City Center South Set for Revival in Falls Church

A nine acre, 1 million s.f. mixed use development in Falls Church that four years ago had been touted as a revival agent, City Center South is coming back to life, confirms the Planning Division of The City of Falls Church. The revival of a sagging downtown has been a city aspiration since at least 2000, yet has been slowed by the economic downturn as well as the scope and size of such an ambitious development.



"We have had indication from Atlantic Realty Companies that they are ready to move forward with their plans," said Becky Witsman, Planning Officer for Falls Church. "We take that as good news."

The Tysons Corner based Atlantic Realty Companies, which owns the land, confirms the project's revival. Jonathan Ross, Development Coordinator for the company, said Atlantic Realty will likely break ground nine months from now. "We don't have far to go in terms of approval with the site plan," he said. "We are in the final stages of approval and financing."

As the case has been for so many large development projects around the area, lack of financing had stalled City Center South after Fall Church City Council's surprisingly unanimous approval of the $317 million project in February of 2008. Plans languished and WDG Architecture abandoned the project. LeMay, Erickson and Willcox Architects of Reston was hired to take over in 2009, but the design will stay the same as that approved in 2008, Ross says.

The two-phased plan is slated to take five years to develop the 8.7 acre area bounded by West Broad Street, Gibson Street, Big Chimneys Park and South Washington Street. Phase one entails a 73,570 s.f. office building with 16,250 s.f. of ground floor retail at West Broad Street; a 140,400 s.f. hotel at South Maple Street and West Annandale with 180 rooms and ground floor retail; a retirement community with 134 apartments; a new Bowl America, garage, and a drive-thru bank.

Phase two encompasses a 58,850 s.f. Harris Teeter (which has signed a Letter of Intent); 16,750 s.f. of retail at Annandale Road and South Maple Streets; as well as 412 residences and 16 town homes at the intersection of Gibson Street and Big Chimney Park.

Falls Church, VA Real Estate Development News

Sorg Gearing Up to Turn Former Church into Condos

A new condominium is one step closer to fruition on the site of a vacant lot and historic church at the corner of 10th and V Streets. Sorg and Associates passed the deadline to accept general contractor bids this week for the Logic Project, a 37-unit condo that will build out the empty lot and convert the church; public records say the church will be converted into office space. Scheduled to break ground the first quarter of 2012, the plan is for a six-story, 37 unit condo building at 2105 and 2107 10th Street. The site is owned by architect Suman Sorg and is listed under the name Morning Bright LLC, one of the former names of the Baptist church. Built in 1896 by Paul J. Pelz (who also designed Healy Hall and contributed to the Library of Congress), the church has been called a handful of names, including Seventh Day, Trinity Methodist, Zion Church, True Deliverance Church of God, and Morning Bright Baptist Church. The church was abandoned in 1992.Though Nikki Sorg, Director of Business Development - and "Vice Chairperson" for the Board of Zoning Adjustment - was mum about details of the project, she confirmed that the church is being restored. Sorg acquired the property in 2003 for $1,300,000 and has performed some remediation work to the badly deteriorating church. Hamel Builders is among the general contractors competing for the job. "It's a nice building that will feature market rate quality units," said a project estimator for the company. "I think it would be a major impact for the community." The Logic Project is an addition to the handful of Sorg designs in the area, which include The Visio and Murano, two condo projects on 10th Street between V and W Streets, the Solea, as well as The Beauregard, 49 unit condominium at 2100 11th Street, both of which were developed by Robertson Development.

