What Would Ike Like?

Over forty American architects and artists submitted a design to the Eisenhower Memorial Counterdesign competition hosted by the National Civic Art Society (NCAS) and the Institute for Classical Architecture & Classical America (ICA&CA) Mid-Atlantic Chapter, and sixteen of these designs were on display at the reception following the competition's finale last night, which coincided with the 67th anniversary of D Day.

For a memorial that has been estimated to cost U.S. taxpayers between $90 and $110 million, guest-of-honor and Ike's grandaughter Susan Eisenhower was apt to end her address by saying, "I'm not at all surprised that this group has decided to step up to the plate and start a debate, who could do anything but say this is the American way?"

The counterdesign competition was launched in direct opposition to current Frank Gehry designs for the memorial to honor the 34th president and five-star general. Gehry was selected by the GSA to design a memorial on the approved site adjacent to the National Mall, contained in a boxed area between 6th and 7th Streets SW, Independence Avenue and the U.S. Dept. of Education, and falls over a three-pronged section of Maryland Avenue SW.

Ms. Eisenhower acknowledged the challenge of making any design truly "timeless," yet mused over the success of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument as being "perhaps because they don't say too much."

Below are the first place, second place and third place (tie) winners, followed by the Commission Commendation and the Committee Commendation, and finally the Frank Gehry design currently awaiting NCPC approval.

First place: Daniel W. Cook

Second Place: Sylvester J. Bartos, Jr. / Whitley E. Esteban

Third Place (tie): Robert Firmin & Bruce Wolfe

Third Place (tie): Francisco Ruiz

NCAS Commendation: Scott Collison



Committee Commendation: Michael Franck / Rodney Cook



Frank Gehry design:

Miller New Director of Real Estate Development for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development

Jeff Miller assumed the role of Director of Real Estate Development for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, yesterday, June 6th, confirms communications director Jose Sousa.

Miller founded Prospect Diversified in 2009 - a multi-family-property investment company - upon his exit from Trammel Crow, in October 2008. Prior to working with Trammel Crow, Miller spent a year and a half with Lowe Enterprises, after a five-year stint with JBG, from 2000 to 2005.

Miller first forayed into real estate in the early '90s, when, as he says, "the majority of the players were smaller, entrepreneurial groups capitalized with third party joint venture partners" before the industry "transitioned to fund-based and institutional capital, closer in form to investment bank or private equity funds."

He too went big - JBG, Lowe, Trammel Crow - from 2000 to 2008 and worked on a number of significant residential projects in the DC area before the market collapse.

For the last few years Miller has been focused on both his return to start-up, real estate enterprise, and the development of the Mount Vernon Triangle area as chairman of the Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District, a private nonprofit.

Washington D.C. Real Estate development news

Opposing Designs to Gehry's Eisenhower Memorial Unveiled Tonight

Design alternatives for a memorial to President Eisenhower, solicited by the National Civic Art Society (NCAS), a DC-based nonprofit that "advocates the humanist tradition," together with the Institute for Classical Architecture & Art (ICA&A) Mid-Atlantic Chapter, a national nonprofit dedicated to advancing the classical form, will be judged tonight at the Rayburn House Office Building. A panel will select a $1000 first prize winner, and award $500 to a runner-up, prior to a reception that will serve to ignite dialogue amongst attendees regarding the three highly disputed, yet fairly secure, Frank Gehry designs for the site in question.

Just south of the Mall, the site was approved by the National Capital Planning Commission in 2006, and Gehry was selected as the architect shortly thereafter; Gehry has submitted three designs to the NCPC for review and approval, which is currently underway.

The counter-designs that will be unveiled tonight are an attempt by co-hosts NCAS and ICA&A to generate a thoughtful discussion "about the meaning, inspiration and dignity of designs that are suitable to commemorate a distinguished president." Special guest, and Ike's granddaughter, Susan Eisenhower will be speaking at the event.

The competition sought alternatives from "classical architects and artists" and the judges are expected to "choose the design that best exemplifies the ideals of a meaningful, timeless memorial that is appropriate classical vision of Washington, DC."

In contrast to the Gehry design, the competition called for a design that would be "in harmony with the vision of the L'Enfant Plan and the McMillan Plan" and a sculptural representation recognizable as Dwight D. Eisenhower and "appropriately calibrated to the gravity of the memorial."

Right now the gravity of the memorial as designed by Gehry is public contention, yet, designs generated by the competition will be done in classical tastes - not everybody's cup of tea. The designs, and the direction of the District, are all up for debate.

D.C. Real Estate development news

Live Chat with NCPC on the Federal Imprint in DC

New development, modern architecture, and Washington DC's unique historic heritage. Can they all get along?

Today at 12:30pm, DCMud will host a live chat with NCPC’'s Christine Saum (Chief Urban Designer) and David Levy (Director of Urban Design and Plan Review) to discuss the agency'’s role in the design review process, and its efforts to define the federal interest in the urban design of the nation’s capital as an expanding, dynamic city. The live webchat will give our web audience a chance to ask questions and stump the urban planning experts. The chat will be in advance of NCPC's presentation "Contemporary Design, Historic City," to be given the evening of June 7th.

The chat will take place on DCMud on Monday at 12:30pm.

