Just Stepped Out

By Beth Herman

When a recent story on staircases from around the world piqued the interest and curiosity of readers, DCMud decided to explore what the District’s own native sons and daughters of architecture and design could offer to the mix, with results that ran the gamut from edgy to resourceful to sublime.

Using materials such as painted steel with Douglas fir, or maple, chestnut and etched glass, area architects have climbed up and stepped out way ahead of the pack, melding the practical with the magical, taking the concept of a necessary staircase to a whole new level.

Cabin (John) in the sky

For Principal Bob Wilkoff of Archaeon, Inc. Architects, the expanse of the firm’s office building in Cabin John, Md. was limited due to a tight lot. A structure designed to preserve and accommodate an existing 60-foot tall Sycamore tree and restrictive front yard setback demanded a spiral stair, but as it was an office with considerable traffic, the architect made the staircase 7-feet, 6-inches in diameter for comfort. Shop painted steel construction with helix handrails provides contrast to the grid of 49 18-by-18-inch windows. Treads are ribbed industrial rubber flooring.

Turret trumps all

When expanding a 1940s Tudor structure for a family in NW D.C., Wilkoff created a 6-foot diameter steel spiral stair that descends from the second floor master bedroom suite to the first floor family room. Located behind glass French doors to mitigate sound, carpeted treads in a fully glazed turret complete the airborne design.

Soaring solarium

For Principal Amy Gardner of Gardner Mohr Architects LLC, a uniquely renovated 21-foot high 1969 solarium—part of a D.C. residence—called for a staircase redolent of light and lightness. “The idea for the stair was to make a simple sculptural zigzag shape that appears to float,” Gardner said, noting the area under the stair blends into the floor, helping it appear to do so. Maple treads and risers with polished edges, and especially a translucent etched glass and steel handrail with stainless steel glass clips, add an additional lofty quality to the design.

Stairway to heaven

When renovating a Potomac, Md. residence—essentially a retreat for its occupants—a wooden tower with meditation and massage rooms and a lower level gym were included. McInturff Architects featured a staircase that connects the home’s three levels made of painted steel and Douglas fir, with maple stair treads, backed with Galvalume sheet steel.

Halo Linea low-voltage track lighting is built into a slot in the steel structure of the stair.

Cold at the top

In purchasing and reimagining their own “profoundly mediocre” 1960s standard developer-type home in Winchester, Va., architects Chuck Swartz and Beth Reader of Reader & Swartz Architects concede their staircase is the “most curious” on which they’ve ever worked.

“You can stand on top of the refrigerator that way, which seems like a ridiculous thing to do, except there are books up there,” Swartz said.

Addressing a technical problem with brick veneer on the sides of the building that just stopped at one point, the two gable ends were skeletonized so that they were just studs. Two-by-fours running horizontally were located every four feet, with structural insulated panels on the outside of the building. “We then over-windowed it,” Swartz said.

Left with a skeleton inside on the gable ends, shelves were created off of two-by-two’s that ran horizontally so the gable ends became large libraries. The end without the staircase is served by a rolling ladder from an old telephone building, as Swartz’s father worked for the telephone company.

At the other end, a very large refrigerator was obtained as Swartz loves to cook, encased in a birch veneer red-stained plywood box. An alternating tread staircase was positioned on the side of it, allowing the occupants to walk up and climb on top of the refrigerator to access all the books.

Additionally, the staircase becomes a kind of a sculpture in and of itself, featuring alternating treads and maple shelves as they ascend, held together by red oak that’s stained black. It also acts as a graduated display for art, artifacts and family objects.

A place for us

In Frederick County, Va., another singular Reader & Swartz staircase has several things going for it, among them bleachers made out of chestnut, which is the same as the floor, and which go up to the landing. “They stop so the children in the household can play or you can display things on them,” Swartz explained.

In addition, every other tread—the treads that are not the bleachers—are little maple rafts that sit on them and look like small crates. Once you get to the landing, the part that gets you all the way to the second floor is steel and open treads of the same maple. “It’s a way to think of a staircase as a little stage or amphitheater, or a place to sit and think about whether some of the pieces of the staircase can be different than others and still meet the building code,” Swartz quipped.

Some photos courtesy of Anice Hoachlander and Ron Blunt. 

