unofficially spoken for. In all, the project will have 531 parking spaces, some of which will be short term retail parking, plus the new 215-space Metro garage.

Once just a theory...

Washington D.C. real estate development news

MoCo Approves North Bethesda Market II

The Montgomery County Planning Board approved plans for the JBG Companies and MacFarlane Partners' North Bethesda Market II last week, continuing the area's stunning streak of approved megadevelopments.

While the name "North Bethesda Market II" may conjure visions of one of those upscale bodegas that has prosciutto and a surprisingly good wine aisle, that is not the case here. North Bethesda Market II will consist of four separate structures offering as many as 414 residential units and 368,000 square feet of retail. The roster of tenants is stacked with heavyweights; Whole Foods, L.A. Fitness, Arhaus, Seasons 52, and Brio, with others to come. The centrally-located 4.4 acre site is a block from the White Flint metro station, across from White Flint Mall, and just west of Rockville Pike. Of course, it's also right next door toNorth Bethesda Market I (which features the tallest building in Montgomery County).

"NBM1 has been very successful," said Charlie Maier, spokesman for JBG, when asked about the follow-up project. "The site used to be a one-level motel and now it's a model for development in the Wisconsin Avenue corridor." Maier also said JBG is looking to 4Q 2012 for groundbreaking.

The centerpiece of NBMII is a 26-story, nearly 300 foot tall residential tower that will eclipse its sibling development's tower as the tallest structure in MoCo. The Stu

dios Architecture-designed monolith features a stepped facade and balconies that will look out onto a European-influenced interior plaza designed by landscape architects Olin. The eye-catching building is sloped slightly backwards to catch the maximum amount of sunlight and, like the other three buildings, will feature a green roof. Architectural journals have gushed over the design, and the Washington Post likened it to "a Mayan Temple whose glass bricks have been shaken earthquake-like out of position." Units are planned as rentals, though developers have kept the condominium option open. Elsewhere in the development, developers also plan a movie theater with 175,000 square feet of office space above.

The development continues the recent(ish) trend of transitioning sprawling 50s-style car-centric low-slung areas into dense, vertical, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly urban-style areas, leading to the question of, five years from now, will there be anything left for me to make snarky remarks about at dinner parties? Revitalization in White Flint was catalyzed (much as it was in adjacent Wheaton), when Montgomery County planners approved an updated White Flint Sector Master Plan in early 2010, and shows no signs of slowing down. Aside from the North Bethesda Markets, the Pike and Rose gained approval in February, and the Falkland Chase whole-block development was approved in January.

Montgomery County real estate development news