DC Council Ponders Major Land Disposition

The DC Council hosted a roundtable Wednesday evening to thoughtfully ponder Disposition Approval Resolutions of 5 major developments planned across the city and give residents a chance to air concerns. Officially held to determine whether the city-held land was "surplus" - in lay terms, unneeded and salable - and whether or not selling them would benefit the city and the surrounding community in real terms (jobs, quality of life, etc.). Below is an abbreviated (luckily for you) roundup of the evenings discussions:

1. Minnesota-Benning Phase 2 Redevelopment: As previously reported Donatelli Development and Blue Skye Development won the bid to develop low-income housing and retail space adjacent to the Minnesota Avenue metro station. Panel members described the property as blighted, vacant and underused. Cheryl Cort of the Coalition for Smarter Growth disagreed with statements that the space was underutilized and also argued for a public easement and right of way, requesting that a segment of the property not be developed in case of future transportation demands. Councilmember Kwame Brown (at-large) described development as a way to "bring the city together."

2. New Communities Northwest One: By far the most contentious property of the evening was the site of the former Temple Courts Apartments. Arguments against the land, now used as a parking lot as developers work through the tangles of DC government, included ANC Commissioner Keith Silver's, who submitted a thesis-sized objection, and community members' claims that during Phase1 the developer failed to meet hiring standards requiring that 51% of jobs be given to DC residents. Chris Smith, Jr., Chairman and CEO of William C. Smith & Company, who disclaimed involvement in Phase1, promised to make good on employment promises in Phase2. But some Council members wagged fingers at Smith for having failed to interact directly with local ANCs while assuring community members of Smith's strong standing in the development community. The only change was the decision to build each of 5 buildings in separate phases to improve financing; i.e. former residents will have a long wait until they can return to their new homes.

3. Strand Theatre- It was a big night for Ward 7, with 3 of the 5 projects coming to the ward. The panel, including developers and community members, voiced overwhelming support for the Strand Theatre revitalization and redevelopment project. Council members asked the necessary questions to afford political cover, but there was little contention over the project.

4. Eastern Avenue Property - We previously wrote about ODMPED's call for plans to redevelop properties located at 400-414 Eastern Avenue, NE and the 6100 block of Dix Street NE. The selected plan will offer 56 affordable for sale units - all be 3-bedroom townhouses, something the community supports enthusiastically. Mary Cheeks, a Ward 7 resident, stepped up to opine that "this property has sat vacant for too long...it is time to move forward..." Council members were particularly impressed by the approximately $3.5 million dollar investment that would yield so much housing. Councilman Brown remarked on the millions of dollars being discussed among the projects and remarked over the efficient use of city resources, "I like that," he said. Enough said.

5. Fourth/Sixth and E. Street, S.W.: We reported on the intial appointment of Potomac Investment Properties, City Partners and Adams Investment Group, to redevelop land currently occupied by a fire station and a parking lot. A 9-story building will replace that former fire stationa and house a cafe and work site for DC Central Kitchen, and possibly even a stationery store, wine store and coffee shop. The property is currently planned as a 99-year lease, largely due to the presence of the district's fire station. Council member Tommy Wells (Ward 6), concerned about financing, advised John Holmes of Adams Investment Group that the "stakes are raised" on the project. To paraphrase, "don't screw this up."

Jazzed about Florida Avenue

You've got to appreciate DC's Shaw residents. The small northwest neighborhood has seen more development projects announced - and sit idle - than any other, leaving residents in a cycling state of hope and apathy as the neighborhood talks about big plans with little effect. One such disappointment was the flea market-sporting WMATA site at 8th and Florida Avenue, awarded to a developer more than a year ago, only to sit out the ensuing financial crisis. But thanks to city and federal dollars, and a restructured partnership, that may finally change.

Banneker Ventures has announced a new partnership with Bank of America (BOA) to develop the former WMATA site into three new "affordable" apartment buildings. Banneker can now go forward with The Jazz @ Florida Avenue, designed by Silver Spring-based Torti Gallas, turning 3 separate lots into 124 apartment units above 20,000 s.f. of ground floor retail and a 61-space parking garage, all straddling WMATA's metro tunnel below. The developers have already applied for, and been granted, Tax Increment Financing (TIF) in the form of a $7m promissory note from the District. And with the District's recent receipt of $33m in stimulus money for housing, the developer has petitioned the District government to receive a portion of those funds. As a result, the apartments will be entirely below-market, open to a mix of income ranges, with the cheapest one-bedroom units to rent out at $768. Developers hope to deliver the project in late 2011.

