Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Today in Pictures - Rosslyn Commons

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JBG Companies began construction on Rosslyn Commons exactly one year ago tomorrow. The Rosslyn apartment project will include two apartment buildings, the Sedona and the Slate, and 25 townhouses, with 55 units of subsidized housing. Despite a catastrophic wall collapse during excavation, digging is now complete and general contractor Clark Construction is now building up. Both apartment buildings are expected to be LEED Silver Certified, and both residential towers will include a rooftop pool and rooftop fitness center. Bethesda-based Architects Collaborative designed the building.













Arlington, VA real estate development news

Monday, January 23, 2012

Woodmont Triangle Apartment Developers Seek Approal for Trillium Successor

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The barren, long-fallow Trillium site in Bethesda, long considered an unwelcome reminder of the untimely demise of the local market, is set to bounce back. Bethesda-based StonebridgeCarras, which in partnership with Walton Street Capital purchased the site in early 2011 for just over $29 million, filed their new plans for the site with Montgomery County just last month and hope to be before the planning board early this year.

“This is my new favorite project,” enthused Ellen Miller, Principal at Stonebridge. “This building is a gateway to Bethesda. The lot to the north [at the corner of Woodmont and Wisconsin] is owned by NIH and is a beautiful greenspace, and coming from the north you'll look across that and see this very handsome glass and brick building.”

The new plans are “quite different,” from the Trillium plans, says Miller. Where the Trillium plan, a Davis Carter Scott-designed series of three towers, was slanted heavily toward the high-end condo market, the Stonebridge development calls for around 370 rental units, from efficiencies to three-bedrooms, and a limited number of townhouse units that open directly onto Wisconsin Avenue. It also incorporates a significant amount of underground parking, and a grocery story on the ground floor - sort of.

“Given the topography of the site, how it falls almost twenty feet from Battery Lane,” says Miller, “the grocery store will be largely submerged on the Wisconsin side, with the main entrance on Woodmont.”

The u-shaped building, designed by WDG Architecture, features an interior green courtyard, which will incorporate an entrance to the as-yet-unnamed grocery store. Miller was coy when asked who it would be – Harris Teeter? Safeway? - but said that while they're still in negotiations, she thought the neighborhood would be very pleased with the mystery tenant. “This grocery amenity will not only serve the neighborhood, but also draw people in,” she said.

The site, way back when, was once home to the Clarion hotel, which was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Trillium project, the defunct condominium complex spearheaded by Houston-based Patrinely Group.

Doug Firstenberg, another principal at Stonebridge, told DCMud last year that he hoped this project could “anchor the redevelopment of Woodmont Triangle." Woodmont Triangle, situated as it is between the Medical Center and Bethesda metro stops on the Red Line, has attracted quite a bit of attention from developers recently. In addition to this project, developers are now building a pair of 17-story buildings in Woodmont - Bainbridge Bethesda as well and the long-delayed rebuild of 4900 Fairmont Avenue.

Just as the vacant Trillium site, which after last year's hurricane had fallen into open disrepair (Stonebridge has since cleaned up the lot) was seen by many as a symbol of the market crash, perhaps the long-overdue redevelopment could be a harbinger of an upturn? Local developers, no doubt, are hoping.

Bethesda, Maryland real estate development news

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Will Takoma Finally Embrace Its Inner Bethesda?

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Denizens of the earthy Takoma neighborhood are finally seeing much-promised transit-oriented development beginning to sprout along underutilized Carroll Street NW, just steps from the Takoma Metro station.

Earlier this month, real estate giant Federal Capital Partners of Chevy Chase, which owns more than $1.8 billion in real estate assets in the mid-Atlantic region, announced the $36 million joint venture with Level 2 Development's Takoma Central, currently building in the 200 block of Carroll Street NW near the District-Maryland border.

Still, even as its neighbor to the north, Silver Spring, sees a burst of development, it hasn't been easy to convince the 17,000-plus globally-inspired Takoma Park citizens -- where illegal immigrants are allowed to vote in city elections and hold office -- to embrace their inner-Bethesda. Takoma Park residents, many of whom refer to the city as a "village," fought a long, but losing battle against a much-maligned CVS along Carroll Street in 1998 that led to the quick demise of a favorite mom-and-pop pharmacy on the Takoma Park, Maryland side. And a Subway sandwich joint that located in the village's historic district found its windows smashed in 2004 with the epithet "shop local" scrawled in spray paint.

But things may finally be changing in the People's Republic of Takoma Park as once development-wary residents embraced the Takoma Central design. That made it an ideal opportunity for Federal Capital Partners' Wade Casstevens, vice president of residential development.


