Sunday, May 27, 2012

Your Next Place

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By Franklin Schneider  

Yeesh. I'm not the sort of person who's easily intimidated (when I was 21 and visiting friends in New York, I spotted a famous Calvin Klein model in a record store and immediately went over and chatted her up; she looked me up and down and without saying a word, turned and walked out the door) - but this historic Capitol Hill home was intimidatingly classy. I kept waiting for guards to come out of nowhere, pick me up, and forcefully eject me through the front door. I wouldn't even have protested.



It's packed with authentic period details, from the woodwork to the fireplaces, to the pocket doors, to the quirky corner sink in one of the bathrooms, and even the hinges. You know a house is nice if,
hours later, you think to yourself, "man, that house had great hinges!" The family room is massive, and the centrally-located formal dining room is nice enough to make you stop eating standing up while looking at your laptop. The kitchen has everything you want in a kitchen - acres of counterspace, tons of storage - and the rest of the house is huge. The master bedroom suite includes a private balcony, and out back is a sizeable deck, a stone patio, and a small sheltered garden.

It's also mere steps from Capitol Hill, Congressional Offices, etc. You could actually fall asleep every night to the soft, soothing sounds of our elected officials screwing up.

415 Constitution Avenue NE
4 Bedrooms, 4 Baths
$1,200,000




Friday, May 25, 2012

MRP’s Penn Quarter “Trophy” Office Loses Investment Partner, Gains Investment Partner

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MidAtlantic Realty Partners, LLC (or MRP) announced it has a new joint-venture partner in ASB Real Estate Investments to build its previously announced Class A “trophy” office building planned at the southwest corner of Ninth and G Streets in Penn Quarter and intends to begin construction this summer. The former investment partner was Rockpoint Group LLC.


Regardless of the change in ownership, it doesn’t appear that anything else will be different - MRP is still going to the dance, just with a new date on its arm.

Construction on the former National Capital Area YWCA site is set to commence this summer, and it’s still planned as a nine-story, 112,000 s.f., LEED Gold building with a glass curtain wall. It’s also still being designed by San Francisco-based Gensler.

So life’s pretty much the same 900 G Street, and for MRP, save for the hand that feeds it.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

HPRB Votes Down 16th Street Mixed-Use Church and Office Building Design

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In the course of a concept review hearing yesterday, the Historic Preservation Review Board voted 5 to 2 against granting The Third Church of Christ, Scientist and ICG 16th Street Associates, LLC an exception that would allow them to build a mixed-use church and office building more than 90 feet high at 910 16th Street (between K and I), where the church currently stands. This would have broken a restriction placed on the historic district of 16th street, which leads to the White House.  The review did not include discussion of the highly contested demolition and rebuilding of the church.

Historic Preservation Office staff members David Maloney and Steve Callcott presented a 16-page report urging the Board to deny an exception for a number of reasons, including incompatibility “with the character of the street as a whole” and a fear of creating a precedent of breaking the height rule on 16th Street.

According to the report, "The proposed structure would exceed the 90-foot height limit in several respects. The street facades would extend above the limit to 93.7 feet, calculated from the allowable measuring point on I Street. An extra ninth floor would rise to 107.7 feet, with a 30-foot setback from 16th Street and a 15-foot setback from I Street. The top of the mechanical penthouse would be at 123.7 feet.”

Originally, the project was proposed as an 11-story building with a copper façade. Following comments from the HPO, ICG and architect Robert A.M. Stern Architects partner Graham Wyatt scaled it down to a 9-story building with a stone façade for it to blend better with neighboring buildings.

Since the height restriction has been controversial for years and because this is a historic district, Maloney said it would create a slippery slope with a precedent that other developers could use to break this rule and begin to break down the historic district's uniformity.

“The physical nature of the historical district … is established by the requirement that has been in place since 1894 not to exceed 90 feet,” Maloney said.

ICG principal David Stern, Third Church member Darrow Kirkpatrick and Wyatt represented the project.

