Monday, May 10, 2010

Sheridan Station Breaks Ground

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Sheridan Station, WC Smith, WCS Construction, Washington DCWashington DC commercial real estateToday, Anacostia's Sheridan Station development kicks off with a ground breaking for the first phase of the HOPE VI residential project. The 344 mixed-income housing units are funded in part thanks to a $20 million HOPE VI competitive grant that the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) received from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2008. Sheridan Station’s 11 acres in Anacostia are owned jointly by the DC Housing Authority and William C. Smith & Co. Washington DC retail for leaseThough the project was initially set to begin construction in January of this year, DCHA only recently closed on financing. Phase 1 of the 344-unit Sheridan Station, formerly Sheridan Terrace, will revolve around an initial 114 units of public housing and 69 Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) units. The 114 units will deliver in the form of a 104 unit multi-family building and 10 single-family rental units. At least 25 of the public housing units available in Phase 1 will be reserved for current Barry Farm residents. Phases 2 and 3 of the redevelopment will begin once all units in Phase 1 are filled, but the entire project is expected to be complete by 2015. Washington DC commercial propertyThe multifamily building is registered with the US Green Building Counsel for LEED Certification Gold. Green features include a 100 KW solar photovoltaic array which provides 30% of the buildings core energy, a vegetative green roof, and an 8000 gallon rainwater retention cistern underneath the slab of the building. The building will also have a health and wellness center which will provide general family practice care for the neighborhood, provided by Core Health. Construction on the first phase is expected to be complete in December 2011. When all three phases are complete, the 344 units will be almost double the amount of the original Sheridan Terrace - a troubled project that was torn down in 1997. As with the original Sheridan Terrace, the new-and-improved Sheridan Station will contain 183 public housing rental units. An additional 161 units will go up for sale; 117 of these will be sold at market rate and another 44 will be sold as affordable units. Sheridan Station apartments sk&I architect Washington DCAs lead developer, Smith partnered with Union Temple CDC and Jackson Investment Co. to form Sheridan Terrace Redevelopment LLC. Sheridan Station will comprise a small piece of the Barry Farm/Park Chester/Wade Road redevelopment planned for Ward 8. The project was designed by Bethesda's SK&I Architects, which furnished the seven different building designs that will include landscaped green space and a pedestrian trail.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Whole Foods Opens Next Week in Chevy Chase

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Whole Foods will open its latest area store next Tuesday. The neighborhood-transforming grocer is putting the finishing touches on its Chevy Chase store, located just over the DC border at Wisconsin Place, at 4420 Willard Avenue.

New England Development (NED), Archstone and Boston Properties jointly developed the Wisconsin Place shopping center, which also features a 432-unit apartment building designed by SK&I, 295,000 s.f. of office space, and 305,000 s.f. of Chevy Chase-style retail.

Turner Construction began working on the new Whole Foods back in August of 2004, interior work is being performed by L.F. Jennings. This will be the 296th Whole Foods to open in the U.S., Canada and U.K., according Liz Burkhart of Whole Foods.

Washington DC real estate development news

Married to the Job, and Each Other

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Answer: Margaritas and salt. Shoes and socks. Peanut butter and jelly. Question: Name things that go together unconditionally.

When DCMUD approached three area husband-and-wife architect teams about their formula for combining work and marriage, we wondered if for them, the concept was also unconditional.

Checks and Balances

For Jane Treacy and Phillip Eagleburger of Treacy & Eagleburger Architects PC, working together was a natural expression of their relationship, though marriage came four years after the professional partnership. Introduced to each other as fledgling architects by other married architects who all frequented DuPont Circle watering holes around 1985 (Treacy, who had worked in several East Coast cities, was working for Hord Coplan Macht in Baltimore and drove in for D.C.’s social life), the Eagleburger’s found that for them compatibility had many faces.
“I think it’s peculiar to the profession that architects kind of live with their work, more so than other professions,” said Eagleburger. “I think that’s why you get a lot of architects married to architects, because they understand what the situation is.”

Formed in 1989, Treacy & Eagleburger, with a staff of four, focuses primarily on regional residential projects, though their award-winning work extends to Massachusetts’ toney Cape and Islands as well. With Eagleburger preferring “edgier design,” explaining that their firm walks the line between traditional and contemporary, he is admittedly “more of a polemic,” something he attributes to his academic and jury experience. Eagleburger credits his wife’s more pragmatic style with reigning him in at all the right times, however.

