Southwest Wharf Developers Move onto Design Phase

With Zoning Commission approval of the First Stage zoning application secured last week, PN Hoffman and Madison Marquette - joint developers of the $2-billion Wharf in Southwest - now turn to the completion of the Second Stage PUD, in order for submittal early next year.

The Hoffman-Madison team has been gaining momentum in filling its 3.2 million s.f. development along the northern shore of the Washington Channel and aims to begin construction on the first phase (of three) in the first quarter of 2013.

The first phase of construction, expected to take four years, will build out 40 percent of the entire development with parcels 2 thru 5 (seen to the right).

Site designs, in order from north to south, will include: two apartment towers above a 100,000-s.f. multi-purpose theater (parcel 2); a four-star, 268-room hotel by Carr Hospitality and InterContinental Hotels Group, which purchased the site in early October, and office space with signed tenant the Graduate School USA (parcel 3); an apartment and condominium building (parcel 4), and two JBG Companies-operated hotels, a limited service and an extended stay (parcel 5). All of the parcels will include ground floor retail, with the combined total approximately 300,000 s.f.

The first phase also includes the restructuring of portions of 7th and 9th Streets at Maine Avenue, a new Capital Yacht Club, two new piers - "City Pier" off of 9th and "Transit Pier" - and a major infrastructure overhaul of Water Street, the grand scheme being to turn Water Street (running parallel to the shore) into a promenade with 60' of width shared between pedestrians, streetcars, bikes, and outdoor diners.

The Wharf is being developed in partnership with the District, which agreed to provide $200 million in public financing in 2008. Madison Marquette joined PN Hoffman as a partner in the spring of 2010, after the partnership with Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse faltered. PN Hoffman and Struever were selected by the now-defunct Anacostia Waterfront Corporation as the joint Master Developer for the Southwest Waterfront in 2006.

Update: 11/7 Added in residential plan for parcel 4, corrected second pier name to "Transit Pier," and changed "Office of Zoning" to "Zoning Commission"

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Southwest Waterfront's Wharf Waved Forward by NCPC

Yesterday, the National Capital Planning Commission waved forward the First Stage PUD of PN Hoffman and Madison Marquette's $2-billion development of the Southwest waterfront known as "The Wharf". The vote to "comment favorably" was raised before Matthew Steenhoek, development manager for PN Hoffman, even had the chance to make a final remark. NCPC commission members noted that the PUD honors NCPC's request from November 2010 to "strengthen the physical and visual connections to the Banneker Overlook." Subsequently, Market Square (below Banneker) was expanded, and the opening between two residential towers at the end of 10th Street was widened. 

A pedestrian connection from Banneker Overlook to Maine Avenue was also added into the plan, which will be included in phase two of development. The Zoning Commission reviewed the First Stage PUD and related map amendment in mid-September, and may take final action this month, after which the development team can submit the Second Stage PUD, which will detail design and architecture specifics, whereas the First Stage deals with building massing, land uses, open space development, waterfront development/improvement and related map amendment. Hoffman-Madison hopes to submit the Second Stage early next year, in order to begin construction on the first phase (of three) in the first quarter of 2013. Of the 3.2 million s.f. to be developed on land abutting the northeastern shore of the Washington Channel, the first phase of construction will be on the middle four parcels ( 2 through 5) which constitutes 40 percent of the entire development. Parcel 3 will be the location of Carr Hospitality and InterContinental Hotels Group's four-star, 268-room hotel. And, according to Steenhoek, the JBG Companies will operate two hotels - a limited service and an extended stay - at parcel 5. Parcel 2 will be two residential towers above a 4,000-seat multi-purpose theater. 

All of the buildings include ground floor retail. A significant aspect of the entire development is the creation of Wharf street, a main avenue along the waterfront for cafes, cars, pedestrians, pier access, bikes and even streetcars. The Wharf will be a privately owned street and will overtake the existing Water Street, the closure of which was approved by the Council in April, and currently awaits approval by Congress. 

