Industry Insight: Gabe Klein

Gabe Klein, Mayor Fenty's pick to steer the future of transportation in DC, began his post as Director of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) in February 2009. Klein comes from a progressive, private sector background where he cultivated a reputation for partnering innovative businesses with government programs. He served as the DC regional Vice President of Zipcar from 2002 to 2006, making DC the nation's largest car sharing city by both membership and vehicles. He then co-founded and most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of On the Fly, a boutique food-service company with retail, wholesale, catering and events businesses all-in-one whose green smartkarts are spotted throughout the city. Having achieved a quasi rock start status among urban planners and other pointy-heads for his entrepreneurial, progressive approach to greener transportation and development, Klein has quickly made Washington DC a leader in non-carbon transport options. Klein recently discussed with DCMud his plans for the future of DC transportation.

DCMUD: So it’s been almost a year at this point since you started at DDOT.

GK: Almost…I got appointed in December but I started February 1st. Nine months.

DCMUD: What do you think is the biggest problem with the city’s transportation right now and what are you doing about it?

GK: Well, it depends on if you look at this part of the region or if you focus more on just the city itself, I live just five blocks from here.

DCMUD: Do you walk to work?

GK: I walk to work or I bike to work. My commute on foot is about 9 minutes. So you know, from my personal stand point, we have a wonderful transportation system - a very walk-able, ride-able, transit-oriented city. So if you live, work or play in the city, I think it’s wonderful. I think if you’re commuting in - I was talking to one of our guys today - he lives in Baltimore, so his commute, total is between 2 and a half to 3 hours a day. So for folks that live in the region, I would say the traffic during rush hour is a huge problem.

Here in the city I think we need to make sure that the city is as safe as possible for people, particularly when people want to not be in their car. You know, forty percent of the people in the city don’t even own a car.

DCMUD: By safer do you mean as in a transportation perspective on the street as in walking?

GK: [It needs to be] safe for people to walk, to bike, to drive—and so you know we have a big responsibility in terms of safety and we’re looking hard at that, at how we want to arrange our safety resources in the form of a team so that they’re as responsive as possible to the public. Right now we’re looking at the fifty worst intersections in the city and trying to make sure that we focus our efforts on making them safe. In terms of your readers, I think what’s important is that if you’re developing at one of the worst intersections in the city—like Donatelli’s at Minnesota and Benning—what are we doing to make that safe, so his mixed-use development really attracts people to live there. It’s very important to the city to have smart growth, to have transit-oriented development of which that will be both, right, so there’s going to be stores, offices, and residential. And the problem is if we don’t create a safe intersection so people can cross to the grocery store, are people going to want to buy there? Is the real estate going to be worth what it could be? We’re very focused on that. And there is obviously a renaissance in DC, as there is in many urban quarters, and we’re very aware that there are many more children in the city than there used to be. There are people like you and I who are, well I don’t know where you live, but there are people like us who at this age are saying, “we want to live in the city and maybe raise a family,” and the mayor I think is doing a phenomenal job at trying to better the schools; I think our job is to make sure that people feel their neighborhoods are safe from a transportation standpoint. And a lot of that is pedestrian safety. One thing I’ve noticed - I’ve had one hearing season here - and when I go in front of council, the majority of the people who are testifying are testifying about safety - particularly pedestrian safety. So we’re really focusing on that. We’re also going to be launching an expanded bike share program.

DCMUD: Bike share has been pioneered during your tenure, can you address that? Also, I recently spoke with DDOT Transportation Planner Jim Sebastian and he said you’d be expanding the program from 10 bike stations to 90. When can we expect that?

GK: Right now we’re going through a contracting and procurement process, so we’re going to have everything nailed down, I can tell you soon we’ll be making an announcement about our expansion of the program. It will be a significant expansion. We’re hoping to take it to 100 stations. And a thousand bikes, it could be a little more, a little less, and our hope is to create a transit system with bikes

I just went to Montreal about a month ago on vacation…[and]…I wanted to go…to actually see the bike share system. We were the first in North America to launch our system, but they have the biggest system in North America, I think something like 3,000 bikes. Just recently they dropped in 3,000 all at once. It’s very interesting to see biking go from a sort of secondary mode of transportation to a primary mode of transportation and really become its own point-to-point transit system. So we’re very excited. And I think for developers it’s exciting because we can park one of these [systems] right in front of their development. And depending on what system you go with, we’re looking at a few options. It may even be a mobile system, meaning that we can move it seasonally or just move it periodically, you may have seen the SmartBike system out front. That was a construction project, we put that in the ground. We are looking at some other options which will allow us more flexibility in moving them and we definitely will be doing some outreach to the development community to talk about placing them on private property.

DCMUD: Would that be part of their PUD (zoning change) application?

GK: It certainly could be. It could be something that we do after the fact. So yeah, we’re very excited about working with the private sector. I think there’s so much we can do together. And you know one of the great things about our Mayor and working with the Mayor is that he really gets the synergy between the public and private sector - think how more you can accomplish when you’re working together.

DCMUD: Okay, and then regardless of bike sharing stations, in order to have bikes, or Segways, we need a useful infrastructure—bike lanes, bike paths. You said before you’re goal is to level the playing field for bikers, how do you plan to do that?

