Georgetown Plant Sale: Top Arts Official Urges Open Discussion

Sometime this week, the distinctive 1940s art deco heating plant on the Rock Creek Canal in Georgetown got a listing on the federal government's real estate site, the Washington Post reported Tuesday on its Capital Business blog.  It is slated to be sold in an online auction sometime in November.

West Heating Plant. Photo courtesy GSA web

That historic steam plant - the West Heating Plant - has become the symbol of a government sell-off of thousands of unused government properties, called "federal excess properties", launched in 2010 by the Obama Administration.  In 2011, the 1940s plant at 1051 29th St. NW was added to the list, and in June the GSA briefed Congress on its nationwide efforts at the site.

How much revenue could it bring? Possibly millions. GSA can't comment on the value of "pending disposals," but developers see the site as one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in Georgetown.

But some say the sale process is taking place largely behind closed doors, including a top DC arts official. Thomas Luebke, FAIA, is Secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), the federal body charged by Congress with protecting properties of historic value in the District.  On September 5th, he wrote a letter to the GSA urging a more open discussion on the West Heating Plant's fate. DCMud obtained a copy of the letter on Wednesday.

Copy of Letter from CFA to GSA, obtained by DCMud

Luebke urges the GSA to hold an open discussion with a wide range of stakeholders about the future of the property.  In his letter, he cites Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires federal agencies to determine the possible negative impacts of an action such as a sale, and what can be done to eliminate or mitigate those.  That process, Luebke writes, normally involves open discussion.

"At this time I have not heard of any plans to proceed with this process [of open, public discussion] and hope that the GSA is committed to pursuing what would be expected for a property of this significance," Luebke writes. "While the sale of the property in the immediate term may yield a high sales price as a redevelopment project [...] it is most valuable in the long term precisely for its particular physical, spatial, and historic characteristics."

The building, the letter highlights, was designed in the Moderne style by local architect William Dewey Foster and is an example of federal government's investment in public infrastructure immediately following World War II.

Luebke, in the letter, urges the GSA to consider a use that would maintain the building's structural authenticity as a "massive masonry box-essentially open on the inside except for metal catwalks and platforms holding equipment."  That structure, he writes, lends itself to myriad cultural uses, with the Tate modern museum in London being an example.

GSA says they're doing the required review.  "GSA is currently engaged in that process," Dan Cruz, deputy press secretary for the GSA told DCMud.

Letter from CFA to GSA on Sale of West Heating Plant

Friends of Georgetown Waterfront Park and Ward 2 DC City Councilmember Jack Evans want to see part of the property turned into a park.  "Councilmember Evans, as well as the Georgetown community, continues to support a mixed use development with park land," Andrew Huff, director of communications for Evans, told DCMud on Wednesday.

On Thursday, City Councilmember Jack Evans will be meeting with the DC Office of Planning, the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, and "leadership from the Georgetown neighborhood" to "continue the discussion" Huff wrote to DCMud.  "It is not a public meeting."

Furioso's "1525 Fourteen" on 14th St. Close to Breaking Ground

An office building in the midst of 14th Street's many condos will soon bring the busy entertainment corridor a little closer to true mixed use development.  That is, when Furioso Development breaks ground on "1525 Fourteen", a mixed-use building slated to break ground this fall.  That moment is nigh, according to Giorgio Furioso. He puts the time until groundbreaking at eight weeks.

"We are moments away from breaking ground," Furioso told DCMud, "and we are doing some preliminary stuff to cross all our Ts and Is."  Developer Giorgio Furioso sees the future 42,000 s.f. building - in the planning stage for nearly a decade - as an anchor of 24/7 neighborhood vitality, bringing some daytime activity to a night-time destination.

Some office tenants for the building are ready to move in, Furioso said, but there are no decisions about a tenant for the 3,600 square feet of street-level retail.  That announcement could come in the next few months, Furioso told DCMud.

Original 2004-approved scheme

"We could have gone with one large tenant but we chose not to do that so that it is a collection of different people," he said.  Furioso said he believes this mix of different smaller tenants will contribute to neighborhood vitality. "The building's whole attitude is small, green and neighborhood," Furioso said, "so you are trying to represent in that collection of tenants people the neighborhood would appreciate."

