Monday, January 09, 2012

Today in Pictures - Progression Place

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Progression Place - one of Shaw's most notable development projects, is set for occupancy later this year. Developers began work in 2010 on the 320,000 square foot, $150 million development, with 100,000 s.f. of office space, a 205-unit residential apartment building, and 20,000 square feet of street-level retail. The project was designed by architects Eric Colbert & Associates and Devrouax + Purnell, and built by Davis Construction.
Ellis Development, The Jarvis Company, and Four Points combined forces to build the project above the Shaw Metro station. The United Negro College Fund has purchased a stake in the building to be the main office resident.
Washington D.C. real estate development news

EYA Opens New Home Community in Fairfax, VA: Townhomes at Mosaic District

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Sponsored Announcement

Built to LEED-ND and LEED for Homes

Fairfax, VA– Next Saturday January 14, Washington-area building leader EYA will celebrate the grand opening of its 17th new home community in Northern Virginia at Townhomes at Mosaic District.

Mosaic District is a 31-acre mixed-use urban renewal project at the site of the former Merrifield Multiplex Cinema at Gallows Road and Lee Highway in Fairfax. Lead developer, Edens, has attracted Washington’s most iconic boutique retailers to anchor the neighborhood: Cava, Matchbox, Black Restaurant Group, Taylor Gourmet, MOM’s Organic Market, Angelika Film Center & Café, Neiman Marcus Studio, Dawn Price Baby, Lou Lou and more. Shops already open on site include Panera Bread, Chipotle, Four Sisters Vietnamese and Sea Pearl Restaurant.

The project will bring smart city living to Fairfax with exciting, quality shops and restaurants in a walkable, urban environment. A Metro shuttle will operate onsite from Mosaic District to
the Dunn Loring-Merrifield Metro station on the Orange line. The first shops are expected to open in October 2012. Alongside the 500,000 square feet of new retail, EYA will build 112 new townhomes in an urban architectural style to complement the neighborhood’s city-like setting. Brick exteriors will be accented by contemporary iron railing and Juliet balconies. Inside, the homes will be built to the nation’s most comprehensive green building program – LEED for Homes. ENERGY STAR features also contribute to energy savings and a more comfortable indoor environment for homeowners. New home buyers at Mosaic District will enjoy features like rooftop terraces, garage parking, and gourmet kitchens with stainless steel appliances. Home prices start at $577,400.

Townhomes at Mosaic District Grand Opening
Saturday, January 14, 2012
2951 Eskridge Road
Fairfax, VA 22031
(703) 385-4647
www.EYA.com


About: EYA is a smart growth developer, specializing in walkable new townhome communities and mixed-use developments. Since its founding in 1992, the company has built over 30 neighborhoods in the Washington Metropolitan area. EYA is currently selling three new home communities: Capitol Quarter and Chancellor’s Row in Washington, DC and Old Town Commons in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. For more information on the company or its neighborhoods, visit http://www.eya.com/.

Sunday, January 08, 2012

Clear Sailing for Southwest Waterfront Development

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The Congressional Budget Office weighed in just before the holidays with a strong endorsement of the proposed rezoning of the Southwest Waterfront, further bolstering H.R. 2297’s already favorable chances of passing into law when the Senate reconvenes next session.

If (when) passed, the bill would bring the District one step closer to a dramatic revitalization of the largely moribund Southwest waterfront, bringing it in line with the rapidly-developing Southeast waterfront, and creating what planners hope will eventually coalesce into a “second downtown.”

The bill, introduced by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, has already passed the House and gone through Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee markup, and clarifies the vague and somewhat archaic restrictions governing the waterfront. The District has always technically owned the land, but was barred from selling it, which for all intents and purposes made commercial development impossible. The recent CBO report found that empowering development in the area would have no adverse effects on the federal government, thus clearing the way for the 2.5 million-square-foot blockbuster PN Hoffman-Madison Marquette hotel-office-retail-pedestrian mall project.

