Today in Pictures - DC's First Walmart

Washington D.C.'s first Walmart may be a year from completion, but the building is already well underway.  The mixed-use building at 77 H Street, NW, broke ground this spring, the first of 6 planned for the District to get underway - an 80,000 s.f. Walmart in the middle, apartments on either side.

"The planning and preparation is moving ahead quickly," said Charlie Maier, an outside spokesman on behalf of Chevy Chase-based JBG Companies. JBG Rosenfeld, JBG's sister company which focuses on mixed-use retail and will also partner on the project. Walmart has already signed its lease for the site, which will be known going forward as 77 H, as it will line up along H Street on its southern edge.

MV+A Architects, which designed the Whole Foods at 15th and P as well as mixed-use projects in Tyson's Corner, Alexandria and Herndon, along with The Preston Partnership, creator of the Kentlands plan in Gaithersburg will serve as designers, Maier said. JBG has already gotten its construction and zoning permits for the apartment and retail complex that will be built on the site, he said. "We've already started planning for a groundbreaking," he said.

Earlier this week, parts of the Ward 6 site along H Street, not far from Massachusetts Ave., and Union Station had been fenced-off and signage erected. The complex will include about 300 apartments on 280,000 feet along H Street and an 80,000 square-foot store. 

Washington, D.C. retail and real estate news

801 New Jersey Ave Walmart Set To Break Ground In Spring, Spokesman for JBG Says

The planned Walmart at 801 New Jersey Ave. NW will break ground by spring, according to a spokesman on behalf of developer JBG Companies, one of six stores the world's largest retailer will bring to the District of Columbia.

"The planning and preparation is moving ahead quickly," said Charlie Maier, an outside spokesman on behalf of Chevy Chase-based JBG Companies. JBG Rosenfeld, JBG's sister company which focuses on mixed-use retail and will also partner on the project. Walmart has already signed its lease for the site, which will be known going forward as 77 H, as it will line up along H Street on its southern edge.

MV+A Architects, which designed the Whole Foods at 15th and P as well as mixed-use projects in Tyson's Corner, Alexandria and Herndon, along with The Preston Partnership, creator of the Kentlands plan in Gaithersburg will serve as designers, Maier said. JBG has already gotten its construction and zoning permits for the apartment and retail complex that will be built on the site, he said. "We've already started planning for a groundbreaking," he said.

Earlier this week, parts of the Ward 6 site along H Street, not far from Massachusetts Ave., and Union Station had been fenced-off and signage erected. The complex will include about 300 apartments on 280,000 feet along H Street and an 80,000 square-foot store. The red-brick exterior matches other commercial buildings in the area, including the Chicago-style Government Printing Office at North Capitol and H Street and 800 North Capitol, which was built in 1991 and designed by Hartman-Cox Architects

The entrance of red-state Walmart into deep-blue D.C. is not without controversy. As with other proposed Walmart openings in other states, many local businesses feared losing out to the retail giant, a view backed by unions like the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represented Safeway and Giant workers in the District, who said their members would be threatened by Walmart's lower wages and benefits.

Walmart, in response, launched a Web site to help convince skeptical residents and activists that its presence would be a boon to improving access to groceries in poorer neighborhoods as well as provide jobs to DC residents, at least 1,200 spread out amid the six stores, and also 400 construction jobs. Walmart says that Washingtonians spent $40 million at its stores outside the District in 2010. Walmart also noted that the stores would contribute $10 million a year in tax revenue to the District. "The District is anxious to see something happen," Maier said. "It's not all 100 percent approved but its pretty close," he said.

Walmart now has expanded its plans in the District to six stores, all of which it says will be open before the end of 2012. Besides New Jersey Ave, there will be two in Ward 4 with one at Georgia Ave and Missouri Ave. (rendering at right), where some site prep work is happening as well.

Another store, known as Fort Totten Square will be built at Riggs Road NE and South Dakota Ave. NE (rendering above). Another is planned for Ward 5 at New York Avenue at Bladensburg Road, while two are planned for Ward 7, at East Capitol and 58th and one at Good Hope Road and Alabama Ave.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Giant Steps for New Supermarket on H Street

Nearly as promised, Steuart Investment will officially break ground, tomorrow, July 19th, on its Giant-anchored mixed-use development at 3rd and H Streets in Northeast, after having secured the necessary permits one day before Steuart hoped to break ground - July 1st - on the Torti Gallas and Partners designed 286,500 s.f. of retail and residential.

In less than two years, the corner will offer 215 rental apartments, and an alternative big-box, grocery-shopping experience to Murry's down the street at 6th, which has some telling reviews on Yelp.