Where are Virginia's Green Apartments?

Arlington Virginia, one of the most affluent counties in the U.S, takes a predictably green approach to development. Burnishing its green credentials, Arlington was the first jurisdiction in the country to adopt an incentive system to persuade developers to build sustainable, efficient structures, enacting a green program as early as 1999. Alexandria partnered with Virginia Tech’s Department of Urban Affairs and Planning to design a new collaborative planning process, called Eco-City Alexandria, to foster sustainable building. So far, surprisingly few residential developers have taken up the counties on their offers. Since Arlington's Green Building Incentive Program went into effect in 2000, permitting extra height or density for obtaining LEED certification, just three residential developments in the city of Arlington have earned the USGBC's green ranking, only one of which received additional density. In Alexandria, only one new condo and one apartment achieved a LEED ranking. Arlington's 220 Twentieth in Crystal City is LEED certified, the lowest certification available, while Arlington's Parc Rosslyn, a subsidized housing project built by APAH, earned a Silver designation, one step better. 

Just recently, Lyon Place in Clarendon was awarded LEED status (the leasing office was unable to identify which kind). In Alexandria, Cromley Lofts earned Virginia's first LEED designation with an impressive Gold ranking (the 3rd highest of 4 levels) in 2007, but since then only the Station at Potomac Yards has achieved the USGBC's stamp of approval. The Crescent in Falls Church has also recently earned LEED recognition, and most recently the Macedonian obtained EarthCraft certification. In Washington D.C., by contrast, numerous residences have the distinction, including the Alta, WestEnd25 (Gold), Flats130 (part of LEED-ND, a more nebulous neighborhood designation) at Constitution Square, Capitol Quarter (Silver), Georgia Commons, Gables at Takoma (Silver), Residences at Square 80, and Solea condos (Gold). The USGBC website, though providing an incomplete and inadequate list, puts Arlington's LEED projects at 34 (for all building types), and Washington D.C.'s LEED projects at 141. Developers have long complained that the LEED certification process is rigid and costly, requiring a longer process, more paperwork and greater expense both to build and get certification. Another factor is public demand, which most agree puts very little premium on green construction. But Joan Kelsch, Arlington's Green Building Program Manager, says that shortcomings in the initial program have been addressed, and that a wave of LEED certified buildings is about to hit the market. In 2009, the county tweaked its incentives, raising the incentive for housing developers and lowering incentives on office construction, which were building in green with or without the incentives. "Any large office building getting built is going to be LEED certified, because the market is demanding that now. That's not true of residential buildings." Of residential buildings, Kelsch says "they typically get 6-12 units [in extra density], depending on the size of the building." Kelsch says the lack of LEED certified projects has more to do with timing. "I think the fact that we don't have alot of them finished is not necessarily an indication that the program hasn't been successful, there's just been a lull in construction and there are many in the pipeline. We think its been very successful." Kelsch also notes that 24% of residential units approved between December, 2003 and December, 2008 were intended to be certified as LEED, some of which are under construction or have been built and are seeking certification. Others, like the Tellus, simply haven't been built. But numerous other projects have been designed without green features. Virginia also recognizes the EarthCraft brand of sustainable certification, which several developments have opted for but which Arlington's Green Building Incentive Program does not recognize. According to Kelsch, the county has considered giving bonus density for meeting EarthCraft, which the state now uses to reward subsidized housing projects. Though the trend is for better, greener buildings, neither the county nor the public are yet demanding it. Until one of them does, it seems builders will not always see the advantages of green. Arlington, Virginia real estate development news

Standing Tall in Arlington

By Beth Herman

Loosely translated from the Greek, Macedonian means "tall one." Though the eponymous 36-unit apartment building in Arlington, Va., 2229 Shirlington Road, may be only four stories high, it clearly stands tall among its residential peers as the first new construction multifamily affordable housing development in the city to achieve EarthCraft certification. EarthCraft is the standard by which the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA) evaluates energy efficiency.

With a confluence of ideals reflecting community enhancement and sustainability, nonprofit affordable housing developer AHC Inc. and property owner Macedonia Baptist Church partnered in 2008 to conceive the Macedonian. Opening this month in a historically African-American neighborhood comprised largely of single family detached bungalows and newer town homes, by design the building trumpets the church’s mission, as stated on its website, to help transform people’s lives.

“The county had undertaken a big redevelopment process for this community, developing a new planning tool called the Nauck Village Center Action Plan (in 2004),” said John Welsh, AHC director of its multifamily division. Constructing the nearby 94-unit Shelton in 2007, winner of two AIA/DC awards and one Arlington County Design Award, Welsh and colleagues soon entered into a dialogue with the church about the church-owned parcel that would eventually become the Macedonian.

Offering development expertise and acquiring funding in the form of $3.9 million in VHDA tax-exempt bonds, $2.7 million in tax credit equity, $550,000 in deferred development fees, a county cash flow note of nearly $3.5 million, and TCAP funding of about $2.4 million, AHC teamed with Bonstra Haresign Architects and Bozzuto Construction to create a multi-use structure that also designates 2,000 s.f. of commercial space for shops and the church-affiliated CDC, and acts as an incubator for several area start-up businesses.