Today in Pictures - Skyland

While the District government struggles to rid Skyland of its owners and tenants in order to make way for a more contemporary shopping destination by turning it over to developer Rappaport, the outdated shopping center looks ever more dilapidated and forlorn.














Washington D.C. real estate development news

Skyland Struggles Towards Uncertain Timeline

With the specter of a Wal-Mart vs. Safeway showdown over a decade-old exclusivity covenant having receded, the District can get back to resolving the many other issues standing in the way of the Skyland redevelopment in Southeast DC, a top priority of Mayor Vincent Gray’s embattled administration. But can Skyland overcome the many hurdles it faces?

Safeway, one of the District’s top private employers (15 stores), and high-profile retail anchor Wal-Mart squared off in November over an agreement Safeway had entered into with the owners of the shopping center, Skyland LLC, to bar certain types of competitors from the property after Safeway relocated to a nearby shopping center. Each side issued bland statements but retained powerful advisors; Safeway hired Maryland lobbyist Bruce Bereano, famously an ex-fraternity brother of Mayor Gray, and Wal-Mart hired David Wilmot, a local dealmaker who co-hosted a fundraiser with Mayor Gray just last month. Fast-forward a couple of days, and the matter was suddenly settled.

"A covenant exists on one lot of the many that comprise the Skyland redevelopment site," says Nimita Shah, Project Manager in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) by way of clarification. “The District is in discussions with Safeway about the removal of the covenant and anticipates a resolution in the upcoming year. However, it is important to note that the Safeway covenant noted above will have no impact on the proposed Wal-Mart that is to be included in the redevelopment, given that its placement on the site is outside of the affected lot.”

Either no one at Safeway or Wal-Mart actually read the covenant before throwing down their respective gauntlets, or the issue was quietly resolved through backroom horsetrading (the very sort of thing that Gray denounced when he pledged to bring transparency to the mayor's office). At any rate, with this issue put to bed, does this mean that Skyland faces a clear runway to approval and groundbreaking? Far from it.

Since first seizing Skyland in 2005 by invoking eminent domain, the District has spent over $12 million on settlements. Three more tenants settled in 2011 – Hong Kong Inn, Hilltop Cleaners, and New York Fried Chicken – leaving perhaps as few as one holdout, though according to the District there are over a dozen tenants are still operating at Skyland. “Fifteen tenants remain in operation at Skyland," says Shah. “The District is in the process of working will all of the remaining tenants to coordinate their relocations over the upcoming year.”

Everyone out by the end of 2012? Count Elaine Mittleman, an attorney who represents several Skyland tenants, among the skeptics. Mittleman contends the eminent domain proceedings have been slipshod and disorganized. “Wild ineptitude,” Mittleman snaps when asked to characterize the District’s handling of Skyland. Mittleman also provided DCMud with extensive correspondence between herself and the District that seems to raise questions about who holds the titles to seized Skyland properties, as well as concerns about the eventual turnover of Skyland to private developers, one of whom is a close associate of Mayor Gray’s, and has done repairs at his home.

Serious questions also remain regarding the project itself. There’s no firm consensus on whether Skyland is in fact a viable site for redevelopment; critics have pointed to the lack of public transportation options (the nearest Metro station, Anacostia, is a mile and a half away) and an already dicey traffic situation. There are also multiple competing projects in Southeast – St. Elizabeths East, Poplar Point, and Kenilworth-Parkside, just to name a few - as well as another Walmart planned nearby, on East Capitol Street. In the face of these doubts, the conventional wisdom is that with millions and years spent and so many promises made – none more than by the present administration - the District can hardly back out now.

Or can it?

People who point to the 2005 Supreme Court ruling that empowered the city of New London to oust intransigent homeowners so they could build a Pfizer plant as proof that Skyland is all but inevitable, overlook the fact that the Pfizer plant was never actually built. The drawn-out process of settling with and vacating tenants, as well as appeals and the administrative labyrinth of state seizure of property, can often outlast the patience of prospective tenants. Before Wal-Mart agreed to anchor Skyland, a similar Target deal fell through. Who's to say Wal-Mart won't walk, if litigation drags on for another year or three? Is Mayor Gray prepared to

follow through on his threat to block Wal-Mart's four other stores in the District if they don't put one in Skyland?