The long path to development began in May of 2007 when the WMATA Board of Directors issued an RFP for developers to build on the site. The Board did not make its final selection, however, until June of 2008, selecting a team that included Banneker and Metropolis Development. But the latest announcement drops Metropolis from the picture in place of BOA. In addition, the formerly tiny project footprint now includes two adjacent parcels on 9th Street recently acquired by the development team. Bozzuto will serve as the general contractor for the project.

Area Housing Projects Look to Affordable Housing for Salvation

As reported last month, DHCD recently received $33.7 million in stimulus funds for the development of affordable housing in the District. According to DHCD spokesman Angelita Colon-Francia, the distribution of the federal money is currently under review, pending the evaluation of 21 projects currently seeking Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the agency. In a release by the District government, it is clear that a number of recent developers are hoping that money will find its way to their projects. The list includes several developments presumably slowed by declines in the real estate market, including NDC's The Heights on Georgia Avenue, Matthews Memorial Terrace and Banneker Venture's Florida Avenue WMATA site project, which have all applied for stimulus money for affordable housing creation in their projects. Comments on applicants are due to DHCD by July 16th.

But fear not, federal-dollar-seeking developers, DCHD will submit another application for round two of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding on July 17th. To date, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded the District $94.5m of the $10 billion it has distributed nationwide in funding as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Funding will be applied to foreclosure prevention, homelessness prevention, "community development", affordable housing, and lead hazard prevention.

DHCD Opens Affordable Housing Center

Mayor Adrian Fenty today officiated the opening of the Department of Housing and Community Development’s new Housing Resource Center. As a real world counterpart to DCHD’s recently launched online housing database, DCHousingSearch.org, the first-floor addition to the agency’s Anacostia Gateway headquarters offers District residents an array of services to ensure easy access to affordable housing.

The new Resource Center, located at the at the prominent intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and Good Hope Road, SE, was made possible through a $300,000 contribution from Fannie Mae – which, along with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, will provide literature on their own affordable housing initiatives in the metropolitan area. "All the time when I’m in and out of the neighborhoods of DC, people ask about jobs…They’re excited about school reform and they also want to know where they can go to find housing – specifically affordable housing,” said Fenty.

K Street Think Tank Seeks PUD Approval for New Scott Circle HQ

Representatives of Jones Lang LaSalle and Hickok Hickok Cole Architects will head before the National Capital Planning Commission again this Thursday to discuss their Second Stage PUD application for a new Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) headquarters on one of the last empty lots in DC's Golden Triangle.

The influential DC think tank purchased the commercial parking lot at 1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW - formerly the site of a Gramercy Inn just off of Scott Circle - from Gould Properties in 2007 with the intent of constructing a new 130,000 square foot HQ to replace their aging K Street office space. Though CSIS has had to pursue $100 million plus of revenue bond funding from the District to fund the project, their purchase did come with one positive upshot. Gould had previously secured Stage I PUD approval for the site, leaving the CSIS' designated development team free to move on the project's design phase.

Since that time, Hickok's initial designs have taken a minor shave - resulting in the loss of 16,000 square feet worth of floor area and 12 of the original 90 parking spaces. At the same time, it has gained a green roof (in the hopes of achieving a LEED silver certification) and will still top out at 9-stories. CSIS' original timeline remains in place for a 2012/2013 completion. The project previously won approval from the DC Zoning Commission just last week.

With their new glass-faced HQ up and running, the former K Street defense industry influence peddlers will neighbor another prominent non-profit of a decidedly more liberal bent, the Human Rights Campaign - which should make for interesting, inside-the-Beltway bedfellows at the local Starbucks.

Downtown BID: State of the Downtown

The Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) issued their 2008 State of Downtown report this week and found that - for an imploded real estate market - things aren't so bad. The BID, which represents the downtown core of Washington DC from Union Station to the White House below Massachusetts Avenue, reports a general trend of rising job rates, more residents, and fuller commercial buildings.