Air Share

According to Thomas Wallinga, AHC construction manager and former architect with Bonstra Haresign, while energy efficient lighting and appliances were standard on the path to EarthCraft certification, additional unit sealing to prevent energy leakage was high on the construction agenda, as were low-emissivity double-pane windows and low-flow fixtures.

"But the most unusual thing we did was actually the mechanical system,” Wallinga said, identifying a Mitsubishi variable fluid flow (as opposed to air flow) system: the CITY MULTI R2-series. Used largely in Europe and Asia, up to nine units operate off of one condenser in a two-pipe system, according to Wallinga. In this respect, energy is shared between individually-metered units so that one tenant can use heat and another air conditioning, simultaneously, a common practice in transitional seasons like spring and fall. “It balances things out at a much higher efficiency level than typical heat pumps,” he explained.Per Welsh’s description of the process, the Mitsubishi product works like an old hydronic system but utilizes Puron, an environmentally safe refrigerant. He explained that the system is relatively new in the U.S., has not been used residentially, and there is no existing method to determine a SEER (seasonal energy efficiency ratio) rating.

Virginia Tech is said to be studying the product for testing and rating purposes. In order to meet aesthetic standards as well as sustainable design goals, the team located nine Mitsubishi condensers in the ventilated parking garage, instead of as eyesores on the lawn or the roof, in part to showcase a modular “live roof” system that includes concrete paver patio space for residents. Featuring sedum, large individual trays of plantings sit atop a secured, reflective, watertight roof membrane to reduce storm water runoff. Green carpeting suffuses the patio area to the parapets, with stone edging, so the roof membrane is not visible.

Framing was done in 2x6 construction, with Lycene—a closed-cell spray insulation system—used for optimal energy efficiency. Low-VOC paints and sealants were used, and recycled content is evident in materials that include carpeting, though carpeting was kept to a minimum.

A floor for more

“We wanted something that looks better and is more durable in terms of tenant changeovers,” Wallinga said, citing the use of Amtico flooring. A vinyl product that is “heavy duty” but aesthetically imitates fine wood, the 4x36-ft. strips resemble a warm cherry floor, the results achieved by photographing wood and transferring to the vinyl printing process for a plank look. While bedrooms are carpeted, kitchens, living rooms and hallways utilize Amtico, with any damage easily rectified and expense mitigated by replacing just a single strip, when necessary.

“The building is also smoke-free—you can’t even smoke on the balconies” which is what the church wanted in its pursuit of a healthier environment, Welsh explained. “And by cutting the use of carpeting by 50 or 70 percent, we’re cutting down on allergens for a better breathing environment, not to mention decreasing maintenance costs and landfill impact by having to rip it out when someone moves out.

Five designated ADA units have requisite roll-under kitchen and bathroom cabinets and roll-in showers, with audio-visual adaptation if a tenant is hearing or visually-impaired, but all other units are partially adaptable if necessary. Noting 529 people had made inquiry about the building, Welsh said 64 applications had been received to date and about a dozen residents have moved in.

"The Macedonian looks like market-rate apartments,” Wallinga said. “There’s nothing to distinguish this type of affordable housing from anything you’d see in a condo or market-rate building.”

photographs courtesy of Anice Hoachlander and Thomas Wallinga

Adams Morgan 1950s-era Auto Dealership Back on the Market

Booze-filled, bauble-covered bodies course through Adams Morgan's main ventricle, 18th Street, hopping in-and-out of bars and filling out a strip of nightlife that is arguably unrivaled elsewhere in the District. Two blocks east, running virtually parallel to 18th, is Champlain Street.

At 2329 Champlain Street NW, there is a 30,000+ sf building that at first glance appears to have been built out of river rocks. Brick-and-cement in actuality, the structure was built in 1957 to house an auto dealership, and later became the Brass Knob warehouse, until 2004.

Adjacent to the lofty warehouse space, at 2335 Champlain Street NW, is a compact, 100-year-old brick building, and former site of the Georgetown Plating Polishing & Repair Co.

First sited for redevelopment in 2005, a plan to turn the combined properties into a 22-unit multi-family residence was approved in May 2006, but crashed around '07/'08. Involved parties are now back on their feet, for the most part.

Gourley & Gourley LLC was the lender in '05, and is now the owner, and selling.

In February of this year, Gourley & Gourley, along with counsel Holland & Knight, and with conceptual drawings by Bill Bonstra of Bonstra│Haresign Architects, approached the Board of Zoning Adjustments with the request to bump up the 2006 design of 22 units to 31. The BZA approved the change in March.

The approved 31-unit design now needs a developer, and finding one rests with Robert Meehling of CB Richard Ellis. Meehling seems confident. Blaming time and circumstance for killing the first go at developing the adaptive reuse project, Meehling said he believes the area has a solid market for units pegged at $550 to $600 psf.

The current, but still evolving, design will preserve the existing façade, and add two levels of high-ceiling units. According to Bonstra, the design will incorporate "raised bedrooms" on the first two floors, while playing with a glassier, full-window concept above, and will overall honor the "neighborhood aesthetic." The auto dealership/warehouse portion was built with 1.5' thick walls, which will be preserved, but the use of the smaller brick structure is yet to be determined.