Some cite the possibility that the District's resolve on Skyland is, at least in part, opportunistic. If it comes together, it will be a victory for some mayor's scorecard. But if it doesn't, that mayor (like the last three) can still curry favor with the voters of Southeast by telling them he tried. In fact, the prospect of a mayor fighting the good fight on behalf of the city's least-served quadrant, only to be stymied by other forces, is arguably a more valuable asset in a general election than a mere shopping center, however big and shiny. But the Mayor has been personally advancing the cause of Skyland to private businesses that might have a stake in the proposed development.

Elaine Mittleman disagreed with this cynical view of things – with conditions. Mittleman believes that the District sincerely wants Skyland, and wants it badly, but just got in over their heads. “The District courts rubber-stamped everything, basically, and there was never any comprehensive plan, just a back of the envelope thing,” Mittleman says. “It seems like they have just not put in the proper effort. It seems like they just magically thought it would happen.”

For their part, lead developer The Rappaport Companies, who won rights to Skyland way back in 2002, doesn’t seem the least bit perturbed by these latest developments, either stoically patient or just resigned to sticking it out for the long haul.

“The Skyland project is definitely gaining momentum, and the Mayor has made this a priority,” said Sheryl Simeck, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Rappaport. “But it is still too early in the process for us to be able to supply construction dates," (despite Mayor Gray's prediction it would break ground last year.) "The District continues to work on resolving the outstanding legal issues involving eminent domain. Development cannot start until these last few issues are resolved.” At this time, no one is prepared to say when that will be.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Your Next Place

By Franklin Schneider

Mmm mmm! There's nothing like the smell of a newly-constructed property! You know what it smells like? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No previous tenants cooking cured meats with the windows closed, no smokers, no pet traces "covered up" with a dousing of carpet perfume. Nothing. As someone who lives in an ancient never-renovated apartment that smells like a cross between a hot barn and a flooded carpet warehouse, this is something I can really appreciate.

Of course, absence of odor (as wonderful as I'll maintain that is) is the least of this U street penthouse's appeal. There's a whole lot more to like, from the open riser staircase in the living room, to the massive bay windows that floods the loft with light, to the ridiculously spacious walk-in closet (with a window! I bet even Kanye's walk-in closet doesn't have a window), to the deep red cherry floors throughout.

There's a gourmet kitchen with huge stone countertops and an awesome floating glass breakfast bar. Also, it's a two-level unit, so upstairs you have the bedrooms - towards the front is the master suite (location of the remarked-upon walk-in with window), with an beautiful master bath that features a double vanity and custom-made glass shower. Towards the rear is the second bedroom which, although slightly smaller, has a balcony from which you can see U Street. In most places, the non-master-suite bedroom is so clearly inferior that if I lived there in the master suite, I would worry that the person who lived in the smaller bedroom would eventually grow to hate me. Not so in this place - you may have the better walk-in, but they get a balcony. If they grow to hate you, it's for entirely personality-related reasons.

Just two blocks from the Green Line, which makes for a painless commute, and only a stone's throw from U Street, which has everything you could possibly want out of life, as long as that means ethiopian food, frozen yogurt, bars, and pay-as-you-go cellphones.

1912 8th Street NW, Unit D
2 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths
$599,900

Washington D.C. real estate news

Today in Pictures - Union Station

Union Station's Main Hall is getting a makeover, as is obvious to anyone passing through this week. The work doesn't relate to the upcoming reconfiguration of the transportation hub; but is a repair of damage caused by last August's 5.8 magnitude earthquake that caused plaster to fall from the ceiling. Universal Builders Supply, which built the scaffolding the embraced the Washington Monument, has assembled the movable scaffold to support the repair work that will last nearly a year while allowing tens of thousands of people to pass underneath daily.













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

Green Line "Corridor" Growth Setting The Pace For The Region: Study

(Corrects to show Branch Avenue Metro Station in Prince Georges County)

That well-heeled twenty and thirty-somethings are moving into Columbia Heights and Washington Navy Yard isn't news, but if a recent study is true, namely that growth along the Washington's Green Line "Corridor," as it were, is outpacing that of the Ballston-Arlington Corridor and that of the Red Line, well, then.

Certainly, the most well-off of Washingtonians travel the Red Line north to Shady Grove, or the Orange Line to Arlington, right?

Wrong, says Shyam Kannan of Robert Charles Lesser & Co. who told the Capitol Riverfront BID yesterday at their annual meeting that over the past ten years, the highest growth in six-figure riders and those key demographic 18-34 year olds are along the Green Line corridor between Georgia Avenue/Petworth and the Navy Yard, outpacing the suburban-hip Rosslyn-Balston corridor and its Green line-busting hip-hop music scene.