The Hoffman-Madison First Stage PUD, as reported on this site, breezed through its NCPC hearing back in October. Bob Rubenkonig, a Hoffman-Madison representative, said Hoffman-Madison is busily preparing for 2012 public meetings, with the Second Stage PUD forthcoming very soon - hopefully in February, according to Hoffman VP Shawn Seaman.

The $2 billion, 2.5 million-square-foot project, dubbed “The Wharf,” takes its cues from Baltimore and Seattle's waterfront promenades, and will feature around 1200 residential units, almost 400,000 s.f. of office space, and 200,000 s.f. of retail space. Over half the site will be public space, much of that a pedestrian-friendly, privately-held waterfront avenue, “Wharf Street,” which will replace Water Street, will feature walking lanes, bike paths, and a streetcar. Development plans also call for a four thousand seat theater, a maritime history museum, and three hotels – a four-star, 268-room hotel from Carr Hospitality and InterContinental Hotels Group, and two others from the JBG Companies.

Developers have also agreed to a community benefits package that will set aside 30 percent of the first 500 units of housing - half earmarked for households making less than 60% AMI, and half earmarked for households making less than 30% AMI. Beyond the 500-unit mark, 20% will be reserved for "workforce housing," i.e. police, firefighters, teachers making 80 - 100% AMI. This unusual formula is the result of the Southwest Waterfront Redevelopment Clarification Act of 2010, which exempts a portion of the development from the District's affordable housing requirements. Furthermore, a quarter of the retail space will go to local businesses, and a third of everything sold in the retail spaces will come from local merchants. Design is being spearheaded by Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Kuhn Architects, while construction is being handled by PN Hoffman and Clark Construction.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Saturday, January 07, 2012

Your Next Place

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If you like woodwork, this 1870s four-level Victorian in Logan Circle is the house for you. In all my open-housing, I don't think I've ever seen a house with this much finely-maintained classic wood. This house made me nostalgic, as I grew up in a Civil War-era house with a lot of similar woodwork (though the house wasn't nearly as nice - in fact it was across the street from Iowa's First Crack House), and much of my childhood chores involved waxing, wiping, or dusting all the woodwork around the house. Which is still the best reason to have kids - unpaid servants!

The living room features a wonderful antique fireplace and built-in shelves, as well as tons of light and a fantastic chandelier. Like many finer houses, there's also a "family room" or "great room" which is essentially another living room, but nicer, and this house is no exception. Bigger, higher ceilings, an even more wonderful, more antique-y fireplace. This is the perfect room for entertaining or special occasions or just reminding guests how classy and cultured you are (if the tuxedo tshirt doesn't get the message across.) The only problem is that while the great room is clearly a showpiece, even the living room is almost too nice to lounge around in. It's like having a Bentley as your weekend car and a Maybach just for "runnin' errands." A terrible problem to have, I know. Definitely mention it as often as possible to your friends, I'm sure they'll be extremely sympathetic.


There's also a separate, elegant dining room (with pocket doors, and another fireplace - this is not a house that lacks for fireplaces), topped off with another vintage chandelier. And there's a massive kitchen, and also an au pair suite, which comes in handy when your annoying family members visit. (Pro tip: the main entrance to the suite locks on both sides.) The bedrooms also had a ton of personality - in a lot of houses, even very nice ones, the bedrooms can be sort of afterthoughts, just big rectangular boxes for sleeping in. But these bedrooms each had their own individual characteristics, like an exposed brick wall, or deluxe closets.

Also, this fine house is located in arguably the hottest up-and-coming neighborhood, just blocks from Whole Foods and various gyms and shops and restaurants and bars. And to think just ten years ago, the only place to eat on 14th Street was the homeless shelter.

1441 Q Street NW
5 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths
$1,895,000





Friday, January 06, 2012

Union Station's Main Hall Set For Big Changes

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Entering Union Station's grand Main Hall, amid all the construction netting and scaffolding resulting from the emergency ceiling repairs prompted by August's earthquake, you'd be hard pressed to spot preparation for two shafts set to penetrate the Main Hall's pink marble floor.