D.C. Real Estate development news

Next at Bat: Camden South Breaks Ground

In two years’ time there will be 276 apartments to rent on South Capitol Street in Southwest, just a foul tip away from the Nationals Stadium. Donohoe Construction, general contractor on the project, broke ground Wednesday on the building – Camden South Capitol – and aims to be finished in late summer of 2013. This should give renters enough time to grab an apartment in time to not see the Nationals in the 2013 World Series.

Pictured: Mark Bucci (Camden), Screech (Nats Mascot), Bob Wilson (Donohoe), Neil Stablow (Donohoe), Greg McCarthy (Nats)

The project, named for developer Camden Property Trust, will rise out of a previously vacant site, nearly the size of the Nats’ outfield. It’s been duly noted that a structure named “Camden” might be more appropriate in Baltimore, a (Nats fans’) stone’s throw from Camden Yards.

The 276-unit building, designed by WDG Architecture, will rise over 10 ten stories and feature a rooftop pool, a courtyard, “high finishes and upscale residences”, three levels of underground parking, and will sport a grey-brick exterior of contrasting textures and colors: smooth vs. rough, and light vs. dark.

These aforementioned features create a view of the buildings, but a view from the building may be even more impressive, according to Sean Stadler at WDG Architecture: one, there may be a view up to the Capitol to the north and the Anacostia River to the south, at least for upper-floor dwellers; and two, the rooftop deck will offer a view into the ballpark, transforming the pool into cheap seats at game time. Reminder: binoculars not waterproof.

According to Susan Goldstein at Donohoe, Camden South is the first multi-family project to get off (or in) the ground in the area for 3 and a half years, and “the Capitol Riverfront BID is working to incorporate this site into the BID.” Also of note yesterday, a win for the Nationals who squeaked by the Phillies for a 2-1 victory.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Southwest Federal Center Gets Green Improvements

Federal planners voted today to approve replacement of a swath of pavement in Southwest DC with a landscaped park, converting the area dominated by federal office buildings and minimal streetscaping into something slightly greener and a touch less alienating.

The National Capitol Planning Commission's vote today facilitates the plan to turn a large surface parking lot on C Street into a public park, narrow the street, create a sidwalk, and blend the now ubiquitous security wall more discreetly into the landscaping.  The 5-story Mary E. Switzer building, owned by GSA and host to an alphabet soup of agencies, has already been given an internal nip-tuck, with greener, more modern features, but outside had abandoned any pretense of pedestrian friendly streetscaping in favor of automobile access and security.

Plans for the building directly across from C Street, which also sports a large surface parking lot, are in the works but have not yet been approved.  The block-sized Switzer building was completed in 1940 and has been a government office building since completion, but is on a regular tourist footpath between the Federal Center Southwest Metro station and the Mall.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Your Next Place...

By Franklin Schneider

I can't be the only one who goes to the museum and thinks, “if you cleared out all these thousand-year-old clay pots and paintings of men in powdered wigs, this room would make a great home theater!” And you know what? I was right! This luxury condo is located in the Landmark Lofts, a restoration of the former DC Children's Museum, and yes, the epic proportions of a museum do indeed translate to a living space.

There's a massive living room with exposed brick, that opens onto a private terrace. A large kitchen with breakfast bar is just off the living room, and there's an expansive den with a dizzying photomural of nearby Union Station. The master bathroom is as big as the shower area at my gym, except it's luxurious, made of marble, and there isn't that one guy in the corner urinating onto his own feet. (He claims it cures athlete's foot but we all know he's just a pervert.)

But as always, its really the details that make a place, and this unit has it all. An integrated iPod dock and condo-wide Bose soundsystem, laundry, two parking spaces, and a huge walk-in closet that you'll never ever fill, even if you won the lottery and went shopping every single day like Kanye West. Also, there's a wine cellar! Yes, a wine cellar! I'm not a wine person, so I'd probably just use it for, like, shoe storage, but still. That's not the point.

215 I St. NE #101
Washington, DC
2 Bdrms, 2.5 Baths $1,174,000

14th Street Condos Moving Ahead?

Construction of one of 14th Street's condo projects is inching closer to reality now that initial site work is taking place at the corner of 14th and R Streets, NW. Developer Habte Sequar purchased the land for $3.8m in November of 2009, with a goal of a beginning construction this time last year. But with financing more difficult than expected, the site in the middle of the 14th Street corridor has remained vacant since, pending adequate financial backing.

Sequar says the current construction is merely "testing dirt," rather than an official start to construction, but that "the project is getting closer" to breaking ground, and promises more information within a few weeks.

Architect Bill Bonstra of Bonstra | Haresign confirms that the project is all but ready for construction. Bonstra initially designed the project for a prior owner, and Sequar has made only minor changes to the project since his purchase, says project architect David Baker. The 6,000 s.f. lot will sport 30 condos and an 18 space garage beneath the building. Ellisdale is managing construction of the project. The 30,000 s.f. building will feature glass and buff limestone prominently on three sides, with red brick fronting R Street, and is designed to give a nod to 14th Street's automobile row legacy. Baker wagered a rough estimate of 14 to 16 months build out.