"I think its a great place to live and well-kept secret," Casstevens said in an interview. "There haven't been areas in Takoma that you could build a large complex, so this is a true infill opportunity." Takoma Central will have amenities common to other Class A spaces in Logan Circle, Bethesda, and most recently Silver Spring, such as granite countertops, and stainless steel appliances, not easily found in Takoma. "Our strategy is to look for areas that have one or less competitors, not four or more, which is what we're finding in Silver Spring " he said.

Originally known as Ecco Park condos, the plan converted to apartments in 2008 under the design and ownership of SGA Architects. Takoma Central will be built in two phases.


Phase One, already under construction, is four stories, with a round, castle-like turret at the corner of Carroll Street and Maple, and will have 84 units and 70 underground parking spaces, plus 6,500 square feet for ground level retail.

Phase Two is a five-story, brick warehouse-style complex with 60 units and 35 underground parking spaces and ground-floor retail.

More importantly, the development may fill in a key gap between the bustle and activity of the Metro station and the quarter-mile walk to Carroll Avenue, Takoma Park's main street with well-kept sidewalks and quaint Victorian-era street lighting. Carroll Street NW becomes Carroll Avenue at the Maryland line, for those keeping score.

The 200 block of Carroll Street currently consists of a convenience store, a funeral home, the CVS pharmacy, and several surface parking lots. But the brick sidewalks are crumbling and there is no pedestrian friendly street lighting. Casstevens says the infrastructure and consistency of the street will improve with the completion of Takoma Central. "Right now, that part of Carroll Street looks a little beat up."

Phase 1 construction has begun already and Phase 2 will begin later this year. FCP says they will complete construction by the fourth quarter of 2013.

The construction of Takoma Central will go a long ways to renovating Carroll Street on both sides of the Metro line that the District and Maryland have been seeking to make ripe for transit-oriented development projects.

On the West side of the Metro line, where Carroll Street becomes Cedar Street, the District Office of Planning has been looking at possible enhancements to the neighborhood near the dormant Takoma Theater and its surrounds since Anthony Williams' tenure as Washington D.C.'s Mayor.

The Office of Planning's 2002 report shared the puzzlement over why TOD near Takoma Metro wasn't forthcoming. "Neither Carroll Street nor 4th Street have developed the critical mass of retail, commercial and housing that their Maryland neighbor enjoys, despite being anchored by the most heavily used pedestrian Metro transit station in the District of Columbia."


The Gables, a LEED-certified 142-unit complex opened in 2008 along Blair Road. FCP's Casstevens credits the opening of Gables for influencing their decision. "It was definitely a factor in our choice," he said. The Gables has many of the same amenities that Takoma Central offers, such as stainless steel GE appliances, hardwood floors and black granite countertops.

Still, south of Cedar Street there has been little progress in building a revitalized neighborhood around the historic Theater. Takoma Village, a unique co-housing urban village opened next to the historic Art Deco Takoma Theater in November 2000.


Milt McGinty, father of WUSA-9 anchorman Derek McGinty owns the theater, and wants to raze it to convert it to luxury apartments.

Preservationists want the the city to buy the theater outright but McGinty says the theater, which was built in 1923 isn't for sale and the theater stands in disrepair, prompting some accusations of "demolition by neglect." Like many development disputes, the fate of the Takoma Theater may end up it court while neighborhood redevelopment plans continue to gather dust.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Your Next Place

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A lot of times, I sort of hurry through my open houses so I can get back home and go back to bed (what, Sunday is the day of rest), but this place was so stunning I actually called my friends and urged them to hurry over and check it out. "There's an elevator! With recessed lighting!" I said excitedly. "The only way we'll ever set foot in this house again would be as burglars!"

No one came. That's fine though, I did enough coveting for everyone. I mean, look at this place! An already ridiculously beautiful Beaux Arts home in Kalorama, it was exhaustively redone in 2009 with only the finest materials and finishes. This house is like a gold-plated Lamborghini. Right off the bat you're dazzled by the high-ceilinged black and white marble foyer with views of Rock Creek Park. (That's right - the foyer has park views.) Then there's the formal dining room, which brilliantly achieves a sort of classic sophistication while also seeming totally of the moment. Not as easy as it sounds, as you know if you've ever been laughed at in public for wearing a sweater vest. The living room is airy and bright, with an original wood-burning fireplace, and there's a fantastic library with another fireplace and a ton of fine wooden built-ins.


