The Architect Also Rises

By Beth Herman

For intrepid Bethesda, Md.-based architect Mark McInturff of McInturff Architects, the brass ring opportunity to create what the press, and later the awards gods, would consider a monument to an equally intrepid theatre company wasn't found in a box of Cracker Jacks. Nor was it left under his pillow, or handed to him on a platter of warm Toll House cookies. For McInturff, who specializes in residential architecture, the opportunity to design a three-story, 35,000 s.f., 265-seat theatre replete with offices, production shops, a rehearsal hall, classroom space and two cafes in the Washington D.C.’s vibrant Penn Quarter wasn't a cakewalk, but it did come as a life-altering experience. "We were up against some big firms,” McInturff recalled about his somewhat unanticipated quest to build a new home for Washington’s audacious Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, “and some theatre firms – people who’ve done a lot of that kind of work – people with a big name for it: New York firms – and us.” By chance, according to McInturff, in the early stages of development, a member of Woolly Mammoth’s search committee had heard about the architect’s award-winning home designs and had said, “Maybe he can do a theatre,” McInturff quipped, still a bit incredulous that he eventually won the job. When push came to shove and the committee was in the home stretch of a painstaking selection process, McInturff said, “I told them, ‘The bad news is I haven’t done this before, and the good news is I haven’t done this before. So it’s going to be tailored to you and not to the last client I did a theatre for.’” Too Many Cooks Located at 641 D Street NW, and part of a large, mixed-use development for the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation, wherein an arts component is government mandated, the theatre is a space within a building, or actually in the basement of the building, called the Jefferson at Penn Quarter - now the Lafayette condos. According to McInturff, at one point he and his team were, in fact, battling the developer in terms of the amount of parking space the latter needed for 421 condominiums and an array of shops, vs. using it for theatre space. “It really was about taking a piece of a building which was of almost no other use and making it work as a pretty significant cultural institution,” the architect stated. Sited 100 feet into the block and under a courtyard, and though largely subterranean in nature, McInturff said there were three floors in all that needed to factor into the design, noting “…it was very hard to decipher their relationships. They didn’t stack up – the way they went together.” He also recalled attending a play at the theatre’s former home in an industrial building off 14th

Street, where the space felt very constricted and the lobby separated the dressing rooms from the theatre itself. “It was not a conventional relationship (of rooms),” he reflected, explaining that patrons could be purchasing tickets and the actors, occasionally even nude depending on Woolly Mammoth’s de rigeur programming, would have to cross through to the stage. “The whole thing of seeing an actor in a public way - and then going back and watching them in the show – I thought that was really kind of interesting to take what is normally backstage and bring it forward,” McInturff said, compiling his list of possible components for the new space.

Raw Ingredients 

Inspired by Woolly Mammoth artistic director Howard Shalwitz and his peers, whom McInturff calls “brilliant, dedicated, tenacious and respectful of everyone’s creative process,” and at his own expense at the outset of the project, the architect elected to take a small contingent from his firm, including architects Julia Heine and Stephen Lawlor, on a kind of fact-finding expedition to London’s theatre district. Emblematic of the Woolly Mammoth’s proclivity for risk-taking, McInturff said he was not afraid to take his own risks and reveal how little he knew about the soul of a theatre, and how much he wanted to learn. Prevailing upon Shalwitz and a group from Woolly Mammoth to accompany his firm, McInturff asked the D.C. theatre contingent to show them “things that they really loved.” Accordingly, each afternoon was spent touring green rooms and back-of-the-house elements of a specific theatre, with a return to that theatre at night to observe the production itself from several different vantage points. “At intermission we’d switch seats,” McInturff explained, “so you could be in the mezzanine – you could be anywhere – and by the time you left at the end of the night, you understood the space entirely.” He also said that among the key ingredients produced by this kind of investigation was the intimacy ratio: audience to actors, which would inform his D.C. design. “The next day we did it again, and the next day we did it again,” he said of the firm’s multi-theatre experience. “It was very exciting. I was simply a sponge.”