The long gestation time might sync the project with a greater appetite for condos than it now has, but the timing also puts completion at the same time as the District Condos, which is under construction and will deliver 125 units around the same time. PN Hoffman also has a planned condominium project across the street, and though timing of that is uncertain, construction may be underway as Sequar's property is completing, making for 3 condo projects within a block. Sequar also built the Rhode Island condos at 440 Rhode Island Ave., NW, completed in 2009 and still selling, and the Renaissance Condos at 1618 11th St., NW, a 16 unit building that completed in 2007 and sold out last month. Sequar has plans for another project just north of U Street that has not started construction yet.

Washington D.C. Real Estate development news

H Street Northeast's Soft Middle

The furthest, eastern-most, end of H Street Northeast, from 12th to 15th, has successfully bloomed into a thriving arts and entertainment district in the past few years, with several haunts having opened in the dense 3-block area in the last year alone. The western end is also about to come into its own, with projects like the Giant set to start construction momentarily. If the corridor has a weak underbelly, however, its the middle, where another project has just been given a 2-year extension before construction needs to begin.

The DC Office of Planning (OP)'s overlay for H Street divides the corridor into three "unique destination districts": housing from 2nd to 7th, neighborhood-serving retail from 7th to 12th, and arts and entertainment from 12th to 15th.

The arts and entertainment district from about 12th east onward has been the obvious development frontrunner, with retail like Smith Commons, a 3-story restaurant/lounge; Toki Underground, a hip Ramen noodle place above The Pug, a go-to neighborhood bar; Queen Vic, a British pub with outdoor deck; DC Ink; and Dangerously Delicious Pies.

Falling outside of the true "entertainment corridor" is HR-57, a well-known jazz club relocated from 14th Street. HR-57 is between 8th and 9th Street and could hint at an entertainment district's takeover of an area planned for neighborhood-serving retail.

The middle of H Street continues to be Pillsbury soft in retail and commercial ventures, with Rappaport's blockbusting project still at least a year out, and now a mixed-use commercial and residential on the largest block of H Street that has failed to get off the ground for the last 4 years has been given another 2 year reprieve due to lack of financing.

601-645 H Street, by H Street Ventures LLC, was granted a two year extension by the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) on May 17th. The project was originally approved by the Board in August 2007, and was granted an extension in August 2009. The project, involves the largest sole-ownership chunk of land in the H Street Overlay at just over 100,000 s.f., and has 560 feet of frontage on H Street . The owner purchased the property in 2005 with ends flanked by two 5-story office buildings at 601 and 645 H Street and empty lot in between.

The project would string three structures into one, creating a "continuous frontage along H Street" which would be "one building for zoning purposes." The plan would retain office space on the ends, add center infill with retail space featuring a 14-foot glass display, as called for by zoning , and stack the top and back of these structures with residential 240 units. A pedestrian connection would run between the office structures; over the retail space, and under residential units.
The project would create 312,000 s.f. of residential space, 191,000 s.f. of office space, and 8,000 s.f. of retail, resulting in more than a 50% increase in the built area. The face would rise nines stories to 90 feet, with 3 levels of below-grade parking containing 487 spaces - more than double the space required by zoning regulations. Despite these factors, it is not density, height or traffic issues that have stymied progress for 601-645 H Street NE, but financing.

The BZA granted the extension due to the owner's "inability to obtain sufficient project financing due to economic and market conditions beyond the applicants reasonable control." Some early neighborhood concerns over height resulted in a reconfiguration, with 13 residential units taken off the top, and tucked into the sides creating a "step down" structure that stands 90 feet and drops off as the building extends to south - to 85', then 50' and finally 40' where the structure meets row houses fringing the site. This design was utilized to create a less looming appearance for the residents in the row houses.

Two ANCs - 6C, in which the project falls, and 6A, which lies 200 feet from the property -along with the Capitol Hill Restoration Society and the Linden Neighborhood Association, have all been in favor of the project, according to the request for extension filed on March 29 by Chip Glasgow of Holland & Knight. Yet, Bobbi Krengel, a 12-year citizen member of ANC 6C, said that the project stands to be improved, and suggests a further decrease in height and increased architectural elements, in order to improve its 560' face on H Street.

A report compiled on April 27 by ANC 6A's Economic Development and Zoning Committee said that financing may be problematic due to lack of a long-term office tenant. Currently, a Department of Human Services' branch - the Income Maintenance Administration (IMA), designed to serve "low income neighborhoods" - has a lease on 645 H Street that is set to expire in 2013. According to ANC 6A, H Street Ventures has been trying to secure a long-term lease with the District, but so far no lease has been signed. The DC Office of Property Management's Real Estate Services "could not comment on pending negotiations."

So for now it looks as though a functioning trolley line will connect the two ends of H Street before there is much reason to hop off in the middle.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

The Tellus: Arlington's First LEED Gold Project Delayed Further

Arlington's most sustainably designed apartment building will spend at least another year in planning mode, say its developers. Erkiletian's plans for the Tellus, a 254-unit apartment building in Clarendon, designed to achieve LEED Gold certification back in 2008, is still likely a year away from construction.