Washington, D.C. real estate development news

Peace, Love and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)

By Beth Herman You may remember it: the Age of Aquarius. Reflected in the musical "Hair," debuting off-Broadway in 1967 and seen in revival in 2009, controversial as it was "Hair" trumpeted principles of peace and understanding and a one-world community where people made love, not war. In short, they supported one another and worked toward mutual goals. They all got along. When principals at global general contracting firm Balfour Beatty considered a change in their Fairfax, Va. North Region headquarters in 2009, a move to a different structure in Fairfax at 11325 Random Hills Road precipitated both a redesign of the firm’s aesthetic and consequently one of its office culture. Eschewing the more traditional enclosed office concept, which they’d had at about 150 s.f. apiece in their former space, the 112-member strong Balfour Beatty opted for a 26,000 s.f. environment–2,000 s.f. smaller than the old space– that is nearly 100 percent open office concept, with work station configurations that can accommodate increased staff and foster sharing and cooperation. To help achieve their building goals, and in concert with FOX Architects, Balfour Beatty decided to raise the bar on sharing and cooperation by also employing an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) system. Espoused by AIA and AGC since 2007 and characterized by shared information, goals, risks and rewards, all very much in tandem with Balfour Beatty’s own internal policy, the end result was a reduction in duplication, waste and cost, and the streamlining of communication, design, construction and other processes. 

The Woodstock of Design With entities that include architects, designers, general contractors (in this case Balfour Beatty was both general contractor and client), electrical and mechanical engineers, as well as the client itself in tow, IPD’s objective is to create a cohesive team that facilitates programming, budget, scheduling, performance and all other project-related issues – right out of the starting gate. “We work collaboratively to produce a better project,” said FOX Principal Bob Fox, noting that because team members have an equally vested interest much earlier in the process, relationships are immediately positive and collegial. “Contracts are oriented that way too,” Fox said, citing an inherent agreement not to sue one another. “Everyone is responsible to the project, not to the client. Clients themselves even report to what’s considered an executive committee,” he said. Balfour Beatty Corporate Vice President for National Integration Mark Konchar said overall the projects the company enjoys the most involve team-based delivery. “Those are the ones that give our folks the opportunity to learn and share new ideas,” he affirmed. “We felt like some of the things we were preaching, as well as learning the business around–topics like IPD–we might as well begin to practice them on our own projects,” he explained, adding that one always hopes the client drives the process, and in this case they were the client, so they “took the opportunity to try and set the tone.” 

Talking ‘Bout a Revolution According to Nicole Antil, FOX project designer on the Balfour Beatty project, among significant changes in working with IPD are the levels of attainable proficiency and scaling down of waste/duplication of efforts. Citing key and increasing use of cutting edge three-dimensional BIM (Building Information Modeling) software vs. two-dimensional CAD in commercial projects of this ilk, Antil said the way FOX worked with subcontractors under the IPD umbrella became far more efficient. With millwork a major component in the design process, and being general contractors, instead of using systems furniture Balfour Beatty wanted to build its own for workstations. “The entire process of designing, documenting and ultimately building those workstations was different than normal,” Antil said, with many typical steps eliminated. Using BIM, and because of the IPD network established early on, FOX was able to get immediate feedback and provide the results to a millworker, also part of the team, who quickly generated shop drawings from the 3-D model. “They are a very forward-thinking company, always looking for better ways to run their business and sensing the advantages an open space concept would mean to a more collaborative workplace,” Fox said of Balfour Beatty. In the same vein, the general contracting firm was also courageous enough to offer itself as “guinea pigs” in the IPD process to create and execute its space, according to Fox. Knowing exceptional results would require the highest level of cooperation, trust and cohesion among individual members of the architecture, design, building and engineering team, which also consisted of Engineered Systems Alliance of Va., or ESA, for MEP design and construction services, Fox added, “I think they saw this as a trend for how projects will be done in the future.” IPD, he observed, marks the end of the exhaustive hard-bidding process for individual consultants. To set the tone for the project, at the initial IPD meeting Balfour Beatty introduced a list of “space testaments,” or what they genuinely wanted their space to achieve. Included in these were dictums that the space “foster collaboration and support and sufficient flow of communication,” as well as “support technologies the firm uses with the flexibility to adapt to future technologies,” and “be an environmentally sustainable environment, contributing to the health and contentment of each employee.” To that end, the firm is pursuing LEED Gold certification with daylight harvesting, regionally sourced materials, recycling programs, innovative waste water technologies, low-VOC paint, coating and flooring, occupancy sensors and more. LEED Innovation and Design pilot credits 5 and 6 promote IPD to attain sustainability goals. 