Among the statistics compiled for the report are the creation of 3,800 jobs during 2007 and 2008; 250 new residents during 2008, for a total 7,600; a "record year" for downtown hotels, which boasted a 75% occupancy rate; and a Class A commercial vacancy rate of only 9.6%. Though no new buildings have broken ground since the financial crisis began in September of 2008, commercial projects already under construction are expected to drag down both occupancy and lease rates.

A growth in both daily Metro ridership (108,000 on weekdays, 41,000 on weekends) and tourist attendance (10.1m visitors, give or take a few) helped fuel a rise in "destination restaurants" from 113 to 122.

DC Scouts $1.2 Billion in New Development for Rhode Island Avenue

"Think of Rhode Island Avenue NE as a 'diamond' - a largely un-mined yet valuable investment opportunity."

So begins the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development's (ODMPED) Draft Rhode Island Avenue NE Economic Development Plan. Focusing on corridor's three-mile stretch through Northeast Washington, the report recommends "over $1.2 billion in new investments in housing, retail, office and public art" over the next 16 years for the surrounding communities of Brentwood, Brookland, Eckington, Edgewood, Langdon and Woodridge.

Developed under the auspices of the Mayor's Great Streets Initiative with contributions from everyone from the three local ANC 5 commissions to WMATA to the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, among many, many others, the "diamond" draft hopes to realize more than 3,000 new residential units, almost 600,000 square feet of office space and over 500,000 square feet of retail along Rhode Island Avenue by 2025 – the earliest of which could deliver by 2011. In doing so, they hope to lure residents and shoppers back from surrounding counties, in order “to capture a portion of the $1 billion in retail sales revenues (and jobs) lost each year to other jurisdictions.”

As such, the plan highlights several promising projects already in the pipeline for the corridor, though delayed “until further change in the economic market”: Mid-City Urban and A&R Development’s mixed-use, 274-unit Rhode Island Station project; the H Street CDC’s 170-unit Rhode Island Avenue Gateway; and, lastly, Republic Land’s 257-unit Brookland Square development (pictured). In total, ODMPED states there are “as many as 14 residential development projects planned or proposed…[that could] include over 13,000 residential units combined.”

Beyond merely underlining Rhode Island Avenue’s Grade-A potential for mixed-use development, the draft plan also delves into suggestions for sustainable building practices, public art installations, small business development, job creation, safety improvements and smart growth transit options – the latter of which includes a proposal for new MARC station at Eastern Avenue and Wells Street on the Prince George’s County border near Mount Rainier (though previously suggested alternatives, like a Rhode Island Avenue street car line, rapid bus transit service, or extension of Metro’s Yellow Line are no longer being considered at this time.)

As the “diamond” draft is broken down into four distinct sub-areas - 3rd to 12th Streets NE, 12th to 18th Streets NE, 18th Street to South Dakota Avenue, NE and South Dakota to Eastern Avenue, NE – residents are encouraged to peruse the recommendations made for their specific neighborhoods and submit comments to Great Streets Coordinator, Derrick Woody. ODMPED will hold an open forum to discuss the plan during the week of September 7th “to formally receive any other comments on the plan before it is finalized.”

This is the second such draft plan released by the Deputy's Mayor's office in as many months; in early May, they posted their proposed plans for redeveloping the Florida Avenue Market into "vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood."

Ten Years On, GW Puts Finishing Touches on Palisades Campus

When George Washington University (GW) acquired the Mount Vernon College for Women in Northwest’s Palisades neighborhood in 1999, they had planned for an extensive build-out of the 134-year-old former seminary that would include 320,000 square feet of new academic and dormitory buildings.

A decade later, GW's satellite campus is co-ed for the first time in its history, but has achieved less than half of the approved additions once intended for the 26-acre campus. Now, with the tenth anniversary of Mount Vernon's incorporation into the University approaching, GW officials have teamed with EE & K Architects to realize the remaining 167,000 square feet of new development for the college at Foxhall Road and Whitehaven Parkway, NW.