The new 42,000 s.f. Giant will take up the majority of the first floor in the six story building, with the remaining bulk, floors two through six, being residential. The ground floor will also offer a small, corner retail bay with 22' ceilings, as well as a lobby.

Giant and Steuart Investment shook hands on the deal in November of last year, when other suitors for the lease - Yes! Organic Market, Trader Joe's, and Harris Teeter - were passed over. Clark Builders Group will take six months to dig down (and construct the foundation to grade) before building up, as two floors of underground parking with 270 spaces - 125 for shoppers and 145 for residents - is planned for the site.
When Guy Steuart, director of Steuart Investment, originally submitted plans for a PUD to the District, around 2005, he hoped to build an 8-story structure with three floors of parking, but the plan was deemed too dense, and height and parking were both trimmed. Of construction on the site, Steuart explained, "The mess will be gone by and large in 18 months... the Giant plans to open in the spring of 2013."

Of the design, shown at left (before height was shaved two stories), Sarah Alexander of Torti Gallas explained, "[The goal was] to integrate [it] into the historic fabric of H Street through breaking the building down into three different facades, the main red brick facade takes on more of a contemporary loft aesthetic, the eastern blond brick portion has large glassy bays which help create a rhythm in keeping with the scale of H Street, with setbacks at the upper level, and finally the small townhouse facade on 3rd Street steps down to the adjacent townhouses to the north."

Councilmember Tommy Wells (Ward 6), who is expected to attend the ground breaking, has previously expressed his approval that the development is a four-block walk to-and-from Union Station Metro, and will be located near a Streetcar stop, when the transit project is completed, hopefully in late 2012.

Joining Wells, tomorrow, should be Mayor Vincent Gray, Giant's vice president of sales Shane Sampson, and Steuart.


Washington D.C. real estate development news

Clark Breaks Ground on Arboretum Place

The Maryland Avenue ray of the officially completed and freshly paved Starburst Intersection has a brand new mixed-use, multi-family development in its future. Like most developments, Arboretum Place, a planned apartment community at 1600 Maryland Avenue, NE, has been continuously delayed by financing complications, originally hoping to break ground in early 2009. But Clark Realty spokeswoman Joy Lutes has confirmed that construction on the project broke ground earlier this month, making the ratio

of hipsters to construction workers in the Atlas District a bit more even.

This will be the first major residential project to get underway in the H Street
vicinity. "We are excited to undertake this project in an area of the city that has continued to experience growth even during the economic downturn and be able to contribute to this historic and vibrant neighborhood," says Clark Development Executive Tracey Thomm.

Originally billed as a 430-unit condo/apartment project, only a smaller initial phase is officially in the works. For the first phase, the $36 million development will deliver 257 apartments, a 250 space parking garage, and 5,000 s.f. ground-floor retail. Units will be offered in a variety of types and sizes: studios as well as one and two bedrooms. According to the developer, the project will bring "high-quality housing to an area that has not benefited from new residential development in many years." Respecting the eclectic and independent nature of the Atlas District, developers say they intend to link up local businesses with the new retail spaces. Clark Realty will also serve as general contractor as the development team aims to deliver the first residencies in the spring of 2012.

Georgia based Preston Partnership provided architectural designs that call for sharp angles and a busy, modern facade of dark red brick, cement, and large glassy bays. The liberal use of glass will offer extensive sight lines into the large central courtyard. Aside from supplying enjoyable outdoor public space, the courtyard helps to disrupt the massing of the buildings, allowing interesting interplays of space, and also blending the development more smoothly with the character of the surrounding residential neighborhoods. Like most residential developments these days, developers have qualified the project with the "luxury" tag, meaning a pool, a business center, a gym, indoor half basketball court, entertainment space, and landscaped gardens complete with fireplace and "meditation courtyard" are all included.

Although H Street currently offers a growing plethora of chic boutiques, trendy bars, and hip restaurants, the area still retains some grittiness: an overabundance of suspect take-out Chinese food spots, liquor stores, and boarded store-fronts. Adding to the aesthetic blight of the area is the scarred H Street, ripped up and littered with orange cones and Jersey barriers while it awaits the ever-delayed streetcars. The only other major residential development on the strip, The Rappaport Companies' large mixed-use redevelopment project running on the south side of H Street between 8th and 10th has been in the works for over three years now, but won't be moving forward soon. Arboretum Place may serve as a beacon of hope, like the Atlas District, a dark horse neighborhood that might challenge 14th & U (or Midcity, if the branding sticks) for the title of most artsy alternative 'hood.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

11th Street Bridge Under Troubled Wires

The 11th Street bridges that span the Anacostia in SE DC are one step closer to a transporation makeover, assuming government agencies can play nice. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) recently reviewed the District Department of Transportation's (DDOT) design, which will replace the 40-year-old 11th Street bridges, improving traffic flow, connecting I-695 and I-295 and creating a pedestrian and bike-friendly addition to the I-295 bridge. The new bridges make accommodations for future street car use of the bridge, including features for (gasp) overhead wires. The bridges will get their makeover, but the street car may have to wait.