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Plans Submitted for Southwest Wharf Waterfront

Visions of a "world class" waterfront destination along the Washington Channel in Southwest had been dancing in developers' heads for years before a contract was awarded by the District in 2008. On June 28th the winning team's vision became more clear when PN Hoffman and Madison Marquette filed a preliminary report with the D.C. Zoning Commission, clarifying its plans for the 52 acres (including build out on the water) that will be radically revamped as "The Wharf" to be constructed in three phases over the next 10 years.

Phase one of the project - encapsulated for approval as the "Stage 1 PUD" - will be reviewed by the Commission on July 18th. In addition to reviewing Stage 1, the Commission will rule on the request to rezone the area from R-3 to C-3-C on land, and from unzoned to W-1 in the water.

If approved, the initial stage will be valid for 18 months, allowing developers that long to submit the final Master Plan to the office of the Deputy Mayor's for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) for approval. Construction of the first phase is projected to begin in late 2012, and is expected to last until 2016. In those four years, phase two will undergo the review and approval process.

Phase 1 will begin in the middle section, roughly from 7th Street to 9th Street, in between the entertainment-heavy section closest to I-395, which focuses on water-transit-oriented piers and redevelopment of the Municipal Fish Market (phase two), and the residential area at the southern end (phase three). Redevelopment of the Municipal Fish Market will take place in phase 2.

Phase one includes the restructuring of portions of 7th, 9th, N St and M Place; a new Capital Yacht Club; two new piers - "City Pier" off of 9th and "7th Street Pier" - and a major infrastructure overhaul of Water Street. The grand scheme is to turn Water Street into a promenade with 60' of width shared between pedestrians, streetcars, bikes and outdoor diners.

The parcels in phase one (2,3,4 and 5) will be developed as office, retail, residential and hotel space. Parcels 3 through 5 could potentially be 130' high, as is permitted in a C-3-C zone. The plan shows that parcels 3 and 4 will have ground floor retail and office and/or residential towers, parcel 5 will hold two hotels, and parcel 2 is slated to become a concert/entertainment venue with seating for 4,000 to 6,000.

Parcel 3, at the corner of Maine Avenue and 9th Street, has been claimed in part by the Graduate School USA, which will take up 190,000 s.f. of space and operate 18 hours a day. A temporary Kastles Stadium, now located near parcel at 9th and Maine Street and intended to be temporary, is now being considered for parcel 2.

Holland & Knight, legal counsel for PN Hoffman and Madison Marquette, submitted the project's prehearing statement to the Commission in May, and the more recent "20 day [in advance of hearing] submission" on June 28th. Significant changes in both prehearing documents that will affect phase one include a decreased F.A.R. (floor area ratio), the removal of residential use at parcel 5, reduced parking spaces and increased bike docking areas. Most encouraging is the reduction of subsidized housing required by the District from 30% to 20% of total housing.

A community workshop was given by the developers on June 7, where several issues were raised, most of them surrounding the riparian development, including the depth of the channel, and the extended length of several piers, which cuts the width of the channel from 400' to 200' wide.

Subsequent development will include a revamped Banneker Park and the Southwest Ecodistrict of 10th Street (not controlled by Team Wharf), which will ideally provide a link from the waterfront to the Mall.

Other elements of the overall development (all three phases) include a combined 3.2 million s.f. gross floor area (3.87 F.A.R.), 8 to 12 acres of park/open space with "programmed public activities" catering to year-round use, 625 hotel rooms, 1,200 "mixed-income" residential units, and 400 to 500 Marina Slips

The entire project is estimated to need $2 billion; the District pledged $200 million in 2008 in tax increment financing. The redevelopment, say developers, has the potential to bring in $40 million in tax revenue annually.

ANC 6D will hold a meeting, in advance of the Zoning Commission hearing, at the Dept. of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) at 7pm, next Monday, July 11th.