Layers and Layers

Assimilating the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation structure’s raw, coarse basement-type elements (exposed concrete; block walls; unrefined joints, to name just a few), along with the building’s aforementioned directionless tiers and the findings of the London junket, into McInturff Architects’ ultimate design, the results were what Shalwitz eventually termed the “transparent theatrical laboratory.” Loosely based on open-concept restaurant design where everything is visible, the theatre’s offices, classrooms, rehearsal spaces and more are exposed to the public, some behind glass panels, communicating that while its thespians are widely celebrated, the Woolly Mammoth machine is far greater than actors on a stage. “All most people see when they go to a theatre is a small lobby, they see the show, and then they go home,” McInturff explained. “When you come to the Woolly, you understand that this is the result of tremendous amounts of effort by a lot of people working in the background, whether it’s the people in the office, or the box office, or in set design, or in rehearsal, or in classrooms – all leading up to what you are going to do, which is to see the event itself.” And the feeling of “the theatre within the theatre,” McInturff said, in respect to the courtyard model seen in London and reproduced in D.C., where the audience surrounds the stage on three sides, is manifested in a warm, wooden space within a concrete shell – like furniture dropped into a black box, he explained. The design is such that the audience connects and experiences real participation. “This really was one of the great projects of my life,” McInturff reflected, speaking to Woolly Mammoth’s commitment and creativity and his own personal journey, and comparing the theatre’s design and execution to building another signature residence. “It felt like doing a big house – a family house,” he observed. “It was the same kind of emotional involvement I have with my residential clients. I would just call it a different kind of house.”

Washington DC architecture and design news

Strand Theater Redevelopment Moves Forward with Zoning Approval

Yesterday developers and architects presented their plans for the redevelopment of the historic Strand Theater and won unanimous approval from the BZA. The Board also granted several zoning variances, permitting developers to expand a historic landmark and a contributing historic structure, as well as an increase in the FAR and a reduction in the required parking. The Strand Theater and the adjacent contemporaneous building located from 5127-5131 Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue, NE in Deanwood are being packaged together in a redevelopment plan that sees both structures stabilized, renovated, and facades restored to their original grandeur. The ground floor of the renovated buildings will feature new retail options, while the second floor will house small incubator office space for "small and local disadvantaged businesses out of the Ward 7 corridor." In 2008, the District originally awarded the property's development to Washington Metropolitan Community Development Corporation (WCDC) and Banneker Ventures, but WCDC cut their ties with Banneker shortly after their initial proposal, and have since partnered with the Warrenton Group. Serving as fee developer, Warrenton's Principle Warren Williams attended the hearing in support of the project, providing the Board with a brief summary of the proposed redevelopment.

Architectural duties have been assumed by local firm R. McGhee & Associates, and their design plans, in cooperation with guidelines set by the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB), will assist in restoring the historically significant architectural features of the Strand (such as the lengthy front awning and detailed cornice work) and its accompanying sister-building. An in-fill brick addition serving as the "building core" is also in the works, intended as a contemporary interpretation of what the Strand might look like if built with modern materials. The interiors will be extensively gutted and renovated to accommodate the ground floor retail space (likely featuring a restaurant or two) and “affordable” office space set to occupy the building upon completion. Principal Ronnie McGhee, who was recently appointed to the DC Board of Architecture and Interior Designers by Mayor Adrian Fenty, presented the architectural specifics to the BZA, and assured the Board that their plans had official approval from the HPRB and ANC7C. McGhee also promised that the iconic, the lighted Strand Theater sign, would be restored to the roof of the renovated building, bringing a welcome glow back to the area's skyline at night.

In 2008 Mayor Fenty bragged that: "There will be more energy back on this corner for the neighbors who live in the Ward 7 community, east of the river in general and for the entire city." Unfortunately, that energy has remained bottled up in storage these past two years, as the property continues to sit vacant and derelict. The Holy Christian Missionary Baptist church across the street, calling the structures as the currently stand an "eye sore," is also excited about the re-ignited redevelopment plans. Reverend Steve Young testified before the Board in support of the project and offered up use of the church's parking lot to alleviate parking concerns, saying: "whatever is needed to accommodate the project we're willing to comply." Developers also cited several convenient bus-lines that may service future retail patrons as justification for a reduction in required parking. By way of community benefits, developers additionally promised that a dug-out basement level will provide space to be used as a community meeting center, and that newly planted trees will improve the streetscape in compliance with the Great Streets Initiative. It was also noted that the area is currently "starved of retail options." The Board agreed that this was a impressive and commendable project that offers a big first step in revitalization of the surrounding area, as well as thoughtful preservation of a historic landmark. While there is still no timeline for expected groundbreaking and subsequent construction, this Zoning approval activity is a positive sign that developers are moving forward with their plans. In the next step forward, developers and architects will seek the blessing of the National Park Service.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

County to Develop Arlington Mill Residences as Low Income Housing

As promised at the Arlington Mill Steering Committee meeting in September, during which details for the five-story, Davis Carter Scott-designed Community Center were presented to the public, Arlington County has selected Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) as the official developer of the residential portion of the Arlington Mill project. Groundbreaking on the Community Center is expected in early spring of next year, while construction on the 122-unit Arlington Mill Residences is expected to begin in June of 2012.

