Latest Plans for St. Elizabeths Irk Preservationists

Gateway Pavilion rendering. Image: DMPED site

An architecturally progressive cultural venue, Gateway Pavilion will bring new life to DC's Congress Heights neighborhood, its high-profile design team told DC's Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) Thursday.  The board received comments on the design for an "interim" arts and cultural venue planned for the heart of the 173-acre campus of psychological hospital St. Elizabeths Campus East.  It did not vote on the plans.

Plans for Gateway Pavilion call for a dramatic, wing-like roof and a five-module system that can be re-positioned to adapt the landscape of the venue, such as a for farmers' market or a concert stage, the design team told the HPRB.  The pavilion is being cast as a temporary, or "interim", anchor for a larger, planned 750,000 square foot build-out of the East Campus.

The Gateway Pavilion model at WDCEP Showcase

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) selected the design team of Davis Brody Bond, KADCON, and Robert Silman Associates in a bid to design and develop the venue on the city-owned land.  The high-profile firms are, individually, behind such sites as the National September 11th Memorial and the reconstruction of D.C.'s Eastern Market. 

St. Elizabeth's, perched on the fringe of Ward 8, sits on the brink of a major overhaul under a master plan by the General Services Administration (GSA), the property management arm of the federal government, that calls for 4.5 million s.f. of office space to one day house the Department of Homeland Security.

Construction on the West Campus is already underway, and the East Campus package is set for delivery in 2023.  The entire campus is expected to one day host about 14,000 employees.  The new headquarters for the U.S. Coast Guard could bring 4,000 workers to the neighborhood by August.

Gateway Pavilion. Image: DMPED site

"Our challenge is to continue to brand the campus as something that is not a mental institution," said Ethan Warsh of DMPED.  He said the design met the Department's goals of bringing food options and entertainment amenities to the neighborhood east of the Anacostia River, and to an increasing number of workers in the area.

The concept design has gone before the Commission on Fine Arts, the body charged with overseeing design changes to historical properties in the District, which recommended several changes including increasing walkability and sight lines across the property.  The proposed design calls for bike parking, rooftop rainwater collection, and self-composting toilets.

Gateway Pavilion model at WDCEP Showcase

But the venue's seductive, green design isn't wooing everyone.  A member of the DC Preservation League (DCPL) argued the design obscured the historic buildings, and that the neighborhood needed basic retail more than it did entertainment venue and quick lunches.  

"This was also an area that we discussed should be the last possible space for development," said Rebecca Miller of DCPL. She said the neighborhood won't benefit from "fast, casual lunch places."  Backers said the site would be able to host eight to ten food trucks at any given time.

Instead, Miller said, neighborhood residents need places to buy basics, such as stockings.  "It cannot be all things to all people," Warsh, of DMPED, later commented.  "It can only be what $5 million will get us."

Note:  An earlier version of this article, in quoting the DC government's website, may have misleadingly implied that KADCON and Davis Brody Bond worked on the Eastern Market DC restoration.  That is incorrect.  Robert Silman Associates was the structural engineering firm on the project.

GSA Master Plan for St. Elizabeth's Campus.

Washington DC retail and real estate news

Costello Construction Chosen as Contractor for Silver Spring Library

When Montgomery County’s division chief for the Department of General Services described the new Silver Spring library as a real priority project for the county, he wasn’t just talking.

The county has been swiftly moving forward and is set to announce that a general contractor, Costello Construction, has been picked to build the new structure. The Columbia, Md.-based company also built Silver Spring’s much-lauded civic building at Veterans Plaza, which means its representatives have experience working with city and county officials, the community, and local utility companies.

“The lowest bidder was Costello, and they were within the budgeted amount, so the contract will be awarded to them,” said Susanne Churchill, the senior architect and project manager with the county’s Department of General Services. “They really wanted the project.”

The bidding process closed on November 7, and the contractor was recently chosen. The next steps should occur quite rapidly. The county and company are currently hammering out administrative details, and the company should begin work a few days after that. But observers might not notice much activity on the site at first, as the company gears up for construction by purchasing trailers and renting equipment. That should be just in time for the holidays, delaying the start date a bit. “This is a bad time, but one way or the other, we’ve started conversations about first steps, and they’ll probably be starting in January,” said Churchill.