GK: One of the things I’ve been focusing our staff on around here is the fact that we’ll be launching this expanded bike share system which in many ways is going to hopefully make cycling a primary mode of transportation. It will also be institutionalizing it and bringing it to the masses. You know the early adopters of bike sharing, like the early adopters of car share, are people who are really into it so to speak, or environmental. Then you get the mass adoption, and when you hit mass adoption, you have to make sure you have safe and secure infrastructure. And again something I’ve seen in other countries - and they’ve been working hard on in New York and Portland and some other progressive cities - is dedicated bike-ways, cycle tracks, contraflow bike lanes, etc.

DCMUD: So not just a painted line?

GK: Not just a painted line, although I think we can do more with a painted line, the painted line could really be a painted bike lane, which may actually keep cars out of the lane. And you know, we really want to create a safe infrastructure for cars too. So we’re looking harder at a signal system, signal timing, we’re making significant upgrades on New York Ave. We’re going to have five very large projects, totaling…over $100 million in investment to make sure that some of the main arterials that allow people to get in and out of the city, whether you’re a resident or a commuter, that they are in tip-top shape with the best technology to move as many people as possible. So I think striking a balance also doesn’t mean ignoring vehicular traffic, it means supporting the best technology for vehicular traffic, best infrastructure, it means investing in transit through metro through our own transit system and it means creating new transit systems like bike share and making sure we have the infrastructure so people can safely ride. One of the things I’ve been talking about with my staff is that we’re going to have 75 year-old folks getting on the bike sharing system because we’re bringing it to the masses. So we need these separated, dedicated lanes for people.

DCMUD: How are you planning to bring it to masses? Are you thinking advertising or what is your plan for making it more approachable?

GK: Well, you know I come really from a marketing and operations background. I’m a private sector person. I’m used to doing a lot with a little, first of all. And I’m used to having to market without a lot of resources. At Zipcar we actually had no marketing budget for probably the first two or three years—I mean literally nothing. And we were very effective at leveraging partnerships, and grass roots, guerilla marketing to get the word out. So we’re going to bring a lot of those marketing strategies to DDOT. We’re also going to leverage technology quite a bit. We’re going to have new web site that we’ll be launching probably in the winter. We’re using Facebook and Twitter. So we’re reaching people in new ways. And we want to pair that high-tech strategy with feet-on-the-street and continuing to make sure we do a great job - as DDOT really always has - in going to meetings in the community, engaging the public, engaging the business community. We’re aggressively working with kids.

DCMUD: And about car sharing, what are you doing to encourage that, obviously you don’t work for Zipcar anymore but how are you incorporating that into the DDOT plan?

GK: Well when I was at Zipcar I had the opportunity to work with Dan Tangherlini and the folks at DDOT and bring car sharing to the masses and a lot of that - I mentioned we aggressively marketed on the street and in people’s neighborhoods - but we also formed a partnership with the city as we did with Arlington county and actually placed cars on the street. It’s very important to make a new transportation option high-profile. That’s what we did with car sharing. I think the car sharing program needs to be rejuvenated a little bit. Our TDM Program (Transportation Demand Management Program), we plan to enhance that and put more resources into it. We’ve got one great person running that TDM Program, but we need to give her more resources. We plan on doing that next year. Which will allow, not only the promotion of car sharing, but bike sharing, the bike station, our DDOT store that we’re working on…so there are a whole lot of projects. I’m actually working on a slightly different work chart structure which is going to have an Innovative Transportation Services Division. And that Division will receive Street Car, our Mass Transit Group, and what were core partnerships that are incubated through our Policy and Planning Group, but now that we have a critical mass of them - we’re getting up to about six or eight - we’re working on an electrification program so that people can charge their cars curb-side. So as we build more and more of these units we need people that can really manage these contracts, and manage these as business units, which includes marketing.

DCMUD: Street Cars: the overhead wires, you’re making progress on laying the tracks on H Street, but NCPC doesn’t seem to be buying into the idea of having overhead wires. How do you think that issue is going to get resolved and when do you think that’s going to happen?

GK: Well, the first thing I’d like to say is that there seems to be a lot of drama out there about the over head wire issue—for lack of a better term. NCPC, they’re great folks over there, we have a good relationship with them. We don’t publicly talk about this all the time, but we meet with them on a pretty regular basis. We’re working on a compromise of sorts that will protect their interests and protect our interests. We in no way want to upset the North/South “viewsheds” around the monuments. We are working on alternative technologies which include electric, battery-powered vehicles that can drop the wire. So for instance, let’s say that NCPC was okay with us having the overhead wire on H Street but once we got to K near the monuments, they wanted the wire dropped—if that was a concern for them, these cars this new technology that is looking to be built in the US in Portland, Oregon, we could drop the wire for up to a mile. And that’s just one of many different technology options. The roof of the car would be lined with battery. So it would charge while it was attached to the [overhead contact system], when it dropped it would run on battery power—similar to a Toyota Prius which uses gas and charges and then when it’s stopped or coasting it just goes to battery power.

DCMUD: So street cars were purchased for Anacostia. How will this fit into the picture? Do you need new cars? Are those the cars…the cars that will go on H Street, will there be a difference in cars between those [at H Street] and those that go into Anacostia?