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Fish Market Concept Takes Shape, SW Waterfront PUD Application Coming Soon

While developers of the Southwest Waterfront still aren't ready to promise much in the way of architectural specifics or set-in-stone timelines, they've become rather adept at presenting their vision of transformation. Such acumen is attributable to the vivid imagination of the planners and developers amassed from the project partnership between PN Hoffman, Madison Marquette, and design firm EEK. But if practice really does make perfect, their busy itinerary of power point presentations can't hurt either. Last week, Madison Marquette and master planner Stan Eckstut, Principal of EEK, attended the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) meeting to share their most up to date concepts.

While these informational meetings are important, developers expect to truly kick off the planning review process with their Stage One PUD application submittal in late 2010, early 2011. This will initiate a more intensive public communication process, followed by a Stage Two PUD as more details are hashed out, and fingers crossed, a late 2012 groundbreaking. A full build-out will take seven to eight years from the start of the construction. Although not concrete, developers expect a middle portion of the development, including three buildings and the parks and public space surrounding them (it sounds vague because it is), to be the heart of Phase One. Like all phases of the project, construction will be focused on creating captivating public space first, and erecting buildings second. But as buildings do spring up in each phase of development, they will always do so as a balanced mix of office, retail, and residential, never all one or the other. Developers are also hoping that secured financing and improving market demand will allow them to reach as far west as to include the Fish Market and Market Square in their Phase One plans. "As probably the most dynamic and active aspect of the redevelopment, we want the Fish Market to be an early stage part of the project," says Anselm Fusco, Senior VP of Investments at Madison Marquette, "It would really help set the tone and put a flag in the sand."

But what exactly will Market Square be? What will it look like? After listening to Eckstut's NCPC presentation last week, Office of Planning Direct Harriet Tregoning characterized the concept as a "happy collision of pedestrians, vehicles, and bicycles, where everyone is forced to slow down." Angela Sweeney, Vice President of Marketing at Madison Marquette, seconded this appraisal. In an analogy using the redevelopment site as a giant domestic entity, Fusco described Market Square as "the kitchen of the house, the most dynamic, vibrant, and bustling space." Eckstut promised to preserve the unique and gritty character of the Fish Market, saying "we want to keep the same messiness, the same crazy parking scheme."

The goal is "to preserve the integrity of what's there and intelligently augment it," explains Fusco. A trip to iconic West coast marketplaces such as Granville Island Public Market, Seattle's Pike Place Market, and San Francisco's Ferry Building served as inspiration a plenty for the project planners. This indoor-outdoor marketplace will be re-imagined at the Fish Market/Market Square with fresh seafood spread out on 90-foot long blocks of ice, complemented by a seasonal green market where not only neighborhood foodies will frequent for a bushel of fresh produce, but where also local chefs and restaurateurs will come to cultivate long-term relationships with local farmers and producers. "The idea of what was once the Head House will be re-appropriated as Market Hall (think Pike's Place), an indoor space, but a very permeable place that will feature more permanent tenants selling both prepared foods and hard goods," says Fusco. Supplement the water-meets-land Marketplace concept with a plethora of picnic tables, public plazas, piazza lighting, cafes, bakeries, and a standalone microbrewery, then color it with the "whole neon sign thing" of the Fish Market (as Fusco calls it), finally, populate the space with a dynamic demographic of people, and you've got what Eckstut believes will be "a place that feels authentic and alive and real...a jolt from the federal Mall experience." To top it all off (literally) developers intend to accentuate the Marketplace with a large iconic sign, for purposes of place-making and way-finding.