The project has already gained the necessary approvals and financing. The Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) approved the in-fill project in 2010.  It was originally planned as a seven-story, cubist-inspired residential building in 2004, but Furioso changed direction.

The design for the six-story LEED gold building, which includes a green roof, geothermal heating, and solar panels, is by architecture firm Eric Colbert and Associates.  Two underground floors include 28-small-car parking spaces, accessible by car elevator only, and a charging station for hybrid cars.  The building also includes a bicycle room complete with showers.

The Mohawk artists lofts, the condo building Church Place, renovation of the historic Roosevelt, and Solo Piazza residential building on 13th Street are all past projects of Furioso.  Furioso, who is stately in favor of a quality-over-quantity development model, only builds one development at a time.
"I think you can grow by being better rather than being bigger - sort of the Lorax idea," Fuioso, who was born in Italy and holds an MFA, told DCMud. "Sometimes the idea of success is measured by how many projects you do - whether you're the architect, the developer, the builder - rather than saying 'this project contributes to this neighborhood the way other projects don't.'  It's a different approach to working and living."

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Your Next Place

Oh wow.  You never see a place like this in the District.  Most houses here are sort of like most of the people here - basic, slightly uptight, old-fashioned.  This house, though, is like that girl you see at the party who's way too stylish and edgy to live here, and who you just know is going to move to New York in six months, so you better act fast, and by "act fast," I mean "stalk her on Facebook," because she's totally out of your league.

This house isn't out of your league though - well, as long as you've got $2.5 million on hand.  (Okay, so it's out of your league.)  This Tracy Place classic is open and bright and has a vague "California in the Seventies" vibe.  (Though I should mention here that I wasn't alive in the Seventies, and I've never been to California.)  The formal dining room and living room are dramatic and have windows galore, as well as recessed lighting and gleaming hardwood floors.  And this house has maybe the greatest kitchen I've ever seen, a high-ceilinged gourmet masterpiece with stained-glass-fronted cupboards, a huge island, and top of the line stainless steel appliances.  There are also two - yes, two - full-size sinks, so you can let twice as many dishes pile up and fester before sweeping them into garbage bags and buying all new ones.

Upstairs are five bedrooms, all with full en-suite bathrooms.  This is huge.  I like to think of having your own bathrooom as a kind of dividing line in life; if you do have your own, you're not allowed to complain ever, about anything in your life.  If you have to share, go ahead and whine as much as you want, I'll at least pretend to feel bad since you have to smell other people's odors on a regular basis.  Each room is bright and large and opens onto a huge shared deck.  Underneath that deck is a huge first floor patio; yes, that's two levels of leisure space looking out onto a superlative garden that features a sloping landscaped terrace surrounded by greenery.  Very private.  It's like your own mini-Garden of Eden, by which I mean you can eat apples and have sex out there, but don't get caught by Dad or you're in big trouble.

2324 Tracy Place NW
5 Bedrooms, 5.5 Baths
$2,395,000

New Silver Spring Library Moving Forward: Construction Meeting Today

Work on the Silver Spring Library could begin within the next few months, according to sources at Montgomery County. "We’re moving forward on a very tight schedule, and this is a real priority project for the county."  That’s Ernest Lunsford, division chief for Montgomery County’s Department of General Services, speaking about plans for the forthcoming Silver Spring library. The project—a roughly 63,000 square foot structure designed by the Lukmire Partnership to sit at the corner of Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue - has been inching along since 1999, when the county approved funding for it.

No longer. Design plans finally made it through a long community approval process, construction drawings have been created, and the site has been largely prepared for work to begin. On August 28, the county put the project up for bidding, and today, officials will be holding a “pre-bid” meeting for the eight contractors that have already completed a pre-qualification process.

The contractors are Clark Construction, Coakley & Williams Construction, Costello Construction, Donohoe Construction Company, Dustin Construction, Grunley Construction, Hess Construction, and Morgan-Keller Construction.

