Tuesday, June 21, 2011
From Native Dancer to Native Son: Restoring Sagamore Farm
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
The Shops at Dakota Crossing to Break Ground in May
Labels: CSG Urban Partners, Fort Lincoln, Trammell Crow Companies
Costco is scheduled for an August 2012 opening, with the remainder of retailers to open in March 2013.
The pursuit of retailers at Dakota Crossing has been at least a decade in the making with Costco the lead in committing to the site. The plans had been hindered by two obstacles, the primary one being the controversy that ensued over paving the current wetland that filters waste and prevents flooding; Ft. Lincoln New Town Corp. has responded by creating new wetlands reviewed by the US Army Corp of Engineers, the EPA and DC DOE. The second hurdle had been the delay in inspiring additional retailers to sign on to the location.
The shops at Dakota Crossing are part of an extensive development of the area that had started in the 70's under the city's Urban Renewal Plan. The development includes 1370 residential units, including condos and rentals that were built during the 1980’s and 1990’s; the 127-unit Wesley House senior apartments opened early last summer; and 209 town homes were completed in July 2010 that have sold out at an average listing price of $460,000.
Still in the works are the Villages at Dakota Crossing situated at Ft. Lincoln Drive and 33rd Street N.E., an $80 M, 334 town house and condo project for which the January ground breaking has been delayed, as well as the Ft. Lincoln multi-family development of 352 units on target to break ground in 2012. Townhouse construction on the 54 City Homes at Fort Lincoln started this past January.
Despite Fort Lincoln's stated commitment to the environment regarding the retail project in particular - with cisterns, green roofs, green walls, and other low-impact development measures - dismay over the 2000-plus surface parking spaces has fueled the ire of community groups and residents. On its website Anacostia Riverkeepers wrote, "The developer has proposed ways to mitigate storm water, but. . . [we do not] feel the proposed plan goes far enough. Anacostia Riverkeeper is not opposed to the project per se but believes strongly the proposal should be redesigned to protect the existing wetlands and control stormwater pollution in the Anacostia Watershed."Washington, DC Commercial Real Estate Development News
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Mayor Predicts Lift Off for Skyland
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
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Barracks and Castles and Gardens
Labels: Capitol Riverfront, HPRB, ICP Partners, Madison Marquette
While these may represent ordinary changes in Barracks Row, it's the beginning of a series that will include the transition of behemoth The Blue Castle - formally known as the Navy Yard Car Barn - a 99,000 s.f. space that its developers intend to eventually turn over to retail.
This significance of the change on the street is not taken lightly. Even The New York Times had taken notice last month.
The building, purchased for $25 million by Madison Marquette in 2007, now 100% leased, currently houses social service providers and charter schools. "We don't want word to get out there that we're changing something soon because we don't want to scare the tenants," said Retail Director Christina Davies of the Madison Marquette retail group. "They're great tenants."
And yet retail for the neighborhood has always been in the plans. The Blue Castle allows for a massive influx of retail to the area without having to build new construction. In its former life, the building was built in 1891 as the repair center for trolleys and street cars.
What is Madison Marquette waiting for? "The right tenant," said Davies. In the meantime, superstores and smaller businesses are actively courting the developers, they say. "We have the option for both," said Davies. "We can lease to a series of restaurants and banks, for example, or a big box client. We just haven't decided yet."
Davies cites high ceilings as a draw for superstore retailers or, say, a gym. But folks from the Barracks Row Main Street would prefer "vibrant ground level tenants," said Martin Smith, Executive Director for the organization. "We would like to see retail that engages with passers-by," he said. "That traditionally does not include big box stores. There are two levels to the building, however, which may be a terrific place for a big box tenant." Columbia Heights' DCUSA serves as an example, with smaller retail at street level, with Best Buy and Target on upper levels.
Earlier this year, Madison Marquette, ICP Partners LLC, Barracks Row Main Street and Capitol Riverfront District discussed possibilities in zoning changes for various projects. While all storefronts facing historic 8th Street SE will remain at 45 feet in accordance with the zoning overlay, Smith noted the possibility of back-end building expansions of 65 to 85 feet in height on a per project basis, amendments that would allow for bigger clients.