Stern said he hoped the project wouldn’t be judged on what might happen, while Kirkpatrick called the report a “substantial burden on our religious beliefs” (though it should be noted the only thing in question was the height of the office building, specifically the addition of a ninth floor, which would not include any part of the church, according to the renderings presented by Wyatt).

The hearing lasted approximately three hours, though it wasn’t until the final twenty minutes that board member Rauzia Ally asked Wyatt what seemed like the most important question: Why does it need a ninth floor?

His answer was that the church is set back into the building and takes up valuable office space, which would be reclaimed by adding a ninth floor. The board was not impressed.

The room filled almost completely for the hearing, and various arguments took place throughout the day including attacks on Wyatt’s architecture, complaints about the lack of religions iconography on the building and arguments about from where in the city can one actually see the extra floor (which is set back 30 feet in the plans).

Several members of the area’s ANC spoke, including 2B chairman Will Stevens, who complained that the staff report never mentions the ANC and said, “Not only will [the ninth floor] not detract, it will add historical flair.”

Former Washington Post columnist and University of Maryland professor emeritus Robert Lewis argued in favor of the extra floor by questioning if it would actually set a precedent.  David Alpert founder of Greater, Greater Washington said, “Historic preservation is … becoming the anti-height movement.”

Gretchen Pfaehler, Nancy Metzger and Robert Sonderman also voted to adopt the staff report’s recommendations.  Pfaehler explained her decision concisely: “That’s the law.”

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Your Next Place

8 comments

If Batman was real, this is definitely where he’d live.  I said this to a nice middle-aged couple at the open house and they looked at me like, “this guy is why they shouldn’t have free food and wine at open houses.”  I actually had a really scathing comeback, but they couldn’t understand it through my huge mouthful of crudite.

This place is a palatial mansion to rival any in the District. Built atop a hill overlooking Rock Creek Park, this 7000+ square foot house sits on almost a full acre, and boasts features like an oak-paneled library, a circle driveway, a huge pool, massive conservatory with floor-to-ceiling windows, and a home gym that you get to through a semi-hidden entrance in the master closet.  (See, Batman!)  Recently renovated by Brook Rose Development, so everything is fresh and shiny and new, but still classy and sophisticated, sort of like my aunt after her last botox/chin tuck procedure.


The conservatory is the crown jewel of the house, a massive amphitheater-like room with the biggest skylight I've ever seen in a house; you could launch a cruise missile through it easy.  The master bedroom has a sitting area and enough room for several california kings, and french doors open onto a balcony.  The walk-in closet is so big that it has an island; think about that.  An island!  The master bath looks like something out of “Ocean's 11,” and the library is wonderfully dark and atmospheric.  Out back, the flagstone pool area is truly massive; if you have a pool party you’ll have to hire extras just so your, like, eight friends sitting poolside doesn’t look super depressing.  There’s also a one-bedroom pool house/cabana.  I was going to make a Kato Kaelin joke here but then I realized Kato Kaelin jokes haven’t been funny since 1995 (if they ever were).  Clearly, all the real laughs nowadays are in Batman references.

2808 Chesterfield Place NW
7 Bedrooms, 6.5 Baths
$3,990,000






Washington D.C. real estate news

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Atlantic Plumbing Site Breeds Grittiness, Controversy

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The Atlantic Plumbing site, which is being redeveloped by JBG and New York architect Morris Adjmi, currently stands as a fairly dilapidated set of abandoned buildings surrounded by residential pockets and, of course, the 9:30 Club. But the developers expect to begin demolition and have prepared concept-designs later this summer and to have finished the development completely by early 2015, according to the project manager, JBG's James Nozar.

The area is split into three parcels, not-so-confusingly denoted as A, B and C. Parcel C is north of Florida, include a “burned out shell of a church, a warehouse and a parking lot,” but this site is on hold at the moment.

Parcel A is next to the 9:30 Club, on the northwest corner of 8th and V streets. It’s abandoned save for the small bit of real estate the 9:30 Club uses as storage. The inconspicuous collection of buildings will be replaced by a 10-story building, and will be the first to start construction.