The bid opening date is scheduled for October 2, but Lunsford says there’s a chance that date will be pushed back by a week or so if substantial new information arises as a result of today’s meeting. Lunsford and his colleague, Susanne Churchill, the senior architect project manager, swear they will award a contract soon after that. They’ll choose the lowest bidder and issue a “notice to proceed,” allowing work to begin around November.

It’s a bit of a tricky project, explains Churchill, which could cause obstacles. Being a county endeavor, the development includes a prevailing wage clause as well as a “minority, female, and disabled person” subcontracting requirement. It’s complicated structurally, too: the Purple Line train will eventually run through a portion of the building, and an atrium includes special smoke exhaust requirements.

Design plans haven’t changed much in the past few months. A five-story building clad in cast stone that includes a glass curtain wall cantilevering over the Purple Line’s path, this new library will be almost four times bigger than the current one, which is the oldest library in Montgomery County’s system. Pyramid Atlantic art center will operate out of the first two floors, and the library—with expanded meeting spaces, a computer lab, and a larger children’s section—will take up the rest. 

The project should be completed by fall of 2014.

Silver Spring, Maryland, real estate development news 

Cobbling Together Georgetown's Streets

Some of the oldest streets in DC have finally gotten a facelift and officials this week celebrate the big reveal.  The streets are home to streetcar tracks dating back to 1903 that have become recognizable symbols of historic Georgetown.

Work on P Street NW in Georgetown. Photo courtesy DDOT

A ribbon cutting Tuesday will mark completion of the $11.8 million 'rehabilitation' of O and P Streets, largely federally-funded through the Federal Highway Administration.   The ribbon cutting will be held at 10:30 on Tuesday.

Over the years, the section of O and P Streets in between Wisconsin Avenue and 37th Street got bumps and wrinkles.  Cobblestones around the old streetcar tracks sunk creating ridges of four inches in some places. Safety concerns emerged, as did questions about whether the city should keep the tracks and cobblestones or improve safety.

Old streetcar lines on O and P Streets NW got a face lift

The city has managed to do both, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2E member Ed Solomon told DCMud.  "Everyone is happy that both goals have been met."  "Some have even commented they couldn't believe how smooth the street could be with cobblestones." The project has been on the city's to-do list for 20 years, seriously for the last nine.

Image courtesy DDOT

The project included the restoration of O and P, the repaving of 33rd, 34th, 36th, and 37th Streets between O and P Streets, the restoration of curbs, gutters and sidewalks, and the evening out of street surfaces. The city has placed an emphasis on reusing materials when possible.  "The whole project was partly a preservation as well as a streetscape project," said Dara Ward, DDOT's spokesperson for the project. "As much of the original materials as possible were refurbished and re-installed."  The city even employed an archeologist in the beginning phases of the project who made some interesting finds, as reported by Georgetown Dish.

The city also conducted streetlight and drainage improvements, installed crosswalks, curb ramps, tree boxes and tree rails, reinsalled police call and fire alarm boxes, and planted trees, and restored underground parts of the streetcar tracks on O and P Streets.  The city refurbished underground, 250-pound cast-iron yokes that support the tracks at five-foot intervals, as well as track manholes and junction boxes.

Rehabilitated Streetcar track elements.  Photo courtesy DDOT

Any improvements to Georgetown's streetcar lines are purely aesthetic.  DDOT permanently removed tracks on P Street between 35th and 36th Streets and on 36th Street between O and P.  Even as the city is working to get the H Street Benning Road streetcar route online and servicing passengers by summer 2013, Georgetown is still just one more part of town with streetcar tracks and no streetcars to use them.

Restored streetcar track. Photo courtesy DDOT

Today in Pictures - Canal Park

Work on southeast DC's Canal Park is nearing the final stage, District of Columbia residents will soon be enjoying a new park near the Anacostia waterfront.  The project got underway in February of 2011, shepherded by the Canal Park Development Association. 