Also in discussion is a second restriction in the overlay of Barracks Row which requires that no more than 50% of available street frontage is allowed to have a liquor license. "This may not be a problem now, but it could be as we move forward," said Smith.
Washington, D.C. Real Estate development news
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Arlington's Block Busting Year
Labels: Arlington, Courthouse, Davis Carter Scott, Elm Street Development, Harkins Builders, Rosslyn, Torti Gallas, WDG Architecture, Wilson Boulevard, Zom Inc
Elm Street Development plans to start its construction on 2000 Wilson Boulevard (formerly the Taco Bell and Dr. Dremo's site), known now as 2001 Clarendon, with 30,000 s.f. of retail space and 154 residential units, while USAA, which purchased the 1900 block of Wilson Boulevard late last year, plans to start work this fall on a mixed-use, predominantly residential project. Working out approvable developments on both sites required land swapping and an endowment of land to Arlington to extend Troy Street, connecting Wilson and Clarendon Boulevards. Meanwhile, developers at the eastern end of the superblock on Rhodes Street are still vying to get financing to double the size of the office space and integrate retail.
2000 Wilson
The stuttering progression at 2001 Clarendon was initially planned to begin in late 2007 as a condominium, but in 2008 switched to apartments (in theory), shooting for a 2010 completion. In early 2010 Elm Street VP Jim Mobley said the team was again "looking at" the concept of condos, "financing dependent." With financing now in place (underwritten as apartments), construction is near, with the likely chance of condo conversion down the road. Retail space will front 3 streets, subdivided into small storefronts. Because of Elm Street's rejiggering of the plans, at Arlington's suggestion, no permits have been issued, but sources for the project say work is expected to commence late this year.
George Dove, Managing Principal at WDG Architecture, which designed the 6 story "extremely contemporary" building, notes the challenges facing the climbing site. "From a zoning standpoint, between Courthouse and Rosslyn, you have a sequence of height limits, and you have elevation changes, so it has a series of levels that drop-off as you move down the street, like stair-steps. This had alot to do with driving the design." Besides shooting for basic LEED certification, an Arlington requirement, 2001 Clarendon will incorporate a series of green roofs. "This is the antitheses of the high-rise, urban, compact residential project. It stretches out over a much larger floorplate. That gives alot of rooftop areas at different levels, it is definitely not a boring facade," said Dove.
1900 Wilson
Across the (not yet built) street, USAA has purchased 1900 Wilson Boulevard, along with its plans for a 5-story mixed-use residential building. USAA bought the Hollywood Video site from Zom, Inc., which had already birddogged plans to construct residences through Arlington's approval process. USAA will retain Zom as a fee developer to build out the project. Torti Gallas designed the more urban seeming structures with large retail spaces along Clarendon Boulevard and live/work spaces along Wilson Boulevard.
Sources involved in the development say no dates have been set, but that work is "on target" to materialize this year, and Hailey Ghalib of USAA says the the developer expects to build in the third quarter of this year and is working with Harkins Builders on pre-construction issues, but has not yet signed a construction contract nor obtained construction permits. Construction is expected to last 22 months.
1800 Wilson
The lone holdout at this point is the eastern end of the block, slated to demolish Rhodeside Grill and Il Radicchio to more than double the office space used by the National Science Teachers Association. The NSTA has teamed with developer DRI to expand their Arlington headquarters at 1840 Wilson, with an approved site plan in hand. NSTA hopes to build a 107,000 s.f. office building with 10,000 s.f. of retail, taking up an adjacent surface parking lot. The site plan was initially approved in November 2005, amendments were approved in July 2008 and November 2008 to resolve façade and parking issues, but the project is on hold pending financing, which the team is "working very hard" to secure, of course. The NSTA has already contracted Davis Carter Scott as the architect and DPR Construction Company as the general contractor, if and when the bankers come to the rescue.