The low-rise apartment building, designed by local firm Kishimoto Gordon Dalaya Architecture (KGD) will offer six efficiency units, 18 one-bedroom units, 73 two-bedroom units, and 25 three-bedroom units. The entire building will be marketed as affordable housing, the majority of the apartments offered at 60% AMI, with a smaller portion (roughly a tenth) priced at 40% AMI. Developers boast that the design both complies with Columbia Pike Form Based Code and "will be constructed utilizing green building design and will be Earthcraft certified." Earthcraft offers a sustainability designation less rigorous than LEED certification. An open field for public use will provide ample green space for residents, and hoping to further encourage green transportation and exercise, developers designed the site with a direct link to the neighboring Four Mile Run park and bicycle trails.

Developers have projected the total cost at $30 million. To lighten the financial burden, APAH will seek financing from the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA) through permanent mortgage financing and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. Paradigm Companies will serve as general contractor and property manager, Studio39 is slated to shoulder landscaping design duties, and VIKA will assist the team as civil engineers. Paradigm and APAH worked together with Arlington officials to complete the Parc Rosslyn affordable housing project in 2008.
Arlington, VA Real Estate Development News

Arlington Boulevard Development Ready to Break Ground with New Owners

In January of 2008, the Arlington County Board approved plans to redevelop two "decaying old" strip malls at 2201 N. Pershing Drive into a mixed-use development consisting of 188 residential units over 35,000 s.f. of ground floor retail space. The project plans were originally developed by Abbey Road Property Group and anticipated to break ground in late 2009. But like so many development plans approved in 2008 just before the market rolled southward, the property has idled for the last two years. That may change. Equity Residential acquired the property and the accompanying development plans earlier this spring, and now the project looks set to move forward. In September, developers held a preliminary meeting with the Lyon Park Citizens Association, during which the attending public was informed of impending construction. Currently in the process of securing final building permits, and looking to award a general contracting bid next week, the development team expects to break ground on the project by December of this year.

Designed by SK&I, the traditional composite of brick, stone masonry, glass, and Hardie paneling (brick-like "cementitious" fiberboard product) will be set back several feet atop the glassy ground floor retail facade. The project consists of two buildings, each utilizing the same materials and rising four and five stories, designed to be LEED certified. Of the 188 units, 18 will be designated as affordable dwelling units. Structured parking behind each building will service retail shoppers, while a one level below-grade garage will provide parking for residents. Each building will hug its own small, central, landscaped courtyard, outfitted with benches, trees, shrubbery, and a small water fountain.

The Washington Smart Growth Alliance lists "reusing older shopping centers as a key smart growth strategy," making this development an apparent choice for its "Recognized Smart Growth Project" designation despite not being adjacent to a metro station (Clarendon Metro is about 7 blocks or three quarters of a mile). But adjacency to major bus routes makes the project a better example of urban in-fill. The influx of new restaurants and shops set to occupy the future retail spaces will make for an more walkable living experience for residents given the lack of immediate options. To further encourage public transit and green transportation alternatives, and garner more green points, over 85 bicycle spaces are being included in the design.

Pedestrians in Arlington may find it difficult to recognize any semblance of a recession on the street, but residential developments that were once popping up like spring tulips have been largely absent since the financial collapse. But clearly, Equity senses a barometric change. By investing in what is currently a relatively isolated block across from Ft. Myer, Equity Residential seems to be banking on a widening of the dense but narrow Ballston to Rosslyn corridor. While many projects remain on ice, signs of a thaw are significant. With such major local projects now on the docket such as 1812 N. Moore's speculative build out, Rosslyn Commons, and Skanska's Rosslyn office project, indicators of increased construction are apparent. Or perhaps Equity is enjoying the greater DC market, having signed leases with 182 new tenants within its first 90 days at its recently acquired 425 Mass Ave apartment, and is hoping for the same kind of success across the river.

Arlington, VA Real Estate Development News

President Carter Digs Ivy City

President Jimmy Carter is in town today, but far from his old residence, as he starts his latest project in the District's Ivy City neighborhood. With few developers choosing Ivy City for their next big apartment project, the District of Columbia took matters into its own hands in 2008 and awarded 4 non-profit developers the right to redevelop, with District help, a smattering of vacant properties in northeast DC. Mi Casa, Inc., Manna, Inc., MissionFirst, are all taking part, but none as visibly as DC Habitat for Humanity with its former president in the roster.