Speaking to their modus operandi, Treacy explained that when a project comes in to the office, typically one principal and one staff member take it. “We do tag team things though,” she added. “We pretty much split the work: We’re both involved in the business end and in the architectural/design end, each acting as consultant” to the other principal. “We know all the time what’s going on with the other partner,” Treacy affirmed, though the client may not realize it.

At home, and even after a long day together at the office, Treacy, who often finishes her husband's sentences (the reverse is also true), said they spend a lot of their personal time together, dividing up activities, with dinner duty falling to her husband whom she concedes is “the better cook.”

“If Jane gets too involved in the kitchen, I kind of kick her out,” Eagleburger quipped, conceding that Treacy is better at cleaning.

Victoria is in the Details

Douglas and Victoria Rixey of Rixey-Rixey Architects met at University of Virginia School of Architecture just before Douglas graduated. Marrying soon after, each obtained a masters degree (Douglas from UVA and Victoria from Rice University) and worked separately for various firms such as Hartman-Cox and Bowie Gridley. Opening their own office in 1985, Douglas Rixey explained that because they’ve been working together so long, it’s no longer as hard as it may have been early on.

“At any firm, no matter how big the project, there’s really one person running that project,” he said, acknowledging that possession of one’s own project is key in their joint stewardship of the practice. That said, the opportunity for them to solicit the other’s input or critique is also invaluable.

The Rixey's, who specialize in high-end residential work and operate without a staff, pride themselves on the boutique aspect of their firm (nothing can be relegated to a junior associate, Douglas said). Both agreed Victoria is better at the details, and Douglas is more interested in the big picture.

Raised in a cutting edge Ohio home on a wooded bank designed and built by her industrial design engineer father (lots of cantilevers and soaring ceilings), Victoria said she and Douglas both love modern architecture but in their own practice in the region, gravitate toward more traditional or transitional work – and lots of it.

“Work used to be everything,” Douglas Rixey said. “And it’s just too much.’

With that in mind, the couple wraps up any discussion of the day on the trip home, talk of drawings, structure, fenestration and cost yielding perhaps to the evening’s menu and movie choices.

“That’s always been the easiest part of the relationship,” Victoria said. “There’s never been any friction related to housework, cooking, taking out the trash, laundry, any of that. It just kind of magically gets split up – I think very evenly,” she added. “We really enjoy being together all the time.”

Yours, Mine and Ours

For Elizabeth (Beth) Reader and Charles (Chuck) Swartz of Reader & Swartz Architects, PC in Winchester, Va., working together is not only a couples’ affair, but a family affair.

“Our kids (Ella, 13, and Jake, 10) get dropped off from the school bus into our office and do their homework,” Swartz said, recalling that from the earliest ages, they got their parents’ old models to glue and play with. “They go on site visits with us.”


Meeting at Virginia Tech School of Architecture and Design in 1986 and marrying the following year, Reader and Swartz returned to Winchester, the latter’s home town, briefly working in the same office together and opening their own firm, currently with a staff of five, in 1990. With a substantial number of cutting edge commercial and residential projects on their dance card, Reader and Swartz have observed a kind of manifest destiny of late in their client base: D.C. ex-patriots finding their way to areas such as Winchester, building weekend or retirement homes.

“We pretty much eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner and see each other all the time,” Swartz said of their relationship, qualifying their actions by adding that “because (they’ve) done it for so long, it doesn’t seem strange.”

According to Reader, who is credited with running more of the firm’s business side of things, she takes her work home all the time and hasn’t found a way to separate it. “Our kids even complain about it,” she admitted.

In support of his wife’s shop talk predilection, Swartz, who enjoys the casual moniker of “spiritual leader” (translation: he keeps everyone going), said he and his wife “love doing architecture and don’t know how to do anything else. We get a lot of positive stuff riding down the road,” he explained.

Close to Home

When queried about conflict, the couples wasted no time in bringing up renovations of their own homes and/or the building of their own vacation home.

“We joked that maybe we should have divided up the rooms,” Phil Eagleburger said, reflecting on a renovation of their Cleveland Park home five years ago.