As if that weren't enough, work is now underway next door in the 1700 block of Wilson Boulevard, where Skanska is building a 5 story office building. Get ready for a loud but productive year, and lots of cranes.
Arlington Virginia real estate development news
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
The War On Windows
Monday, October 18, 2010
Transforming Pee-wee’s Playhouse
For a bilingual 3-year-old in Washington, her father’s Russian heritage and a TV program’s format resulted in an unprecedented bedroom design challenge where Vienna, Va.-based interior designer Rachel James was concerned.
As a guest designer on HGTV’s child-centric program “Kidspace,” the former elementary, middle and high school guidance counselor-turned-designer, celebrated for her inspired children’s designs, set out to honor the family’s legacy but also to cultivate the interests of a spirited toddler with a predilection for nesting, reading and hide-and-seek – all on a $1,000 budget. The result: a Russian-themed room that reflected the cathedrals of St. Petersburg, including a headboard reminiscent of the fabled onion domes of Russian architecture, and a special domed tent into which the child could escape with books and just about anything else.
“In real life,” James elaborated, “the cathedral domes are candy-colored.” To that end a wooden headboard was “jigsawed out,” with batting, and the colorful fabric stretched across. The top of the headboard consisted of wooden sconces turned upside-down to emulate the points of the cathedral: high and low. The English and Russian alphabets were splashed across an opposite wall, and instead of an all-too-popular pink, the designer chose a kid-friendly but more elegant shade of purple, with a little chandelier to boot, so that as the child grows there will be less need for an additional redecorating expenditure. “It spoke to the needs of the parents and the child’s own preferences,” James said, “and it also is a fun, colorful room for her to grow up in.”
Don’t Eat Paste
Color palette, parental ideas and the child’s personality all withstanding, James takes the concept of kids’ design quite seriously when it comes to issues of safety, functionality and the kinds of toxic emissions readily found in such items as carpeting, where glue, backing and stain guards contain high levels of VOC’s. “In a study I think was done in Europe,” James said, “they actually found those compounds in breast milk, so it’s getting to the child somehow.” The designer said that more and more, parents are interested in eco-friendly carpeting and while she believes no product is 100 percent green, there are rugs made of natural wool and backing. And on the heels of hundreds of reported child choking fatalities, James’ drapery workroom, Stephenson Vestal, is the noted inventor and initial manufacturer of the Safe-T-Shade, a cordless conveyor for Roman and Balloon shades that eliminates visible cords and their inherent threats to young children. They work on a spring issue, according to James, and have been endorsed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. She uses them liberally, when warranted, in her kids’ room designs.
Out Came the Sun
Where window treatments are concerned, James recalled a client whose 4-year-old was waking up each day at about 4 in the morning, and the exhausted parents came to her inquiring about blackout shades. Incorporating such with their daughter’s penchant for princesses and ball gowns (translation: things that are sparkly, magical, light and airy) presented another design challenge for James.
“Window treatments are very expensive and good design, along with quality furniture, is also very expensive,” James said candidly. “And kids grow so fast and their preferences change so much, sometimes every day, the majority of my clients want something that’s going to grow with the child.” Blackout lining, for example, can be put into almost any kind of fabric aside from a sheer or mesh, so James took the child’s two favorite colors, pink and a “turquoise-y blue,” in a shimmery fabric, and made drapery panels that contained the blackout element. A standard pleat and traversing rod on top, which helps them open and close quickly, finished the concept. “It’s flashy and iridescent,” James recalled, “and at 12, she’ll like it. Maybe even at 16 or college age, she’ll like it.”
According to James, while there are plenty of “child-centered, child-themed, child-sized things, and some of these things are so hopelessly adorable you can’t help but get a little club chair or mini-desk,” most manufacturers today recognize that people buy things into which children will grow. Sometimes the price point is higher for furniture that lends itself to conversion, and you have to pay for a conversion kit, James said, but for many parents the cost of a kit for when the child makes the transition from crib to bed is better than buying a whole new bed, for example. “It all depends on the motivation of the client to keep redoing the room,” she added.