While Mi Casa began their project earlier this year, Habitat is renovating 8 duplexes along Providence Street, beginning today, with the hopes of building several dozen more over the next few years to serve families at less than 30% of the AMI. Habitat has sold 7 of the 12 homes - 6 new and 6 renovated - and future owners will begin working alongside the professional contractors to complete the requirement of "300 sweat equity hours" for each owner. Less ambitious homebuyers can enlist "friends and family" for 150 of those hours, so those with friends moving to Ivy City might want to avoid phone calls from those friends in the near future.

The District is subsidizing the various projects through DHCD’s Ivy City Special Demonstration Project, the District is subsidizing the acquisition price for each property, in a bid to help stabilize a neighborhood isolated from development money and new construction.

The octogenarian president is in town only for the day, moving on to Annapolis tomorrow to throw his own sweat equity into his next project.

Washington, DC Real Estate and Development News

Take This Design and Call Me in the Morning

By Beth Herman

It is reported that what compelled preeminent psychiatrist Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross to write the revolutionary On Death and Dying in 1969 were her observations of the deplorable treatment of end-of-life patients in hospitals. Prior to her own death in 2004, Dr. Kubler-Ross devoted more than 40 years to transforming people and ideas about illness and dying, cultivating hospice care centers and even founding her own holistic healing center for the terminally ill and their families in California.

For interiors principal Barbara Huelat and architectural principal Joseph Parimucha of Huelat Parimucha Healing Design in Alexandria, Va., the road to improving patient care may have emanated from a different place, but the results, even here in Washington, D.C., are still the same: to meet and exceed the physical, mental and emotional needs of patients suffering from illness and trauma, and their families, in a deeply humane environment.

"Both Joe and I were with large firms that focused on health care design prior to 1991, when we started our own firm,” Huelat said, “but the emphasis tended to be on the project deliverables, the marketing, certainly the bottom line, and we felt the patient component was really missing. We were told that we were being ‘too California’ for the client.”

First, Do No Harm

With hundreds of medical and government projects in their passbook, including emergency rooms, acute care, oncology, pediatrics and even four Veteran’s Administration hospitals on deck, Huelat Parimucha’s concepts for patient-centered design are impacting the patient experience in environments where, for so many years, the emphasis was strictly on physician pedigree, medicine, hospital policy and the administration of such. Basing their design on Planetree principles, named for Hippocrates’ famous Sycamore tree under which he taught healing and medicine, Planetree is a nonprofit partnership of healthcare facilities whose mission is described as one that provides information and education on how to achieve patient-centered care. In fact, Huelat Parimucha has become a Planetree-certified design firm, which Huelat explains differs from LEED certification, which is transaction-based rather than firm- or hospital-based (hospitals must endure a rigorous, multi-year education and results recording process to become Planetree- certified).

No Stone Unturned

For Huelat, who concedes she was disillusioned immediately following design school, discovering at that time “that design was pretty much for the wealthy and it just felt empty,” veering from a traditional course as she quickly did was probably a self-fulfilling prophecy. “I started seeing the implications of what I did,” she said, recalling a major renovation in the 1970s, among her very first projects when health care design was invariably limited to cafeterias, lobbies and public spaces, of an actual hospital endoscopy unit. “I was interviewing department users,” she said, “and I started asking about the functions, what the endoscopy process was, and what the patients saw and felt – the smells and the whole wretchedness of that experience. I just couldn’t go in with regular finishes and materials; I wanted to focus on how you help the patient relax during this very uncomfortable process.”

About 10 years later, on staff at Ellerbe Becket, a joint venture with a Japanese architectural firm to renovate the National Cancer Institute in Tokyo cast Huelat in yet another role. Because Japanese firms didn’t have interior designers in their culture (architects did everything), Huelat was renamed “patient representative,” and set about profiling seven comprehensive U.S.-based cancer centers for Ellerbe Becket’s work in Asia.

“I looked at everything from the patient’s perspective,” she said. “If we were talking about a person who was an inpatient, dying of cancer, and they still had visiting hours from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., and the mother who’s dying also can’t have her 10-year-old daughter there, it just seemed inhumane. I brought up all of these things that had never been talked about before, and we even had other researchers to help us collect data, but I realized things like this were not in the research.” After this project, Huelat reflected, she could never look at a hospital environment the same way.