Turn On, Tune In, Collaborate If you look at a project today relative to 15 or 20 years ago, Fox said, the complexity is significantly higher, citing security consultants, food service consultants, audio-visual consultants, IT consultants and more. Managing the breadth, scope and amount of relative information is not something an individual or a single firm can do. “Just the materials and finishes–today there are probably 40-50,000 building materials to be considered,” he said, adding the only way to grasp it is for all the experts to sit down in real time, assembling the project. “IPD defines how to manage vast quantities of information,” he added. Calling the project a “learning laboratory,” Konchar said it allowed teammates to have a “different kind of discussion. It demanded a different kind of behavior, not just at the leadership level but throughout the project team. We were learning about what we would repeat and what we wouldn’t,” he said, adding it was “great to go through it with partners who were so open and collaborative along the way.” Said Fox, “My AHA moment on this project was when we all sat around the table and the attorney asked each one of us what we wanted to get out of it.” Referencing conventional contract negotiations which can be fractious and undermine the process at best, Fox reaffirmed the IPD process focuses largely on relationships. “I felt like I had my brain turned inside out thinking about it,” he affirmed.

Washington DC commercial design news

Steuart Plans to Start H Street Giant by July

Steuart Investment's H Street residential project should be underway by July 1st, says the firm's principal, setting the stage for an early 2013 opening of the Giant supermarket and 215 apartments. The 3rd and H site is one block from AvalonBay project that should break ground later this year for an additional 140 units, densifying the H Street corridor as its retail renaissance continues to build up speed.

The Steuart project, designed by Torti Gallas, will add a 6 story, LEED certified building - a 5 story residence above a retail pad - with a 42,000 s.f. Giant supermarket. "We're down to the short strokes" says Steuart principal Guy Steuart, who "hopes to have a shovel in the ground by July 1st." Despite not yet having financing fully secured nor permits, Steuart has had zoning approval since late 2007 and is confident construction will start mid summer. The building will have 2 floors of underground parking, a residential lobby and small retail bay on H Street with a 22 foot high ground floor.

The project will face competition from the AvalonBay project and Senate Square's 432 rental units, and on the grocer side from the new Aldi at the opposite end of H and, just a few blocks away, Noma's recently opened Harris Teeter. The sudden concentration of quality supermarkets in northeast D.C., once devoid of such retail, leads to the question of whether northeast will be over-grocered. "Giant is still the dominant grocer in this area. Competition makes everyone keener, I think Giant will do a great job for the community," says Steuart in response.

The project has been a long time coming. Steuart first filed for the PUD more than 5 years ago, with up to 8 stories in mind, but was encouraged to shave some density from the east as a concession to the lower buildings. "Then the world changed and we had to try and make sense economically," says Steuart, who responded by taking out the 3rd floor of parking, limiting the height to 6 stories, and modifying the upper top 5 floors, which sit on the poured concrete retail podium, into a less expensive steel beam and concrete construction.

Steuart's family has been at it even longer, his great-grandfather having started the family business in 1904, according to Steuart, as an ice and coal delivery company that opened a Ford dealership in 1916, with his family owning land "the first time there was a trolley in the neighborhood." BP eventually bought land next door for its filling station and leased Steuart's parcel, at one point planning a larger truck stop for H Street. Steuart later bought out BP's site - the western 40% of the current site - and let them out of the remaining lease in order to start this project.

Steuart predicts an 18 month time frame to open the residences, with the Giant to open "shortly thereafter." Steuart is also building a 390-unit apartment building in Mt. Vernon Triangle with Paradigm, which it began last October.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Washington Property Company Planning Georgia Ave and Wisconsin Ave Residences

In 2005, Washington Property Company purchased two plots on the area's major arteries: 10914 Georgia Avenue in Wheaton and 7100 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda with the intent of building two residential properties. That the company is now nearly ready for construction and is building apartments is not surprising, as financing for apartments becomes easier and apartment vacancy rates hit historic lows.