Where the Wild Things Are
Fabrics-wise, especially for kids of toddler age, James said it’s a function of being a kid to smash trucks, spill Kool-Aid or drop popsicles. Stores such as Jo-Ann and entities such as eBay are good resources for more inexpensive and so-called kid-proof fabrics, and people tend to gravitate towards Target, Kmart or Walmart for durable kids’ furnishings and the like. “I have a designer friend with two kids who has just slipcovered everything,” James quipped.
Because of her education and psychology background, James said parents are often excited because they know that she is really in touch with their child’s sensibilities. If the child is older, James includes him or her in the design process by asking about favorite colors, favorite things to do, where and how the child plays, and how the child would describe him or herself.
“I think just like with any other design, there is a balance between functional interiors and beautiful interiors,” James said of her child-centered motifs, adding that she really misses being in school with the kids. “At some point, I’d like to go back into the helping professions, but for now, I really love what I’m doing.”
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Costco Tantalizing DC's Gateway
Labels: Bignell Watkins Hasser, Trammell Crow Companies
The site seems a developer's dream: 42 empty, contiguous acres, flanking one of DC's main migratory routes. Because it is situated in the residential Fort Lincoln neighborhood and nearby industrial uses are mostly defunct, residents pine for a major retail center somewhere, anywhere, in their quadrant. The plan shows 430,000 s.f. of retail served by 2500 surface parking spaces, connected to a 362-acre housing development planned across the street - The Village at Dakota Crossing, with 537 townhouses, 30 affordable workforce units, 500 more parking spaces and a pedestrian-friendly layout with wide sidewalks, tot-lots and community spaces. The land is a stone's throw away from the National Arboretum and within a 5-minute walk of the Anacostia River But development has hit two main obstacles. The first is getting retailers to commit to a large project in a suburban setting, which tests current financing models, although Costco has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent to occupy the property. The other is the dated nature of the plans: 20 years ago, paving over a large, unused plot in the city to build a regional shopping center would have easily passed city government hurdles, whatever the environmental or historic implications. But the contentious, yet sought-after site is now entirely forested and home to wetlands, filtering nearby industrial waste and acting as a natural barrier against flooding. "Our plans call for creating new, high quality wetlands near the retail center as mitigation for taking away the existing wetlands, which have been documented as very low quality, marginally functioning wetlands.
Monday, July 26, 2010
La Vida VIDA: New Affordable Senior Housing in Brightwood
Formerly known as Educational Organization for United Latin Americans, the newly renamed 501(c)(3) that serves over 600 DC-area seniors annually is getting ready to add another 36 units to its stock. Located on Missouri Avenue on a now vacant lot, VIDA will build affordable senior housing in Ward 4, where the largest concentration of the District's seniors live. This is the first time VIDA is developing housing, with financing that got creative. The development team - comprised of VIDA Senior Centers, Dantes Partners as the Development Consultant, Zavos Architecture and Design, NDC Real Estate for property management, and Hamel Builders as General Contractor - used a multilayer financing approach. Tapping into federal stimulus programs (Section 1602 Tax Credit Exchange), Neighborhood Investment Funds (NIF), private bank debt and an Enterprise Green Communities grant, the development secured financing for an area that has seen little new residential development since the financing bust several years ago. "We were fortunate to have been selected as an innovative project that served a unique need. We were lucky enough to have partners who believed in our vision," said Jordan Bishop of Dantes Partners.
With four stories of new affordable and accessible rental units, the five-story independent-living senior center will provide services that include meals, music, presentations, dancing, minor checkups, medication management, "spiritual activities," and private van transportation, and of course bingo and chess. The project is being billed as "transit-oriented development," despite the lack of a nearby Metro station, which makes it easier to get the zoning variance of 4 parking spots rather than the required 6.
