IMF Releases New Renderings for Dupont Hotel

The IMF has released new renderings for the hotel it is fashioning on New Hampshire Avenue in Dupont Circle. The 1964 structure has been used as an IMF apartment building, but with the building in dire need of a renovation and eating up a chunk of IMF dollars, Fund planners decided to sell one of the two buildings that comprised the apartment complex and renovate the remaining building.

With visions a LEED Gold building, the IMF and architecture firm Bonstra | Haresign are in the midst of a full gut and renovation of the building, and have designed a new skin on top of the old shell complete with rain screen (a kind of waterproof membrane under the skin, with breathable cavity in between) and super efficient glass curtainwall system, adding 20 units to the 100-unit building. The building is expected to be completed in about a year. Below are renderings of the new structure. Washington D.C. real estate development news

Babes Billiards Redevelopment Plan Heading to Zoning Commission

Within two weeks, Douglas Development intends to submit to the Zoning Commission its plans for a 60,821-square-foot, mixed-use retail and residential development on the old Babes Billiards location at 4600 Wisconsin Ave., NW. Douglas will request a zoning change, from C-2-A to C-3-A, for the planned unit development (PUD) to allow increases in height and residential space. The new building will be just under 71 feet tall and have a residential lot occupancy of 76 percent. With the lot's current zoning, residential lot occupancy caps at 60 percent and height at 50 feet.

View from Wisconsin Street. (All rendering provided by Douglas Development.)

The new category allows parking, but no parking is included in the design, and Douglas will ask for relief from the parking requirement. Residents raised concerns about parking early on, but given the design options and a Douglas parking study finding adequate parking in place, the final plan includes additional retail spaces in lieu of parking spaces. Paul Millstein, vice president and head of construction for Douglas, said he hopes to have the project on the agenda for a zoning hearing in July or September. If all goes well, he expects work will begin about eight months after the hearing. Architecture firm Shalom Baranes Associates designed the building that Millstein said will have about 60 residential units of various sizes. The final PUD outlines more than 47,000 square feet of residential space on five floors above nearly 12,000 square feet of ground-level retail space and lobby. Millstein said there was an additional 10,000 square feet of subterranean retail space, but the PUD lists only 2,200 square feet.

View from Brandywine Street.

The building will include a variety of materials and features such as a terracotta, aluminum, glass and brick on the facade, with a green roof to cap it off. Millstein said the company plans to keep the new development as a long-term holding. No retail outlets have formally committed to moving into the new space, but Millstein said interest is "strong" among many retailers including owners of Matchbox Grill. He said he wants a mix of retail including restaurants, coffee shops and sporting goods stores. "I think once we start construction we'll see leases signed quickly," he said. "I think we'll have tenants waiting for construction instead of us waiting for tenants."

Alternate view from Brandywine Street.

Before new construction begins, crews must raze two smaller structures on the property. The frame of the main structure on the corner will remain with new construction built around it. Millstein said he anticipates a minimum of LEED Silver certification for the property. Douglas Development acquired the property three years ago at auction for a reported $5 million. After considering several different options, the company settled on the current plan.

View from the intersection of Brandywine and Wisconsin streets.

"I think it's going well," Millstein said of the process that has included a sometimes contentious ANC review with community input. "It's taking time ... but I think it was important to bring everyone together and have an open dialogue that we've had." Washington D.C. real estate development news

Today in Pictures - New York Avenue

As Douglas Development demolishes buildings in anticipation of a new headquarters for the Association of American Medical Colleges in Mt. Vernon Triangle, some of the historic buildings on site, between K Street and New York Avenue, are also being saved - and moved - thanks to requests from the D.C. Preservation League. Below are pictures of the buildings being prepped and moved.
Washington D.C. real estate development news

Your Next Place

By Franklin Schneider

Q: What's better than one really nice home?

A: Three really nice homes, stacked on top of each other.