The development team – which also includes EDAW, AECOM and VIKA Capitol, LLC – has been holding monthly community meetings to outline their plans for a 2010 Mount Vernon Campus Plan. At present, there are three differently oriented project plans on the table - all of which, however, would achieve the same result: four new academic buildings, ranging from 25,000 to 45,000 square feet; a new 50,000 square foot, 100-bed residential complex; and, lastly, a new three-story gym/sports and recreation center. According to University reps, the idea is to concentrate the new development towards the center of the campus, thereby giving it the bucolic college green feel so rarely afforded to urban universities, and behind Mount Vernon’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it front gate on Whitehaven Parkway.

In order to make way for this slew of new building projects, some of the institution’s 70s-era academic and residential will be razed, in order to free up campus space. Mount Vernon’s Cole Residence Hall, Gatehouse Building, the Webb and Acheson academic buildings, along with a portion of the Ames academic building, are slated for demolition once a final plan is put together.
Upcoming meetings will adhere to a strict outline of community concerns regarding the project. On July 9th, the development team will present their findings on noise, lighting and population counts, to be followed on August 13th by a presentation on landscaping, storm water management and the green building techniques to be employed in the new facilities. The final scheduled meeting is to be held on September 10th, whereupon a final development scheme will be presented to locals and students alike. All meetings are held at 7:30 pm in the Mount Vernon Campus’ Webb Building.

Washington DC real estate development news

JBG Adds More Office to Mega Rockville Development

If the JBG Companies keeps at this pace, they may want to consider renaming it "JBGville." The prolific DC area developer received approval from the Montgomery County Planning Board last week to pursue a second phase of development at their Fishers Place at Twinbrook Metro - an office park that has already delivered four office buildings to Rockville’s Twinbrook area - but that is merely prologue to the Disney-sized, mixed-use complex going up across the street: Twinbrook Station, or "2.2 million square feet on the redline," as the developer calls it.

The first approved addition for Fishers Place, at 12709 Twinbrook Parkway, will be a four-story, 72,330 square foot, run-of-the-mill office building built in two phases designed around a central courtyard with underground parking. The second and final office addition, at 5615 Fishers Lane, will include 111,000 square feet of office and a micro-retail space, intended for federal tenants, as it "designed to conform to the GSA Force Protection guidelines.”

"The existing buildings in Fishers Place are occupied primarily by government tenants (NIH/FDA), as well as with biosciences-related private sector companies. Potential tenants have expressed interest in the two newly approved buildings, but we’re not in a position to comment further at this time," said Matt Blocher, a Senior Vice President at JBG. "[But the] two buildings most recently approved will complete that campus."

At a community hearing held concerning the dual buildings last July, the County failed to receive a single complaint from neighboring residents. That normally would be considered neighborly relations by the developer (or dumb luck), but for the fact that there aren’t that many neighbors to complain.

That’s because, once completed by 2017, Fishers Place will join the sprawl of JBG’s greater Twinbrook Station across the parkway – a redevelopment project in partnership with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) that will see 26 acres of Twinbrook Metro parking lots transformed into 325,000 square feet of office space, 220,000 square feet of retail and 1,595 apartments and condominiums, 15% of which will be affordable housing. After breaking ground in November of 2007, the project last year earned a LEED gold certification by the US Green Building Council’s Neighborhood Development program. Last time we heard of this much development going up around a subway line, it was called Tokyo.

"The first phase, which is currently under construction, will have 279 apartments and approximately 15,500 square feet of retail ready to open by early to mid-2010," said Blocher.

Among the laundry list of contributors to the JBG/WMATA “smart growth” co-development are the architects Torti Gallas and Partners, DNC, David M. Schwarz, Grimm + Parker, The Preston Partnership, EDAW, Johnson Bernat Associates, Wells + Associates, and MV+A with construction by Harkins Builders. If Rockville Pike is unofficially known as “the world’s longest strip mall,” it looks like Twinbrook Parkway might soon claim the moniker of “world’s largest lump sum community.” Leisure World better watch its back.