GK: Well, we have a Street Car Division, now—a dedicated team that we’re building to work just on Street Car. And that’s very important because I don’t think the Street Car program has historically been treated as its own large-scale project with its own team—the way we’ve treated the 11th Street Bridge, which is a large $300 million dollar infrastructure project. The first thing is that we’re building a group of people to manage it. Second of all, we have an operational segment in Anacostia. The H Street/Benning portion was designed as a Great Street, and we said, okay, if we’re going to do the construction let’s put in the rails. But we are challenging ourselves and the Mayor is challenging us as well to make that an operational segment in the same timeline as Anacostia.

DCMUD: Which is when?

GK: Well, right now we’ve said about 2012. But we’re working very hard now that we have a team in place to speed that up - pretty dramatically. So hopefully, you’ll see an announcement in the next 6 months that gives people an update and hopefully it will be a good update - that we’re going to get up and running more quickly. I actually spent the morning out touring the city looking for maintenance facility locations near H Street. We have a number of places we’re looking at, existing infrastructure we can use - so we’re very focused on this project, we’re putting a lot of our own in-house resources into it. We want this to be, you know, a real win for the city.

One of the things that’s really made me passionate about this is learning the history of Street Car in Washington. The fact that we had over 200 miles of Street Car in and around the city - every major arterial, they all had Street Car. It was the primary mode of transportation in the city. In fact, if you look at old pictures, you see very few cars. You see bikers, walkers, and Street Car. So what’s so funny is that people think, “Oh you know, this agency or that agency is progressive with its New York DOT or Portland DOT,” and you know we’re just trying to put back what was here.

DCMUD: So new buildings in DC are required to provide parking minimums. But there’s nothing in the building process that requires people to do car-sharing, or bike benefits—it’s all like an addition or a community benefit—at what point will that change, or is it going to change? Do you see this as being at odds with your role in integrating transportation?

GK: It needs to change. I’ll be honest with you, this year, I have so many projects, it is probably not something we’re going to be able to attack. But, I mentioned earlier that we want to build our TDM resource capability. I would put that in the TDM category. We want to make sure that we’re heavily involved in the PUD process, in zoning, in making sure that we give builders alternatives to building parking which can be up to $65,000 a space as you dig down into the ground. So why are we incentivizing people to dig garage spaces? There was an article in The Washington Post about how nobody is using the garages there [in Columbia Heights]. And the fact is, whoever built that spent a lot of money doing that. So we would prefer that people invest in transit and alternative modes and facilities and infrastructure, to encourage that rather than building parking spaces.

DCMUD: We wrote an article about H Street and how the Steuart Investment Company has a new development underway there. They’re changing their plan to have one-level parking and .7 parking spaces per unit. We had a lot of feedback that so much parking wasn’t necessary. I don’t know that there’s enough information out there about alternatives to parking.

GK: I think 97% of people live within a few minutes of a bus stop. We’re working hard to upgrade buses, particularly with our own DC Circulator, to make it more on-par with something like the Metro or Street Car. I think, 1.5 or 2 spaces per unit, it’s just old school. We need to move into the 21st century. And we don’t live in Reston. And one of the beauties - I mean, I’m not putting down Reston, I like Reston, it’s a nice place. I don’t want to get any nasty letters, but - what’s nice about living in a city, is that you don’t need that 2.2 cars per household, that you can walk to the grocery store or jump on a Trolley. I mean, that’s what makes the city a city. So if we’re trying to recreate McLean in DC, I think that’s a huge mistake. Let’s take advantage of the positives. And it’s a huge cost. It’s just wasteful. One of the nice things about a down economy is that people can’t afford to waste.

DCMUD: So pedestrians, bicyclists, and car drivers all need different kinds of infrastructure to make their lives easier. How do you prioritize different projects for different users and how do you balance all of those needs when you’re redesigning a street, how do we want to approach transportation in the city?

GK: Well, inherently, a huge amount of our program and our budget goes toward asset maintenance. And a lot of our assets are vehicular-focused assets. So by default, we spend probably 70-80% of our budget on asset maintenance, you know, bridges, tunnels, roads, sidewalks—all these things. I think our biggest challenge, though, is when we’re looking at redesigning, re-building, maintaining these facilities, let’s balance the system. So when we’re redoing a road in Columbia Heights, let’s do a wider sidewalk. Let’s create bike lanes. When we’re building a plaza in Columbia Heights, let’s make sure that it’s functional, but that it’s beautiful - which it is. So I don’t think it’s so much about prioritizing one aspect. It’s really about making sure we’re addressing everybody’s needs when we’re out in the field doing our work, and I think for far too long, nationally, we focused too much on cars. So we’re trying to focus on beauty of the public space, sustainability—you know we take care of over 140,000 trees in this city—so every project, we now look very hard at the urban tree canopy. We actually have an arborist over in our permitting office. And we make sure that we’re addressing the needs of pedestrians and cyclists for their safety.

DCMUD: You’ve already answered question how do you get to work, but do you do bike sharing to get here or do you use your own bike?

GK: So bike sharing’s great. I worked in the car sharing industry and the way it works now is you take a car and you’ve got to bring it back to where you found it. So it’s good for leaving home, going shopping, you bring it back. The great thing about bike sharing is it’s point to point. But generally you don’t have a bike [share station] at your house. But the goal is that when we locate more stations, we can actually push them out into the neighborhoods so that people can use them more for commuting. My bike’s down in the garage, so I ride my bike or I walk. If I have to do something immediately after work like in Virginia, I might bring my car. I have a little Smart Car.

DCMUD: You don’t have to defend your car.

GK: Well, you know. I don’t really need it to be honest, but I like it. It’s a cute car.