10914 Georgia Avenue is slated for a mid 2012 groundbreaking for a five-story, 221 unit multi-family residential building. The site, next to the Wheaton Metro station, is part of an 8-acre area that has been targeted by Montgomery County as part of a mixed-use revitalization of downtown. Revitalization will create 1,300 residential units and 600,000 square feet of retail between a Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA ) site at Georgia Avenue and Viers Mill Road, County Parking Lot 13 across Reedie Drive, as well as the Washington Property Company purchase, among others. B.F. Saul has been chosen as the developer for the bulk of the project. "They're in the process of concept plans with WMATA," said Pete McGinnity, Business Development Manager in the Montgomery County Redevelopment Program. "This is a multi-phase plan that will roll out over the next several years."

Currently, the Washington Property Company site is home to the First Baptist Church of Wheaton, which has plans to move to a bigger lot at 3110 Emory Church Road in Olney, Maryland, after building a new church.

For the company's second act, now the site of an Exxon service station, there's time to wait until the design comes together. The Washington Property Company submitted preliminary plans late last year to build a nine story building of 96 residential units atop 3,000 s.f. of retail space.

"We're still assembling parcels and working on things," said Daryl South, Vice President of Development for WPC. Though the developer is not ready to disclose formal plans for the space, they say plans will come this fall.

The developer recently broke ground in the formerly shunned Ripley District of Silver Spring, with plans to build a sixteen-story, 306,000 s.f. building with 286 rental units at 1150 Ripley Street, the first major construction project in the neighborhood in twenty years.

Bethesda, Maryland real estate development news

Mayor Predicts Lift Off for Skyland

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray predicted on Tuesday that the contentious development of the Skyland shopping center will be underway as early as September. News of the impending construction caught its developers and occupants by surprise, but both seemed to take announcement of the project's birth in stride.The foundering Southeast D.C. shopping center has been in the government's crosshairs for more than a decade, with Washington D.C. planners dreaming of Skyland Town Center, an economic nativity centered around big box retail and new mixed-use, 18 acre community. Planning for the site began more than 20 years ago, and rather than buy out the owners individually, in 2005 the city began eminent domain proceedings against its many owners, and has since claimed title to the property with the intent of handing it over to developers to redo. But jettisoned owners, backed by property rights advocates, have fought tenaciously to reclaim their titles they say were wrongly seized.

Meanwhile, erstwhile developers Rappaport Companies and William C. Smith & Co. et al have continued to promote the expected vitality from a redesigned building despite the lapse of time and lack of forward motion. For several years promoters and the District government maintained that Target was on board, anchoring the project, lubricating capital, and ensuring success. With Target now officially out, Walmart has become the dream (potential) anchor. But with a thicket of legal challenges, no signed tenants, financing uncertain and lack of a land agreement with the District, the project seems much the same as it did 5 years ago, excepting approval of plans by the Zoning Commission last summer.

Despite the Mayor's confident prediction, the developers are sanguine, noting that much work remains even if some demolition takes place on the Mayor's schedule. "There are still eminent domain issues" says Sheryl Simeck, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Rappaport. "The next step is for the District of Columbia to own all of those parcels. We've taken it as far as we can." Lawyer Elaine Mittleman, representing several owner-tenants, agrees, and says the transfers of title were not only unconstitutional but ineffective, making demolition unthinkable. Mittleman's suits have been denied by the courts, but other suits continue to work their way through the legal dockets, and Mittleman points to a variety of ailments to the District's claim to clear title.

Still, the government might win by attrition, outliving tenants slowly driven out by uncertainty and by a neglected shopping center that becomes ever more decayed. Some tenants have paid rent to the District government, others have not done so for years. "It's a tragedy" says Mittleman. "There's no funding, no agreement, no title, no tenants. It's the opposite of economic development." Mittleman says the government has stonewalled her FOIA requests and has failed to provide answers to many procedural requests, complicating representation of the owners. Still, having seen eviction deadlines come and go, tenants remain more frustrated than fearful, and yet none seem to doubt the ultimate resolve of the government to see the project through.

