Falkland Apartments Plan Up for Review, Again

Today, Home Properties of New York, owner of the Falkand Apartments, finds itself once again before the Montgomery County Planning Department concerning the site plan for a multi-building, mixed-use development at the northeast quadrant of the intersection of 16th Street and East-West Highway near the Silver Spring CBD. The 9.7-acre site, split into three parcels, is within walking distance of the Silver Spring Metro and the MARC station.

In 1985, the area was denied eligibility for the designation in the Master Plan for Historic Preservation, but in 2007 all three parcels were found eligible and the Board “directed the Planning staff to initiate an amendment to that Master Plan,” according to the MCPD report on today’s hearing to approve the site plan. In 2008, the south and west parcels were added to the plan, but the north parcel was added to the Locational Atlas, which was created in 1976 and identifies potential historic sites.

That particular restriction called for the removal of the north parcel from the Atlas upon approval of the site plan.

"Faced with the challenge of weighing the benefits of historic preservation with those related to other planning objectives, the Board found that greater public benefit would be achieved through the redevelopment of the north parcel than by the parcel's designation in the Master Plan," according to the Staff report.

Being part of the Master Plan comes with eligibility for financial incentives for qualified rehabilitation and maintenance projects as well as certain protections.

The designation led Home Properties to revise their development plan and follow a few provisions, including 4.72 percent of the dwelling units to be subject to the County’s Workforce housing law for 20 years and the same amount provided for off-site Workforce housing.  Home Properties must beautify the stream on the South parcel, and all buildings must be rated LEED-Silver.

The proposed plan is for a 1.2 million s.f., mixed-use development that includes 70,000 s.f. of retail and 1,250 townhouse units with 12.5 percent MPDUs and 4.73 percent Workforce Housing units.

The project consists of four buildings, oriented to a perimeter public street or a proposed private internal street. The buildings on the East-West Highway include ground-floor retail.

The proposed development provides 65,091 s.f. of public use space, 20 percent of the lot area. This includes a public plaza, garden and pedestrian area.

Staff recommends approval of the proposed plan today.

Maryland real estate and development news

Lumber Shed Construction at the Yards Begins this Week

Construction begins this week on the Lumber Shed, an adaptive reuse component that will become the retail centerpiece of the Yards, a Forest City project. The Shed is set to be completed in the third quarter of 2013, according to a press release.

The Yards, which is one of the largest projects in Southeast D.C., has been named the best new public space by City Paper. Seven restaurants and a Harris Teeter were announced this past year in the boilermaker shops, and recently, the Alatmarea Restaurant Group of New York City announced a new Osteria Morini restaurant to open in The Yards in summer 2013.

The area was formerly the Navy Yard Annex then the Naval Gun Factory. Forest City Washington received the chance to redevelop the 42-acre riverfront property site in 2004, and construction began on several parcels within the yards in 2007.

When finished, the Yards will be a 5.5 million s.f. development, completed during three phases during the next 10 to 20 years.

The Lumber Shed - formerly owning up to its name - is located on the edge of the Yards park overlooking the Anacostia River.  The Shed will be a 30,000 s.f., two-level, retail, glass pavilion, which will temporarily house Forest City’s offices on the second floor and include five restaurants.

The inclusion of Osteria Morini and Forest City’s offices means the building is 60 percent leased.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Wesley Seminary Residence Hall to Break Ground Next Month

The first new housing in over fifty years for the Wesley Theological Seminary is set to break ground next month, after an almost six-year planning and approval process.

"We just went in for permits a couple weeks ago," said Paul Taylor of general contractor Vantage Construction.  "We hope to break ground in July, if everything goes through as planned.  Construction should take about a year, so they'll be finished by next summer, and ready for the fall semester.  Right now it looks like the final building will encompass 74 beds in about 56 units."

Back in 2006, the Zoning Commission approved an ambitious Wesley Seminary Campus Plan that would've added over seventy thousand square feet of residential, academic, and chapel space to the campus.  But the economic downturn forced a reevaulation of this plan, and in the end, this residence was the only new planned structure that survived the process.

The three-story thirty thousand square foot residence hall, designed by Falls Church-based MGMA, will feature a facade of brick veneer and contrasting concrete panels, to match the rest of the campus, and will house plant facilities for the entire campus on the lower levels.  The design has evolved over the past year, after consultations with citizens groups, to produce a more visually dynamic, varied structure.  Designers pulled out stairwells, added elements to the roof, stepped back precast elements, and "reduced the institutional feel" by strategically adding window, to create a "more interesting and more residential" building.