DCMUD: Do your friends ever complain to you about commuting and transportation in DC? [Do you get complaints like] “It took me 20 minutes to get to work today, you need to fix this…”

GK: Oh, my friends will text me and say, “I think the signal timing’s screwed up at 18th Street.” And yeah, I take all the feedback from friends and people that aren’t friends. Whenever people write us and they want us to look at something we always look at it and we always respond. But yeah, your friends can be your biggest detractors.

DCMUD: Is there anything else you wanted to add about DDOT or your plans for the future? Or what it’s been like to have had this position?

GK: Well, it’s been great. I need to thank the Mayor, Dan Tangherlini, and Neil Albert you know for giving me this opportunity. It’s something I never thought I’d be doing—working in the government. It’s just a great experience. I feel like we’re doing a lot of great work. And it took me probably 6 months to get my feet under me. And now I feel like I’m really putting together a strategic vision for the future that we’ll be able to execute over the next 24 months. So you’re going to see a lot of new energy, and direction, and work out of the agency over the next two years.

Looking Forward at Views at Clarendon

The Bozzuto Construction Company will break ground this weekend on the Views at Clarendon, a mixed-use, mixed-income development just steps from the Clarendon Metro station. The Views at Clarendon Corporation (VCC), a joint venture between the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) and the First Baptist Church of Clarendon, have planned eight stories of apartment homes atop two stories of existing occupants, The Church at Clarendon and the County’s largest child daycare center. Though not without epic drama, the project is moving forward with an expected completion in 2011.

The Class A apartment community will consist of 46 market-rate apartment homes and 70 affordable apartment homes, of which 12 will be supportive housing for very low income households. The residences will be a mix of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. The current MTFA Architecture, Inc. design is planned achieve LEED Silver status.

The project was first approved in October 2004, and was then tied up in a zoning dispute that stretched all the way to the Virginia Supreme Court. After two years, a $200,000 lawsuit, and a “technical adjustment” to the applicable zoning ordinance, the county provided salvation to the church by giving approval in February 2007.

Views at Clarendon is being co-developed by Bozzuto Development Company and Chesapeake Community Advisors. Bozzuto Construction Company is the general contractor and Bozzuto Management Company will professionally manage the community. The Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing has served as consultant to the project since its inception.

Wheaton Plans Rearranged

Ask anyone involved in Montgomery County's Wheaton Redevelopment Program (WRP) and you will hear how the new Wheaton Safeway will lie at the heart of the County's pedestrian-friendly, retail-oriented vision. And it will, though the original plans to include it in the AvalonBay development are now defunct with Safeway opting to renovate the current location and add up to 18 stories of residential. More of a challenge than the developers of Avalon at Wheaton were bargaining for, the project is now on hold, much to the surprise of county officials. Just when Wheaton's development was at risk of becoming ho-hum, the county has stepped in with its own share of development melodrama rife with project delays, excess residential units and a fickle Safeway.

Having cornered the market on apartment complexes from Bethesda to McLean, the Alexandria-based AvalonBay developers set their sights on a new Wheaton community. With County approval, the $100 million, mixed-use Avalon at Wheaton community at the corner of Blueridge and Georgia Avenue, the site of the former BB&T building, was to include the newly revamped, state-of-the-art Safeway. The residential portion of the Avalon project is designed by SK&I. That was before Safeway began working with developer Patriot Realty. Now, the Wheaton Safeway, a joint venture between Patriot and Safeway, will more than double its 23,000 s.f. store while remaining at the same 11201 Georgia Avenue spot.

According to Steven A. Robins, Patriot Realty’s attorney from Bethesda- based law firm Lerch Early & Brewer, keeping the Safeway in its original location made good sense as “Safeway already owns the land.” And because the current Safeway is situated across from the Wheaton Metro at what Robins describes as “the Ground Zero so to speak [of the Wheaton Redevelopment Plan],” it will be conveniently incorporated into the new pedestrian-friendly promenades designated in the WRP's plans. The group is looking for approvals as soon as possible for their Safeway project. “We’d like to be under construction within the next 18 months,” Robins tells DCMud.

Robins explained that Patriot's newly developed Safeway will be LEED certified in accordance with Montgomery County standards, and will include 57,500 s.f. of retail, 140 underground parking spaces for Safeway customers, upwards of 500 apartment units on top of that, and additional 411 residential parking spaces. The Wheaton store will resemble DC’s 14-story City Vista Safeway at 5th & K Streets NW. The architects for the Wheaton store are Hord Coplan Macht.

So what’s to become of the Avalon at Wheaton Community without its intended anchor? And really, will there be a market for the hundreds of extra AvalonBay apartment units now that Patriot Realty is adding upwards of 18-stories of rental units across from the Metro?

When asked about their future Avalon at Wheaton plans, AvalonBay spokesman, Adam Davis replied by email explaining that the Wheaton development “is still in our pipeline,” but “has been delayed for the foreseeable future.” He added that 2011 might be a more realistic year than 2010 for construction to begin on any new Avalon at Wheaton community.

When Rob Klein, Director of Wheaton's Redevelopment, was presented with news of AvalonBay's delays, he commented that the delayed status was "new to him." According to Peter McGinnity, WRP Business Development & Intergovernmental Program Manager, as far as their staff knows, the AvalonBay project "is moving forward," and they were under the impression that AvalonBay planned to "increase the number of apartment units and include less ground floor retail" now that the Safeway was out of the picture.