Morris Adjmi, James Nozar, JBG, Atlantic Plumbing, Shaw, 9:30 Club, Washington DCParcel B is to the south and is essentially a 13,000 s.f. square (redundant as a square foot square is). A 6-story building - shorter because it falls within the arts overlay while Parcel A does not - is slated to pop up here.

The site was originally subject to a PUD obtained by Broadway Development in a joint venture with Walton Street Capital. JBG bought the property at auction, though Walton Street Capital remains a joint venture partner.  The PUD has since expired. Nozar expects the new development to span 350,000 s.f. and include 350 units over a floor or two of 5,000 to 15,000 s.f. of retail and for Parcels A and B to be under construction by next spring or summer.

Walton Street Capitol, Washington DC Development, Morris Adjmi, JBG retail for lease “Our plan is to go in under the current zoning and move forward with that without asking for any zoning release,” Nozar said. He hopes the new retail will feed off the existing retail, especially the large crowds drawn almost nightly by the 9:30 Club’s concerts.

“We really want to engage existing retail that’s there,” Nozar said. “We want to take advantage of the activity that’s there on the street. The 9:30 Club is always going to be there. There’s always going to be people on the street.”

With the purpose of having the site retain a “grittier, more arts and cultural oriented” feel, JBG hired New Orleans native Morris Adjmi as its architect based on designs the development team had seen in Brooklyn (see photos above). With Adjmi, JBG felt it could create contemporary design while being true to the neighborhood.

“We thought the area has a grittier, edgier feel. It kind of has a Brooklyn kind of vibe, at least as far D.C. has that,” Nozar said. “We want the building to feel like its always been part of the neighborhood."  Adjmi said he wants to draw on the “context of what is there now: a mix of industrial forms and … vines and plants overtaking some of the buildings.”

“I like this idea of mixing in the industrial landscape and combining that with some really natural green elements,” Adjmi said. “I think those together will fit into the site and be really interesting architecturally.”

Adjmi has an interest not just in making the buildings seem like they’ve always belonged, but in making them seem like they’ve always been there.

 “I grew up in New Orleans, and I was always fascinated by two things: the incredible architecture but the fact that that architecture almost looks better in its arrested and decaying state,” he said. “It’s possible to build architecture that relates to both history and the context of the place but transcends the simple mimicking of forms.”


Presumably referring to a Washington City Paper article, Nozar said JBG has “gotten some flak from reporters from bringing in architects who aren’t in D.C., but we did that on purpose.” Lydia Depillis of the City Paper, in an update on that post, calls the headline “a mildly sarcastic indignation over a New York architect coming to Washington,” but many of the commenters seem earnestly peeved about the out-of-towner. 

Adjmi said he has no intentions of making the building look like a "New York Building." “I don’t want this building to look like it flew in from New York. I want it to look like it belongs there,” he said. “Nobody’s going to know where I’m from when they see the buildings.” 

Washington D.C. retail and commercial real estate news


Tuesday, May 22, 2012

ICSC Spotlight: DSW takes over D.C., L St. Borders site gains a future

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DCMud’s man at the International Council of Shopping Centers Convention survived that shopping center jungle with a couple new updates, both conspicuously involving clothing …

  •  DSW, the footwear retailer, plans to open three new stores in Washington, D.C. One will be in Columbia Heights, one in Friendship Heights and one on Connecticut Avenue. So anyone who has been stocking up on heels for the coming shoe drought can breathe easy.

  •  Following the trend of transforming ex-Borders into things that have absolutely no hope of raising the national literacy rate (see: the Hamilton), a large but as-of-yet unnamed clothing retailer will be taking over the old Borders site on L Street.


Monday, May 21, 2012

Equity Residential's Mt. Vernon Triangle Project Set to Break Ground

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Equity Residential's mixed-use redevelopment encompassing several historic properties at 443-459 Eye Street NW is set to begin construction this summer.

"We're looking at an August groundbreaking," said Greg WhiteVice President of Development at Chicago-based megadeveloper Equity Residential. "We're working with Clark Construction, and finalizing construction documents now.  We hope to deliver first units in a little less than two years; the summer of 2014."