The development team also includes Harrison Malone Development LLC, the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization (MHCDO) and the Washington East Foundation, Silver Spring based architects Torti Gallas, and Washington D.C. based WCS Construction.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Arlington's Affordable Housing: Macedonia Near Completion

Bonstra Haresign Architects and Nauck Development Partners (NDP) have nearly completed construction of Macedonia, the affordable housing building for the Macedonia Baptist Church in Arlington. NDP is a partnership between the Church, the Bonder and Amanda Johnson Community Development Corporation (BAJCDC) and AHC Inc.

"We've tried hard to create a building that does not look like affordable housing," said David Baker, senior architect at Bonstra Haresign.

Construction for the four-story building of 36 one-and two-bedroom units began in 2009 and will be available for move-in by the end of this month for residents making less than 60% of the area's median income. 40,000 s.f. of space will be dedicated to offices, one of which will house the BAJCDC. The $14 million project was funded by low-interest loans, a county grant and $6 million in county funds.

The most challenging aspects of the project has been the topography of the parcels at 2219, 2229 and 2237 South Shirlington Road. "There's a large slope which means the rear at Garfield is ten feet higher in the back. This made addressing parking access more of a challenge," said Baker.

The building is EarthCraft certified, Virginia Housing Development Authority's version of LEED certification. Every tenant will have a balcony as well as access to the lower green roof common area.

Along with AHC Inc. and JBG, Bonstra Haresign is also designing The Jordan, a four-story, low-income, 90-unit building three blocks from the Ballston Metro. The Jordan is similar to the Macedonia in that both buildings are predominantly masonry, said Baker.

The development resides on the former Bob Peck Dealership and Showroom site at Wilson Boulevard and North Glebe Road. JBG is now building out its plans for 800,000 s.f. of mixed-use development at the location, requiring a land swap between JBG and AHC.

Baker said The Jordan will be ready by the end of this year.

Arlington, Virginia real estate development news

The History Lesson

By Beth Herman

Lacking funds for law school and denied employment as a journalist by the Dayton Herald because of his race, Paul Laurence Dunbar read Tennyson and Shakespeare in empty cars as a $4-a-week elevator boy. When a Washington, D.C. high school was created in 1917 to honor the man who would eventually become what historians called "a seminal African-American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries," the building’s tall ceilings and fluid use of natural light gilded a rich academic tradition – one that paralleled all Dunbar ultimately achieved as a literary icon. Razed in 1977 and succeeded by an adjacent Brutalism-style structure emblematic of its day, in time the eponymous high school was plagued with energy, aesthetic, programmatic and security issues precipitating a new design slated for a late October/early November groundbreaking. Helmed by EE&K Architects+Engineers in association with Moody Nolan, Inc., the modern Dunbar Senior High School will honor the 1917 structure’s design-forward elements, such as its facility for light and ventilation, while positioning it as a cutting-edge 21st century educational and civic presence. The Way We Were According to Moody Nolan D.C. Manager Patrick Williams, a victim of time and trends, Dunbar became “…a palette of everything that could go wrong with a school.” In addition to the building having closed O Street and disengaging one of the plans within the L’Enfant grid, Williams said the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, OPEFM, has identified a decline in the D.C. student population. In that regard the current high school’s size, at 343,000 s.f., is larger than the current demographic requirement. Accordingly, a decision was made to demolish the 1977 structure, though not before building a new 250,000 s.f. school steps away on the former 1917 site (the initial school measured 263,416 s.f.) so students will not be displaced during construction. “The 1977 high school had open classrooms – no walls around them, with the idea that people would teach and collaborate within a much larger, flexible environment,” said Sean O’Donnell, Principal of EE&K Architects+ Engineers. “What happened is that it became an acoustical problem with people disrupting one another,” he explained, speaking to another of the school’s core issues, adding with the integration of audio-visual equipment and emerging technologies in education, a totally open scenario became even more challenging. A dearth of windows in the 1977 building in response to the energy crisis of the era was thought to enhance energy performance, O’Donnell explained, noting the practice actually had a negative effect on students and teachers. With outside views and natural light credited in achieving an optimal learning environment, the architects’ objective is to include abundant glazing, redolent of the 1917 large and heavily-fenestrated structure, ratcheting up significant points in pursuit of LEED Silver (or higher). 