It might sound like I'm being facetious but, really, I'm not. (I use this same logic when I argue that Khloe Kardashian is hotter than Kim.) This fantastic - and HUGE - Arts & Crafts jewel looks at first glance like three houses on top of each other - not in a bad way - and inside, it's got three times the room and charm. From the expansive front porch that's bigger than many studio apartments, you enter into an open first level that features an open kitchen and an airy, bright living room and dining room. There's a sunroom (for your sunnin') and two home offices that I guarantee you will never ever get anything done in, because the views are too breathtaking. You'll just end up staring out over the valley and wondering what it would be like to be, like, an eagle soaring over the river, or something. (That's what I did, at least.)




Upstairs, the master bedroom suite is top-notch, and better yet, there's a guest suite that's also quite nice, but unmistakably just a bit less nice. Just so your guests know their place. Oh, and there are two balconies.

It really cannot be overstated how majestic the river views are from this house. (And the architect knew it too – there are tons of windows.) They're an order of magnitude better than anything else I've seen in the area. You're not going to beat these views - especially in this city, where the difference between a good view and a bad one is, "are the people in the alley passed out drunk or dead?"

5517 Potomac Avenue NW
4 Bedrooms, 4.5 Baths
$2,100,000

Arlington's Green Tower to Break Ground in July

After nearly three years of delays, the Tellus, Arlington's greenest apartment building, is finally set to break ground.

"Demolition is starting in May, with construction starting on July 1," said Gagik Davtian, Program Manager at Erkiletian. "We figure it'll be about 20 months until first delivery."

The 254-unit, 16-story Tellus is anticipated to be Arlington's first LEED Gold certified building. Plans call for the building to be powered, at least in part, by renewable energy sources, and the building features various water-saving and energy-efficient features - for example, reclaimed storm water and air conditioning condensation will be used to irrigate the native-plant landscaping. The building will also feature smart car and bicycle options, as well as a 26,000 square-foot garden plaza. The Tellus gained approval from the county way back in 2009, with a projected start date later that year, but the recession put things on hold - until now.

The finished building will offer just over 2800 square feet of ground-floor retail space (a restaurant, according to Erkiletian), as well as 7700 square feet of office space. "The Tellus is replacing a seven-story Sixties-era office building [the Arlington Executive Building]," said Davtian. "One of the tenants from the existing building, some government people, are going to be installed in the new building too. The way the office space is attached is actually very organic - it's sort of a bubble coming out of the building, a curvy facade on the backside."

Like the rest of the development, the design of the building has gone through a long collaborative process. According to Davtian, Lessard Group did the "schematic design," and then WDG Architecture came in and developed the working drawings. "WDG also changed a few elements," Davtian said. "They slightly redesigned the interior units, making them bigger, more open, and more contemporary. A lot of them have a sort of loft-like feel now."

Though developers plan on first delivery in 20 months, the project in its entirety is expected to take a full two years to complete.

Arlington, VA real estate development news

DC's Largest Private Solar Array Underway in Tenleytown

The largest privately owned solar array is now going up on top of a Tenleytown building owned by Paul Burman at 4435 Wisconsin Ave., NW. Burman hired Seven Seas Energy LLC to develop the project that will produce an estimated 50,000 kilowatt hours of solar energy each year.

Teris Pantazes, founder of Seven Seas Energy, said the project carries an up-front price tag of about $220,000. But tax credits and grants reduce it to less than $100,000, he said, with an annual energy cost savings of about $20,000. Work should be completed in April.

"What's unique about this job," Pantazes said, "is this is the largest system where an owner of a building has stepped up and said I like this so much I'm going to pay for this solar array myself."

Paul Burman, president of Burman Properties Inc., will have the largest private solar array in the city. There are, however, larger non-private solar arrays. For example, Pantazes said American University has one that was built under an agreement with a private investor who funded the project and sells energy to the school.

Pantazes said there are some unique challenges to building more than six stories at nearly the highest point in the city. In addition to getting permission from the zoning commission to build on top of the building's fifth floor along Wisconsin Avenue, high winds required a strong, steel structure.