Zavos Architecture and Design, a firm with experience in non-profit, affordable and sustainable community-oriented development, designed into the project a number of "quality of life improving" and energy reducing features. Those include a vegetated roof with walk-on terrace space to manage storm water, reduce heating and cooling loads on the building and provide outdoor green space for residents; permeable parking and other drive areas to allow storm water to filter naturally into the ground and reallocate infrastructural funds to services; high-emissive roofing rather than traditional EPDM to deflect the sun's heat and reduce associated cooling costs; privately metered electricity and hot water to encourage reduced consumption (for a generation always yelling at you to wear a sweater and turn down the heat, that shouldn't be an issue); improved indoor air quality through the installation of non-toxic and non-allergenic flooring; and the maximization of daylight in all units to minimize the use of artificial lighting and improve indoor environmental quality.
"I am most proud of having been able to fit so many services in such a small building. Envisioning people spending the latter part of their lives in this building is something we took seriously. We have designed a quality place for them," remarked Tim Daniel, the project architect for the VIDA-developed housing.
While the elderly account for 12% of the District’s population, retirement age individuals make up over 18% of the population of Ward 4. VIDA has traditionally served the District’s Latino senior citizens, but it is expanding its target demographic to meet growing needs in other populations, specifically identifying African-Americans and immigrants of Caribbean and Brazilian backgrounds, among others.
"The initial goal was always to provide high quality senior housing at affordable rental rates (50% AMI - Area Median Income) and to combine this with space on the ground floor to provide services specifically targeted to seniors. With the recent closing and groundbreaking, we are well on track to achieving these desirable goals," said Jordan Bishop of Dantes Partners. The groundbreaking will take place at 10:30am.
Washington DC real estate development news
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Obama Cool in the Age of Insecurity
Labels: Architecture, L'Enfant Terrible, Moshe Safdie
If the good citizens of Annapolis ever decide to invade the District of Columbia, drunk, chewing on unlit cigars and armed to the teeth, they will make it no further than 99 New York Avenue, the fortress headquarters of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms. But until that day, the ATF building will remain the worst building in Washington D.C.
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the federal government redoubled its efforts, begun after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building, to make sensitive government buildings more secure. In the fifteen years since Oklahoma City, bollards, planters, walls, and retractable security gates have replaced park benches, eliminated landscaping, and narrowed sidewalks around most federal buildings in Washington and around the nation. For most of our important ceremonial buildings, the GSA has cleverly concealed these security measures within the architecture. For instance, few visitors to Washington would ever guess that the low wall around the Washington Monument is the last line of defense against a dump truck packed with explosives.
But even in Washington, the ATF Headquarters, designed by Israeli/Canadian/American architect Moshe Safdie and completed in 2008, breaks new and disturbing ground for architectural insecurity. Driving along New York Avenue (because nobody would ever want to walk near this building) one is arrested by the colossal barricade trying desperately to fill up the block. The ATF offices cower on the south side of the site away from New York Avenue, like a dog expecting to be kicked. In between the barricade and the building is a lovely no-mans-land. Dead end steps lead down from New York Avenue into this secret garden as if the garden had originally been intended as public refuge from the traffic noise of New York Avenue only to be walled off at the last moment by neurotic security consultants.
On the south and east sides of the site, just steps from the New York Avenue Metro station, gateway to the burgeoning NoMa neighborhood, the bulk of the building is hidden behind a single-story security cordon, making 2nd street feel like an alley where a few of the cordon's undistinguished storefronts have been turned over to retail. But these spaces feel like they've been banished from the kingdom, left to live as undesirables outside the castle walls. The only unobstructed view of the actual office building is from the narrow N Street side, but even here the building is sequestered from the street by bollards and planters and too-tall walls and even taller fences and a pointless pergola.
The dead end steps, the DMZ garden, the inhospitable retail, the planters and bollards and pergola--on all sides this is an unremarkable office building subsumed by architectural paranoia, dressed up with empty urban gestures. So why is this building in Washington DC at all? Why not exile it to a remote site outside the beltway?