The sinking of what will become two 750-square foot escalators openings are just the start of a grand "less-is-more" redesign of the hundred year-old-plus Main Hall, which among other things, will eliminate the Center Cafe and the two circular marble planters, while adding more seating and retail and improving sight lines, signage and pedestrian flow. It's what Union Station Redevelopment Corporation chief consigliere David Ball hopes will create more "vertical circulation" -- improving access to an expanded level of retail space on the venerable station's lower level, freed up with the closure of the much-maligned Union Station 9 movieplex downstairs in 2009.

The remake is the biggest overhaul of Daniel Burnham's Beaux Arts gem since Union Station's 1988 restoration and the largest repair job since January 1953, when 200-plus tons of locomotive and coaches of the Federal Express en route from Boston, sans brakes, plunged into what is now the lower level food court.

Still, getting this far hasn't been easy. Union Station has a virtual who's who of multiple stakeholders, including Amtrak, Union Station Redevelopment Corp., The Federal Railroad Administration, Metro, Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., which owns the lease to Union Station through Union Station Investco LLC, and Jones Lang LaSalle, which manages the retail spaces.

The replacement designs for what came next became became a bureaucratic slug-fest between alphabet-soup agencies including the Commission on Fine Arts, The D.C. Office of Historic Preservation, and the National Capital Planning Commission who couldn't come to an agreement on what they liked. Compounding the difficulty was the 1969 declaration of Union Station as a National Landmark, which made it subject to the complex Section 106 proceedings of the National Historic Preservation Act.

It was easier to reach an agreement on what they didn't like -- Center Cafe smack in the middle of Main Hall. While the double-decker libation center was popular with 20-something Capitol Hill types, many said the sight lines in Main Hall were spoiled.

"The distracting Center Café makes visitors pause in confusion and forces travelers to circle around the pedestal and stairs to find the trains," said Nancy Metzger of the Capitol Hill Restoration Society in comments to the Union Station Redevelopment Corp. last August.

But the first design by GTM Architects, unveiled in June 2010, was almost a wreck on the scale of the Federal Express. Reminiscent of the 1970's Bicentennial visitors center, the design would have cut a giant hole in the center of the Main Hall, creating a glass and steel platform flanked by two elevator/escalator shafts.

The suggestion of re-opening the floor in the main hall recall(ed) memories of the ill-fated slide show pit," said Wesley Paulson, a member of the National Capital Trolley Museum. Critics such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation said the initial design (left) used too much glass and said that the redesign was no better than the behemoth Center Cafe it was designed to replace. In July 2010, USRC and GTM unveiled round two of the redesign, eliminating the center elevator/escalator shafts while seeking a retro-approach in an attempt to make the Main Hall look like more like its passenger station heyday of the 1920's and 30's, with long high-backed mahogany benches.
But this time, Amtrak police, perhaps channeling their inner-TSA, sought to nix the iconic mahogany, saying that the proposed high-backed benches made it hard for their explosive-sniffing police dogs to do their work, while giving potential bad guys plenty of places to hide.






Finally in December 2010, a compromise was reached. Two, smaller, but parallel escalator shafts closer to the front entrance but on opposite sides of the Main Hall so as not to impede center flow traffic. The escalator shafts would be detailed with wood, brass and marble signage and fittings to help pedestrians find their way to trains and the new retail.

Instead of the high-backed benches, the design called for functional if unimpressive low-slung pedestals that can be easily scooted out of the way for black-tie corporate shindigs in the evenings that the Main Hall routinely attracts, something the long benches would have impeded. Also added would be two new retail kiosks or "luxury marketing units" and an information booth in the center, reminiscent of the original layout.

Construction on the Main Hall improvements will follow the emergency work already being done on the ceiling as a result of the earthquake on August 23. The emergency work will be finished in late 2012.

The improvements in the Main Hall aren't the only ones. Already underway outside Union Station is a redesign of Columbus Circle in junction with the National Park Service, along with plans from Union Station Investco to improve the passenger waiting area with "Best In Brand" stores and new fixtures.

