Today in Pictures - Meridian at Mt. Vernon Triangle

Paradigm and Steuart Investments are nearing completion on the Meridian at Mt. Vernon Triangle, a 390-unit rental building at 425 L St, NW. The apartment building rises fourteen stories above three levels of below-grade parking. Along with the typical amenities like a gym, roof deck, common rooms, the building will also feature a hybrid and electric car refueling stations. The building broke ground in October of 2010.

The apartment building was designed by Architecture Collaborative, Inc., while Collins & Kronstadt of Silver Spring holds the title of architecture of record. Developers expect final completion by this fall, but will have competition from the new Donohoe apartment building just across the street.








Washington D.C. real estate development news

Will Old Post Office Deal Accelerate Hoover Building's Demise and FTC's Move From Apex?

The General Services Administration's controversial nod to billionaire Donald Trump's bid for underutilized Old Post Office has refocused attention on the eastern end of Pennsylvania Ave. where several key government buildings could be in play.

Top of the list is the J. Edgar Hoover Building between Ninth and Tenth Street.

In November 2011, the Government Accountability Office released a report detailing what to do with the tired and unpopular J. Edgar Hoover FBI building on Pennsylvania Avenue. The Hoover Building, a Brutalist piece of concrete completed in 1974, has few current fans, even among the District's vocal preservationist crowd.

"Nobody will shed a tear when it goes," said Steve Calcott of the District's Historic Preservation Review Board. It's also much maligned as a "block-killer" for Penn Quarter as security considerations nixed any plans for street level retail. "We're just waiting for the day when the bulldozers arrive," said Karyn LeBlanc of the Downtown DC Business Improvement District.

The structure is equally unloved by the G-men as well, apparently. According to the GAO report, leaks, lack of windows, and poor access make the Hoover Building despised by its inhabitants, many of whom are now farmed out to other buildings in the D.C. area post-9/11 for security reasons.

The FBI desperately needs to centralize those agents to streamline operations and react more swiftly to threats. That's compounded by the fact that since 9/11, the number of FBI personnel working in and around Washington has nearly doubled, from 9,600 in 2001 to more than 17,600 in 2010. Given too that the FBI building and its agents are a prime terrorist target, the GAO's report also references key security weaknesses in the building (the specifics of which are classified in this report) that make it a prime candidate for replacement outside of the aesthetics.

The GAO's recommendations should cheer anybody eagerly awaiting a wrecking ball for the old structure. The government watchdog agency noted that at 2007 prices, remodeling the existing Hoover Building to come into compliance with EnergyStar and LEED certification would top $1.9 billion and take nearly a decade and half of work to complete.

Conversely, demolishing the unloved building and replacing it with another at the same site would cost a relative pittance, just $850 million, completed over nine years. Meanwhile, building the FBI a new headquarters somewhere else in the Washington metro area would cost about $1.2 billion and take seven years.

The rapid appreciation of real estate prices on Pennsylvania Avenue could make selling the land to a private developer an incentive for the GSA to find a new home for the FBI. The land that was $41 a square foot in 1963, when the GSA purchased 233,000 s.f. to build the FBI building, is now worth more than one hundred times that, says Gerry Widdicombe, director of economic development at the Downtown DC BID.

That would mean a windfall for the GSA of $500 million to $800 million, (minus $20 million or so for demolition) -- half the cost of building a new FBI building on a new site, Widdicome said.

It would also create a prime spot for a developer to bring more retail, given that Donald Trump plans a luxury hotel and restaurant across the street. "You knock down the FBI building, you can have a serious conversation with a department store like Harrods, or Bloomingdales, or Selfridges, since you would have the necessary volume," he said. "There's no doubt that the Trump deal for the Old Post Office will move the conversation about the FBI building forward."

While a suburban campus location for the FBI might appear the ideal choice, if only to free up the

real estate beneath the building, Britain's FBI equivalent, MI5 has stayed in Central London as the agency has grown, moving into a rehabbed government building, Thames House (right) in 1994.

Towards the same end of Pennsylvania Avenue, the Art Deco Apex building, built in 1938 and currently occupied by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is also being sought after as an expansion for the National Gallery of Art. Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican who heads the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and oversees the GSA's plan of disposing federal buildings, has made it clear he wants the FTC out of the Apex Building and the National Gallery of Art in. "One way or another we are going to get that building," he told GSA head Robert Peck in a recent hearing on Capitol Hill.