Once touted by former owner Walnut Street Development as Eye Street Lofts, Equity Residential purchased the property for $5.1 million in April of last year and, with HPRB approval for the plans secured since 2006, advanced the project swiftly.

The design, by Hickock Cole Architects, preserves the two 1880s-era historic rowhouses on the lots (as mandated by law), and incorporates the also-historically-designated industrial buildings, while erecting two additional residential towers directly adjacent.  When complete, it will offer 165,000 square feet of residential space and just over 2000 square feet of ground floor retail.

"It was originally conceived as 162 units, but the plans have been increased to 174 units," White said.  "Architecturally, it's a little old, a little new; you have the historic rowhouses, and then a different type of high-rise on top, and a new one to the side. We're blending it all together to make it work."

The site was formerly the home of Gold Leaf Studios, an artists' space, and an auto body shop housed in a former blacksmith's shop. Another building on the parcels, which was leased by BicycleSPACE, is marked for demolition.


Washington D.C. real estate development news

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Your Next Place

7 comments

Shiny new townhouses in an emerging neighbor- hood - what's not to like?  Come in, get a bargain, sell off in a few years for twice as much as you paid, use your windfall to buy a house in Bethesda, and for the next ten years of cocktail parties tell your story about "that one night in your old house you heard a gunshot, you're pretty sure it was a gunshot, though it might have been a firecracker or car backfire or maybe the tv downstairs, it's hard to say since you were sort of asleep at the time."

Seriously though, everyone knows it wasn't a gunshot.  But enough about that.  These two townhouses, collectively named Randolph Row, are total gems.  Three levels, beautiful brick facade, all the modern finishes you could possibly ask for.  Large rooms, large windows, tons of light, recessed lighting, hardwood floors.  There's an open-style kitchen with Carrara marble countertops and stainless steel appliances, and a beautiful wooden deck.  And the yard is massive; you could legitimately play a full 11-on-11 football game back there.

Brookland, of course, is home to Catholic University, and is going to see quite a bit of development in the near future.  Before you know it, it'll be a second Columbia Heights, though hopefully much much less annoying.  The metro is only a block away, and each townhouse also has a garage, so you can drive instead of taking the metro.  I hate taking the metro.  If I want to be in close physical proximity to unhappy people staring straight ahead, I'll just visit my family, thank you very much.

1222 Randolph Street NE
3 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths
$599,990







Washington D.C. real estate news


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Bethesda Americana Redux!

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By Beth Herman


In literature it’s been said that the real measure of mastery is when the individual becomes inseparable from the act, as when the dancer becomes the dance, or the musician is indistinguishable from the sound he produces.

For antiques dealer/restorer and interior designer Marilyn Hannigan, former owner of Dupont Circle's Cherishables Antiques, creating a four-level home addition for her and commercial real estate developer husband, John, was to be much more than just another example of her work. Like the dancer or musician, it would become synonymous with a life steeped in coveted Americana.

Purchasing their two-story 1,060 s.f. Edgemoor post war Colonial Revival-style residence in 1971, at the time the house was emblematic of their close Bethesda enclave. Now within a block of the community’s burgeoning, bustling cafes, bookstores and upscale shopping, homes in the area are considered prime real estate and are almost unrecognizable from their nascent forms, according to architect Michael Callison who helmed the multi-storied renovation. In fact the Hannigans had more than a typical update in mind.

Undergoing three earlier incarnations that expanded the home's footprint to 3,066 s.f. and involved the kitchen, living room, a bedroom and the home’s façade, an addition had been built on a concrete slab consisting of only a first and second level (the old basement and attic were restricted to the original space). Under Callison’s baton, the homeowners desired to extend their existing basement to match the home’s addition-created footprint, turning the below-grade results into a combination antiques gallery and entertainment space for their large dinner parties. What’s more, a new master bedroom suite was desired on an upper level, and above that the old attic atop the post war part of the home needed to expand into a newly-created, essentially fourth level space, creating a dormer-crowned home office with a bird’s eye view for John.