Metro too, is looking to upgrade access to its own station at Union Station as well, with a new improved entrance along First Street NE and a tunnel to H Street, in advance of Akridge's massive Burnham Place project, set to begin preliminary construction in 2014.

Washington D.C. real estate redevelopment news.

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Today in Pictures - Marriott Marquis

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It hardly seems like a year since the Marriott Marquis broke ground next to the Convention Center. Construction crews have now finished digging and are now building back up, as evidenced by the photos taken last week. The 1,175-room, 15-story Marriott, headed by Quadrangle Development and Capstone Development, will feature an underground tunnel to the convention center and more than 100,000 s.f. of meeting and ballroom space, 25,000 sf of retail, and 385 parking spaces. Two more Marriotts will be built to the north. Hensel Phelps is the general contractor.









Washington D.C. real estate development news.
Photographs by Rey Lopez.

Celebrating NoMa

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The NoMa BID annual meeting tonight will bring together residents, decision makers and business leaders to celebrate progress and unveil new plans for the coming year including a new approach to parks.

So just how are things going? "Fabulously. Things are amazing," says NoMa BID President Robin-Eve Jasper.

According to the Broker Roadshow Book released this month, the BID has $4 billion in assessed value this year with another $1 billion under construction. There were 380,000 s.f. of private sector space leased in the last year. Twenty restaurants and shops opened in the last three years. New residents signed leases for 1,200 apartments, and another 2,200 units are under construction.
First + M

"I think we reached a point where people are feeling confident about the neighborhood," Jasper said. "It’s building on itself now."

NoMa BID reports a 17 percent increase in average household income since 2010. Jasper said that increase helps coax stores and restaurants to come into the area.

More residents soon will call NoMa home as Archstone's First + M apartments prepare to welcome tenants. The leasing office opened this week, and Jasper said the first residents are expected in June.

With all of those new residents, the neighborhood will need parks. Jasper said a "public realm vision" will be unveiled at the annual meeting. Without giving away all the secrets, she did say that the vision considers how people use parks to create the most useful spaces.

Construction also continues in NoMa. Two new projects are neck-and-neck in the race for being next in the ground: JBG Companies' Hyatt Place Hotel at the planned Capital Square site and MRP Realty's residential building at the planned Washington Gateway site.
Capital Square

JBG says it plans to break ground on the 200-room hotel this summer. It will be completed next year.







A spokeswoman for MRP said permits are still in progress, but the project is on track to start work this summer.

Several projects started construction in the past year, including Trammell Crow's Sentinel Square office project and Stonebridge's third building at Constitution Square.

And there still is more to come in the already booming area that exceeded initial expectations.

Jasper said that initial estimates were about $1 billion investment and 15,000 jobs, but says that today there are 45,000 jobs just in the NoMa BID. "All the right pieces were there, the right people to push to make things happen," she said, adding that the plans were not too restrictive or directive with planning and regulation. "And it enabled the private sector to come in and do what it does best."

"The vision that I have, for what it’s worth, is that in the next few years you start to feel this gravity and cohesion in the neighborhood generally where...there’s a vibrant commercial spine in the area of 1st street, and there’s a great feeling and sense of community in all of the adjacent neighborhoods," she said. "And if you go several streets out -- to all the row houses and apartment buildings --that people feel they’re all part of it. That this whole part of town becomes an area that has its own gravity."

Washington, D.C., real estate development news

Monday, January 02, 2012

From Russia with Love and Window Treatments

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By Beth Herman

For transplanted Moscow native Lena Kroupnik of Lena Kroupnik Interiors, crossing the great and cold divide in 1991 entailed more than simply swapping nations.

Accompanying her husband for his job on a joint U.S./Soviet venture under the auspices of Russia’s Ministry of Energy, and wholly enamored of art and design for most of her life, the former engineer and electrophysicist joyfully jettisoned the rigors of a career in steely science. Soon after landing in Maryland and taking some time to acclimate her young children to America, Kroupnik began a formal interior design education and "…walked around with a dictionary in (her) pocket" for years.