Such a commerce-centric place would go a long way towards meeting the 20% local business minimum requirement of the Land Disposition Agreement (LDA), but developers believe throughout the Waterfront redevelopment, not just at the Marketplace, the retail makeup will skew towards community-based merchants. There will certainly be a mix of local, regional, and national tenants," says Fusco, "The retail experience in each area will vary." Continuing his "rooms-of-a-house" analogy, the 7th Street Park and kayaking pier dubbed The Landing "will have a very different feel: largely green, with lots of trees and landscaping, more like the dining room of the house, formal and quieter." This unique space will feature a different character restaraunt, a boutique, not a nationally franchised, big-boxed retailer, while 9th Street's City Pier will be "larger scaled with a big long, wide pier, a ferry landing, with lots of activity and tall ships coming in." Here is where the national tenants would be more likely to find a home, Fusco postulates. Further down the Wharf to the east we find the M Street Landing, the family-friendly rec room of the house, possibly featuring an ice rink in the winter and big water fountains for children to frolic in the heat and humidity of the summer--a little more fun and less formal than the dining room. Even farther east, a meandering pedestrian finds an expansive well-scaled public park, featuring a large halo of trees insulating a rolling lawn. As Fusco puts it: "It will be a park in the traditionally conceived sense of it, enabling passive recreation, and providing a sense of quiet."

Although it may be sometime before this impressive vision becomes reality, Angela Sweeney promises that her development team is "focused on creating and activating the site before an actual groundbreaking happens. We will continue to offer expanded and enhanced on-site programming." Another reason for optimism is the LDA stipulation that the $198 million tax increment financing promised by the District must be used for public amenities--further emphasizing the developers genuine focus on creating an assortment of vibrant, diverse, and inviting public arenas, not simply a canopy of concrete. So far, developers have proven they can dream big. How these dreams mesh with the practical parameters of the Planning Office and feasibility of the financial climate remains to be seen.


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Architects and Developers Roll Out Concepts for Southwest Waterfront

Last night at the Arena Stage, as the developers from Madison Marquette and PN Hoffman, as well as lead planning architect Stan Eckstut of EE&K, presented their master plan for the redevelopment of the Southwest Waterfront, one thought really stuck: it's going to take a boatload of time, money, and effort to make these ideas reality. The vision was colorful, imaginative, and mostly astounding, with prospects of a world class waterfront with international port-cities like Genoa, Auckland, Baltimore, and Seattle as inspiration. If only they had a plan for how to pay for it or when to build it.

Unfortunately the idea men are real estate developers, not wizards, and it will take more than a PowerPoint presentation to transform the city's Southwest Waterfront. But with no definite time-line given or dedicated financing, developers seem to be turning to the increasingly common fallback of government-sponsored housing. Some of the basic tenets of their master plan were released: 840,000 s.f. of office space, 335,000 s.f. of ground floor retail, several entertainment and cultural features (maritime museum maybe?), three hotels totaling 600 keys, as well as over 500 residential units, fully half of them being set aside for low-income residents at 60% AMI or less - one of the District's lower end income caps for subsidized housing. The presenters also promised that 60% of the 27 acres would be public space, emphasizing their belief that creating buildings is not their primary focus, it's shaping spaces for a 4-season destination for commerce and recreation.
While the development details set for dry land were compelling, developers stressed that their vision really begins and ends with the water itself. Their plan sees the two major yacht clubs significantly expanded, almost doubling their holding capacity to four or five hundred slips. Their concept also stretches several large piers well out into the channel, each plank serving a different purpose. The "City Pier" will extend from 9th Street, welcoming larger cruising vessels with a bandstand of some kind, where the "mayor can welcome visitors" (Greetings, Mr. Putin, how was your boat trip to America?) and pedestrians can enjoy concerts and fireworks. Planners hoped a modern lighthouse-like tower would anchor this pier on land, but admitted developers had not figured out a way to pay for this yet (not to mention the rest of the project). Another pedestrian-heavy and recreational pier will split the waterfront in half, wedged between the two marinas, planners sketched the picture of a small sailing school, kayaks and boat rentals. On the far west side of the waterfront, a wider pier will feature a plethora of dinner boats, stretching the many future dining options out onto the water.
On land, "The Wharf" will be the main pedestrian-centric thoroughfare, taking the right of way from the few vehicles that venture down the water's edge. Wide bike lanes will run along the inner portion of the expansive sidewalks stretching from current Fish Market to M Street. And developers are hoping that by including a streetcar line down the middle of the street, the District will be compelled to get moving on their pledge to make public streetcar transit a reality. Maine Avenue will shoulder most of the vehicular traffic, with District officials having requested the closing of Water Street, and will feature bus drop offs and a 2,500-space below-grade parking garage. Other land-side features include the re-imagining of the fish market as a year-round "Market Square" featuring brew pubs, cafes, restaurants, and picnic areas. On the opposite side, a large open park at P Street will be vehicle-free and less dense, transitioning the development into the neighborhood.