“It took us nearly two years before we could even start construction,” said Douglas Rixey of the couple’s vacation home in the northern neck of Virginia, “And it wasn’t so much that we disagreed on solutions,” he added. “We just couldn’t decide.”

According to Chuck Swartz, the way he and his wife deal with disagreements is to trust and respect one another. “The bigger difficulty was when we did our own house – the client was us as married people. There were a lot of people in the room all at one time,” he said. But in the end, he realized that “together, we make a pretty good architect.”

Photography of Reader & Swartz home by Hoachlander Davis Photography, couple's portrait by Nathan Webb


Friday, May 07, 2010

Pedestrian Party in Chinatown

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The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has been running experiments throughout the District like a team of overzealous transportation scientists with DC as their lab. First the bike lanes on 15th Street, then the pay by phone parking meters and now a 29-second pedestrian free-for-all played out every few minutes at the busy intersection of 7th and H Streets in Chinatown. Starting Wednesday at 10 a.m., the lights at the intersection will turn red for cars in all directions and allow pedestrians to legally cross the streets, even diagonally. Diagonally!

Apparently, the new arrangement is one of several changes the agency is carrying out to increase pedestrian safety. The 29-second period, part of a 100-second cycles, will halt all vehicles in every direction for pedestrian crossings and then traffic will split the remaining 71 seconds for vehicles to go their merry ways. Another change of note for drivers, you will no longer be able to make any turns at the intersection. At all.

John Lisle, DDOT spokesperson, said the experiment will last several months to allow people to get used to the new pattern and to help the agency determine the effectiveness. DDOT has data that recorded the length of time it previously took a vehicle to pass through the intersection and will compare the old times with the news times to see if there are any efficiencies. Additionally, the intersection last year had a total of 35 accidents, 4 of which involved pedestrians for a total of 9 injuries. Other jurisdictions, such as San Francisco, have used this model with success for its busiest pedestrian intersections.

"It may work really well" said Lisle, "and then we'll consider doing it at other intersections. And if it doesn't work, we'll roll it back." Lisle admitted that the plan would not work at every intersection. For instance implementing a no-turn policy at Wisconsin and M Streets in Georgetown would be a total nightmare.

Now we'll wait for someone to organize a flashmob dance party at 7th and H. A Lady Gaga song clip of 29-seconds would work just fine.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Vets Medical Center Expansion Gets Initial OK

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Thursday, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center master plan moved one step closer to making the proposed changes for the 350-acre campus. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) approved the plan, which proposes to expand and modernize the existing 900,000 s.f. medical center with 818,000 gross s.f. of additional space, creating a massive 1.7 million gross s.f. development. The expansion, which is split into four phases, will take place over the course of 20 years and is set to finish in 2030.

According to the NCPC, "the proposed development will increase inpatient and outpatient areas, add a new long-term living facility space, add medical research space, consolidate administrative functions, and improve site utilities." The VA's proposal will make better use of the current surface parking lots by either building new facilities or converting them to green space. Employees, patients and visitors will rely on two new structured parking garages. The north garage will come online during the third phase; NCPC advised the VA to closely monitor parking use and demand for better planning of the matter. The plan will actually reduce the parking ratio to one space for every four people, reducing the number of staff spaces by almost 300. Additionally, the plan increases the amount of open green space on the campus from 19% to 33% of the total acres.

The NCPC stressed the importance of addressing the urban context, accordingly the plan places new structures nearer to the edges of the property. The design also includes extensive planting of trees and new shrubbery along North Capitol Street to provide a buffer between the massing of the new medical buildings and traffic.

The VA also has a transportation plan to increase the accessibility for bus, Metro and pedestrian commuters. The VA team has discussed transportation with the nearby Washington Hospital Center and proposes a new "transit center" along 1st Street. The new center would change the bus circulation pattern, reducing trip times. It will also include either a pedestrian bridge or "enhanced crosswalk" to make the intersection safer.