The Poetry of the Earth is Never Dead

- John Keats

With the use of hospital emergency rooms on the rise for uninsured patients, and due to private physicians’ enormous caseloads booking weeks or months in advance, the ER One project at Washington Hospital Center – D.C.’s largest trauma center – was a pivotal undertaking for Huelat Parimucha. Tantamount to designing a durable and tractable environment to withstand 21^st century catastrophes such as human fallout from emerging terrorist attacks, the firm’s goal was to create a sense of calm, respite, hope and healing in traditionally frenetic terrain, both for patients and staff.

For Parimucha, who as a member of the Air Force had spent 10 years working for the Surgeon General’s office as an architect on military installations and health care facilities, the inclusion or close replication of nature - or organic design - was a key component in health care design and especially in ER One. Incorporating “fractal design” into their plans, or what Huelat calls “nature’s geometry” - recreating the way snowflakes look and fall in a kaleidoscope pattern or the veins in a leaf resemble a tree, the firm sought to replicate these forms in floor patterns, walkways, furnishings and more in ER One. “You can see fractal design on shorelines, on beaches and in erosion,” Huelat explained. “There are no left turns at the beach; it’s very gradual curves,” as opposed to abrupt and jarring lines and colors. A former hospice volunteer, Huelat said her patients inevitably wanted to be outdoors, or if that was not possible, to have visual access. “What is it about nature?” she asked. “We’ve been living that way (since the beginning of evolution). Only the last 100 years or so have we spent more time indoors than out. We’re now in a really foreign building environment – our whole life is in buildings and we rarely get outside,” she added, noting the application of nature to health care environments greatly impacts patient well-being by reducing stress, encouraging rest and thereby promoting healing.

The VA, which traditionally adhered to standards “and just reproducing those standards,” according to Huelat, as opposed to more holistic, patient-centered care, is now implementing Planetree design at many of their facilities. With four contracts to create community-oriented living centers for young vets from the Gulf War, Huelat Parimucha’s subjects are patients their 20s and 30s with traumatic brain injuries, paralysis or multiple-amputees. “They are not in their 80s and 90s,” Huelat said, “so these are not nursing homes.” Rather they will consist of smaller households in a neighborhood concept, each with 10-15 single occupant bedrooms, combined with a kitchen, living and dining room. Nearby in more public spaces will be a post office, barbershop, activities center, computer center and more. Design of each living center will involve organic components, as do all of the firm’s projects.

“It’s a very exciting, revolutionary approach to healing,” Huelat said. “Our culture, including the aging baby boom generation now in the midst of moving into increased health care needs, is becoming a very demanding audience. In the next 20 years, we’re going to see a very dramatic change in health care delivery, more focused on the patient experience than just the medical treatment itself.”

JBG Moving Forward With Rosslyn Commons

The JBG Companies is set to stack two more high rise buildings into the crowded Rosslyn setting very shortly. Approved by the Arlington County Board in the summer of 2008, the plans call for 25 four-story townhouses and two high rise apartment buildings offering 454 units and 12,635 s.f. of retail, construction of which is expected shortly. The new development will replace eight existing brick garden-style apartment buildings (totaling 84 units) between Clarendon Blvd. and 16th Road North with the town houses and two L-shaped towers (12 and 13 stories respectively) designed by Bethesda-based firm Architects Collaborative. Fifty-four of the apartment units will be marketed as affordable housing. Both apartment buildings are expected to be LEED Certified.

The boldly designed buildings will be a striking composition of “tan-brown, reddish brown and pink-brown brick with gray-blue to gray-green metal frames.” Rising a dizzying 128 feet, the townhomes (a more manageable 50 ft) will help step the development gracefully down into the surrounding garden-style apartment complexes. The super-block will be split by a landscaped pedestrian plaza, creating a foot-traffic thoroughfare halving Clarendon Blvd. and 16th Road North. The internal courtyard will be advantageous for tenants looking to spill cafe and restaurant operations into the public space, creating a bustling central plaza where residents, commerce, and leisure will come together.

While no time table has been made public, Paradigm and Clark Construction are expected to offer general contracting bids by October 7th with the expectation that construction would begin shortly after. Rosslyn Gateway, Central Place, and Potomac Yards are just a few of the other JBG projects planned for Arlington in the near future.