Cicada-like hisses greeted Eckstut's mention of stretching some buildings to a height of 11-stories and 130-feet, but the architect defended such dimensions as allowing wider, more inviting sight lines and access points to the waterfront, massing density vertically in strategic locations to allow a more porous, open waterfront. A more agreeable talking point was his promise that those currently living on boats at Gangplank Marina would not be threatened and expelled by the new plans.

The details of the development are many, and are difficult to bundle into a comprehensive understand via prose, but blog Southwest Quadrant has a solid bullet-pointed rundown of the major features. The entire PUD will be submitted to the Zoning Commission later this fall, with many lively public hearings set for the spring. Phase I construction can't be expected until at least 2012, despite a recent groundbreaking, and construction could take upwards of eight years. And that's a best case scenario. The development team was awarded the project in January of 2008.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

SW Waterfront Nets its First Casualty

Just weeks after the City Council's approval of a Land Disposition Agreement authorizing the Hoffman-Struever, LLC’s redevelopment of the Southwest Waterfront, progress, of a kind, is already being made. The first casualty of the development process appears to be the Virgo Fish House – a staple restaurant of the famed Maine Avenue Fish Market. Shrimp cocktail enthusiasts shouldn’t fret, however; while the restaurant’s current quarters are scheduled to be demolished in tandem with another abandoned property at the site, the remainder of the Washington landmark at 1100 Maine Avenue, SW, will be safe for the foreseeable future. "The blue building, which formerly operated as a crab house [will be razed],” says Nina Albert, a Project Manager with the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. “That blue building will be replaced with a temporary Fish Cleaning Building, and...the building that Virgo’s is currently operating out of will be demolished. The intent of these small moves is to keep the Fish Market in safe and operable condition until the redevelopment occurs.” That redevelopment by the Hoffman-Struever development team – which is officially comprised of comprised of PN Hoffman, Struever Bros., Eccles & Rouse, McCormack Baron Salazar, ER Bacon, Gotham, City Partners, Triden and the recently added Paramount Development – isn’t expected to begin anytime before 2011, but it’s also worth noting that the Maine Avenue Fish Market was also targeted by 2008’s National Capital Framework Plan. The Plan – drafted by the National Capital Planning Commission - seeks to reintegrate Maine Avenue into the fabric of daily life in the District by refurbishing the Market’s home at the Overlook and linking it with an extension of 10th Street, SW.

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District Approves SW Waterfront Bonds

The District Council today approved a financing project for the 23-acre Southwest Waterfront, providing $198 million in bonds for the waterfront project, a bill that Mayor Adrian Fenty is expected to sign. Under terms of the bill passed unanimously by the the DC Council, the District will issue revenue bonds supported by tax increment financing (TIF), payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT), and special assessments, for improvements that will begin after developers PN Hoffman and Struever Brothers, Eccles & Rouse finish the private portions of the redevelopment. The Southwest Waterfront Bond Financing Act of 2008 authorizes the Mayor to issue revenue bonds to fund site improvements, with $148m allocated specifically for "development costs" of the project. The remaining $50m is allocated to pay for financing costs incurred by the District. Any funds received in excess of $198 million will be transferred to the District's General Fund. 