The 3 acres of landscaping take up 3 city blocks just north of the ballpark, and will offer "a stunning urban park on the site of the historic Washington Canal" with a large pavilion/restaurant (LEED certified) designed by Studios Architecture and two smaller pavilions, 2 large fountains, wintertime ice skating rink, rain garden, multiple lawn spaces, an electric car charging station, and bicycle racks.  Philadelphia-based OLIN is the landscape architect.

The federal government owns the land in arrangement that gives control to the District, which in turn has a 20-year agreement with the Canal Park Development Association to develop and manage the land.  Retail leasing is being handled by Blake Dickson Real Estate.

Washington DC retail and real estate development news

Arlington Approves Tallest Crystal City Office Building

The Arlington County Board voted yesterday to approve 1900 Crystal Drive, Vornado's enormous office building that will be the tallest in Crystal City.  The county's approval allows the developer to demolish the super-block sized building now on the site and replace it with an even larger, more contemporary building.

The building, designed by New Haven-based Pickard Chilton, will feature a number of impressive vitals, including 720,000 s.f. of office space in 24 stories (297 feet), a 5-story underground parking garage, an expected LEED Gold rating, a raised interim park (until replaced by another building), 32 bicycle parking spaces on the street and in the park.  Pickard Chilton is noted for a number of large office building designs, including a senior role on Malaysia's Petronas Towers.  Cooper Carry is the architect of record. The design employs a "ski jump architectural treatment" as part of its glass facade, and will be a major contributor to the upgrading of Crystal City's outdated architecture and infrastructure.

The plan for the block is to eventually demolish another of the office buildings on the block to create a large "Center Park" - a centerpiece of the Crystal City Sector Plan developed in 2010 - to replace the mid-block, concrete-heavy park that now connects the 3 existing office building.  While the project will have a more appealing street view, especially on Crystal Drive where 11,000 s.f. of retail will face the street, the building will still make large concessions to the automobile along 18th and 20th Streets with wide curb cuts for garage access.

The County approval was expected, especially with Vornado's $3m contribution to the county's affordable housing program and $7m of promised community benefits that that county negotiated for a host of improvements to causes like parking meter improvements, utility improvements, and public art.

Arlington VA real estate development news

Your Next Place

 This fantastic Colonial is the sort of house you see in a family sitcom that makes everyone say, "come on, no family actually lives in a house like that!"  By which I mean you should buy this house, live in your car in the driveway, and rent it out to Hollywood producers as a set on which to film their family sitcoms.  Cha-ching!  I feel like that tip is worth at least a fifteen percent commission.

TThis house has it all; huge, open floor plan, hardwood floors burnished to a high shine, marble fireplace, recessed lighting.  The dining room is one of the most striking I've ever seen, with a duo of huge rectangular skylights and an entire long wall of windows.  There's a general feeling of openness and space, which is important for families, since you need room to grow, and also because you hate each other.  I grew up in a huge rambling Victorian house and one floor per family member was barely enough space; I routinely urinated off the roof rather than go downstairs and risk an encounter with my dad as he trimmed his handlebar mustache to "Steve Miller's Greatest Hits" or my mom as she did step aerobics while watching "Martin" starring Martin Lawrence.  (She still sprinkles his catchphrases into everyday conversation: "Hey mom, can you give me a ride to the airport tomorrow morning?  My flight leaves at 7AM."  "DAMN GINAAAAAAA!!!")  No worries about that in this place; with five bedrooms and 5.5 baths, you could conceivably never see the people you lived with, which is just how it should be.

The bedrooms are large and beautifully finished, with fine shutters and accent walls.  Out back is a stone patio and a sizeable yard, nicely fenced off from prying eyes.  It's big enough and secure enough that you could totally put your dog or your children back here anytime you needed some "grownup time" to yourself, in the bathroom, "rocking back and forth" with a "bottle of vodka" repeating "oh my god I've wasted my youth, is there still time to change my life?!"  (No.)  There's also a full garage, for the aftermath of the aforementioned "grownup time" crisis when you buy a convertible and/or motorcycle.

2707 34th Place NW
5 Bedrooms, 5.5 Baths
$2,345,000

Washington D.C. real estate news