A mere 20% of the project will be built in the first three phases and some of the plans already have funding, meaning they could begin over the course of the the next five years. The other 80% will take place in the fourth phase, which is scheduled to wrap up in 2030.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Thursday, May 06, 2010

EYA's Chancellors Row Begins Sales

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Though the field is still green and the sales trailer still under construction, EYA's Chancellor's Row will begin sales this Saturday for the first phase of its townhouse development in Brookland. The houses will be nestled in the residential neighborhood among the various religious orders that call the area home. EYA will build on the 10 acres of property it purchased from St. Paul's College, which maintains a swath of green hill as an entrance from 4th Street to the 10 acre campus it retains. Construction on the new community will begin with basic grading and utility work over the summer with vertical construction expected to begin in October or November and deliver sometime between February and April.

Designed by the Lessard Group, the whole project will bring 237 single-family units near the Trinity and Catholic campuses along 5th and 6th Streets, NE. The 14 to 18 foot wide townhouses will sell between $450,000 and $550,000. The project includes 28 affordable set-asides, 13 of which will come online this weekend. Of the low-income units, half will go to buyers earning 50% Area Median Income (AMI) and half to those earning 80% AMI.

EYA originally won out over a field of 12 to 15 other developers who responded to a solicitation of interest put forth on behalf of the Paulist order. The developer paid a fixed amount up front, with a formula for additional payments based on sales. Right now, EYA only owns the land for the first phase, which sits on either side of an extended Jackson Street, abutting land owned by the Dominican Order and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Under the contract with the Paulists, EYA will purchase the second phase no more than three years from now and the third phase two years after that. Depending on sales, the transactions could happen sooner, said EYA Vice President, Jack Lester. The timeline was based on an assumption of three sales per month.

Chancellor's Row is less than a 10 minute walk from the Brookland Metro and, as part of a compromise between the Office of Planning (OP) and the community, each unit will have one parking spot with the option to add a second for a nominal fee. The community expressed concerns that the new neighbors would (collective gasp) seek on-street parking; still, proximity to Metro trumped that concern and OP narrowly won the day with a theoretically smaller carprint.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Cohen Proposes Southeast Development

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Though much has been made of the development plans in the Southeast ballpark area, another part of Near Southeast is finally getting some attention, not without drama. This week, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) will review the Cohen Companies' plans to permanently close several unimproved streets that fall within the original L'Enfant city and are technically federal property, but that are now effectively segregated from all other life forms by the Southwest Expressway and Anacostia River. The intersection of 14th Street, M Street and Virginia Avenue in SE could get the addition of 815,000 s.f. of hotel, retail, office and commercial space, if the District and the Developer manage to jump some technical hurdles before a June 1, 2010 deadline. A little background: MIF Realty had a 99-year assignment agreement (lease) with the District for the Southwest Gangplank Marina. In June 1999, the Cohen Companies, under the name CASCO Marina LLC, sought to take over the leasehold from MIF, a contract between the two companies required that the lease transfer take place prior to November 22, 1999 or the contract would be automatically terminated. Enter the District. The District's Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA) stepped into the lease transfer, requesting several hearings and ultimately ruling that MIF was in default on the property for not having properly addressed damage and disposed of insurance proceeds. RLA would overlook the default in exchange for a re-negotiated lease for the marina upon the transfer to CASCO. The RLA officially handed down this decision on November 22, 1999 at which point MIF contested the default claims and simultaneously allowed the contract between CASCO and MIF to end. CASCO proceeded to sue the District for interference in the transaction and for $25 million in punitive damages. 

 After several suits and appeals, the District and CASCO eventually entered into a settlement agreement. The District will transfer the Southeast property, valued at $8 million, to the developers and ensure District support of the street closings and necessary zoning changes to allow a development with a 6.0 floor to area ratio density. In exchange for the land and support, the Cohen Companies will release its claim to a leasehold to the Gangplank Marina. The whole process has a ticking clock; if the land exchange, zoning and street closure approvals are not finalized by the June 1, 2010 deadline referenced above, then the Cohen Companies can withdraw from the agreement and could once again pursue a lawsuit against the District over the Southwest property and related punitive damages. The District Council in March approved the land transfer and density elements. The bill was then signed by the Mayor in April and will receive Congressional review. According to the NCPC staff report, the agreement should be law by May 27, 2010. NCPC will review the matter Thursday and submit its opinion to the Council for consideration, the Council will vote on the street closures bill this month. The street closures bill would exempt the developers from several requirements, such as paying rent on the closed street and from having to provide affordable housing to offset the increase in commercial space. NCPC's Staff Report finds fault with several elements of the plan, in both the agreement between the District and the developer and with the actual design. NCPC staff notes that the streets in question are part of the original L'Enfant Plan, and therefore owned by the federal government. But NCPC cannot actually administer the necessary bureaucratic smack down to resolve the conflict between District and the feds about the rights to transfer titles. NCPC's Staff Report also notes that the plan for bridges connecting the proposed buildings would block viewsheds (see image at left for the lovely view from the property line). Now, that's a familiar complaint...think streetcars. The staff recommended an approval of the initial design, but suggest the obstructing elements be kindly removed. The NCPC will take up the issue this Thursday. 
  Update: To clarify, the NCPC's stance on the viewsheds and vistas within the L'Enfant plan reflect the opinion of the District's own Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB). In January the HPRB recommended that "any encroachment on L'Enfant views and vistas be completely avoided or minimized to the maximum extent feasible." 