Update: Since publishing the story, JBG reached out to DCMud with additional details on the project. Balfour Beatty Construction, Clark Construction, Facchina Construction, and SE Foster Construction have all submitted bids on the project. The exact number of units is as follows: 474 total units and 55 affordable units. The red and grey building is designated as Tower One and the combo of dark and light gray is Tower Two. Both residential towers will include a rooftop pool and pool deck, rooftop club room, and rooftop fitness center. Tower Two, which is "a more modern design...with neutral colors, clean lines, boutique lobby, European-styled kitchens (flat panel kitchen cabinets with modern door pulls, white Corian or quartz countertops, dark/light cabinets (with dark or light hardwood floors), alternating by floor" could be marketed as for-sale condominiums depending on the state of the market when delivery nears. JBG confirmed that they in talks to bring a cafe with outdoor seating into the retail space. The project is expected to earn LEED Silver. Construction will begin by the end of the year, and the buildings will be delivered by late 2012, with the two towers delivered first and the townhomes following closely behind.

Arlington, VA Real Estate Development News

Rosslyn's Artisphere Opens

While the "opening of the Artisphere" might sound science fictional, Rosslynites know by now that it puts Rosslyn on the map of arts destinations. The 53,000-square-foot "showcase for the arts," opening October 10th, will include an exhibition gallery, a Black Box theater for the Washington Shakespeare Company, ballroom, Wi-Fi cafe, four performance venues, and three art galeries, all converted from the building the once housed the Newseum.

Arlington chose The Lukmire Partnership and Clark Construction to renovate the interior, while keeping most of the exterior, in a design that is intended to achieve LEED certification for interior space, designation pending. Arlington officials set the October 10th date more than a year ago, and managed to stick the landing with regular events beginning immediately after the official pomp. "Artisphere" was the winning entry in a public contest that included "Planet 9," "Artopolis," "the Orb," "the Artseum," and DCMud's own rejected entries of "Rossdome" and "SphARTlington." Humph.

Officials promise a veritably transcendental arts forum with non-stop programming that will redefine art in the community. "Its an entirely unique model in the region and country in terms of diversity and amount of programming. I do think we are creating a new model for regional appeal and global programming," said Norma Kaplan, Division Chief for Arlington Cultural Affairs, which operates the Artisphere. "An important component is bringing in artists from around the world that will open up the door to new kinds of work and new connections." Kaplan promises "20 to 25 events" per week. Jim Byers, Marketing Director for Arlington Cultural Affairs, adds that between the impromptu, regular, and occasional big name performances, the building will be a consistent place of inspiration. "The usual experience is a big name that may draw you to a cultural center sporadically. While some of the programs will indeed be big names, our idea is to constantly engage the public and have them hang out there regularly at the wi-fi cafe or go to the art store, a much more holistic experience than seeing a few big stars per year."

The building is owned by Monday Properties with a 20-year lease to Arlington. Monday is also the owner of the land at nearby 1812 N. Moore Street in Rosslyn, where it recently announced it would begin construction on what will be Rosslyn's tallest building when complete.

Arlington Virginia real estate development news

Groundwork Gets Underway at Convention Center Marriott

Construction crews could begin preliminary groundwork as early as next week for the Convention Center's newest addition, the 1,175-room, 15-story Marriott Marquis, a project headed by Quadrangle Development and Capstone Development. The Washington Convention & Sports Authority (WCSA) announced earlier today that it will provide limited early access in order for developers to orchestrate initial site remediation work including: "removal of underground storage tanks, demolition of the Erhlich Building, erecting fences, placing signage around the site and readying the area for construction."

A more ceremonial and celebratory start to construction will soon follow, says Gregory A. O’Dell, Washington Convention and Sports Authority President. "The Authority and the District are finalizing the documentation and preparing to close on the bonds as we anticipate a groundbreaking within the next 30-45 days," he explains. Once construction begins, a build-out of 42 months is anticipated, placing the delivery date in the spring of 2014. While this is not the official groundbreaking, convention center authority spokeswoman Chinyere Hubbard confirms that this is indeed the beginning of construction and an indication of nothing but green lights going forward. There are "no further legal obstacles", says Hubbard, who notes that the WCCA board will officially approve the financing bonds tomorrow.

The soon to be active construction site is bounded by Massachusetts Avenue and L Streets, NW. Because of District height limitations, the massive hotel is burying much it's square footage beneath the earth, so the first order of business for contractors is to dig a giant hole and start building back up to ground level. Progress above ground might not be visible for almost a year after construction starts. Upon completion, the building will feature over 100,000 s.f. of meeting and ballroom space, 25,000 sf of retail, and 385 parking spaces. The plan also calls for a below grade tunnel (vehicle and pedestrian) connecting the hotel and Convention Center. The hotel will become only the third Marquis in the country. Developers and District officials hope the already impressive Convention Center will be a world-wide attraction now that an accompanying state-of-the-art, large-scale hotel is on the way.