K Street Redesign Presentation on Wednesday

Tomorrow, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will host a public meeting for comments on the Environmental Assessment (EA) of the K Street Transitway Study. DDOT is currently considering two build options to address infrastructure, safety, congestion and access problems in the busy K St corridor. Tomorrow's public hearing, according to the DDOT website, will afford all interested persons the opportunity to provide comments regarding the project. The K St Redesign will cost roughly $139 million, which DDOT hopes to cover entirely with U.S. Department of Transportation TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) funds. Both build plans are open for public comment, which will be included in any final decision-making process. The EA rated each plan based on its effect on the community and on transportation in the corridor. Each build option, according to the EA, would improve the travel time from end to end on K Street. Perhaps of great interest to the public is the effect each plan will have on parking and bicyclists. Alternative 2 (Two-Lane Transitway) would include 200 on-street parking spaces during off-peak hours as well as on-street loading in off-peak hours, and provide a shared lane for bikes with autos and a shared lane with parking in off-peak hours. Alternative 3 (Two-Lane Transitway with passing) has no on-street parking at any time, with loading available in selected locations. Alternative 3 is a bikers dream with a 5 foot paved and signed bicycle dedicated lane. Alternative 1 would be to leave the present street unchanged. The event begins at 6 PM and is scheduled to end at 8:30 PM at the Carnegie Library at 801 K St., NW, and will feature a presentation at 7 PM and an open public testimony session beginning at 7:30 PM. The public comment period ends October 30, 2009.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

Affordable Housing Opens in Adams Morgan

Wednesday marks the celebratory opening of the Ritz, DC's newest affordable housing project. Developers of the 60-unit building, at 1631 Euclid Street, NW, Washington DC, will celebrate the project's completed renovation with a 2pm grand opening ceremony. The $7m renovation project rehabilitated the 82-year-old Adams Morgan apartment building, allowing Jubilee to relocate their corporate offices off-site. Hickok Cole Architects produced designs for the renovation, Ellis Denning served as general contractor. Jubilee is a non-profit, faith-based organization that provides low-income housing and support services to Adams Morgan residents. According to the developer, "more than 400 people" stood in line to file an application when the project opened last month; the building has now begun occupancy but is not fully leased. The Ritz was purchased by Jubilee at its founding in 1973, when it was one of the first two properties acquired with the aid of Enterprise Community Partners. Today, the Ritz is the largest of seven Adams Morgan apartment buildings owned and operated by the company. As part of their “Campaign for the New Jubilee,” the affordable housing operator has been conducting top-to-bottom renovations of all their properties. In addition to the ongoing work at the Ritz, their Ontario Court building (2525 Ontario Road, NW) is also currently undergoing renovation procedures; work on their Mozart (1630 Fuller Street, NW), Marietta (2418 17th Street, NW) , and Fuller Court (1650 Fuller Street, NW) buildings concluded in 2008. Renovations on Jubilee’s two remaining properties, the Euclid (1740 Euclid Street, NW) and the Sorrento (2233 18th Street, NW), are scheduled to commence later in the year. Work on the Ritz finished in summer 2009.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

Land Dispositions Receive Council Approval

A series of Land Disposition Agreements related to three major developments planned across Washington DC all received City Council approval this week. The Council previously reviewed the proposals and heard community comments during a July session, and issued their decisions publicly. 1. Donatelli Development and Blue Skye Development's Minnesota-Benning Phase 2 Redevelopment, the planned low-income housing and retail space adjacent to the Minnesota Avenue metro station. The 5-acre, $108m project will bring 375 affordable and 60 market-rate units to Ward 7, with completion as early as 2011. 2. Denning Development, UrbanMatters Development Partners and Beulah Community Improvement will redevelop properties located at 400-414 Eastern Avenue, NE and the 6100 block of Dix Street NE. The selected plan will offer 56 affordable for sale 3-bedroom townhouses, ideally completing in late 2011. 3. Washington Community Development Corporation (WCDC) and Banneker Ventures LLC's Strand Theatre development will transform the 80-year-old former movie theater into the new home of an 18,000-s.f. restaurant and 18,000 square feet of “affordable” office space. The LDA was announced exactly one year after Mayor Adrian Fenty chose the developers for the long-neglected Deanwood project.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

Mission Says "Maybe" to Park Morton

After Wednesday's press conference announcing the DC government's award of the enormous Park Morton contract to Landex Corp., Warrenton Group, and Spectrum Management, DCMud promptly reported the more surprising revelation by Councilman Jim Graham that the District would roll the controversial Central Union Mission site into the Park Morton project - a win for the Park View Partners (Landex, et. al.), who get more area to work with, for the Mission, which gets bought out of a neighborhood that has fought the project from the beginning, and for the neighborhood, which slams the door on an unwanted neighbor. The problem? Neither the Park Mortonians nor the District of Columbia ever quite finalized any such agreement with the Mission. While officials have been working closely with owners of the Mission to reach such an agreement for "some time," sources at the DC government say the Mission is continuing to pursue its own zoning approval to relocate to the site, as we reported earlier, but also to negotiate with other suitors. While things may fall into place, they're not there yet.