Washington, DC real estate development news

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Eastbanc to Turn Georgetown School into Condos

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Recently, the Corcoran College of Art and Design announced that Eastbanc was the winning bidder on the old Fillmore School building on 1801 35th Street, NW, at Georgetown / Burleith border. Corcoran purchased the property in 1997, but expansions and growth of the student body has the school seeking more space elsewhere in the city. The announcement in April was for a purchase and sales agreement; the sale has yet to be finalized and the purchase price has not been released. DCMud has confirmed rumors of a condo and residential project for the future of the site, though details are not yet determined. Fillmore School, Corcoran College of Art and Design, Eastbanc, Georgetown, Washington DCAccording to Joe Sternlieb, VP at Eastbanc, the site was one he and his firm "had long had our eyes on." Eastbanc, which has worked on 60 or 70 buildings in the Georgetown area over the past 20 years, won the bid for the site over as many as eight other firms, according to Sternlieb. Eastbanc was recently awarded an RFP to develop in the West End into a mixed-use project and new library and fire station. The developers plan to convert the existing school building into condominiums and build new townhouses along 34th Street on the site of the 100-car parking lot. Sternlieb said the team is working with undisclosed architects on drawing several potential development plans that the team will share with the community, including the ANC and the Old Georgetown Board, "in the next few weeks." From there the team will likely go to the Board of Zoning Adjustment to amend the allowed use for the lot, though the project will reportedly not require a PUD zoning amendment as contemplated. Sternlieb said Eastbanc is "probably looking at starting something in the summer of 2011." Eastbanc must have pondered the fate of the Wormley School more than momentarily. The former Georgetown school was converted into condos and began sales in 2007, with developer Encore intending to turn the building into 7 condos and add 6 townhouses, but sales languished, with some units still unsold, and the townhouses remain just a vision. The Corcoran purchased the Fillmore from the District government in 1997 for $1.5m. The Fillmore was built in 1892 and remains one of the few tributes to the all-but-forgotten former President Millard S. 

Washington DC commercial property news

The Streetcars are Coming - in Prototype

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For all you Paul Revere-types out there harboring fears that the arrival of the streetcars spells doom, with cumbersome, monument-obstructing wires and disaster for DC as-we-know-it, tomorrow's Streetcar Showcase is for you.

Despite a minor setback of DDOT failing to make it to last night's Georgetown ANC meeting to present their plans, streetcar service may eventually cover 37 miles of the District, but will begin with limited service in Anacostia and at H Street-Benning Road by 2012. But on Wednesday, May 5th through Saturday, May 8th on Lot B of CenterCityDC (a.k.a. the still undeveloped old convention center site at 9th and H Streets, NW), The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is giving District residents, workers, and those rare tourists interested in DC transportation matters, a chance to ogle and board the District's latest transportation innovation.

Admittance to the 10:30 AM showcase is free. And if you still haven't gotten your fill of streetcars, you can stop by the free streetcar propulsion technology seminar at the Renaissance Hotel at 999 9th Street, NW on Thursday, May 6th to listen to the top minds in transportation technology and planning discuss ideas for how the streetcars can be integrated into our transportation mindset.

