Southwest's Hotel and Apartment Project Set for Occupancy Permits

Just a block away from the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station, the new citizenM hotel and adjacent apartment building are near completion, with Certificates of Occupancy expected to be issued today.  The project is the second portion of a two-phase redevelopment, which transformed an old firehouse and vacant lot into two hotels, first with the development of Hyatt Place, which required construction of a new fire house into the hotel at 400 E Street, SW.  Phase two, now completing, started with demolition of the old (non-historic) fire house and forensic laboratory, and replaced it with a 253-key "European-style" hotel, 58 "deeply affordable" housing units for seniors 62 and older, 136 market rate apartments and 10,000 s.f. of retail.

Development was a joint partnership between the District government, which issued an RFP in 2008 and awarded redevelopment rights in April 2009 to the E Street Development Group, which leased the land under the old fire station for a 99-year term.  The buildings add residential density to what has been a predominantly office-oriented section of southwest.  The design by FxCollaberative took advantage of the newly enacted changes to the height limit laws of DC to add additional height and activation of the roof.  The District's issuance of a certificate of occupancy, expected today, clears the way for what is expected to be an imminent opening of both buildings.

Project:  555 E Street, SW

Address:  555 E Street, SW, Washington DC

Developer:  CityPartners, Potomac Investment Properties, Adams Investment Group, DC Strategy Group

Architect:  FxCollaberative

Construction:  Donohoe Construction

Use:  136 market apartments and 58 senior affordable units, 253 room hotel

Expected Completion:  Summer 2020

Washington DC real estate development news

LCOR's Union Market Project

Vertical development is underway in the lot in front of Union Market, as LCOR is roughly midway through construction on one of Union Market's many developments, a list which includes Signal House, Ledger, Press House, Market Terminal, all currently under construction.  The completed project will offer 280 apartment units directly opposite Union Market's food hall on the far side of the parking lot, and two levels of below grade parking.  The project was one of the many appealed and delayed by activist groups seeking to block development.  The ground floor will feature 20,000 s.f. of retail, which will include the Little Tavern, a historic chain of restaurants based in DC dating back to the 1920's.  LCOR previously completed the Edison apartment building one block away, which houses Trader Joe's.

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Project:  Unnamed

Address:  500 Morse, St, NE, Washington DC

Developer: LCOR

Architect:  SK+I Architecture

Construction:  John Moriarty & Associates

Use: 20,000 s.f. of retail beneath 280 residential units (237,000 s.f.)

Expected Completion:  Q1 2021

Washington DC real estate development news

Rosslyn's Subsidized Residential Tower

Affordable housing developer APAH is finalizing the exterior of Queens Court, a 249 unit apartment building built exclusively for subsidized housing.  The residential tower replaces 39 subsidized garden-style apartments, and will be restricted to those making 80% or less of the area medium income, with set-asides for those making as low as 40% of the AMI.

Arlington acquired the 1-acre hilltop site in 1995, and broke ground in April of 2019 with a projected cost of $80m for the project.  The 12-story building on the western edge of Rosslyn will have views over the Potomac River and Georgetown University

Project:  Queens Court

Address:  1801 N Quinn St., Arlington, VA, 22209

Developer:  APAH

Architect:  KGD Architecture

Design: Oculus

Construction:  Donohoe Construction

Use:  100% dedicated affordable housing

Expected Completion:  Winter 2020/2021

Washington D.C. retail and real estate development news

The Wilson and the Elm - Coming This Fall in Bethesda

If you have traveled anywhere near Bethesda you would not have missed the 3 new towers under construction at 7272 Wisconsin Avenue in the center of Bethesda.  The three towers are part of Carr Properties’ nearly 1 million square foot project of two residential towers (the Elm) and, on its south side, one office tower (the Wilson).  Named for an adjacent street and for Alfred Wilson, who in 1890 opened a general store on the site that became a social hub, Carr hopes its creation will duplicate that success.