Last year, Mayor Adrian Fenty signed the New Convention Center Hotel Amendments Act of 2009 that authorized Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and the issuance of bonds, to fund up to $206m in construction and operational costs. Private developers will pick up the remaining portion of the estimated $550 million total cost. With JBG's spat over the project and ensuing lawsuit now ended, today's announcement means the project is officially moving forward.

Washington DC real estate development news

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

Two Year Extension Given to Uline Arena Redevelopment Plans

Like many developments around the city, Douglas Jemal's plans for the vacant Uline Arena and Ice House will remain stalled for the foreseeable future. But that won't stop real estate development fiends from fantasizing about the day Jemal's unique redevelopment vision for this historic NOMA property are finally realized. On Tuesday that day seemed pretty far away, as the BZA granted Jemal and his development team a two year extension of their plan approval and setback and parking variance relief approvals. In 2008, both the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) and Zoning approved the preliminary plans of Douglas Development, in partnership with the Wilkes Company, to

transform Uline Arena into a state of the art mixed-use complex featuring 290,000 square feet of commercial office space, 75,000 s.f. of ground-floor retail, and 225 residential units.

Bounded to the north by M Street NE, and situated on the northern half of the block between 2nd and 3rd Streets NE, the Uline Arena, also known as the Washington Coliseum, is best known as the first concert venue in the United States to host the Beatles. Over the years it featured sports teams like the Washington Lions (American Hockey League) and the Washington Capitals (American Basketball Association), as well as famous musical acts like Bob Dylan and the Temptations. Most recently the facility was used as a trash transfer station by Waste Management Inc. Originally constructed in 1941, HPRB placed the building on its National Register of Historic Places in 2006, preventing any future demolition plans.
GTM Architects have penned the design plans that see the historic coliseum restored, renovated, and expanded. Designers are excited about the historic preservation aspect of this project, describing the structure and its thin shell concrete vaulted roof as one the earliest examples of "structural innovations in modern industrial design in the United States." As part of the renovation, existing masonry facades will be improved and restored. A 2-story addition of glass and steel will be constructed above the Ice House, highlighting the industrial character of the structure.

A spacious, multi-level atrium will be constructed inside the domed Arena. Decisions on who or what will occupy the retail space are up in the air: big box retail, an entertainment center, a mix of small and local restaurants and cafes, it all remains on the table, according to developers. The streetscape will be improved with planters and transitioned into a new landscaped entry plaza at the northeast corner of the block. Developers intend on extensively incorporating sustainable design strategies so to warrant LEED certification upon completion.

Executive Paul Millstein of Douglas Develpoment says of the hold up: "We have a really cool design to bring this property back to life, but right now we're still searching for the construction money." It's a tough market for anyone to secure financing in, but especially so for a development team used to doing spec projects. With times still uncertain, no one is willing to finance

developments without prelease agreements, says Millstein. "Trust me," he explains, "this is not the place we hoped to be; we thought we'd be done by now." But he assures skeptics that they are remaining flexible on the future of the office and retail space, and "are plowing ahead, more bull-headed in our efforts than with any other property."

But Douglas Development promises not to sacrifice quality for speed. At the initial approval hearing he told the BZA that the building was going to have "cool tenants." "They're going to be innovative. They're going to be environmentally correct. They're going to be public transportation oriented. They're going to be neighborhood friendly," he elaborated. But what and who are these "cool tenants"? Greenpeace, who currently resides in another of Jemal's buildings, was initially mentioned as a possible tenant, but have decided to remain in their current location. And that's really too bad, because what's cooler than Greenpeace? Well, except for Paul McCartney playing a gig at the groundbreaking ceremony, just a thought. Hurry up Jemal, while he can still sing.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Groundbreaking at 1150 Ripley Street

Minor construction work has now begun at 1150 Ripley Street in Silver Spring, but developer Washington Property Company will wait until next Tuesday to officially celebrate the groundbreaking of their 16-story multi-family building. The 306,000 s.f. building will add 286 rental units, and is being heralded by developers as the "first major construction project within the Ripley District in almost 20 years." On October 5th, Washington Property Company President Charles K. Nulsen III will be joined by Montgomery County officials to put a ceremonial shovel in the ground and provide remarks on the bright future of the Ripley District, including specifics on several other "exciting development

plans" in the area.