Upstairs, the master bedroom is truly masterful, with Italian custom cabinetry and a patio overlooking the back, and the master bathroom, one of nine (!) is incredible, with marble floors, mahogany vanities, and a huge glass cube of a shower, outfitted with one of those rain-style trickle-down showerheads that seemed so easy to install in my apartment but then fell off during its inaugural shower and bonked me on the head like an anvil hitting Wile E. Coyote in the cartoons.

There's the aforementioned elevator, and the family/media room is wired for a home theater sound system, and also a wet bar. (A winning combination.) Downstairs is a four car garage and a double laundry room. In the back is a tiered garden and a very large stone patio that seems sort of like something you'd see in a period piece about the French Revolution. Seriously though, I never thought I'd look at an six million dollar price tag for something and immediately think, "Really? That seems low."

34 Kalorama Circle, NW
8 Bedrooms, 8 Baths
$6,425,000







Washington D.C. real estate news

Friday, January 20, 2012

JBG/Ross Gains Momentum at 4900 Fairmont Avenue

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The new mixed-use project at 4900 Fairmont Avenue in Bethesda looks to have a clear path to approval, with the site plan going to the Maryland Parks and Planning Commission next week, with an eye towards pulling permits in Q3 2012, and breaking ground in Q1 2013. Located across from Veteran's Park, the forthcoming tower represents a major step in the ongoing revitalization of the Woodmont Triangle area.

Representatives from lead developer JBG revealed many details about the mixed-use (but mostly residential) building at a community meeting on Thursday night. The seventeen story building, designed by the Preston Partnership, is projected to have 236 dwellings (rentals, with 15% MPDU), 6500 s.f. of retail space, and 3.5 levels of underground parking.

The design for the new building incorporates a large flat panel/bay window on each face, bookended by glass towers on the corners. According to Mark Lange, principal at Preston, the central panels are meant to “inspire recollections of more traditional Bethesda buildings,” and if you squint, they do resemble the boxier designs of a bygone era. The ground floor retail faces mostly east, onto Norfolk, and a 4300 s.f. roof area will include a pool, changing rooms, and views down Wisconsin towards the District. Of course, this is the second plan for the site. The original site plan was very similar to the present plan, but impeded access to the adjacent county parking garage, creating a narrow, potentially unsafe passageway from the street to the garage. When JBG became a venture partner with Ross/CIM, they took a fresh look at the plans and shifted the building's footprint east, creating a wide “paseo” along the west side of the building that would double as a path to the parking garage and as community space. Only one problem – there was no garage entrance there. Luckily, after meeting with county officials at the site, developers were able to convince them to allow a renovation.

The Woodmont Triangle area was once, in attorney Bob Dalrymple's words, “ground zero not long ago,” but much of the energy has moved southwards in the past several years. A recent zoning plan amendment was the city's first attempt at revitalizing the area, and just across Fairmont is Bainbridge Bethesda (formerly the Monty), also a 17-story building, and the first project using the new standards of the zone. (Excavation on the Bainbridge site is just about halfway done, so expect to see cranes soon.) The amendment encourages new, denser development (read: residential), though even with the new zoning standards, 4900 had to purchase density rights from four nearby buildings.

But not everyone was happy with the project as laid out at the meeting. Representatives of a property across Fairmont protested that the shifting of the front entrance from Fairmont to Norfolk would “create dead space and turn Fairmont from a retail street into a service street.” After observing the new building would reduce the amount of retail space from around twenty thousand square feet to less than seven thousand, they went on to note the new design could worsen an already dicey traffic situation. These representatives claimed the placement of 4900's loading dock directly across from Bainbridge's loading dock would virtually guarantee daytime gridlock, citing deliveries and trash removal, and also noted that even a 5% vacancy rate could translate to as many as 300 moves a year, further slowing traffic.

Another local, who lives at the nearby 14-story Triangle Towers, was concerned that the taller 174-foot-tall 4900 Fairmont building would cast a shadow over Triangle's rooftop pool. (Though it wasn't available at the meeting, Dalrymple assured him they'd done a complete shade study.) The local also noted the new building could block radio and satellite dish reception in Triangle. (Some at the meeting laughed; the local replied it was no trivial matter to people who live there.) The citizen went on to say he was only there to give the developers something to think about, not to stop the project, which is just as well. Along with Stonebridge's oft-delayed-but-still-inevitable Lot 31 project and their development of the former Trillium site, and the Bainbridge Bethesda (nee the Monty), the redevelopment of Woodmont Triangle is looking unstoppable.

(One final note - because of the way the new building is designed, it will have a Norfolk Avenue address. Goodbye to 4900 Fairmont.)