That’s certainly not too soon for the many Silver Spring residents who’ve been anxiously discussing and waiting for their new library. The project, a 63,000 square foot building designed by the Lukmire Partnership at the corner of Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue, has been on the table since 1999, when the county approved funding for it, but progress has moved very slowly.

When it’s finished, the city will have a new downtown library that’s almost four times bigger than the current one. A five-story building with a glass curtain wall that crosses above the Purple Line’s path, the structure will include an arts center on the first two floors and expanded meeting spaces, a computer lab, and a larger children’s section on the top three.

The project should be done by late 2014.

Silver Spring, Maryland, real estate development news 

A Biotech Firm Runs Through It

Q and A with Jill Schick and Howard Goldstein
by Beth Herman


Charged with creating the behemoth mixed use world headquarters, including offices, laboratory, daycare center and 90-foot-long steel and glass connector for the 250,000 s.f. United Therapeutics Corporation, 1040 Spring St., Silver Spring, Maryland, Jill Schick and Howard Goldstein of Schick Goldstein Architects P.C.left no stone unturned -- and no terrace untree'd. A biotech firm on the cutting edge of developing and marketing specialized products for individuals with chronic and life-threatening illnesses, the program for UTC included three buildings, green roofs and individual terraces, street level retail shops and extensive exterior and interior public spaces. Phase II, at 7 stories, achieved LEED Gold (the others were not submitted) and won the USGB's National Capitol Region Chapter 2010 Award of Excellence Project of the Year for New Construction.  DCMud talked with Schick and Goldstein about the decade-long project.

DCMud: Tell us about the unusual venue for UTC.

Schick: Most biotech firms in the area would go out to I-270, where they'd have a sprawling piece of land and not have to deal with city codes, etc.  Dr. Martine Rothblatt, who is the CEO, has lived in Silver Spring for years. She wanted to bring UTC to an urban setting and give back to the city by bringing in professional people, as a tax base, as well as offering the many courtyards incorporated into the design to the public.

DCMud: What was the process?

Goldstein: We were asked to develop a master plan for the entire project in 2002-2003, so prepared a number of designs for the three buildings at the same time. They were built individually, the 4-story laboratory building completed in 2006, the 7-story Phase II in 2010 and the last one opening just this year.


DCMud: What was the program for the second building?

Goldstein: It's mixed use. The first floor is retail shops and lobby space, entered from an amenity space. There are more laboratories on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors, and it has offices on the 5th, 6th and 7th floors. Green roof terraces exist off of the 5th and 7th floors, accessed from individual offices. A vast interior stair encourages high use and interaction as opposed to employees using an elevator or fire stair.

DCMud:What about some of UTC's sustainable elements.

Goldstein: First, we have 5,000 s.f. of solar panels on each building.

Schick: On the first building we used a lot of precast concrete for environmental purposes. There is also a lot of channel glass which affords much natural light but does not sacrifice privacy for the employees. There are exterior sun control louvers on the south and west facades.

DCMud: We understand the choice of terracotta skews wide.

Goldstein: We used (environmentally friendly) terracotta to define the area where the lab is on the 3rd and 4th floors of building #2. The office area above it on floors 5, 6 and 7 is glass and metal panel. The terracotta also scales the building down because there's a residential area to the north, so we used a color that's similar to brick. It also serves as a rain screen system, where the waterproofing is between the screen and the skin.

Schick: It's done a lot in Europe. There's no caulking, sealing and tightening.You're getting the water not to penetrate the building at all; the rain drips down behind it with its pressure equalized. And architecturally, the design of this building swoops you around to the public space on Cameron Street.

DCMud: What was the thinking behind the extensive use of public spaces?

Goldstein: In CBD's (central business districts), you're allowed to double the FAR (floor area ratio) if you provide a public amenity space in 20 percent of the lot. Our FAR was 'one' on this project, which was extremely low. One means if the property is 40,000 s.f., as with the lab area, then you can only build that much. But if you offer a public amenity space, like the courtyard we created, you can double it, which is what we did.

We created what are called pocket parks. Across the street there is an apartment building with an amenity space also, so they could double their FAR. So when you take their amenity space, and our pocket parks, and then an atrium we've created for Phase III, it becomes one large dynamic green space with a road running through it, which is the goal of the Parks Department.