According to DDOT, the Southwest/Southeast Freeway (I-695) was originally planned as part of the "Inner Loop Freeway System," a highway system designed in the '50s and built in the '60s that was (thankfully) never fully completed. The portion at issue here was to connect the Inner Loop with the Anacostia Freeway (I-295/DC-295), a plan that was ultimately abandoned; to date motorists have no direct connection between the two highways north of the 11th street bridge complex. DDOT's plan suggests that this inconvenience leads to increased traffic on neighborhood streets like Martin Luther King Jr. Ave, Good Hope Road, Minnesota Ave and Pennsylvania Ave.

The current upstream bridge has four lanes headed north and the downstream bridge has four lanes headed south, for a total of eight lanes (we can add good); the new bridges will have a total of 12 lanes. The upstream bridge (I-695) will get an additional four lanes, or four in each direction, but two will be used as entrance and exit lanes. The downstream bridge (I-295) for local traffic will still have four lanes, two in each direction with the two outer lanes shared, in theory, by street cars and motor vehicles. The local traffic bridge will also include a 14 foot "shared use path" for pedestrians, runners and cyclists.

While the 11th Street Bridge plan does not directly provide for street cars, it does include the tracks, light posts, and overhead wires for the street cars that may eventually help bridge the chasm between the two sides of the Anacostia river. DDOT has been moving full speed ahead on the Anacostia street car program and is pretty excited about it (to anthropomorphize a bit), and weekly updates are now available online. The plan to install track lines in the new 11th street bridge is just another example of foresight by the transportation planning body.

But, DC being a jurisdictional hodge podge of government overlords, enter the turf battle. The NCPC Executive Director's recommendation stated that NCPC "does not support a street car system with overhead wires in the L'Enfant City" and encouraged DDOT "to pursue alternative propulsion technologies...that do not require overhead wires." The same issue was raised about the street car planned for the H Street corridor. The conflict is not going away any time soon.

If you paid attention to our NCPC crib notes last week, you'll remember that their authority over the historic Washington City means it will uphold federal law that prohibits overhead wires from obstructing view of landmarks.

DDOT and NCPC have clear mission statements and long-term plans, which often can work in unison to improve planning in the District. On this issue, however, it looks like we will see a showdown or at least some creative bargaining as the two agencies are pitted against one another in the what future generations will surely call the "Great Street Car Dilemma of L'Enfant City."

Starburst Delta Towers

The starburst intersection in northeast DC, a name given for the five main corridors that radiate outward is, like its astrophysical counterpart that generates exceptionally high star formation, the epicenter of a great deal of commercial development in a relatively small space.  The next real estate project to complete, at the hub of the five corridors (Benning Rd., Florida Avenue, H Street, Maryland Avenue and Bladensburg Road) is the Delta Towers project that faces H Street but carries a Bladensburg Road address.

Delta Towers will be joining Phase 2 of Kettler's Flats at Atlas, adding 325 rental units to Maryland Avenue early next year, 1402 H Street, which completed 28 condos last year, 180 apartment units at 1701 H Street (still being contested) and the gestating Hechinger Mall redevelopment which will transform 8.6 acres into an enormous mixed-use project, to name just a few.

The project is owned by the historic Delta Sigma Theta sorority (founded by Howard University graduates), and includes the '60's era tower next door.  Partnering with Dantes Partners and Gilbane Building Company, the new Delta towers will include 179 subsidized apartments entirely for seniors.  The project is the culmination of decades of work, according to Tom Donaghy of KGD Architecture, the project architect.  On the design of the building for seniors, Donaghy noted the differences from traditional apartment buildings, such as differentiated designs and colors by floor to help with navigation and, to fight loneliness, a double-sided entrance that meets in a central gathering space, as well as universal design principals that make access within individual units easier.  On top, the residents will have their own spaces for private gardens, and the Delta sorority will maintain their headquarters in the new building when it completes late this year.