The building design, a generous use of glass textured by streaking and crisscrossing lines of metal as well as tall brick columns, is courtesy of the Lessard Group. Sitting on 1.16 acres of land, the apartment building will offer the usual assortment of amenities: business center, conference rooms, rec rooms, and a fitness center. Stocked with the standard array of studios and one and two bedrooms, the structure will stand atop three and a half levels of below grade parking totaling over 300 spaces. The ground floor will feature 7,000 s.f. of service retail.

The Ripley District, a triangular parcel of land in downtown Silver Spring, is bounded by Bonifant Street, Georgia Avenue, and the CSX Railroad. Sitting adjacent to the MARC railway and Silver Spring Transit Center, this is the type of transit-oriented development that county officials are hoping to encourage. The county’s Department of Housing and Community Affairs has offered $5 million in mezzanine financing, and hopes their visible cooperation and financial assistance will spur future smart growth in the area.

Silver Spring, and specifically the Ripley District, will look to mimic Bethesda and Arlington by sporting horse blinders, ignoring the recession, and plowing ahead. Officials will steer new developments to be "organized around open spaces, surrounded by a mix of high-density office and apartment buildings, with bike trails and pedestrian routes connecting residents to the nearby Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center and the Metropolitan Branch Trail to Union Station in downtown Washington, D.C." Home Properties' Ripley Street North mixed-use development will look to follow this blueprint and give County officials another reason to smile, but no word on impending construction has been given. The plan for the Shalom-Baranes-designed 200 ft. residential tower and accompanying 80 ft mixed-use building was approved in 2008.

S.E. Foster, a subsidiary of the Paradigm Companies, is heading up general contracting duties, and will deliver the first units in roughly eighteen months. Full delivery is expected in approximately two years.

Silver Spring, MD Real Estate Development News

Hello Cupcake II

For cupcake fanatics in DC (apparently there are a lot of them), the knowledge that Dupont Circle's Hello Cupcake has been planning to expand to Barracks Row amidst the escalating cupcake frenzy is welcome news. But diversifying the catalog of cake and frosting combos is not the only thing that goes into a new location, as the new store will open with national expectations. While Penny Karas, founder and owner of Hello Cupcake, juggles the tasks of a small business owner, her husband Bill Bonstra and his colleagues at Bonstra Haresign Architects are working to make sure customers at Hello Cupcake's newest location (705 8th Street SE) will consume their sugary treats in a comfortable, colorful, and intelligently designed space.

The original

Bonstra and his team were responsible for the interior design of the first Hello Cupcake store that earned the National 2009 IES Capital Chapter Lighting Award of Merit and also won design awards in each of four categories of the AIA/DC Chapter Awards program. Bonstra said he wasn't exactly surprised, but still humbled and delighted: "We knew we had done something good, but to be recognized by your peers is fantastic." The interior space that Bonstra created on Dupont Circle seems like an upscale and modern take on an airy Candy Land dreamscape. The new space in Southeast will be a continuation of the same, says Bonstra. "The new store will be consistent with the brand that has been developed, and will play on some of the same design themes, but will also be unique, as every project and space is new and different." Bonstra will also adhere to the same LEED and Green Restaurant Association standards that governed many of the design decisions the first go around.

Hello Cupcake or Hello Kitty?

Like the Dupont Circle location, the Barracks Row cupcakery will feature lively signage, generous and inviting windows, and colorful sidewalk furniture. While the previous location was a retail space in the ground floor of a large office building, Hello Cupcake's newest venue replaces Capitol Hill Bikes in a three-story historic row-house, featuring residential units on top of the ground floor retail space. With all this, plus the addition of several planters and flower boxes, Bonstra believes his wife's new location will add "needed vibrancy" to the historic facade and the southern portion of Barracks Row. The new store has the luxury of a basement floor, which will allow Karas to jump-start the nationwide shipping operation she had included in her business plan from the beginning.

Hello Cupcake II interior rendering

Karas hopes that she can tap into some of the baseball fans that shuttle to Nationals' stadium from the nearby Barracks Row eateries. Baseball game traffic won't be back until next spring, but cupcake consumption on Barrack's row should happen before then as construction is set to finish before the first of the new year. Bonstra says that his team is in the process of securing all necessary building permits, and that some minor demolition has already begun. Energized by a few cupcake induced sugar highs, Prill Construction Group is moving speedily ahead as they oversee general contracting work.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News