The apartments that will replace an outmoded apartment building at 2009 14th Street were approved by the county in early 2009, with an expected late 2009 start date. "The economy had a little bit to do with it" says development manager Bill Denton of the delay. Erkiletian is now hoping for an early 2012 construction start. The Tellus will replace one of Arlington's least attractive office buildings, and would be the first residence to earn LEED Gold certification in the county, if built according to the original plans. Erkiletian originally planned for environmentally-friendly facilities such as storm water retention, on-site irrigation, drought-resistant native plants on a green roof plaza, low-flow plumbing fixtures, bicycle and smart car options, power derived from a green sourced grid as well as on-site solar, a sustainable power source that has yet to achieve commercial viability and is rarely used on multi-family buildings.

Lessard Group designed the building to achieve the 2nd highest LEED ranking, but Denton says specifics are still in flux. Regarding use of solar panels, Denton says "we hope to, it will be part of the consulting document, trying to reach LEED Gold," but that such options are still being weighed.

Arlington Virginia real estate development news

Old Town, New Plan: Extending Alexandria's Waterfront

The City of Alexandria wants to capitalize on King Street's appeal and foot traffic and is reaching finality on a plan to connect Old Town's thoroughfare with the adjacent but less accessible waterfront and to extend foot traffic along the Potomac. Since 2009, city planners have had visions of art installations and historical/cultural markers amongst expanded parks and public spaces within a three-mile stretch (see map, above) from Daingerfield Island Park to Jones Point Park, with three possibilities for moderate future redevelopment at Robinson Terminal North, Robinson Terminal South (both owned by a Washington Post subsidiary) and the Cummings/Turner properties (surnames of the private owners).

A Waterfront Small Area Plan - released by the City's Dept. of Planning and Zoning in February of this year - is currently under review by Alexandria's City Council, which aims to address the most recent community concerns stemming from a May 14 public hearing. According to Faroll Hamer, Director of Planning and Zoning, the plan is getting closer to approval by the City Council, which will meet again June 11 for a Work Session, where they will "meticulously" go over the current plan, said Hamer, who “hopes to have a resolution in place before the end of June,” when the Council breaks for recess.

Right now Alexandria’s Potomac waterfront remains what has been called a “disjointed collection of various land uses,” by the Alexandria Gazette.

The possibilities for future redevelopment at the Robinson Terminals and the Cummings/Turner properties (at the 200 block of South Union Street) include restaurant, retail, office and residential construction - uses for which these areas were rezoned for in 1992. Alexandria is considering a re-zoning option to include hotels and additional density to capitalize on the fact that “on average a square foot of hotel space generates six times the tax revenue of a square foot of housing.”

The potential of added density and hotels has proved to be a sensitive spot with the community, and the topic has been re-addressed at several of the 18 public meetings held throughout the past two years. This led the Planning commission recently to stress the fact that hotels are not “required” in the plan, and that the plan would only incorporate “boutique” hotels, which for this purpose are defined as 150 rooms or less, sans ballroom.

An early estimate for the costs that the city will incur from the plan was pegged as just over $50 million - however the City's Deputy Director of Planning and Zoning, Karl Moritz, is currently crunching numbers to yield a more accurate estimate.

The City released one suggested timeline for phasing of redevelopment: within 3 years, redevelopment of the Beachcomber, the Cummings warehouse at 220 South Union Street, and adaptive reuse of the historic buildings in that block; in 4 to 6 years, redevelopment of Robinson Terminal North, and the balance of the redevelopment of the Cummings/Turner block; and in the next 7 to 15 years, redevelopment of Robinson Terminal South.

As of now all development would be in the private sector, as the City has no immediate plans to purchase any of the private property at the Post-owned terminals or Cummings/Turner land, according to Deputy Director Moritz.

The City asserts that the Plan aims to balance costs and revenues, and to implement a plan that will not rely heavily on (largely unavailable) city revenues.


The core purpose of the plan, says Moritz, is to increase park area, public space and waterfront access, and also to prevent the water from coming to meet them, in the form of recurrent flooding. Alexandrians are familiar with high water at the foot of King and Union streets, and visitors come across driftwood-strewn streets from time to time. Flooding, according to the Mayor of Alexandria, William D. Euille, has required thousands of dollars of cleanup on both public and private land in Old Town.

In a May 6 op-ed column in the Washington Post, Mayor Euille says that the Waterfront Plan would not only create "5 acres of new park" and “world-class public spaces” but would actually mitigate flooding through the Plan’s incorporation of raised pedestrian walkways, street paving and low retaining walls.

But physical and legal obstacles persist - particularly surrounding two parking lots. The current design incorporates half of a privately owned parking lot just south of Waterfront Park, and another (more hotly disputed one) that is owned by the Old Dominion Boat Club (ODBC), located at the terminus of King Street, since 1880.

The ODBC first stood in the way of an early concept involving a public pavilion with 200-ft pier extension reaching out from the end of King Street. This idea would have required the club to relocate its parking lot to an area off site, which the club would not consider, and the idea was scrapped. ODBC doesn't seem to be budging on a lesser request from the planning commission either, which is to rotate the club's parking lot 90 degrees (to hug the building more).

Hamer, of Planning and Zoning, said that negotiations over both parking lots are currently “ongoing,” however an unofficial spokesperson who answered the phone at the ODBC said they are “fighting tooth and nail to keep it [as it is].”