“There was no way to do any of this when you’ve got something built on a concrete slab,” Callison said, also citing the former addition’s inadequate under 8-foot ceilings, for which an additional foot was mandated. “We ended up tearing it all down and starting over.”

Molding, mantles and muscles

With the home’s Colonial Revival architecture and Marilyn Hannigan’s penchant for all things Americana, traditional, classical design details were imminent for the wood-sided, brick-based addition. In the new living and dining rooms, crown molding and substantial Adams casing—a 3½-inch wide wood casing—for doors and windows make a bold, muscular statement. “While honoring the residence’s style, we were trying to bring up the personality of the former house from the way it was originally built,” Callison said.

In the living room, an early 19th Century hand carved mantle with acanthus leaves, dentil molding, carved ovals and quarter fans frames a limestone fireplace, with an equally elegant antique grey/green mantle—it’s the original paint, according to Hannigan—featuring elaborate moldings in the dining room.

A connoisseur of old calligraphy, Hannigan found a 19th Century signed and dated eagle from Pennsylvania that frames the fireplace.
“Penmanship was so important in the 19th Century,” she explained, adding it was taught out of hotel rooms, bank buildings, etc. As it became more detailed, contests were held for bird drawing with awards. “It’s called ‘flourish drawing’ so the pen never stops,” she said. Another flourish drawing in the hall features a bevy of birds: swans; eagles; a love bird; a nest, signed and dated 1885.

Inspired by illustrations of the natural environment with another home on the Eastern Shore, the homeowners display a grouping of duck prints by Alexander Pope (the artist: 1849-1924, not the essayist and poet: 1688-1744) at the base of the addition’s staircase, as well as various Audubon prints in the living room. Delicate early 20th Century feather-like sconces appear in the dining room, which Hannigan said she’d never seen before despite decades in the antiques arena.

A serving table from history’s Sheridan period, a mahogany tea table, 19th Century armchairs painted with gold leaf, a 19th Century tall case clock and a small vanity from the same era stenciled with fruit complement the room with its floor-to-ceiling double-hung arched windows.

Stairs, sprigs and sunlight

Where flooring is concerned, 3-inch white oak boards in the living and dining spaces, as well as in the below-grade gallery, are reflected in a prominent stair banister, which Hannigan said was initially slated for a cherry stain. “We saw the flooring and just had to do (the banister) the same way,” she said, referencing warmth and color.

In the dining room, the homeowner’s collection of Sprig China redolent of Jefferson's at Monticello features green sprigs with blue and a smidge of red in the center of its flowers. Enamored of the pattern, Hannigan recreated the sprig element in a band that encircles the room on the white oak flooring. A mahogany Sheridan-to-Empire period banquet table with twisted legs circa 1830 creates the right foundation for the china.

According to Callison, while an elevator was installed that traverses all four levels, the robust stair was designed to descend from the main living space up to the master suite and down to the gallery level, bathed in considerable light from a bank of windows. To maintain the profusion of sunlight in the subterranean environment, a large 12-by-16-foot well redolent of a patio courts light inside. Because its walls are high, Hannigan created a custom covering and uses the illuminated well space as an additional room.

Dreams, drawer pulls and dormers

In the 18-by-18-foot third level master bedroom, a painted wicker headboard, club chair, country sofa table, Sheridan period birds eye maple chest and shutters create a comfortable oasis. His and hers master baths include elements such as limestone flooring, limestone wainscoting and glass shower stalls, and in her bath a vaulted ceiling crowns a generous oval-top mirror created by architect Callison, who is also a furniture designer.

Though not officially part of the addition, walls for what was formerly a utilitarian kitchen were bumped out two feet, and Montgomery Kitchen and Bath was called in to partner in Callison’s warm country kitchen-style transformation. Punctuated by soft, recessed lighting, pendant lights, strong molding and fine design details such as drawer pulls in the form of clock faces, a decorative laser-carved tile element behind the stove was created by Bethesda’s Bartley Tile Concepts.