LEED for Future Leaders 

On the road to LEED, for HVAC purposes a ground source heat pump system will be installed beneath a new ball field, with the current one, which sits in the footprint of the 1917 building where land is now needed for construction, eliminated. An underground cistern will collect rainwater, and water from Dunbar’s projected state-of-the-art swimming pool is expected to help flush toilets and serve as a possible component of the HVAC system. Green roofs will collect and control rain water quantity and quality on the site, and budgetary constraints withstanding, photovoltaics are anticipated to generate power. Terrazzo floors are being explored, according to the architects, due to their ease of maintenance, extended lifecycle and possibility of integrating elements like recycled glass into their design. “You start to think about somebody putting their soda bottle into a recycling bin in the school and you can see how it comes back into the tangible materiality of the building in floors and countertops…,” O’Donnell said. “It’s going to be as diverse an array of sustainable options as we can possibly create here, all with the idea that these things will become educational options as well.” In addition to meeting the LEED educational requirement, students will be exposed to the process of sustainable technology and how it may affect their lives when they leave and enter the workplace. 

 As the 1977 structure is fundamentally concrete, plans to recycle it include grinding for fill or as a component of another concrete product, though not necessarily in the Dunbar project. Demolished steel will also be repurposed. Counting among its celebrated alumni members of government, the arts, military, education, science and sports, including Senator Edward Brooke, Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C. Mayor Vincent Grey and Duke Ellington, Dunbar Senior High School was the first African-American high school in the country. With two academic wings in the 1917 structure orbiting an “armory,” which served as the heart or social axis of the school, the new design will emulate the original concept with an atrium/armory feeding four levels that each contain an “academy,” or area of concentration, like smaller schools within a school. These are a 9th grade academy, an engineering academy, a business academy and computer academy, flanked by faculty offices for an easy integration of students and teachers. Connecting to the four-story academy building, plans are for a two-story facility containing shared resources from the pool, gym, media center with library and large theatre, and student services and operations such as a college counseling space – in a retail storefront design. Additional urban design attributes of the building will include a south-facing entry plaza sited toward an existing park across N Street. The Dunbar Recreation Center, also across the street, will be engaged in the public space infrastructure supporting the school, O’Donnell said. 

Design by Delegation 

“We found that very early in the design process, we were able to interview different alumni,” said Williams, noting a collective decision to honor Paul Dunbar in the entry space also called the “lantern.” An image of the poet along with some writings may complement a wall of honor for the school population. With a long civic view from New York Avenue, and the library/media center sited at the juxtaposition of 1st and N Streets, O’Donnell said the concept at this point is also to dedicate some or part of the media center to Dunbar’s legacy. The son of escaped slaves and author of a dozen books of poetry, four books of short stories, five novels and a play, Dunbar also worked for the Library of Congress. Faced with an uncertain life at best, the determined poet met a litany of insurmountable challenges, influencing generations before his light was extinguished by tuberculosis at the age of 33. “The alumni have told us they really want the building to celebrate the rich academic tradition of Dunbar Senior High School and certainly celebrate Paul Dunbar’s life as an individual,” O’Donnell said of the $122 million project. “We’re tremendously excited about it.”

Silver Spring - Georgia Avenue Switches from Office to Residential

Design had been fleshed out, brochures were been inked, and the PR machine for Silver Spring's office tower at 8711 Georgia Avenue had been ambling along. At least until this past January, when plans were scrapped as Guardian Realty filed an amendment to eliminate the office plans and replace it with 160 residential units, keeping retail space. The hearing is scheduled for April 21st after the extension was granted in mid-January of this year.