Despite criticism of the Donald Trump deal for the Old Post Office Pavilion, the GSA has had recent success in transforming dormant federal

properties into vibrant spaces. In 2002, the GSA partnered with San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels to open the Hotel Monaco in Penn Quarter in the former Tariff Building which had stood empty since 1987. The opening of the hotel was soon followed by the Spy Museum and Zola restaurant in the 800 block of F Street.

Widdicome said that demolishing the block-killing Hoover Building, as well as re-purposing the Federal Trade Commission building as a museum, together with the new 250-room Trump Hotel at the site of the Old Post Office Building would go a long way towards improving the Eastern end of Pennsylvania Avenue, which columnist Russell Baker called "a marble graveyard" after dark.

Next up, says Widdicome, will be repurposing the underused Pershing Park and Freedom Plaza, as well as relighting Pennsylvania Avenue to make it more amenable to pedestrians. "Things are finally falling into place for Pennsylvania Avenue," he said.

Washington D.C. real estate redevelopment news.

District's Northeast Neighborhood Library to Get Facelift

The District's Northeast Neighborhood Library, the fourth-oldest library in the city, is getting a $10 million makeover.

The D.C. Public Library announced it had selected Baltimore-based Whiting-Turner Construction, builder of Rockville Town Square and RBK Construction, with BELL Architects and Vines Architecture, as the design/build team for its Georgian-style Capitol Hill facility.

The library, at 330 7th Street NE, first opened in 1932. It will get its original woodwork restored, as well as new plumbing and lighting, along with more space for meetings, and a new elevator and restrooms. Existing furnishings and fixtures will be rehabbed as well.

Design plans will take six months, and the project, which will shoot for a LEED Silver Certification once complete, is expected to begin in fall 2012 and will take about a year to finish, the D.C. Public Library said.

(photo courtesy DC Public Library)

Washington D.C. real estate development news

As Streetcar Construction Lifts, J Street Companies Unveils H Street Restaurant

Now that the District has finished street-scaping along H Street NE, including laying tracks for eventual streetcar service, expect more announcements of restaurant and retail openings and re-openings, deals and closings as construction equipment thankfully disappears.

One of those is J Street Companies announcement that Boundary Road restaurant at 414 H Street NE is open for business. The 4,000 s.f. two-story bistro, owned by Karlos Leopold and Brad Walker, was a former barber shop, and now offers 75 seats, including a 20-seat bar along the part of H Street corridor that likes to call itself "Atlas District West" nearest Union Station.

Atlanta-based woodworker, Steve Evans used 150 year-old reclaimed wood beams to help set off exposed brick walls. A Corehaus chandelier from District artist James Kern, sprung literally from a bedspring mattress, hangs in the two-story high atrium.

Boundary Road opens just at the moment when the block wakes up from a two-year plus construction and parking nightmare known as Great Streets.

While many current retail owners complained about the impact of the Great Streets streetscaping improvements and streetcar tracks were having on their business, it turned out to be a perfect time for remodeling of vacant space, including the owners of Boundary Road.

"It was purely coincidental, but it turned out to be good timing," said Anastasia Kharchenko, J Street's vice president for retail leasing, who said the streetcar plans made a difference in where to locate. "The trolley car service was always part of our decision," she said. "Finding a charming street with life on it was key and the streetcar will create a neighborhood and connect neighborhoods." The struggle of H Street to emerge from the ruins of the 1968 riots, which devastated the historically-black neighborhood, is well-known and well-covered, especially when it comes to the familiar District fault lines of race and class.

But in the past decade, once then-Mayor Anthony Williams announced in 2003 a massive plan to redevelop the avenue, key parts of H Street have finally turned a corner. Steuart Investment broke ground last July on its 286,000 s.f. mixed-use project at 3rd and H, which will include a 42, 000 s.f. Giant and 1,500 s.f. of retail.

Still, Boundary Road, along with the other projects, does little to improve H Street's center where unlike the thriving Arts District at 13th and H NE, near the Atlas Theatre, and nearer in, where Boundary Road and the Giant will be, the middle of H Street still lacks development.