Ellen Jones, Executive Director of DC Surface Transit Inc. - a veritable posse of entities and BIDs including the Downtown, Golden Triangle, and Georgetown Business Improvement Districts, as well as the Washington Convention Center Authority (WCCA), the Washington Convention and Tourism Corporation (WCTC), and the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) - explains that the seminar will cover all aspects of "the adaptability of the three cars that we've [the District] purchased and what can be done with them."

Thursday's panel of experts will include everyone from Downtown BID's Executive Director, Richard Bradley, to what Jones affectionately calls "five ubergeeks with over 200 years of propulsion system experience between them" from the American Public Transportation Association, to urban design guru Greg Baldwin. Stop by and get answers to any question you've ever pondered about the green-ness of the project, how DDOT intends to get around that pesky 19th century Federal statute prohibiting overhead wires in the District, and ideas for how Prius-style battery technology can safeguard our views from wires for many miles of the tracks.

Washington DC Real Estate and Development News

Social Safeway Opens Thursday

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Safeway Georgetown, Washington DC - new grocery opens on Wisconsin Avenue, designed by Torti GallasA little more than a year after the Safeway at 1855 Wisconsin Ave, NW, closed, Georgetown residents can welcome back an old friend this week, though they might not recognize the store after its reconstructive surgery. Following an invitation-only gala tomorrow evening, the new "Social" Safeway will open its doors on May 6th to the DC community with a ceremony beginning at 8 AM, joined by the likes of Mayor Adrian Fenty and Councilmember Evans

 The Georgetown store will operate 24-hours a day, seven days a week, and will be the first Safeway store to offer catering services in its geographic division, which stretches north to Pennsylvania. Georgetown, Washington DC - new Safeway grocery opens on Wisconsin Avenue, designed by Torti GallasUnlike the former store, which sat at the rear of a surface parking lot, the new store fronts the street and sits on top of sheltered parking at grade with an additional parking deck in the rear. Acqua nail salon, a wireless phone store and a "high-end" pet store fill the three retail bays, according to Safeway spokesperson, Craig Muckle. Though much of the fare will be the same, there are a few additions that help the store meet the expectations of its customers, including a "wine cellar." Not just a wine area, but a separate chilled wine cellar that will be run by Georgetown native, Michael Quinn, and offer upwards of 2,500 bottles. The store will also offer a sushi bar and a Starbucks that open from 5 AM until midnight, longer than any other Starbucks nearby. Additional features include an indoor/outdoor terrace and a lounge with a fireplace and flat screen TVs. This is sounding more like a college campus than a grocery store. Washington DC retail for lease - Wisconsin Avenue SafewayOnce the store opens, Safeway will submit their Torti Gallas-designed building for review by the U.S. Green Building Council, expecting LEED certification for the final product. According to Muckle, the team "believes" that it will achieve LEED Silver certification, but there is a chance that the project could reach Gold. 

Washington, DC real estate development news

Monday, May 03, 2010

MBT Bike Trail Opens New Section in Northeast

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District of Columbia officials opened the newest section of the Metropolitan Branch Trail (MBT) today, a 1.5 mile stretch of pavement that connects Brookland (Franklin Street) to NoMa (New York Avenue).

In all, the MBT will run the 8 miles between Union Station and Silver Spring, largely on dedicated bike trails, complimented by murals, solar lighting, new parks, and connecting the National Mall with 7 Metro stations.

"We plan to continue to build trails until we have a complete, interconnected system in the District," said DDOT Director Gabe Klein in a prepared statement. In fact, planners of the trail hold out hope that the trail will be entirely off-street, though current plans still contemplate significant portions of street lanes at several points on the trail. In another step forward, the District has received an easement from WMATA to connect the trail to the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station.

The District broke ground on this section of the trail in May of 2008, after PEPCO donated property along the CSX railroad lines to form the trail. Several portions of the trail have already been completed. In time the trail will connect to the Capital Crescent Trail at Silver Spring; the CCT now ends just east of Rock Creek Park. The MBT will also later add a spur from the Ft. Totten Metro to West Hyattsville.

Still to be resolved are land acquisitions at Ft. Totten Metro and several pedestrian-bike bridges, which those knowledgeable of the trail expect within the next two to three years.