According to the development team, the waterfront project is projected to generate more than $40m in annual tax revenues, with $13.3m contributed to the general fund annually after payment of the debt service. The land, when fully developed in 2017, is expected to support 2.4 million square feet of development, including 770 residential units, 700,000 s.f . of office space, nearly half a million s.f. of hotel space within three hotels, and 280,000 s.f. of retail. The more public amenities are expected to include new parks, four new piers, a half-mile promenade and bike trail, and renovation of the existing fish market.

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DC Officially Awards SW Development Contract

Some day, there may be just be a reason to visit Southwest. Last week, Mayor Fenty awarded a contract to Hoffman-Struever Waterfront LLC, a partnership between PN Hoffman, Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, McCormack Baron Salazar, ER Bacon, Acresh, Gotham, City Partners and Triden. The multiplex LLC now officially holds the contract to turn 23 acres of land along the Washington Channel, into a riverside paradise. Back in September, 2006, Hoffman-Struever was officially selected as the master developer for the gargantuan project which allowed the team to establish an Exclusive Rights Agreement with the District. The Agreement was signed in April 2007. Now, the Land Disposition Agreement is being drafted - and although the contract has been awarded, the Mayor still needs to wait for the City Council to approve disposition to Hoffman-Struever and the nearly $200 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILOT) financing. City officials hope to get the legislation approved by Spring of this year. The enormous project is projected to create more than 2 million s.f. of new development and provide 2,800 permanent jobs in the community, as well as about 3,000 construction jobs, expected to take a long, long time. The District will finance about $200 million of the developmental costs, accounting for roughly 18% of the projected expense; no matter (some say), once completed, the "world-class urban waterfront" is projected to create more than $32 million in tax revenue each year, compared to the $6 million that the land currently brings in. 

Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn was selected as the Master Architect back in June 2007. The details of their plan include 767 new housing units - both rental and condos - about 400,000 s.f. of office space, 280,000 s.f. of retail space, a 360-room hotel, 150,000 s.f. of cultural space, and the renovation of the historic southwest fish market. Developers aspire to achieve LEED Silver certification for all nine buildings. Along with all of the new buildings proposed for the area, the development team is including heaps of landscaped open space into the deal, preparing to cultivate more than 14 acres of parks, a half-mile promenade and bike trails for southwest's newest residents. 

The piers will also get their fair share of upgrades. The development team hopes to pick architects for the vertical phases of construction in the summer of 2008. Hoffman-Struever's vision dissects the area into three separate "neighborhoods." The City Pier District, located in the northwest corner of the site, is proposed to be the retail center of the area, laying hold to most of the restaurants and the hotel, thereby being the most likely place to attract visitors (and tourists). Notable mini-developments within this area include a water-taxi service (which with our luck will be 'zoned' - $4 if you want to get in, $25 if you want to go all the way to the other side), and a pedestrian bridge connecting the site to the National Mall. 

Then there's the Esplanade District, which PN Hoffman describes as the center of the project where most of the residential will be sited, along with offices and some neighborhood-serving retail. Finally, the southeastern corner of the site will hold the Cultural Park District which will include a 5-acre "cultural park" and other amenities that will serve as the center of the "cultural zone;" classes will be held on-site courtesy of the Living Classrooms Foundation and the National Maritime Heritage Foundation. “Over the past two years we’ve studied waterfronts all over the world, reached out and forged working relationships and agreements with existing leaseholders, and conducted over 100 meetings with regulatory agencies and surrounding stake holders,” said Monty Hoffman, CEO of PN Hoffman. “This is just the beginning of the process to create a ‘world class’ waterfront. We will continue to work with the mayor’s office on making a waterfront that draws visitors from everywhere, but our first commitment is to the people of Washington, DC. The Potomac River is our greatest natural resource and first and foremost, this project will reconnect Washington with its waterfront. We look forward to working with the City Council to achieve passage of the Mayor's legislative proposal so that District residents can see a shovel in the ground by 2010.” You go Monty.

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