Even without the lot, it seems there may be several gains by the City of Alexandria, and the community, through waterfront improvements.

Alexandria, Virginia real estate news

Hoffman Towers Will Stand Tallest, Despite Being Two Stories Shorter

Fifty-three years ago, an entrepreneurial young man known as “Dutch” – Hubert N. Hoffman – purchased 71 acres of land that was at the time swamp-scrub-trailer-park landfill, now the continually expanding Eisenhower Valley in Alexandria, Virginia. More than 5 decades after predicting a 35-story building for the site, heirs predict construction could begin as early as this year for a complex that could reach 33 stories - the tallest high-rise in the DC-metro area.

As reported by the Washington Post in 2006, Hoffman paid $200,000 - “every nickel” to his name - a small fortune amassed by trudging through the ranks; from a lowly rank in the back of a bakery, to become a successful agent at New York Life. The payment didn't seem to match the parcel, and onlookers scoffed at what appeared to be a risky financial move for Hoffman. “My learned friends, other developers, assured me I would lose my family,” he told the Post.

Why blow it all on one place? According to Hoffman, the real estate salesman “promised that the Beltway would be coming through.”

He was right. The Capital Beltway was included in the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 and today it cuts right into the Eisenhower Valley, just south of Hoffman's land, and loops itself into the Eisenhower Avenue Connector interchange.

Hoffman kept his land, his family and his dream – to build a “35-story skyscraper on the site."

The Hoffman Company/Hoffman Management - the development company founded by Hoffman - has been developing a mixed-use “urban center” known as the Hoffman Town Center across 56 acres in Eisenhower East for the last decade. Upon completion, the area will contain approximately 7m sf of built area (orange buildings on the master plan below) and includes commercial, residential, and hospitality enterprises.
The signature built element of HTC - The Hoffman Towers - is comprised of 3 towers of mixed-use residential/retail, rising up from block 11 and 12, with big-name tenant Harris Teeter in the ground floor of block 11. An additional 17,000 sf of retail will be incorporated, including "pockets" of 200-sf spaces. The grocer will take up two stories and approximately 50,000 sf. First phase of construction will need to be completed before December 31, 2013 as Harris Teeter has a legal agreement to assume the space on or before that date.

Approximately 1200 residential units will be spread across the 3 towers, including a percentage of affordable housing.

The rendering shown here is the most current design - by architect DCS Design - submitted by the Hoffman Company to the City of Alexandria. Original plans were for two mirrored 24-story towers; new plans are for a three-tower configuration, tiered in height (33, 28 and 22 stories).

Although the tallest tower will be 33 stories, two shy of Hubert Hoffman's vision, and also of Monday Properties' 35-story office building underway at 1812 North Moore in Rosslyn, it has been designed to stand 396 ft from the ground up. Monday Properties' building design is 390 ft tall. However, the Eisenhower Valley sits at approximately 18 ft above sea level, and Rosslyn 80 ft above - this means that the Hoffman Towers will claim the crown of the tallest high-rise inside the Beltway by a mere six feet, with a structure that is one-seventh the height of the Burj Khalifa, but will reach a skyline height approximately 55 ft below 1812 North Moore, thanks to a low-lying valley locale.

Although structural heights in the DC-metro area are scrutinized, Eisenhower East combined with the Carlyle Neighborhood is increasingly building up, as well as building out, thanks to generous amounts of land. Development is further spurred by the proximity of the Beltway, the interchange, and the Eisenhower Avenue Metro stop.

The area is home to significant public and private sector organizations, among them the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Federal District Courthouse, as well as a massive 22-screen AMC theater, fringed with national retail chains.

The Towers will sit adjacent to the Metro stop – which currently spits passengers out into parking lots - and will be boxed by new access streets including Port Street, Anchor Street and Dock Lane (which cuts through the towers). Port Street can be blamed for delays with site plan approval. Gwen Wright, Development Division Chief with the City of Alexandria confirmed that negotiations are currently taking place between the Hoffman Company and the owner of private land that falls into the future Port Street area. The Hoffman Company could not be reached for comment.

Wright estimated that a site plan will be approved by the end of the summer. If a general contractor is awarded shortly thereafter, construction should be able to take place before the end of 2011, and the first phase (of two) should in that case be completed in 2013. Wright says the city is currently trying to facilitate negotiations in order to move the project along, as it is viewed positively. “We are excited,” said Wright. “It’ll be a game changer for the Eisenhower Valley.” For the past few years, the Hoffman Company has been in cooperation with the City of Alexandria's Office of Planning & Zoning.

Hubert Hoffman might not be around to see it, he passed away in 2002, but it's happening, skyscrapers are rising out of the Eisenhower Valley. The Towers may not be 35 stories, but they aim to have a better story to tell, to be the tallest high-rise building (from the ground up) in Metropolitan DC. At least for awhile, 396 feet may send builders skyward.

Update: A previous version of this story was published May 25 which did not address from-the-ground-up heights.

Stairway to Change: The Links, Incorporated

By Beth Herman

For 65-year-old powerhouse African-American women’s volunteer and service organization The Links, Incorporated, finding the right team to expand and modernize its outmoded national headquarters at 1200 Massachusetts Ave. NW was key to facilitating its future. Plagued by antiquated structural elements and inadequate electrical, cable and mechanical systems last addressed in a 1984 renovation, the organization was profoundly challenged by issues surrounding the desired integration of two distinct historical buildings from different eras into a single 21^st century workspace.