Ballpark: Build It and They Will Come, They Might Even Stay

It's a good thing that the Nationals' standing as perhaps baseball's worst team ever will likely have no effect the residences of the surrounding neighborhood. The Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District (BID) has issued its second quarter residential statistics for 2009, showing how desirable the area is to reside in, and it looks like the cliched Costner-ism of "build it and they will come" is working...for some more than others. EYA's Capitol Quarter townhome development appears to be the leader of the pack of with "88 of 113 (market rate) units sold" - though sales began in the fall of 2006. With prices starting at $630,000, EYA can be content with its position as the only new single-family home project in the area, and their only competition in the area are the dreaded c-word – condominiums – and its Capitol Quarter has generated a slew of favorable media coverage for its tre trendy green construction practices and subsequent “LEED for Homes” certification. Proof positive that condos are indeed still on the sluggish side, Texas-based developer JPI’s pair of Capitol Riverfront condos. Or at least they were considered as condos before the Big Crash - The Axiom at Capitol Yards, The Jefferson at Capitol Yards and Faison's Onyx on First (pictured) – are now all renting as apartments. But according to the BID, the buildings have achieved 60% occupancy of their collective 960 units. That leaves approximately 384 empty units on the market, despite the fact the first completed building, The Jefferson opened its doors one year ago this month. It’s presumably that same dearth of buyers that made JPI go rental with their third area building, 909 at Capitol Yards; so far with less success than its predecessors. According to the BID report, only “25% of the 237 units” at 909 – but the project began renting only in the spring of this year. The developer has been trying to court the young, urbanista demographic for the building by advertising amenities like yoga studios, communal Nintendo Wiis and a residents-only bar/pub. JPI's tentative plans for a fifth and final 415-unit apartment building at 23 Eye Street still remain on the table, at least officially. Valhal Corporation’s Capitol Hill Tower Condo-op is still trudging along with "80% of 344 units sold." That would seem an admirable rate of occupancy had the building not opened early in 2006, with sales almost a year before that. Not mentioned in the BID stats is the Cohen Companies' Velocity condo project, the 200 unit condo nearing completion, but for which sales are reportedly not, well, high velocity. Nonetheless, the BID reports that, in total, there are now “an estimated 1,863 residents living in the Capitol Riverfront , with over 2,000 residents expected by the end of the year.” You could be one of the lucky 137 by year's end. Ghost town or boom town? You be the judge. 

UPDATE: Says Ted Skirbunt, Director of Research & Information Systems at the BID: "JPI’s buildings were always going to be rental from the beginning. The only building thus far to convert from condos to rental apartments is the Onyx."

Washington DC commercial retail and real estate news

The Monty Makes (Another) Go of It in Bethesda

The would-be developers Monty, LLC will head back to the Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday, July 2nd to shore up their final site plan for The Monty - a high-rise residential project on a 1-acre lot in Bethesda that currently hosts several vacant storefronts from 4915-4917 Fairmont Avenue and 4914-4918 St. Elmo Avenue in the Woodmont Triangle. Since its initial approval in May 2007, the 17-story residential development has grown (via an update to the developer's plans this past March) from 133 apartments to include "a maximum of 200 units" for a total of 210,188 square feet of new Bethesda real estate. Described by Planning Board staff as "an attractive urban infill redevelopment project,” the project is still planned to subsidize 30 moderately priced dwelling units, 7,700 square feet of ground floor retail and 211 underground garage spaces. One of the Monty’s more interesting flourishes will be the 5,480 square feet of (mandatory) public use space. A so-called “pedestrian promenade” on the building’s south side will include art installation, composed of a chain link backdrop and live bamboo, by artist Dan Steinhilber and the landscape architects of Parker Rodriguez. Once complete, the piece will “provide an animated experience as a person moves through the space” for a quasi-hallucinogenic stroll that would seem more Burning Man than Bethesda (and make it a sure-fire destination for area Zendik pamphleteers. Eew.) SK & I is performing the architectural design for the building. Since the first of this year, both the County’s Transportation and Environmental Planning divisions have both lent their final approval to the re-jiggered development scheme, as have Planning Board staff. Though the developer has not stipulated a final timeline for construction, once complete, it will stand directly across from the site of another Woodmont Triangle high-rise, the also delayed 4900 Fairmont development. The project has been approved in the past, but just might possibly happen this time. 

Montgomery County commercial real estate news