The building, which stretches in an L shape from Albemarle Street to Wisconsin Avenue, houses a variety of tenants including Hot Yoga and Mattress Warehouse.

Burman said he wanted to switch to solar power in the interest of using alternative energy sources and as an investment in his property, his first attempt at using solar energy.

"I felt it would be a good thing to do at this time with all the problems the country has," Burman said. "I'm hoping this will be an example to other commercial building owners, and they'll come over and decide they're willing to try it, too."



Correction:
Due to a source error, this article incorrectly identifies the solar array under construction above Wisconsin Avenue as the largest privately owned solar array in the city. Carol Chatham of William C. Smith & Company confirmed that the solar array on the company’s Sheridan Station building is privately owned and three times as large as the Tenleytown project. We apologize for the error.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Bethesda Row Project Gets Start Date

At last, Bethesda's downtown extension is on the calendar. After years of planning, including the past year of being thisclose to breaking ground, Montgomery County officials say that construction work on Lot 31 - the public-private StonebridgeCarras-PN Hoffman project extending Bethesda Row - will begin the week of April 9th.

The project was scheduled to be underway last summer, but last minute wrinkles have continually held up the kickoff. With a formal groundbreaking ceremony now on the books, the next steps should happen in quick succession, beginning with closing the corner parking lot (April 10) in which Bethesdans circle endlessly on weekend evenings, then leading to closure of Woodmont Avenue (now scheduled for June 1). The county posted a sign last month stating that the lot would close April 1, a date that is inching back as construction plans are finalized.

Stephanie Coppula, Director of Marketing and Communications at Bethesda Urban Partnership, confirms that a formal groundbreaking is planned in 2 weeks. Work on the development will cause a major rerouting of traffic through Bethesda, to the extent that the county has ordered the farmer's market on Elm Street to close, and reopen at Bethesda Elementary, a move the Action Committee for Transit calls unnecessary as it puts the popular market into "a commercial dead zone."

The project has been in design since 2004, but Doug Firstenberg, Principal at StonebridgeCarras, says the timing is indicative of a project this difficult. "It's enormously complicated" says the developer of the details that had to precede the groundbreaking, noting that the project will involve a purchase of public land with public partnership for building nearly 1200 parking spaces below grade.

Bethesda-based SK&I designed the mixed-use structure occupying both sides of Woodmont Avenue. The project will consist of 40,000 s. f. of retail, and two residential buildings - The Flats, 162-unit apartment complex, and the Darcy, an 88-unit condominium building. 940 of the parking spaces will be for public use, replacing the 280 parking spaces now on the surface (which caused its own tempest), as Bethesda adds parking and braces for two and a half years of construction and reduced parking options.

The county will close Woodmont Avenue below Bethesda Avenue for an estimated twenty months as developers realign the intersection. The sounds of construction will be

evident throughout Bethesda as the downtown - conspicuously lacking construction cranes of late - begins to look more like downtown D.C. with Bainbridge's 17-story tower underway in Woodmont Triangle and another 17-story tower coming soon across the street.

Bethesda, Maryland real estate development news

Your Next Place

By Franklin Schneider

This fine Georgetown home is as cute as a button. A 1.5 million-dollar button. Seriously though, this house is adorable. Inside, the house is exactly what you think of when you think "Georgetown" - classy wainscoting (is there any other kind?) crown moldings, gleaming hardwood floors, and two fireplaces. This house is more "Georgetown" than a cupcake in a polo shirt. (Why is that image so disturbing?) There's a cozy kitchen and three generously proportioned bedrooms upstairs.

Out back is a beautiful walled garden and patio with a fantastic cherub-themed fountain that I strongly suspect was looted from a museum. It just seems too nice to have been bought retail. If I was a better person I would've said something to someone, but instead I made a mental note to buy a Powerball ticket so I could buy my own house with a possibly-looted fountain. (What's that you say? Accomplishing things through hard work instead? What do you think this is, China?)