This was the strategy of the American Consulate in Istanbul, the first of the post 9/11 embassies, which New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman dubbed the place Where Birds Don't Fly. The suburban embassy is too hard a target for terrorists to bother with, but more to the point, its very inaccessibility has made it a symbol not of our highest values but our worst fears. The best that can be said of the Istanbul Consulate is that it is not in Istanbul at all, but far away from anyplace that matters, like the crazy aunt in the attic. But in Washington DC, the ATF has stumbled out onto the front porch, wearing nothing but a top hat and tutu, and is screaming at the neighbors about alien invasions.
Fortunately there is prescription for this architectural nervous disorder: Philadelphia architects', Kieran/Timerlake’s design for the new American Embassy in London. Perched atop a gently sloping berm and surrounded by a reflecting pool, the glass cube, swathed in bubble wrap, is alighted on an open colonnade at street level. The design for the new American Embassy is distinctly urbane and utterly unflappable: Obama cool. Posed conspicuously on the south bank of the Thames, surround by a decidedly urban neighborhood of office buildings, this building is not afraid of the crowds. It will be the life of the party. Home to the "High-Tech-Modern Architects," Richard Rogers and Norman Foster, London is a showcase of technological innovation in architecture. But even in such sophisticated company, Kieran/Timberlake's design stands out. The bubble wrap insulates and regulates sunlight and features next-generation "thin film" photovoltaics, a technology pioneered in the United States. But more important than the transparent skin, is the openness at the street. The first floor colonnade is a stylish storefront, taking its cues from the transparent Apple Stores, drawing in shoppers from the marketplace of ideas. Openness, transparency, technology: these are the values that America's buildings should symbolize around the world, and the values that should inform our federal buildings here at home. The ATF building will go down as one of the starkest expressions of a dark age in American federal architecture, but there is light on the horizon.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Courthouse Condos: Someday, Somehow
Labels: Arlington, Courthouse, Elm Street Development, WDG Architecture
Monday, March 29, 2010
Camp Springs Eternal
Labels: Archstone, Branch Avenue Metro Station, Prince George's County
In 2008, Archstone secured approval for a massive 19-acre mixed-use development, the Town Center at Camp Springs. The Town Center plans called for 801 rental apartments and 65,359 s.f. of retail to attract young professionals and employees of several nearby federal facilities. Though groundbreaking was supposed to begin this past fall, like so many projects, the Town Center remains another undeveloped Metro site, another victim of the times.
Peter Jakel, a Communications Manager for Archstone, told DCMud, "the project is planned for a future construction start, but we have not yet established a definite start date." An all-too-familiar chorus for a promising metro-oriented development.
In 2008, Archstone Senior Vice President Rob Seldin described his project as a sort of tipping point for the County, that drawing in young professionals and their entrepreneurial spirit would mean jobs and a new tax base. Seldin explained that, historically, "in PG County, it is typically very difficult to have housing approved, so really, what's been happening is these highly educated, highly skilled, highly compensated workers have been systematically disenfranchised, so they go to Arlington." The horror. Camp Springs would, according to Seldin, offer the same Arlington appeal to the young professional demographic and draw them into Prince George's County. But now that many college-educated, potential-homebuying, young professionals are unemployed and living at home, the Town Center at Camp Springs target market has dwindled.
The project, when begun, will deliver in three phases. Ideally, the first phase will offer 416 units, a 7,000 s.f. private club house with pool, followed by the second phase with similar amenities and 385 units. Phase three will be the retail space, all designed by The Preston Partnership, LLC. What year this will happen, no one seems willing to guess.
Other nearby metro-centric projects have fared better. Metropolitan Development's Metroplace at Town Center, situated between Auth Way and Suitland Parkway, began leasing its 397 rental units in 2006, and report being 92% leased. Across from Metroplace are two more residential projects, Chelsea Way and Tribeca, both developed by Wood Partners. Without the added value of retail from Town Center, however, Camp Springs will continue to be relegated to the category of sprawl rather than high-density metro-oriented development.
Prince George's County real estate and development news