J Street's Kharchenko said that may soon change as soon as the District's long-awaited streetcars finally start running in 2013 and Steuart's 360 H Street 215 unit, mixed-use complex completes, forming one retail-centric zone at the western end of H Street and another surrounding the Atlas Theatre along the east end.

The District recently unveiled a study that argued that its $1.5 billion streetcar investment plan would increase District property values by $8 billion over 10 years, including those in the H Street corridor. "(H Street) is a lot like a mall, with two anchors at either end now," Kharchenko said. "Some parts of H Street have turned the corner, others have not. But when you spend millions of dollars on the transportation infrastructure, it's bound to have results, and that will help the rest of the pockets fill in."

Washington D.C. real estate redevelopment news.

Today in Pictures - CityMarket at O

The CityMarket at O, Shaw's latest mega project, got underway last September with the closure and demolition of the Giant supermarket, which will be replaced with a new, larger Giant in 2 years time. The new 71,000-s.f. Giant will be the first completed aspect of the project, followed by a 182-key Cambria Suites hotel, 150 condominiums and 635 apartments (84 set aside as affordable senior housing) as well as restoration of the O Street Market, one of the 5 original brick markets built in Washington D.C. The project is headed by Roadside Development, with design by Shalom Baranes and construction by Clark.









Washington D.C. real estate development news. Photos by Rey Lopez.

Montgomery County and RST Development Open Galaxy Apartments In Silver Spring

While Silver Spring has seen a renaissance when it comes to the improvement of the downtown, with splashy new condos and best-in-brand retail, it was never going to become another Bethesda, given the eastern-side of Montgomery County's distinctly working class roots.

Still, for the most part, the redevelop- ment that has consumed much of downtown Silver Spring over the past decade meant flashy condos and apartments for 20-something and 30-somethings who walked to work, iPod in hand, to the Discovery Channel or NOAA, or took the Metro to jobs in the District. Those condos were often paired next to legacy apartment complexes for more working-class families with far fewer amenities.

Now a new apartment complex is trying to bridge that divide. This week the Galaxy Apartments at 8025 13th Street in Silver Spring opened, offering 195 units. The mid-rise, five-story building (though note the 6-story rendering) designed by A.R. Meyers & Associates and built by Clark Realty Builders has all the amenities expected by the downtown hipster class, like a swanky Vegas-style lounge created by Hartman Design Group with a bar and leather-wrapped pool table, along with state-of-the art fitness center with floor-to-ceiling windows more befitting a Hollywood spa.

The difference this time is that there will be 82 affordable units. For singles with incomes between $33,000 and $45,000 a year, a 628 s.f. one bedroom apartment with a den will go for $1,120. That compares with the market rate of $1,770 for a similarly fitted apartment in the same building.

There are similar income restrictions for larger units, up to five residents with a maximum combined income of $69,660. The affordable units have already sold out, said Karen Widmeyer, a spokeswoman on behalf of Hercules Real Estate, the management firm for the apartments.

The site was a previously a surface parking lot owned by the Montgomery County Parking Lot District, and has been in the planning stages since 2005, going through several iterations - initially with 328 units and 700 parking spaces, shrinking in size while adding significantly to its subsidized housing component. The public parking, as well as the county-owned garage, have been integrated into the unit, now with 368 spaces.

Developers are seeking to distinguish the latest affordable housing offering from the many other high-rise apartments within walking distance of the Silver Spring Metro, pointing out the Galaxy's condo-like finishes, including granite countertops, custom cabinetry, ceramic flooring, stainless steel appliances and full-size washers and dryers. "All the units have the same amenities," said Eric Burka of Streetsense, the Bethesda-based design firm which markets the Galaxy. "It's the same if its market-rate or affordable."

The Galaxy was a partnership between Montgomery County and the developer, RST Development. The financing included a tax-exempt bond mortgage of $38.5 million, provided from the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission, along with a $5 million loan from the County's Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

The Galaxy will soon be joined by another mid-rise rental unit, Priderock Capital Partners' $30 million Heritage development on Georgia Avenue (rendering above) which will offer 210 rental units on 1.8 acres starting in December, currently under construction by KBR's Building Group. The Preston Partnership is the architect of record.