Carr, partnering with residential developer Insight Property Group, broke ground in August of 2018 and hopes to complete construction by late October. The three towers share a common podium that will, like Wilson's general store, become a commercial nexus with a new southern entrance to Metro's redline station and the terminus station for the Purple Line.  The Metro station, 120 feet below, was originally built to accommodate a second entrance, and will share an entrance with the Purple Line as well as connection with the Capital Crescent Trail.  The project is hard to miss at 23 stories, nearly 300 feet, well above adjacent Bethesda Row.  Bozzuto, which will manage the buildings, will begin residential leasing in August.

Streetsense / Edit Labs designed the interior of the two apartment buildings, which will be connected by a skybridge with views of the National Cathedral.  According to the developers, the height will permit views as far as Dulles Airport and National Harbor on a good day.  The ground floor will offer up retail space, the only confirmed tenant for which is Tatte Bakery.  Above, several office tenants have inked leases, including Fox 5 and UBS Financial Services. Accommodating the red line Metro entrance, expected to open in 2022, provided developers with additional height and density than would have been otherwise permitted. Lastly, the development team points out the suite of technology to fight airborne viruses, including 100% use of outside air, "a rarity" in the DC office market, but an issue that will no doubt be a central talking point in future office marketing.

Project:  The Wilson and the Elm

Address:  7272 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD

Developer: Carr Properties 

Architect:  Shalom Baranes

Landscape Architect: OVS

Interior Design:  Streetsense / Edit Lab

Construction:  Clark Construction

Use: 348,000 s.f. of office (1 tower) and residential (2 towers) with 456 units

Expected Completion:  Late 2020 for office and residential portions of the project.

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Washington D.C. commercial real estate news

Skyland Town Center's Phase One

It's been a long slog, but the work is finally building momentum at Skyland Town Center, where construction on the 18-acre site is expected to complete this year and retailers have finally been committing.  Chase Bank and CVS have already signed leases for Phase 1 of the project, which will include 84,000 s.f. of retail and 263 rental apartments when it completes later this summer.  Rappaport has been in discussion with numerous restaurants as well, despite the obvious impediments to restaurant leasing at the moment.  Lidl and Starbucks, also both committed retailers, will get underway later this year, the latter will take the place of the CVS trailer now on site.  A second phase of the project will nearly double the retail (to 136,000) and residential unit numbers (to 513) when that phase begins, though a start date is not yet determined.  A 4-story medical office building will eventually round out the final development, though a start date is not yet set.

The contentious project is one for the history books.  Initiated by the National Capitol Revitalization Corporation (since dissolved) in 2002 to bring development to a decaying and retail-starved area in southeast DC, developers had visions of urban renewal and improved retail opportunities. Developers, primarily WC Smith and Rappaport, began to assemble and acquire the land, but the existing retailers and landowners weren't convinced the project had legs, and many chose not to sell or abandon their businesses to an uncertain future.  Enter the District government, which chose to acquire the remaining properties via eminent domain, i.e. a constitutional prerogative that permits the government to seize private property for "public" use.  Developers dangled Target as a future tenant, which fell through, but with the District government on its team the recalcitrant owners were defeated, and by 2011 Mayor Vincent Gray predicted construction was "imminent."

That was not to be.  Planners needed an anchor, and eventually signed Walmart, but in 2016, with no construction yet underway, Walmart withdrew from its commitment to anchor the site, as well as another site in Ward 8, and the search was on to find a replacement. The project broke ground in February of 2018, and in May of 2019, Rappaport announced that German grocer Lidl had signed on for almost 30,000 s.f.  The other leases soon followed, including one of the only drive-through Starbucks in the region.  Until the completion of phase 2 a large portion of the site will remain a construction lot, but for now, the neighborhood is one step closer to having the grocery options, sit-down restaurants and conveniences of neighborhoods west of the river that have so long bedeviled the residents in the project's vicinity.

Project:  Skyland Town Center

Address:  Intersection of Good Hope Road and Alabama Avenue, SE 

Developer:  Rappaport, WC Smith, District of Columbia

Architect:  Torti Gallas

Interior Design:  Carlyn & Co.

Construction:  WCS Construction

Use:  480 apartments, 134,000 s.f. of first floor retail

Expected Completion: Phase 1:  Fall 2020.   Phase 2:  TBD

Washington D.C. retail and real estate development news