Project:  Delta Towers

Address:  808 Bladensburg Rd, NE, Washington DC

Developer:  Dantes Partners, Gilbane Building Company

Architect:  KGD Architecture

Construction:  Bozzuto Construction

Interior Design: Determined by Design

Use:  179 subsidized apartments

Expected Completion:  Q4 2020

click image for photo gallery

Washington D.C. retail and real estate development news

The Waiting Game in Mt. Vernon

Mt. Vernon Triangle, on Penn Quarter's northern fringe, could be a poster child for the glaciated development world. Developers now play the waiting game for Mt. Vernon to become an "extension" of the downtown corridor, land occupied by supposedly temporary parking lots remains asphalted, and the unfinished lots seem to symbolize the unrealized potential of a downtown revitalization. Here are a few of the buildings that are thisclose to adding chapters to the Mt. Vernon book. At Mount Vernon Place, Quadrangle Development and their co-developers, the Wilkes Company, are shopping with their broker, Meany&Oliver, for tenants of two planned commercial buildings at 300 and 400 K Street. Originally designed by Hartman Cox with a masonry shell reflective of the surrounding condos, 400 K's 421,677 s.f. and 300 K's 223,869 s.f. have new designs by Davis Carter Scott, now with floor-to-ceiling glass. The larger of the two, 400 K, has a dual-core that can be built in two phases of 210,839 s.f. each with over 23,000 s.f. allotted for retail. 300 K offers over 10,000 s.f. for ground floor retail and the average floors above ground have approximately 21,644 s.f. But even once a lease is secured, estimated delivery time is 24 months - meaning parking will remain. Down 3rd Street from 300 K lies another Quadrangle empty lot at 3rd Street and H Street NW, abutting the 100,000 s.f. office building whose use (AIPAC headquarters) remains a closely guarded secret. A planned residential building, the Cantata, will someday offer 351 units, joining the neighboring Madrigal Lofts and Sonata Condominiums; the developer's unfinished residential symphony. Passersby on Massachusetts Avenue will surely have noticed the blank walls of the AIPAC building at 251 Massachusetts Ave. (above, right), where architects at the Smith Group have left space for the development in waiting. Neighboring 400 K is 425 Eye Street, where Paramount Development and their architects at SmithGroup are performing a full-body makeover on one of the few projects actively moving forward - the former home of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency (rendering below left). The 370,000 s.f. building will offer 30,000 s.f. of ground floor retail/ restaurant space. Construction began summer 2009 and the building should deliver by June. On both the office and retail fronts, brokers indicate they have no contracts "in hand," but a few tenants have been "kicking the tires." Bill Miller, a broker at Transwestern Property Co., is putting stock in the recently secured Buddha Bar coming to nearby 455 Massachusetts. Miller sees the bar as a way to change people's perceptions of Mount Vernon and to connect it in their minds to the 7th Street corridor of nearby Chinatown/Verizon Center. On residential front, the Esocoff & Associates-designed Dumont has been in a bad way for quite some time, coming to a peak with its December 2008 foreclosure and now Ideal Realty Group (IRG), which specializes in multifamily and distressed/bank owned properties, is representing the Lender as a selling agent for the property. Lender PB Capital issued a foreclosure notice in December 2008 when the New York-based developer, The Broadway Group, failed to secure enough deposits to meet the lender's demand. Fully built and starkly empty, the Dumont and its perfectly manicured lawns and shrubbery frame Massachusetts Avenue, promising luxury condos, but most developers that have eyed the project have been more keen on conversion to apartments or even a hotel. Farther down Massachusetts Avenue sits another vacant lot, the future home of the Arts at 5th and I, which Donohoe Companies won the right to develop in September of 2008, promising a high-end hotel, retail outlets and jazz club. According to Memphis Holland of Holland Development, co-developer with Donohoe, the group is still "waiting on the city to finalize our deal with them so we can move forward with the design and with neighboring property owners." More waiting. The lots adjoining 5th and I, 443-459 Eye Street were also the planned site of the now-defunct Walnut Street Development (WSD) Eye Street Lofts project. Though rumored to have sold the property to JBG in 2008 when the shakedown on Arts at 5th and I was about to happen, Walnut Street retained the land. Without the Arts project in hand, JBG opted not to purchase the neighboring lots. Bill McLeod, Executive Director of the Mt. Vernon Triangle CID, indicated it was unlikely that Donohoe would absorb the neighboring properties on Eye Street. Demers Real Estate represents the lots that encompass 443 through 455 Eye street. According to Jon Wilson of Demers, Walnut Street never actually purchased the properties from 443 through 455, though they had been an integral element of the planned residential development, leaving them un-aggregated and, incidentally, some of the rare space actually being converted to use as artists' lofts in place of the old autobody shop, Gold Leaf Studios, the brainchild of Mike Abrams. The property at 459 Eye Street remains under Walnut Street's ownership, according to public records, though the property currently has a Mechanics lien placed on it by the former project architects Eric Colbert and Associates. Still, Jeff Miller, a Managing Principal at Prospect Diversified and board member of the Mt. Vernon Triangle CID, said that though development to date has largely "been multi-family in nature" he expects that "given the dynamics of that market, it will continue to improve." Miller added that the commercial development in Mt. Vernon, given the access to multiple metro lines, will "make the area a natural progression as downtown and the east end get fully leased." We don't expect to be writing about that any time soon. Update 11/11/09 As several readers and developers involved in the area have mentioned the new David Black sculpture installed in front of the Bus Boys and Poets at the corner of 5th and K Streets NW, we decided to include an image as Exhibit A that not everything is stalled in the area. It's a stretch, we know. The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, in collaboration with the Office of Planning, CityVista, Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District selected Black, with the Commission allocating $250,000 to sponsor this project through it Public Art Building Communities grant.