Also, the house is on a quiet one-way street, and located mere blocks from Georgetown University, so you'll often see peppy young people walking by who, unlike you, have their whole lives ahead of them. (Don't feel bad, they'll almost certainly screw things up just as much as you have. It's "the Circle of Life"! Hakuna matata.)

3526 P Street NW
3 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths
$1,499,000

Washington D.C. real estate news

Crystal City Office Project Gets Started Thursday Morning

Lowe Enterprises will host a "groundbreaking ceremony" Thursday on a $70 million office redevelopment project at 1400 Crystal Drive in Crystal City. Fox Architects designed the new building.

The company will seek LEED Gold certification for the project to convert an existing 300,000 square-foot office building in Jefferson Plaza into "Class A" office space complete with a glass facade and roof top terrace. The lobby will be moved to Crystal Drive.

Demolition will bring the building back to its concrete frame before new construction begins, keeping a quick turnaround time and earning LEED points as a retrofit.

"When we acquired the building, we new knew it had good bones," said Harmar Thompson, Vice President of Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group. "So we knew it had a good structure, that we could work with that structure, and not have to do ... ground-up development."

Thompson said the 30-by-30 column grid is solid and lends itself to flexible configuration of the new building, compared to the 20-by-20 grid common in the area that makes renovation more difficult.

Other elements incorporated to achieve LEED Gold certification include using high-efficiency glass the facade and upgrading HVAC to a dedicated outdoor air system that brings cold water to many units throughout the building instead of having it in a centralized basement location.

The new building is scheduled to open in early 2013, with 30,000 square feet more space than the old building, creating more corner offices and pushing it out into the view corridor. "The views out of this building are spectacular," Thompson said.

Lowe acquired the building in 2008. Thompson said the company had the opportunity to initiate the rebuilding project because the National Guard Bureau vacated, leaving it empty. Rebuilding on top of the existing frame allowed the company to create an essentially new building in a short period of time and open it to tenants earlier than other projects in the area. Lincoln Property Company will handle leasing.

The groundbreaking ceremony is set for 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Arlington, VA real estate development news

New Residential Planned for Shaw's Blagden Alley

The United House of Prayer for All People has teamed up (again) with Suzane Reatig Architecture, this time to develop a mixed-use residential and retail building in the Blagden Alley-Naylor Court Historic District.

The DC Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) approved the concept for a 12-unit residential building with ground floor retail space at 926 N St. Northwest. A 1953 warehouse and loading dock on the property will be torn down to make way for the new building.

Megan Mitchell, project designer for Suzane Reatig Architecture, presented the early-stage design to the HPRB at the March 22 meeting. She said she thought the meeting went well, and now they can move on to the next stage.

Preliminary concept rendering of the front of the building showing
the three sections and proposed screen
(Rendering provided by Suzane Reatig Architecture)

"I think the next step for us is to develop the materials and work on the little details of how the bays meet the ground and meet the sky," Mitchell said. "(We're) really getting into the design of the building now."

And that is exactly what the HPRB wants to see. Comments during the meeting focused on the desire for more renderings, a detailed site plan and consideration of materials that will incorporate the varied historical neighborhood.

This first presentation to the HPRB was intended to get input and approval for the overall concept, Board member comments will be incorporated into a later presentation.

Preliminary alley designs include garage doors, alley access and balconies. The street front would be broken up into three sections emulating the row-home effect present in the area. Residential units would feature private outdoor space.

Mitchell said the design has been shared in various forums with the community, and it is clear that the neighbors care about the project. She said residents have different opinions about how modern the building should appear in the historic alley. Preliminary rendering showing the sidewalk view with ground-level retail spaces.

Another presentation with greater detail of the project will take place in the near future. Mitchell said she hopes to break ground on the project within a year, but no specific timeline has been set.

"We're very excited about building in this unique historic neighborhood," Mitchell said during her presentation. "We'd like to do a building that would contribute not only to its historic context but also to the community."

Washington D.C. real estate development news