Wesley Seminary was founded in 1882 in Westminster, MD, and has been at its present Spring Valley location since 1958; according to the latest Campus Plan, the campus, though "outwardly tranquil and relaxed is, in reality, a place of great energy and excitement."

Washington, D.C. real estate development news

WPC Breaking Ground on Wheaton Residential Project

Washington Property Company breaks ground on the Solaire, a 232-unit residential building at 10194 Georgia Avenue, next week.  Located on the former site of the First Baptist Church, WPC acquired the 1.65-acre parcel in 2005 and, as part of the deal, relocated the church to Olney, adding to the long list of projects approved in a quickly developing Wheaton town center.

Montgomery County approved the site plan last October for a Preston Partnership-designed six-story, u-shaped structure, opening to the south, with a swimming pool and greenspace in the interior courtyard.  Designers used a "variety of masonry and glazing" as well as "small parapets and height variations ... to minimize the sense of building mass." Beneath, developers will build a two-level parking garage with 230  spaces. A public statement notes such ubiquitous amenities as "granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, fine cabinetry, wood laminate flooring."  

According to a WPC press release, the developer owns more than eight million square feet of commercial space in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and currently has over 1.6 million residential square feet under development.Clark Builders Group is the General Contractor, Gables Residential will provide property management and leasing services.  Leasing is expected to begin in September of 2013.

Wheaton, Maryland real estate development news

Akridge Applies for Permit to Demolish 1200 17th St.

Akridge has applied for a permit to raze the 8-story office building it recently purchased at 1200 17th St. NW, and replace it with a greener office building.  Architectural firm ZGF will design the new structure.

The development company bought the property from the National Restaurant Association with partner First Potomac for $39.6 million last October, and plans to spend $100 million to build a 170,000 s.f. office building on the site. Developers hope to achieve a LEED rating on the new building.

According to the Business Journal, the companies hope to open a new building by 2014, a date that would require demolition to begin soon.

Don Morris, senior project manager of Balfour Beatty Construction, says the developer will scrape the site and erect an entirely new building in its place.  The current building dates to 1964.

Washington, D.C. real estate development news

Your Next Place

This fantastic 1920s-era home has all the subtle charm and panache of that simpler era - note how coyly it seems to peek out from behind the beautiful garden and fence, like a silent film actress or something.  But inside it has all the modern cutting-edge finishes - fully remodeled everything, central air, etc. - that you could ask for.  I didn't know whether to put in an offer or propose to it.  (Doesn't matter - either way, the answer would've been contemptuous laughter.)

If you like natural light - and who doesn't, aside from, like, hoarders - this is the house for you.  Everyplace claims to be "bright!" but this place actually is.  Extremely bright.  I was a little hungover the day I saw this place and when I walked into the family room, with its wall of windows, I felt like I was actually melting, vampire-style.  (I mean that in the most complimentary way possible.)

There's a beautiful parlor for all your parlorin', a huge living room, and a spacious family room with fireplace. From there you go through french doors out to the gold standard for all screened-in porches; the perfect place to sleep during the summer, or sit late at night and "think" (i.e. sneak a cigarette).

Out back is a flagstone patio and a standalone brick garage that's nicer than many actual houses.  There's also a vibrant perennial garden featuring all sorts of flowers and shrubbery, etc.  I'm not really into gardening so I didn't really know what a "perennial" garden was, so I asked a couple who was standing nearby.  The husband explained it was a garden that grew back every spring by itself, without any planting required.  The wife nodded and then said, "what it really means is that you don't have to do any work."  We all nodded in silent agreement:  this was the best kind of garden.

1410 Manchester Lane NW
5 Bedrooms, 4 Baths
$875,000

Washington D.C. real estate news

Bethesda Industrial Site to Be Remade as Residential Complex

A moribund, paved-over industrial site just off of Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda is slated to be replaced with a 30-townhome housing development.

The 1.8 acre property at 5400 Butler Road is bracketed by Little Falls Parkway and Butler Road, between River Road and Massachusetts Avenue, and surrounded on three sides by parkland.  Presently the site of the BETCO complex of buildings and surface parking lots, plans call for the site to be razed, the pavement removed, and replaced with a Lessard Group-designed "scale-appropriate residential community" of 30 single-family garage-centered homes.

"We actually just got our planning board approval last week for the site plan and preliminary plan," said Stephanie Marcus of lead developer EYA Development.  "We hope to start construction at very end of this year or early in 2013."

Five of the townhouses (16.67%) will be moderately-priced units, and just under forty percent of the new site will be green space, up from basically zero percent at the current site.  Plans also call for about 2 parking spaces per market rate unit and one per MPDU, totaling approximately 64 spaces.