Washington DC commercial real estate news

Park Chelsea Underway in Southeast DC

Construction is underway on the Park Chelsea, located on 880 New Jersey Ave. SE, bordered by Second St. and H St. (also known as Square 737). W.C. Smith + Co.’s development includes 13 floors, 432 units and three underground parking levels with 430 parking spaces. The development also includes plans to extend I Street between Second St. and New Jersey Ave. and connecting H Street into New Jersey Ave. Esocoff & Associates is the project architect. The project is expected to be completed two years from this fall.

The development, located between the Navy Yard Metro and the Capital South Metro, includes various amenities such as a bicycle maintenance facility, fitness center with a yoga studio, a rooftop garden and a cornucopia of pools reaching for that “luxury apartment building” status. Well, there are only two pools, but one’s on the roof and the other is a 75’ indoor lap pool.

This sort of “luxury” construction is new to the area, according to project manager Brad Fennell, though development of the southeast ballpark area is not. Regardless, Fennell thinks this will help create new standards in an area that’s not quite known for architectural prowess but contains a draw of the waterfront, the waterfront park, of course, the National’s stadium.

“I think it sets a new standard for the architectural standard in the neighborhood. I think the units that came before it have reflected the emerging nature of the neighborhood,” said Fennell of the building that bears some obvious resemblance to Esocoff's projects in the 400 block of Massachusetts Ave., NW.

The new development will connect I St. to its other half at New Jersey Ave. and connect H St. to New Jersey Avenue, which will extend the east of reaching the west side of the city and disconnect the loop that now exists.

Because of the new street connections, “the project entails relocating some deep utilities as sort of the pre-cursors, and once that work is complete then we can begin building,” Fennell said. “There’s a deep sewer that currently runs under the street that has to be re-routed."  After completing that unpleasant but necessary work, Fennell said construction on the street and the development will be in full-swing.  He continued to say the new street connections “will help strengthen the east-west connection through the city.”

It should be noted that M St. is connected past New Jersey Ave. as the main thoroughfare, but K and L Streets, one and two blocks south, respectively, are also connected past New Jersey Ave.

Nonetheless, it could help to mitigate traffic and, if nothing else, remove the existing I to First to H loop.

“We think it’s positive for the city,” said Fennell.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

OTO on a Roll with Hampton Inn in Golden Triangle

Hospitality developer OTO Development, the company striving to turn the neo-classical Editor's Building at 1729 H Street, NW, into a Hampton Inn, has been given the green light by the Office of Zoning this week. Corry Oakes, president and CEO of OTO Development – currently under contract to purchase the Editor's Building – said the next step for the Hampton Inn project is to seek approval for interior demolition. With the goal to have demolition underway before the end of the year, construction will likely begin in the first quarter of 2012, said Oakes. The office-turned-hotel renovation, designed by Bob Greenberg with Gordon & Greenberg Architects, will leave the exterior of the 10-story building intact and focus on inner alterations, including revamping an all-marble main lobby, and carving out 116 Hampton hotel rooms, a brand under the Hilton family empire. 

OTO asserts on its website that it will "take great efforts to retain the classic character of this building and to incorporate much of its history into [the] interior design." The sale of the building, owned and occupied by Kiplinger Washington Editor's Inc. for the last six decades, was brokered by Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P., and was initially projected to close this month, however, Dek Potts, a managing director at HFF, says the settlement will now take place in December. Oakes confirmed that OTO does not typically close on a property until it is ready to begin construction, and passing through the Board of Zoning Adjustment's review – allowing for a variance from off-street parking requirements – was a big step toward that goal. 

Washington D.C. real estate development news