The first structure, which housed the organization’s current offices, was built in the 1930s as a single family home that became commercial space, with the other, consistently an apartment building, built in 1908 and more recently acquired though not yet utilized as office space. Seeking a design that embraced its mission and supported a visiting national staff, as well as accommodated expansive meetings and training, the organization would charge its architects with bringing state-of-the-art efficiency and sustainability components to an historical space, commissioning R. McGhee & Associates for the evolving task.

Defined by floors of varying elevations (there was no way to join them efficiently for the two buildings) and deficient structural systems in both buildings, the 1908 structure was also marked by multiple interior changes resulting in a substandard framing system. Additionally, the architects’ efforts to expand the headquarters from the first building’s 6,168 s.f., to a combined nearly 9,400 s.f. of office space, was fraught with unanticipated D.C. Historic Preservation Office hurdles.

Formerly on its board of directors, Principal Ronnie McGhee said his firm thought it had initially understood HPO’s objectives for this project. “Usually it’s the building’s exterior they want us to save,” McGhee explained. “But in this case, they wanted us to save some of the structure inside which really hamstrung us with the idea that we couldn’t change or manipulate all of the interior framing.”

Assiduously retaining historical elements such as existing joists and beams, among other items, McGhee said project manager Cary Blackwelder-Plair spent a great deal of time melding history with the organization’s quest for LEED Silver which, when attained, the architects say will make it the first LEED Silver building for an African-American organization.

Ratcheting it up on the LEED scorecard, sustainable elements include a green roof with drought-resistant plants, double hung windows, DIRTT System glass panels for interior office walls to help channel natural light, 58 percent FSC-compliant wood, low-VOC paints, carpeting and finishes, LED and CFL lamps and occupancy sensors, removal (where sanctioned) and reuse of existing wood structural elements and flooring, walls and insulation with an R- value of 20, renewable bamboo and cork flooring, and the use of vinyl and rubber in lieu of VCT . According to McGhee, working closely with Monarc Construction, Inc., and Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., 91 percent of demolition and construction waste was diverted from landfills.

Expanding space and agendas

With a membership of 12,000 professional women of color in 274 chapters spread among 42 states, the District and the Bahamas, a staff of 14 occupies the D.C. headquarters with accruing meetings, training, programs and philanthropic planning on its daily, weekly and/or monthly dance card. Divided into two entities: The Links, Incorporated, and The Links Foundation, Incorporated, the latter of which was founded in 2006 and is the organization’s philanthropic arm, respective needs and activities vary and a variety of spaces to support these pursuits were mandated, with shared common spaces like a kitchen/break room.

“One of the constraints of the original structure was the conference room was very small and there was very little flexibility of the building,” said Blackwelder-Plair. A conference space that barely accommodated eight or 10 could not be utilized for typically larger meetings and events, with the organization forced to rent hotel space. To that end, in the new design, a glass-walled conference room accommodating 16 opens with sliding doors to a lobby space for even larger functions. A second, basement-level conference/training space holds up to 32 people. Also in the basement, a library that houses and makes accessible the organization’s extensive archives replaces the former “compact” method of storage not uncommon to an organization experiencing growing pains: standard cardboard boxes.

Where the floorplan itself was concerned, the organization opted for a mix of defined office space with solid walls and more open spaces, though private offices contain glass corridor walls to utilize available natural light. “The building is an odd shape and is very tight,” Blackwelder-Plair said. “In fact once we started the demolition and (many) walls were gone, it felt like a huge, open building which is a big advantage for them.”

According to the architects, integral to the design was the inclusion of swing spaces or touch down office spaces. With officers scattered throughout the country (the former president was from Illinois and the current one is from Ohio), D.C. headquarter visits warrant spaces that facilitate work and even take “internal geography” into account. For the national treasurer, a touch down space for her abuts the finance group’s space for immediate access to like personnel.

For the organization’s Midwest-based president, a third floor executive suite replete with office, full kitchen, bedroom and bathroom facilitates work, economic and time factors, precluding the need for a hotel commute.

Light on the program

“One of the major elements for the project to be successful was the ability to be on one floor and see up an open stair to the other floors, though there’s a 5 to 7-ft difference in (each building’s) floor height,” McGhee said of the joining of the two structures. “Technically, you could have had a situation where a staircase was behind a wall, and you could have taken an elevator and gone up five feet to one level, then four feet to another, then five feet to the next,” he said, adding that all you’d really see is the inside of an elevator. Though there is an elevator with eight stops, the open stair which feeds the variegated levels provides a visual connection from one side to the next so the single-building concept is firmly established. The addition of both a skylight and roof window above the open staircase paints the area in available light.

Advocating green education and green housekeeping programs, McGhee said the client strongly supported the firm’s ideas, inching it higher on the LEED ladder.

“The biggest key to this project was getting an efficient layout out of all the programmatic, code and historical preservation requirements that came out of the building,” McGhee said. “It’s a very important project for our firm, but also for The Links, Incorporated and the African-American community overall.” 

Washington DC architectural design news