The developers have made several optional concessions, including
removing the existing pavement at their own cost, throwing in an extra MPDU (they're only required to include four), installing stormwater management at their own cost, and setting the amount of green space at 38%, 8% above the requirement.  The project will also remedy the BETCO plant debris' encroachment onto nearby parkland.

The plan itself is somewhat unremarkable - let's face it, a development of townhomes excites pretty much no one - but it's essentially making something from nothing, and in the big picture the removal of the pavement, remediation of parkland encroachment, and significant addition of greenspace, more than makes up for what may be lacking aesthetically.


Bethesda, Maryland real estate development news

Today in Pictures - William O. Lockridge/Bellevue Library

The District of Columbia opened its newest library this week, the Washington Highlands branch William O. Lockridge/Bellevue Library at 115 Atlantic Avenue, SW (that little slice of southwest you didn't know existed on the north edge of Bellevue).  The original library, built on the site in 1959, was demolished in 2009 in favor of a modernist design created by Adjaye Associates.  Jair Lynch was the development manager of the project. The library was designed to earn a LEED Silver certification.

 

Washington D.C. real estate development news

The Gallery of Bethesda Demolition Complete, Excavation Underway

With a $55 million construction loan recently secured, and demolition complete, developers Donohoe Companies and MPM Investments are aggressively moving forward on the Gallery of Bethesda, its 17-story 234-unit residential tower at 4800 Auburn Avenue.

“Donohoe Construction is making great progress on the site," said Jad Donohoe of Donohoe Companies.  "Excavation will finish up in November. The 17-story building will 'top out' in July of next year. And then by early 2014, residents will be moving in. The Gallery of Bethesda is going to bring more life and more activity to this part of Bethesda, and it’s going to prove all over again why Bethesda is one of the best places to live in the Washington region.”

The Gallery will be a quarter-million-square-foot tower featuring a 0.25-acre public plaza, a rooftop pool, and 4.600 s.f. of ground floor retail space.  The project is one of three towers that will make up downtown Bethesda mega-development in Woodmont Central; an additional residential tower is slated to be built at 4850 Rugby, with a six-story office building at 8280 Wisconsin Avenue (possibly breaking ground this summer), completing Donohoe's trifecta, not to mention JBG and Bainbridge, both of which are building 17-story residential projects in the neighborhood.  When all three phases are complete, WDG-designed Woodmont Central will bring nearly 600,000 square feet of residential, office and retail space to downtown Bethesda.

The $55 million construction loan, secured in mid-May, is financed by AXA Equitable Financial Services LLC, and sister company Donohoe Construction is the general contractor.

Bethesda, Maryland real estate development news

Contee Co. Redevelops 25 Acres around Prince George's Plaza Metro

As part of the development around the Price George's Plaza Metro station, the Contee Company, LLP, is redeveloping 25 of the its 35 acres, along with Old Town Construction and the Lessard Design. Those 35 acres were originally developed in the early ‘60s. The developer now intends to build several thousand housing units and an office building. Currently, it is working on a building dubbed "Building 6," which will replace 5 recently demolished buildings.

Jared Spahn, a Managing Member of Old Town Construction, said since the area is a living community, Contee is rebuilding the parcels one at a time and demolished the five buildings in February. Spahn said he expects a grading permit for Building 6 "in a week or two."

Building 6 will be a 4-story, 283-unit, 360,000 s.f. garden-style podium building with an underground parking garage, replacing the 105 units demolished.

"It’ll have all the great bells and whistles to compete with all the great projects,” Spahn said.  The bells and whistles apparently include fitness rooms, a business center and meditation gardens to presumably spend time in after spending a long day in the business center. Spahn said it needed to be “extremely high-end to compete with the other great projects that have been invested in around that Metro station.”

Spahn said construction should begin within the next two weeks, as soon as he receives the grading permits.

The  new building will be competing with other “luxury” complexes in the area, but Spahn thinks customer service will set it apart, commenting that having a local owner is what tips it over the edge.

“What I think sets our building apart a little bit from the others is because compared to Post Park and Equity Residential, we are renting from friends and family instead of a multinational corporation. What it allows us to do, we’re not driven by stock prices or market movements because we are long-term investors, it’s going to allow us to provide, we think, a better priced product for our customers than those that have to answer to Wall Street.”

The entire area previously had 555 garden-style apartments in 20 buildings on the site. Through redevelopment, Spahn expects 2,400 to 2,500 units and 350,000 s.f. of office space in the next ten to fifteen years.

Hyattsville, MD real estate development news