Washington DC commercial property news

Arlington Park Replaces Industrial Site

Arlington County will break ground in the new year on lighted athletic fields, more than a mile of walking trails, a public river overlook, and new rain garden among other amenities planned for the first phase of work on the 46-acre Long Bridge Park. The Park borders the Potomac River, Crystal City, I-395, the Pentagon, Roaches Run Wildfowl Sanctuary and Reagan National Airport. One of the few new public parks to come to Arlington in several years, Long Bridge Park will fill an increasing demand for open space and recreational facilities on land once utilized for commercial and industrial activities. The County is currently seeking contractors for site work, with construction slated to begin as soon as January.

In a June 2002 Arlington Parks and Recreation Resident Survey, trails and indoor swimming pools were the number 1 and 2 items respectively Arlingtonians felt were needed most in the County. The overall plan calls for trails for pedestrians and bikers, full-size grass fields with lighting, and esplanade with public event area, and a building housing a 50-meter pool for lap swimming, classes and competitions, therapy pool, exercise rooms with weights, cardio equipment and classes.

The first phase of development will include three full size, lighted athletic fields, trails, Esplanade (a broad, half-mile long, raised walkway), overlook, picnic areas, restrooms, and on-site parking for 180 vehicles. Additionally the county will begin improvements to Old Jefferson Davis Highway, which will change from being a simple two-lane road to include up to 100 spaces of on-street parking, two lanes, painted bike lanes and of course, fewer potholes. Environmental remediation efforts for the site center on removing lead from the county property the had formerly seen industrial use.

In 2004, Arlington voters approved $50 million for construction of the first phase of the park through bond issuance which will go toward the outdoor features with some funds reserved for the aquatic and fitness center. Plans for all indoor facilities on the site will be designed to achieve a LEED Silver rating. Currently, the county is exploring options to fund the remaining expenses of the indoor facility and will not begin construction until a solution is found.

According to Erik Beach, a Planner at the Arlington Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources, the county will award the construction contract in December and hopes to have construction start shortly thereafter. Beach anticipated that the park would be open to the public approximately 18 months after construction begins. Beach said officials are "looking forward to having one of the first new large parks in the county, serving multiple ages...with the ability to meet a large need."

Arlington is initially seeking upwards of $20m worth of general contracting for development of three soccer / lacrosse fields with synthetic turf and dark sky lighting, parking, support buildings, bio-retention gardens, landscaping, a raised mechanically-stabilized earthen esplanade, remediation of contaminated soils, utility relocation, and reconstruction of an existing road. The entire project is expected to cost $90 million depending on phasing and funding sources. The pre-bid conference will be held on October 27, 2009 at 10 A.M. and bids are due by November 17, 2009 at 2 P.M.

Images Designed by Hughes Group Architects.

District Gov Adds More Time for West End Development Offers

The DC government has postponed the deadline for three West End parcels now on the block for redevelopment. In July, the city sought proposals to redevelop the West End Library, fire station, and special operations police unit, each of which would have to be rebuilt on or off-site. The DC government initially set a due date of October 2, but changed the date in mid September to October 30th. No bids have been received to date. The District is seeking "creative proposals" that thoughtfully address the neighborhood's overall vision for the neighborhood - a plan that foresees safe, lively streets with a local retail center, and livelier Washington Circle, revamped to be more of a meeting place. The process began with legislation in the summer of 2007 with an attempted sale to Eastbanc Development, which developed the Ritz Carlton hotel and condo and 22 West condos, but which stirred the ire of residents for its non-competitiveness.

Congress Heights Project to Stimulate Neighborhood "On the Edge"

Yet another project, originally planned as condominiums, will now be developed as affordable rentals, this time in the Congress Heights neighborhood. William C. Smith & Co. (WCS Development) will soon begin the interior fit of 82 units in three apartment buildings at 13th and Mississippi Ave SE, across from Oxon Run Park and walking distance from the Congress Heights Metro Station. The developer expects construction to begin by March 2010 after financing issues delayed the project initially slated for completion in Spring 2008. Jeffrey Smith, Project Manager at WCS, said the switch to rental, with 50 of the 82 units slotted to be 975 s.f. two-bedroom, two-bath rental apartment homes, will make available spacious apartments "not really equaled" in the neighborhood. The condos will total 98,000 s.f. with an added 429-square-foot bump-out to accommodate the two-bedrooms. An original surface parking lot and an additional new lot will provide 56 parking spaces total for the property. Smith said the area of Congress Heights is "on the edge" of a lot of new development with several projects in pre-development and completed projects like Savoy Court delivering new units. He said the community is looking forward to the infusion to "help stabilize their neighborhood." All of the units will be affordable for individuals making 60 percent or less of Area Median Income in accordance with Department of Housing and Community Development's (DHCD) 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits. To comply with DHCD's standards for the tax credits, the building is designed to meet and exceed DC's Green Communities standards, featuring roofs with Energy Star reflectivity standards, low-flush plumbing fixtures and even green (not the color) carpeting. Gutting the interior, the first phase of construction which began quite some time ago, is now 95% complete. Describing the project as "almost like new construction" Smith indicated that the only remaining elements of the original structure are the external walls and the floors. Smith said the developers are "anxious" to get moving on the next phase of construction and that they have all of their permits lined up. Now if that financing would just come through... The project architect is Eric Colbert and Associates and WCS Construction, LLC is the General Contractor, but the project is still in the planning phase for subcontractor bidding for around $4 million worth of work. According to Smith the total cost of the project is estimated at $19 million.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

DC Ponders Resuscitating Franklin School

The Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) to redevelop the historic, Adolf Cluss-designed Franklin School. According to the RFP, the District seeks to enter into either a land disposition agreement or lease with a qualified developer, though there is a "strong preference" to enter into a "long-term ground lease." The three story building is centrally located off of Franklin Square on the southeastern corner of 13th and K Streets NW.