Washington DC transportation news

It Takes the District to Build a Garden

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Though community gardens often emerge through an organic (ahem) process, at least one garden with get its start through the District government. Construction will begin in June and last through the summer transforming a paved lot at 13th and C Streets, SE in Capitol Hill into the 13th Street Community Park and Garden. Unlike many community gardens in the surrounding neighborhood, this project is not part of the Capitol Hill Community Garden Land Trust, but rather funded through a federal grant and financing from the District Housing Authority (DCHA).

Almost two years ago the DCHA applied for a grant as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to build the new garden at the Kentucky Court Apartments, a senior and disabled resident community. The ensuing $650,000 HUD award is being partnered with $250,000 from DCHA to finance the construction of a new bright spot for the neighborhood. The HUD grants went to seven projects throughout the District, but 13th Street was the only community garden in the District to receive funding.

The lot totals 6,000 s.f., which will be divided among various uses, including a gardening area with raised beds to make them accessible to Kentucky Court's residents, a gazebo with space for gardening lessons, a small fountain, benches and an exercise area. The more than $900,000 in financing will also cover the plumbing that has to be installed to drain the area appropriately, to improve the surrounding sidewalk and to install better lighting. In April, contractors took a soil sample so neighbors know what their rutabagas are growing in. DCHA currently has out an RFP for general contractors for the bulk of construction; responses are due today.

Dena Michaelson, spokesperson for DCHA, said the garden is an "extension of the all the work" the agency has already put into the Kentucky Courts Apartment. Over the past four years, added Michaelson, DCHA has invested over $4 million on the Apartments, greening the building with energy efficient windows and appliances and new roofs. District-wide, said Michaelson, such efforts have yielded over $1 million in savings on utilities.

Washington DC real estate development news

Saturday, May 01, 2010

DC's Newest Office Building: Uniting NoMa?

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Another NoMa project has now delivered, this time at the corner of K and 1st Streets, NE. 90K, Trammell Crow Company's new office building, is the first of the (eventual) four-stage Sentinel Square development, which will take up several lots along L, First and K Streets, NW in NoMa. 90K offers 400,000 s.f. of green office space for the taking. To date, no announcements have been made about tenants, potential or otherwise, though the developers indicate "strong interest" from government agencies. Developers say the timeline for the next three stages is dependent on the market and financing.

Clark Construction Group began building in June 2008, which is noteworthy according Tom Finan, Managing Director at Trammell Crow, because the development was able to secure construction financing that June "while the rest of the world tumbled around us." Finan said the building was designed by architects SmithGroup to appeal to both public and private sector tenants, though the 12-story Class A office building includes ISC Level IV security features - 30 foot set-backs on all sides, blast-resistant window glazing and separate shuttle elevators from the parking garage to the security check point - not exactly necessary for your average law firm. Building design even assures progressive collapse avoidance, preventing the sudden loss of any column or beam from causing collapse for sufficient time to evacuate.


90K was designed to achieve LEED Silver certification, with aspirations for Gold; Finan indicated that the announcement on LEED is expected this summer. Three levels of below-grade parking provide 317 parking spaces, though the building is just a few blocks from Union Station. And since looks matter, 90K is surfaced with stainless steel and glass, with a skirt of black granite at street level and Jerusalem Gold marble from Israel.

Asked about the impact of a new building without secured tenants on occupancy rates in the NoMa neighborhood, Liz Price, President of the NoMa BID, said the project does not make a big impact considering the area is set to have 14-15 million s.f. of new or converted office space when and if all proposed projects come to fruition. But the Trammell Crow project is probably "one of the only spaces currently or near-term available for a large HQ," added Price. NoMa's remaining office space can only be leased piecemeal thanks to other large leases.

On the leasing front, Finan said his company has "chased a number of bigger government deals and some of the medium sized agencies," but nothing firm. Finan is hopeful that a deal could be "only months away" on leases that would take upward of one-third of the building. Though designs could permit ground floor retail, Finan said his company secures office tenants first and then determines whether or not there should be retail in the mix.

What does 90K, Sentinel Square's first phase, do for NoMa? Finan sees the project as an anchor that connects the "preexisting" NoMa up and down First Street near Union Station with the newer, "more pioneering elements" closer to New York Avenue. The project, which replaced a surface parking lot, serves to "unite" the area between metros into a clear NoMa market, added Finan.

Washington, DC real estate development news
 

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