The Orion Condominiums are also are being constructed next to the Galaxy on 13th Street, and the 46-unit building will begin delivery this summer.

Maryland real estate development news

Your Next Place

By Franklin Schneider

I like townhouses. Is this a controversial thing to say? I don't know. I said this to my girlfriend, who was with me on this day of openhousing, and she gave me the same look she gives me when we discuss fine dining and I bring up the taco pizza from my midwestern hometown. (Yes, this exists; yes, it features Cool Ranch Doritos as a topping; yes, I'm ashamed to admit it would be my last meal if I ever found myself on death row.)

Okay, maybe I don't like all townhouses, anymore than I like all novelty pizzas. (I'd rather eat my shoe than a slice of ham-n-pineapple.) But this townhouse, I love. And what's not to love? Heart of pine floors, custom Waterworks bathrooms, beautiful, spacious kitchen. It even has a home theater – not like the usual home theater, which is just a family room with a television in front of a sofa and maybe a few tinny speakers, but an actual matte movie screen and projector. It's just like a movie theater experience, only better, because there aren't any strangers packed in on all sides. The last time I went to a movie, the man behind me either took his shoes off or opened a family-size jar of tartar sauce he'd smuggled in – I was afraid to turn around and see which one.

There's a beautiful living room (with fireplace), a cute wooden deck in back, and the master bedroom suite is a full-blown suite, with a generous living/lounge area, and prodigious closets. The master bath has twin vanities and – my new favorite thing – a skylight over the bathtub. It just looked so luxurious, the prospect of bathing in this intense rectangle of sunlight. Of course, my bathtub at home is next to a “wall” made of black plastic duct-taped over crumbling plaster, so pretty much anything seems luxurious next to that.

4025 Mansion Drive NW
3 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths
$1,499,000

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome, Now Eat. Firehouse-Inspired Sixth Engine Bistro Opens in Mt. Vernon

Old firehouses just seem to lend themselves to classic-looking bar-and-grill type bistros once the last shift has run the last call. And the new Sixth Engine at 438 Massachusetts Avenue near the Mount Vernon Triangle, which just opened this week, is no exception.

The restaurant, owned and operated by Gavin Coleman, Jeremy Carman, Paul Holder, Paul Madrid and Tim Walsh, who also run the Dubliner Irish pub, just down the street, as well as Glover Park's Town Hall, opened in 2005 -- is a smart reuse of the Metropolitan Hook & Ladder Company building, built in 1855 and used by the D.C. Fire Department until 1974. It is the oldest firehouse in the District, and a handful of its era, most built by Leon Emile Dessez (1858-1919) still survive, with some on active duty with DCFD.

"This building presented us with a wonderful opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind restaurant environment, though not without its share of challenges," said Kathryn Bram, Director of Projects for Bethesda-based Streetsense, the marketing and design firm behind Sixth Engine. BuilderGuru Contracting Inc., served as general contractor.

"The firehouse is surrounded by the new 400 Mass condo development, but has its own walls and structure," she said. "We had to solve numerous issues in regard to egress, deliveries, life safety, structural integrity, venting and more." Jenkins Baer Associates of Baltimore also contributed to the interior design.

(Courtesy: DCFire.Com)

The 3,900 s.f. restaurant has two floors, and includes the original "MHL" shield outside the front double doors, as well as a refurbished brass pole.

Douglas Jemal of Douglas Development purchased the firehouse from the city in 2005, recognizing its potential. The Sixth Engine crew leased the space from Jemal beginning in March 2011. The first floor holds a bar and main dining area while the second floor holds the kitchen and a private dining room.

Sixth Engine isn't the only adaptive reuse of local firehouses in the Washington Metro area. Fire

Station 1 Restaurant and Bar in Silver Spring, owned by retired fire captain Jeremy Gruber opened in 2010 in the old Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Department Station 1 House on Georgia Ave. Several other old firehouses in the District have been redeveloped or under consideration, including Firehouse 10 at 1341 Maryland Ave NE. and at Engine Co. 12 at 1626 North Capitol St, the latter of which has seen several restaurant deals emerge in the past few years but fall through.

Washington D.C. real estate development news.