Bethesda, Maryland real estate development news

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Today in Pictures - Views at Clarendon

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The Views at Clarendon is now complete after two years of construction and 5 years of lawsuits. The building was a collaboration between Arlington County, which lent money to the project, the First Baptist Church of Clarendon as the landowner, and the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH). The project began construction in October of 2009, tacking on a high-rise of 46 market-rate and 70 subsidized units to the existing church. Now ready for rentals, the residential portion has been christened Vpoint Apartments, with the first tenant scheduled to move in tomorrow. According to a spokesman for the community, 45 of the apartments have already been preleased.










Arlington, VA real estate development news. Photos by Rey Lopez.

Safeway Tries Again With Revamped Tenleytown Design

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Officials from Safeway, Torti Gallas and Clark Realty Capital unveiled more renderings of its planned Tenleytown site last night - with once again, decidedly mixed community reviews.
Plans to replace the backwards-facing Safeway store at 42nd and Davenport, which has cheekily shown its veteran rump to Wisconsin Avenue passersby for the better part of thirty years, have been in place since August 2009. But opposition from the Office of Planning and the neighborhood ANC over an above-ground parking garage forced Safeway to suspend the project in January 2010.
Now Safeway, and its architects have returned with a newer, scaled down version, with the 56,000 square-foot store being folded in to a five-story complex with 184 apartments, 14 town homes and more than 140 spaces 0f underground parking for customers. There will also be dedicated parking for residents.
Still, a few in the Northwest DC community that is well known for its opposition to development on Wisconsin Avenue, worried about adding such high-density housing and traffic to a the single-family neighborhood, fear additional traffic and delivery trucks on nearby narrow residential streets such as Ellicott and Davenport.
"There is a great deal of concern on the density of the units," said Tenleytown residents Adam Rubinson, who attended Safeway's Jan. 18 unveiling at St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church. "The concern is pretty much unanimous," he said in an interview.
Rubinson wants to see a "stepped-back" design along Davenport so as not to overwhelm its neighbors across the street. Safeway and Torti Gallas say they have done just that with a design that will top the trees in the neighborhood but not block sunlight during morning and evening hours.
Rubinson wants to see the height of the project, currently 79 feet, lowered to no more than 55 feet, with one story below grade, similar to that of the brand-spanking new Whole Foods along Willard Avenue in Chevy Chase, less than a mile away. "There are plenty of developers who are willing to do just that," he asserted.
Improving the look and size of the store is key for Safeway in a suddenly uber-competitive market like Washington D.C. Unionized middle-market grocery chains such as Safeway and Giant, even with their single-digit profit margins, once ruled the roost in D.C., where shoppers had little choice but to tolerate dirty stores, bare shelves, long lines and surly staff.
Now amid an influx of higher-end choices such as Whole Foods and Harris Teeter, the Safeways of the world must upgrade their legacy stores to keep pace with a changing market. "Everyone who sells food is a competitor," says Safeway spokesman Craig Muckle. Often they are stuck in between high-end but non-union grocery chains like Whole Foods and Wegmans that can charge a premium for their quality and variety, and low-cost producers like Wal-Mart, with the volume and a non-union workforce to wring additional profits out of food shoppers.
The 35,000 square foot Tenleytown Safeway, which first opened in 1957 and was remodeled in 1981, is no exception, facing competition from the aforementioned, newly-constructed Whole Foods in Chevy Chase, an existing Whole Foods in Tenleytown and a remodeled Giant Food along Western Ave. in Chevy Chase.
Muckle says if all goes well, the project could break ground in 2014. Safeway had hoped to start on the new Tenleytown Safeway once retail construction adjacent the Georgetown "Social" Safeway was completed, but now will have to wait. Torti Gallas is also the architect on that project as well. The 200-plus United Food and Commercial Workers members who work at the store will be "farmed out" to other stores during the reconstruction, according to UFCW Local 400 Secretary Mark Federici.
The debate over the size of the store and its accompanying town home and apartment developments threatens to devolve into the protracted tug-of-war that surrounded the redevelopment of the Newark Street Giant.
That store, just a mile further south on Wisconsin Ave, saw organized neighborhood resistance for the better part of a decade before the Bozzuto Group got the OK to start construction on a new 56,000 square foot facility this spring. Rubison says he hopes the Tenleytown Safeway development process doesn't go down that path.
"I think if Safeway can make some reasonable compromises, the chances of that happening are close to zero," said Rubinson. "But if they take a hard line, especially on the overall massing of the building and the number of units, and residential parking, I could see this getting mired in delays."
Safeway plans another question-and-answer session on Feb. 2 in the lobby of the Tenleytown Safeway between 6:30pm and 8:30pm.
Washington D.C. real estate development news.
 

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