Under the working name of 8711 Georgia Avenue Parking Lot LLC, the name passed down from original owner Zalco Realty Incorporated onto Guardian Realty Investors after the site was sold in 2007, Zalco intended to create a 13-story class A office building with a slice of retail two blocks from the Metro. Without a working tenant and with demand for residential rentals at an all time high as a result of the housing crunch, developers have now switched to residential.

"The owner [Guardian] tried to find someone to occupy the office spaces before it was built, but in this economy, it is difficult to find a tenant," said Yun Kim, senior designer for WDG Architecture, the design firm for the project. "Converting the proposed building from an office space to residential makes more sense in this economic climate."

The April 21st hearing is to review the change in use, said Robert Kronenberg, spokesperson for the Montgomery County Planning Board. "The building footprint will stay approximately the same. The amount of retail on the ground floor with remain the same. The difference is just in the changeover from office to residential." The change of plans would delay the North Bethesda based developer from a late 2011 early 2012 start.

A development in Silver Spring on a similar timetable is Silver Spring Park, formerly Moda Vista Residences, the Fenton Group LLC development in the former Fenton Street Market space that will make way for a 59,870 s.f., 60-foot-tall Fairfield Inn & Suites hotel with 110 rooms, a 28,170 s.f. office building, and a 58-unit apartment building. Groundbreaking for Silver Spring Park is projected for spring of 2011.

Silver Spring, Maryland Real Estate Development News

Eastbanc to Unveil West End Residences

At long last, Georgetown's Eastbanc will unveil its plans for West End library and fire station sites on the 25th of April at a meeting of the ANC. After months of meeting with local community groups to fine-tune plans, Eastbanc intends to roll out its plans more publicly for redevelopment of the two sites.

Eastbanc's proposal is for a 52-unit low-income (max 60% AMI), 90 foot residential building above a new fire station on M Street, and a 10-story residence of up to 180 units above a new library and retail filling the 2300 block of L Street. The developer was selected by the District of Columbia in March of 2010 to redevelop the 4 city-owned sites - 1 at the fire station and 3 contiguous sites between the West End Library and special operations facility at 23rd and L, each a 2 story, deteriorating building subsumed by development and recent population surge. Eastbanc is not releasing its designs until the ANC meeting, but early renderings (at left, above) indicate the projects will be in keeping with the designer's minimalist, contemporary style.

The project is being designed by New York and Mexico-based TEN Arquitectos, (for Taller de Enrique Norten) and will add 10,000 s.f. of ground floor retail to the street.

Enrique Norten, lead designer on the West End project, started TEN Arquitectos in Mexico City in 1986 designing small, modern single-family homes. The firm has now swelled to an international presence, though still with a predominantly Mexican portfolio, and seeks to "straddle the line between Mexican and New York sensibilities," says a spokesman, who says Norton creates for a "very minimalist aesthetic." The architect has received attention for his redesign of federal buildings throughout Mexico as well as several high profile projects in New York City.

Completed projects and proposals bear that out, with designs that encompass simple, angular and monument- style towers with expansive footprints as well as diminutive rectangular buildings in more clustered urban spaces, most of which reject the graph paper effect of even lines and flat facades in favor of broken, asymmetrical contours and surfaces. (see visuals: Harlem Park in NYC above left, James Hotel in Los Angeles, above right, Mercedes House in NYC below 1, Chopo Museum Mexico, below 2, New York library below 3, Reforma in Mexico, below 4)