“We had architectural schools, but didn’t have interior design schools in Russia when I was young,” said the warm and ebullient Kroupnik, eager to paint a brand new canvas in her newly-adopted country.

For former engineer Kroupnik, interior design is as much—or sometimes admittedly more—about function than aesthetics. With a passion for defining residences by the creative use of window treatments, sometimes even repurposed as dividers—sans windows— to separate, balance and distinguish rooms, Kroupnik’s strategic use of fabrics, textures, draping and layering becomes art and science in itself. Used to widen or in other ways alter windows, or to enhance a vertical line, Kroupnik believes window treatments are tantamount to fine art when adding definition and character to a room.

Let them use silk

In a North Potomac, Md. residence, the homeowner desired an opulent but family-friendly look and function for the home’s first floor. A massive floor-to-16-foot-ceiling living room fenestration replete with glass patio doors and imposing clerestory windows presented a design challenge, but also an opportunity. With a directive to incorporate the small outdoor patio into the vista, the designer said she needed both a connection to and separation from the outdoor space.

“When I looked for the right fabric for the window treatments, I decided on silk because it drapes very well. And when you employ the technique of layering, the fabric has body,” Kroupnik said.

Using silk swags at the top and soft, folded drapes at the sides, Kroupnik framed the outdoors and patio and mitigated some of the light, which she said could be overpowering in the evening.

“When you design window treatments, each component is important,” Kroupnik said, adding trim is key because it adds layering and dimension. Color—in this case cream, mauve and burgundy— can also connect the indoors with organic hues found on the outside.

Because the home is so large, Kroupnik wanted to knit rooms together which was achieved by using the same silk stripe fabric from Carleton House Fabrics and Houles trim throughout. Though window treatment design varies from room to room, from sumptuous to semi-formal to really simple—such as panels of pinch-pleated fabric on a metal rod in the library—there is a feeling of unity and connection throughout.

Divide and delight

In a traditional home in NW D.C., a rather small foyer emptied into a living room, dining room and office. Desiring privacy for guests when entering the residence, Kroupnik used double-faced silk draperies to separate the foyer from the living room.

“You’d like to peek into the living room, and one side is held open with a tie-back hold so you kind of can,” she said. “It provides a luxurious look. It’s elegant and welcomes guests into the house.”

Softening the stone

In a Cathedral area condo, a variety of window treatments including operable Hunter Douglas shades in a semi-sheer fabric were employed to define the home. With the homeowner a jewelry designer who traveled extensively to Africa and throughout the world, the twofold goal was to achieve a warm, cozy space and also a showcase for art and some ponderous wood, metal and stone artifacts.

Achieved by the use of rich and varied textures, the look of the space and art was softened by fabrics and window treatments that included nubby, heavier silk in lighter colors. Because a bulk soffit above the living room window diminished its height, Kroupnik sought to open and raise it aesthetically by using a clean, simple black wrought iron rod at the top. Redolent of the touches of black already in the room, the hardware did not overwhelm the space.

Crests and crystal

In Severna Park, Md., a home with a wooded, river setting called for replicating the flow and cycle of water and nature just outside. Generally dark due to its siting, the homeowners wanted to capture and also create as much light as possible, which Kroupnik did using lots of light-reflecting crystal and in some cases lighter, filmy fabrics for window treatments.

“My engineering background came in handy here because the rooms were not the same width, but we wanted them to appear balanced,” Kroupnik said. Using sophisticated silk swags, jabots, pelmets, panels and Stroheim and Romann embroidered sheers, along with hardware that included a crest and leaves, the designer was able to elegantly frame and preserve the view and court the light while maintaining privacy.

“In the current economy, window treatments can save on heating bills as well as beautifying a space,” Kroupnik said, speaking to the more budget-conscious homeowner. “They are sometimes a neglected aspect of design, but they are clearly very important.”

 

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