Currently zoned for high density business and retail, the RFP indicates the developer may vary from this use and plan to request a zoning variance, special exception or Planned Unit Development (PUD). Both the interior and exterior have been designated as "historic," so the developer will have to work around both DC and federal laws, as well as the numerous DC historic preservation advocates that have long eyeballed this project, when considering the design. But, be prepared to hire on 35% LSDBE entities while requiring no more than 20% in capital from same.

The storied school is nothing if not historic, completed in 1869 by one of DC's best known architects, the site of Alexander Graham Bell's first "photophone" wireless message, and has since been used as a homeless shelter and office building. The thought to match the majestic architecture to a proper use is not new; in 2003 Mayor Anthony Williams' administration led an effort to revamp the school with an RFP, and selected Western Development to turn the property into a hotel. But the plan foundered on the shoals of realpolitik when the nearly evicted homeless men had nowhere to go.

Then-Councilmember Adrian Fenty supported keeping the building dedicated to housing the homeless, but upon ascension as mayor resolved to clear up the issue immediately.

Park Morton Gets a Two-For

Just over a year after DC announced the Request for Proposals (RFP) concerning the $130 million initiative to redevelop Columbia Height's Park Morton public housing complex, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty chose Park View Partners (Landex Corp., Warrenton Group and Spectrum Management) to move forward with their plan for 500 new units of affordable, work force and market-rate housing and a 10,000 s.f. park. The architect for the project is Wiencek and Associates. In a surprise move officials described as a"two-for," the Park Morton developers will also absorb the land on Georgia Avenue currently owned by the Central Union Mission to bring a wealth of mixed-use development to the Georgia Avenue Corridor. A ground breaking date was not announced. The Park View team won out over the narrowed down field of teams named in March including the Park Morton Partners (Pennrose Properties, LLC, FM Atlantic, LLC, and Harrison Adaoha, LLC) and the other Park Morton Partners (Neighborhood Development Company and Community Builders, Inc.). Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, Valerie Santos, praised Landex for it's experience in successfully completing redevelopment projects of distressed urban housing, including HOPE VI projects, in cities along the East Coast. The announcement about Central Union Mission came as a surprise, as the group recently went before the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) and carried out a series of community meetings about their planned development at Georgia Avenue and Newton Place. According to Catherine Fennell, a consultant working as the Project Manager with the Warrenton Group, the Mission continued moving forward while the award for Landex was pending. But Fennell indicated the two groups have been working on their agreement and will make the purchase official now that the award for Park Morton was announced. The Park Morton project is one of four designated New Communities, an initiative begun by Former Mayor Anthony Williams. Others include Barry Farm, Northwest One, and Lincoln Heights/Richardson Dwellings, all of which, the Mayor today promised, would continue forward with a guarantee of "no displacement" for current residents.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

DC Seeks Developers for Georgia Avenue in Takoma

DC's Takoma neighborhood may be on the receiving end of new development, thanks to a Solicitation for Offers from the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED). The solicitation is for the 15,000 s.f. parcel at 6925-6929 Georgia Avenue, NW, across from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The district seeks a group to plan, finance, build and operate a project that may include mixed-income housing, community-serving retail, and cultural amenities. Responses are due January 15, 2010 at 3PM.

Currently, the property is unimproved and zoned for R-5-B, with height limits set at 50 ft and maximum lot occupancy at 60%. In the solicitation documents (PDF), the District boasts of the property's location on Georgia Avenue, "ubiquitous mass transit" in the form of a "highly-trafficked arterial" road and its relatively short distance from the Takoma Park Metro, a little more than half a mile away.

Community preferences for the parcel include residential (apartments or condominiums), child care facilities, green space (particularly setbacks), LEED standards and appealing architecture. Big no-nos are commercial uses and clubs and liquor stores; probably strip-clubs and check-cashing stores too. Hint: the solicitation indicated that these preferences should be taken into strong consideration by developers.

Grocery Store and Apartments Coming to H St NE

The H Street corridor may soon have a new 6-story apartment building and full service grocery store, a boon for the up-and-coming neighborhood in northeast Washington DC. Steuart Investment Company has owned several of the lots on the northeast corner of 3rd and H Streets, and in 2005 assembled a developable site by acquiring the remaining portion from BP AMOCO (BP) for $1.5 million, scotching BP's plans for a giant filling station and truck depot. The developer plans to build a six-story building with over 200,000 s.f. of residential and 46,500 s.f. of retail designed by Torti Gallas. The mixed-use building, with neighborhood approval, calls for an anchor grocer and LEED- certified rental units, and will continue the reinvigoration of a corridor already known for its burgeoning restaurant, bar and entertainment scene.