Mentored and employed for 23 years by visionary James Rouse who’d created Columbia, Maryland, later on under the auspices of Federal Realty Investment Trust John Hannigan helped build California’s toney Santana Row and also Bethesda Row. His new home office sits atop the addition in what is considered the fourth — or extended attic — level. Its three classical but buoyant dormers afford him a handy view from the top, both literally and figuratively.

“They almost doubled the size of the existing home to 5,382 s.f. with the new addition,” said Callison, who’d previously undertaken a 20-year transformation of his own Chevy Chase residence. “They ended up with a brand new house.”

Photo credit: Rey Lopez

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Shaw's Parcel 42 Gets a Redo

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The city is once again seeking bids for a vacant lot in Shaw once occupied by protesters demanding subsidized housing, this time DC leaders hope its prominent Rhode Island Avenue address will invite great architecture rather than protests.

Parcel 42, the catchy name given to the site at Rhode Island and 7th St., NW, across from the new Shaw library and planned affordable housing project, has been vacant for over a decade, but was awarded as a development parcel back in 2007.  Economic necessity lead to scaling back the project, with all the design of a county college dorm, from 94 units to 52 units, and to a higher income bar to applicants.  That, in turn, caused a sit-in and tent city to pop up in 2010, with protesters demanding lower income levels in a zone dominated by low-income housing.  But those plans also failed too, and the site remains vacant.  

But city leaders have finally issued a new Request for Proposals, now with a new vision.  Rather than shoot for the lowest income residents, the District government is again encouraging a maxed out building and - a first - decent architecture.

Current zoning allows a 65 foot building with 4.2 FAR, but the District and local ANC are encouraging a zoning change that allows a 90 foot building with 6.0 FAR, a ground floor dominated by retail, and now an 80% AMI designation rather than the lowest subsidized housing designation.  The proposal also states a preference for additional affordable units, a "high quality" public space component, and "high quality architecture" with a "signature design."  

To subsidize the project, the District is providing the land, leaving developers to come up with the right building plan.  Alex Padro, ANC Commissioner for the area, notes that specifications were left deliberately vague in order to allow developers the greatest flexibility.  "In order to get the creative juices flowing, we worked with the Deputy Mayor to make sure there weren't exact minimums." We need "outstanding architecture" noted Padro.  "Its gotta be a building that works financially, that activates the street, we already have a significant pocket of affordable housing in the area."  But most of all, said Padro, the building needs to meet high architectural standards like the Shaw library.

Developers, however, will be incentivized to compete on the affordable housing provision to get the nod from the city, and the quality of the architecture is likely not going to be something the community agrees upon.

Proposals are due by July 26. 

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Your Next Place

4 comments

 If you want a house that you can impress your parents with, this is absolutely the one.  Everything about this place is refined, understated, sophisticated, and excruciatingly classy.  Not one off note.  If you bought this place and brought your parents here, they'd just get real quiet and then look at you in a way they've never looked at you before and then break down in tears apologizing for all the mistakes they made raising you, like when they got you knockoff "Nikeys" in fourth grade because "no one will notice anyway."  (At least that's how it goes in my daydream.  In reality, my parents would just look around, nod, and move in.)



The powder blue living room is expansive and features several large windows and a fantastic white fireplace; the dining room is elegant and more than large enough for any size family.  The kitchen has been recently renovated, and it shows; right next to the classic woodwork are the latest gleaming top-of-the-line appliances.  You can also see the park from the kitchen windows, so you can gaze out at nature's glory as your Pork n' Beans simmer.  My favorite part of the house was the "pub room," which was being used as an office, but could be used as, well, a pub.  With brick floors and an awesomely weathered wooden bar and a grille for grill(e?)ing, this would be hands down the greatest man cave of all time.  There are even some beautiful french doors that lead out to the patio, for when someone needs to vomit.

Upstairs are two equally masterful master bedroom suites, each outfitted with a full luxurious bath and excellent closets.  A lot of places have one incredible master suite and then a lesser one, but here, both people can have a suite that preserves their secret belief that they are superior to the other person.  As I get older, I'm convinced that this is the key to a lasting relationship.  That, and having secret affairs.

3510 Whitehaven Parkway NW
2 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms
$899,000






 

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