Sean Stadler, Principal of WDG Architecture which was chosen as the architect of record to execute the designs, says Eastbanc's choice of Norten demonstrates Eastbanc's commitment to "trying to assert good architecture into the community." Says Stadler, "they approach development not just from a dollars and sense position. I think that TEN Arquitectos is thinking with a much more global eye on architecture than DC tends to, and I think that's part of the strategy that Eastbanc has had in the past." Citing Eastbanc's other accomplishments at 22 West and Ritz Carlton Georgetown (a former power plant), Stadler credits Eastbanc with the transformative effect of well executed project. "If you look at the old power plant in Georgetown, its really made it a much more personable place."
To accomplish the LEED - possibly gold - ranking that Stadler says the team is striving for, and which Eastbanc didn't apply for on prior projects, the architect says to expect efficient glass, solar shades, exterior louvers, a green roof, and the latest wastewater management strategies. Noting the "strategy in this project in reducing our carbon footprint," Stadler calls the mostly glass, louvered shell "a much more efficient vehicle to stop heat from entering the building. Its not an eyebrow, but a more European approach, an operable full louver, somewhat like a blind on the exterior." According to Stadler, the exterior blinds block heat before it enters the building, in contrast to interior blinds, but also "visually adds texture and depth to the facade."

Eastbanc's Joe Sternlieb says the April 25th unveiling will be just the end of a years-long roadshow, acclimating the public and seeking input that has honed the design. "We tend to do alot of community meetings before we file...we've had over 60 community meetings so far over last 4 years, and retooled project many times based on community feedback." Sternlieb says he hopes to file the PUD application with the zoning forces in the first week of May, in conformance with milestones dictated by the District government, though he declines to set a timeline for construction, saying only that construction could begin within a year of zoning approval, or late 2012, at best. Only the library-police site is subject to zoning review, with the fire station "within the zoning envelope." LeMay Erickson Willcox Architects, which has expertise in designing fire stations, is helping craft the M Street site.

While the library and fire station will be rebuilt on site, the special-operations unit will be moved elsewhere.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Donohoe's Trifecta in Woodmont Triangle

At the end of this month, the Montgomery County Planning Board will likely hand down its approval - with possible amendments - to Donohoe Development Company's Woodmont Central, the multi-phased, mixed use project that will redefine the urban landscape of the underutilized Woodmont Triangle area. "We've been working on this project for many years," said Peter Gartlan, President of Donohoe. "We've made many amendments, we've gotten our site plans re-approved and we're looking forward to moving ahead with our plans."

The biggest draw for the area is 8280 Wisconsin Avenue, now the site of a Texaco station, the area's only car wash. Once the building is razed, Donohoe will develop a 91,600 s.f. Class A office building with 11,000 s.f. of retail. Gartlan said he hopes to break ground on this facet of the project in 2013.

Nevertheless, Donohoe plans to break ground on the two residential buildings in the second quarter of 2012. First up is Phase 1B, also known as The Gallery of Bethesda at 4800 Auburn Avenue. The building will replace old commercial buildings and surface parking with 234 units, 5400 s.f. of retail and its own pedestrian street with public art displays. The second building, now dubbed Phase 2, also know as The Gallery of Bethesda II, will be a 221-unit building at 4850 Rugby Avenue with 19,500 s.f. of ground floor retail. WDG Architecture is on the hook for design of each of the three buildings.

The Montgomery County Planning Board has already approved the preliminary plans of a project that's been in the works following the amendment to the 2006 Bethesda Sector Plan.

Until the 2006 amendment, said Gartlan, density was site-specific. "The adjustment that allows non-contiguous transfer of density was changed specifically to help cultivate the redevelopment of Woodmont Triangle, which is what used to be the center of Bethesda," said Gartlan. Because of the amendment, Donohoe was able to transfer density from one of their sites to another. "We have designed our plans in accordance with the adjustment, working closely with the city, which seems to really like our final designs."

Jad Donohoe, Development Director for the company, told DCMud, "[The transfer is] a new idea and the thought was that because there is such fragmented ownership in that section of Bethesda, this would be a way to bring the density needed to make more of a Bethesda Row-type of experience."

Woodmont Central is much further along than another huge Donohoe project, the hotel, jazz club and retail outlets the company is planning to build called the Arts at 5th and I in Mt. Vernon Triangle. Because the project has yet to be financed, ground breaking isn't yet on the horizon.

Bethesda, MD real estate development news