 

Things have not always been so peachy at 3rd and H. BP once had plans for a "BP Connect" gas station megaplex, but the company met severe opposition from the community and, after knocking down historic houses on the site in favor of gas pumps and a truck stop, abandoned plans. The Steuart acquisition was welcomed with relief when its PUD application for zoning changes was first approved in 2006, with local ANC and community groups supporting the application. Steuart will go back before the Zoning Commission November 30th to request several changes to the original plans, reducing the number of stories from eight to six and removing one level of parking. The new proposed application includes 212 residential rental units, featuring studios, one-bedrooms and a few two-bedrooms, as well as two levels of below-grade parking. The first level of parking will service the grocery store with 152 planned spaces and the second level would be reserved for residents with 146 spaces (0.7 spaces per unit). Pending Commission approval, Guy Steuart, Sr., Vice President of Steuart Investment Company, said he hopes "all the pieces will come together" and will be digging by "mid-summer or fall of next year." Construction now underway is Steuart's consolidation of the lot and installation of storm sewer and water connections. 

As DDOT executes the H Street Great Streets Plan, the developer decided to take advantage of the "mess" and install utilities now to avoid future expense and inconveniences for area residents later. However, Steuart said his group will not move forward with construction until a grocer is signed on for the retail space. He affirmed discussions with a full-service grocer, but was unwilling to disclose which one. Previous discussions had fallen through with a grocer that had decided to locate on the other side of NOMA, referring to the Harris Teeter coming to Constitution Square. So residents might be looking at yet another Safeway (which would be consistent with Torti Gallas's extensive work with the grocer throughout the DC area) or perhaps a Giant or even, dare we say, Whole Foods on H Street? No one would have thought that was likely in Logan Circle ten years ago. Meanwhile, the Dreyfus property group plans for a similar-sized apartment building just across the street that has yet to start construction. Hopefully both will rent more quickly than the painfully slow pace of occupancy next door at Senate Square.

Washington DC retail and commercial real estate news

Housing Authority Director's Departure for NYC Miffs Some, Changes Nothing

Former Executive Director of the DC Housing Authority (DCHA) Michael Kelly assumed his new position as the new General Manager of the New York Housing Authority (NYCHA) today.

Kelly's last day in his position with DCHA was last Wednesday; DCHA announced his departure as a chance for Kelly to “explore other opportunities in the affordable housing industry.” To New Yorkers, leaving DC for The City is a promotional no-brainer, while those of us remaining feel no pangs of being dumped, or need to justify why DC is every bit the city New York is. Because it just is. Really, its obvious.

So why is New York pilfering from its smaller but not inferior neighbor? In a New York City press conference held last Thursday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Kelly’s appointment as NYCHA’s new General Manager. "During his tenure in Washington he oversaw a significant modernization of public housing in that city. Under his leadership the housing authority there also received the highest possible ratings for quality of its financial and management operations."

So do New Yorkers tip their hats to DC as something to emulate? Don't count on it. When asked about which part of Kelly’s almost decade of work in DC impressed the New York powers-that-be, New York City Council spokesman Howard Marder told DCMud that the decision had less to do with DC and “more to do with his overall career.” Though, as Marder pointed out with evident contentment, “I was just reading that Marion Berry didn’t want to give him up and thinks DC shouldn’t have let him go.”

Despite that faint praise, Marder added “I think he’s going to fit in very nicely here,” adding that in addition to his service in DC, Kelly served as “President of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, brings an incredible academic record, and has 28 years of experience in the public housing sector.”

Since beginning his position with the Housing Authority in DC in 2000, Kelly, according to DCHA's website, secured "over $786 million in public and private funding for public housing" in the District and helped DC win an additional $105.7 million in the form of HOPE VI Grants.

Asked about whether the DCHA would suffer from Kelly's absence, DCHA spokeswoman, Dena Michaelson said “I doubt it,” adding that there will be “sadness, but no big changes are in the works yet.”

In his new role, Kelly will be responsible for the day-to-day NYCHA operations as well as helping implement strategies to expand New York’s public housing while making it more cost-effective; a tall order from a housing system that serves over 403,000 people (1 in 20 New Yorkers), has a $3.2 billion dollar budget and carries over $130 million in annual deficits.

Back in DC, a national search for a permanent DCHA director marches forward. Adrianne Todman, former deputy executive director for administration and external affairs, will serve as the interim Executive Director until Kelly’s permanent replacement is named. Maybe we should check out how Baltimore's Housing Authority is being run. Not that coming to DC would be a step up or anything.

Liberty Market Open in Mt. Vernon Triangle

Mt. Vernon Triangle's new Liberty Market, a farmer's market, has opened for business. The market located at 7th and K Streets, NW on the grounds of the old Carnegie Library, now home to The Historical Society of Washington, DC, will be open every Tuesday afternoon from 2:30-6:30 p.m. Producers expect that vendors will offer fresh produce as well as prepared food, beverages, art work, and live music.

Liberty Market is produced in cooperation with The Historical Society of Washington, DC by Michael Berman of Diverse Markets Management, which also runs the Sunday Eastern Market and the downtown holiday market.

Though last week's inaugural debut saw only six vendors and one musician, the market managers are eagerly expecting to add new vendors. Bill McLeod Executive Director of Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District (CID) said " We hope the market will grow as word gets out and vendors tell other vendors." And musicians tell other musicians...

"This exciting neighborhood keeps getting better and our substantial population of residents and office workers are continuing to benefit from the focus of the area's retailers and service providers," said Jeff Miller, Chairman of the Mt. Vernon Triangle CIDs. Interested vendors can contact Diversified Markets Management at (202) 543-3370 or info@diversemarkets.net. Now if they can just figure out how to resolve DC's most odious traffic circle that surrounds it.