In fact, according to the study, the average income for new households along 10-stations in the Green Line "Corridor" is now nearly $83,000. Moreover, nearly 3,500 18-34 year-olds moved into the Green Line "Corridor" between 2000 and 2010, more than the 3,400 added in Rosslyn-Ballston and the 2,300 or so added along the Red Line in Northwest.

The study was paid for by the Capitol Riverfront BID, which has a bit of self-interest in promoting the Navy Yard as a destination to work live and play along the Green Line given that it lobbied WMATA to change Navy Yard's name to Navy Yard/Capitol Riverfront.

And the RCLCO study conveniently slices off the more moderate income ends of the Green Line --Anacostia as well as Greenbelt and Branch Avenue in PG County, which might skew the economics that the study's benefactors want to portray. Still, it shows that the Green Line, which first opened in 1991, is well on its way to help produce the type of dense, transit-oriented-development in the heart of Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. real estate redevelopment news.

Maryland Avenue SW Corridor Redevelopment Plan Unveiled

During that netherweek between Christmas and New Year's, when most of us were still in an eggnog-induced haze, the DC Office of Planning released a draft report on the Maryland Avenue SW Plan, which is part of NCPC's Southwest Ecodistrict Initiative, a concept introduced last May. If the suggestions in this report are adopted – and there's little reason to believe they won't - the consequences for Southwest would be drastic and far-reaching.

Development-wise, the General Services Administration (GSA) is considering conveying (selling off) four federally-owned parcels along a proposed rebuilt Maryland Avenue, with an eye towards private redevelopment as mixed-use projects. This is pricey territory, with proximity to the Mall, the Capitol, monuments, the forthcoming Southwest waterfront redevelopment. Currently these parcels are all monolithic office buildings, like much of the area - a reality this report aims to dramatically alter. The report raises the possibility of rezoning the area to accommodate high-density residential structures - though there are obstacles to the plan. For starters, one of the four parcels (Parcel 1) is crowded by the USDA Cotton Annex, which for right now at least is not being considered for conveyance. According to the report, it's going to be hard to reach the desired density (the study suggested a minimum of a thousand residential units) on these parcels without them “being aggregated with adjacent land.” - perhaps this is a hint at future conveyances.

The main problem with the Maryland Avenue corridor, other than the aforementioned homogeneity and its lunar-like desolation post 6pm, is that Maryland Avenue doesn't actually exist for a good five blocks between 7th and 12th Streets. Clearly, any revitalization of the area will require the rebuilding of Maryland Avenue as priority one. The report presents three possible avenues towards reestablishing the avenue: option one is to just rebuild it with a median, and rebuild 9th Street to connect Independence, Maryland, and D Street. Option two would rebuild it only between 10th and 12th, and convert the rest to a park. The third proposes a smaller, pedestrian- and bike-friendly center roadway with an adjacent public square, shifting the existing railyard south.

The report seems to lean in favor of the second and third options – surveys taken of area residents and workers showed an overwhelming majority specified “parks and open spaces” as their number one preference in regards to improving the area. The report also lays out a strategy of using public spaces to draw pedestrian traffic and “establish an identity” for the area, which will (theoretically) lead to “demand for residential,” which will in turn “create population that attracts retail.” And reading the report – which is detailed, well-written, and ambitious – you get the impression it just might be that easy.

The plan also calls for a long-overdue expansion of the L'Enfant metro and commuter rail stations, and wholesale improvements of Reservation 113, the greenspace where Maryland and Virginia Avenues intersect, into a “dynamic urban park” as neighborhood centerpiece. The report estimates this project would cost around $430 million, a cost defrayed by the sale of the aforementioned federally-held parcels. Other funding sources, according to the report, could include TIF or PILOT funds, developer/railroad contributions, and various federal grants.

The western side of the Maryland Avenue corridor roughly abuts the soon-to-be-revitalized Southwest Waterfront, which is now revving into high gear and the Eisenhower Memorial is slated for 2015 right next door, all of which could very well create a domino effect, perhaps spurring the much-discussed creation of a "second downtown."

Check out the full report . The public can also offer feedback on the full report, and comment until February 3.

Washington D.C. real estate development news