Schick: There's also a public space that's interior, and it's three stories tall. It's always open, so if there's inclement weather, or you just want to experience that space, you can do it -- including on your way to the Metro which is nearby.

Goldstein: Our client calls the UTC campus 'one of the gateways to Silver Spring.'

DCMud: We understand the connector between two of the buildings has a bit of a backstory.

Schick: That was a hard thing to get approved by the neighbors. They didn't want a bridge because it takes people off the street, but this was purely for the company - and it's really called a connector. It was constructed in the South, trucked up and lifted into place. They had to close the street.

DCMud: Tell us about the final building.

Goldstein: It's an office building for staff. The entry is a 3-story atrium space off of Cameron Street. There's a pocket park off of Spring Street at the west end of the property, which is linked to the Cameron Street entrance through the atrium. The first floor is retail. The second and third floors - open to the atrium - are these 'Google spaces' - open, casual, working on your laptop, playing ping pong, having coffee or juice kinds of spaces. There's a lecture hall here as well.

DCMud: A potent feather in Silver Spring's municipal cap - and yours - to say the least!

Photos courtesy of Alan Karchmer and Anice Hoachlander

LEED Certification To Get Major Overhaul in 2013

A certification system that offers a stamp of approval on "green" building is getting streamlined and greener - at least that's what its backers hope.  The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification system was launched by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 1998 and has since gone international.

Clinching LEED certification, both for new and existing buildings, can mean higher status and lower operating costs for prospective tenants, which equates to higher rental dollars for landlords.  Levels of certification - from basic to platinum - require builders to earn more "points" in efficiency, recycled or renewable building materials, and site impact.  Critics of the certification system say the process is expensive and time consuming, something USGBC hopes to address, including revamping its web site and launching LEED-related mobile apps.

Graphic on applying for LEED. Image: USGBC web site

The USGBC announced this year that it would update its point system and opened the draft "V4" LEED for public comments.  Scot Horst, LEED VP, said in a press release issued in October that USGBC surveyed 21,500 stakeholders.  According to the USGBC, the new LEED iteration gives credit for positive contributions to the environment and communities rather than give points for limiting damage.

The updated LEED certification process features a streamlined application, allocates 20 percent of all points to building energy efficiency, and adds a new "Location and Transportation category that rewards projects for utilizing existing development infrastructure, embracing the principles of walkability, connectivity, density and quality alternative transportation."

Municipalities can play a significant role in determining how "green" a building is - think Metro stops and bike share programs - and Arlington has been attentive to providing infrastructure to support higher LEED rankings.  Mobility Lab, Arlington's transportation innovation arm, is a way of supporting "greener" transportation through such practices as limiting the demand for single occupancy vehicle commutes and offering information about alternative transportation options.

 Founder's Square - proposed LEED. Image: Shooshan Companies

Wendy Duren of Arlington Transportation Partners (ATP) said her organization has shepherded over 100 site plans through the LEED process. ATP, a complimentary service of Arlington County, offers services such as training for tenants on transportation options and customized transportation information.

"We are here to assist you [the developer] and make that [LEED] binder process a little less intimidating," Duren said.

Developer Kevin Shooshan, of The Shooshan Company, said Arlington County offered so many resources, it made sense to apply for LEED. "It's not logical right now to not develop to a LEED standard because of the bonuses Arlington County is offering," he said.  His company's Founder's Square building is part of a LEED Neighborhood Development certification test phase.

He said transit-oriented development involved some forethought on the part of developers.  "You have to give metro cards to new tenants, you have to put bike racks all over the place," Shooshan said.  “As a developer it's another thing you have to do, but it's the right thing for the future.”

The USGBC has invited developers to participate in a beta test phase of LEED V4, what it says will be a streamlined application procedure.  Testers will give feedback to help improve the process.  The public comment period ends December 10th.

Washington DC real estate news

Your Next Place

This Capitol Hill semidetached Victorian rowhome is a true gem, located in one of the very best parts of one of the very best neighborhoods in the city. If DC was a huge cow, this house would be the filet mignon.  (My house, on the other hand, would be tripe.)

The high ceilings, antique fireplace, plaster moldings and medallions add a classic touch to the proceedings, sort of like when I wear my tweed Sherlock Holmes hat during conjugal relations.  The exceptional formal family and dining rooms are large and bright, and the gourmet kitchen is sleek and ultramodern, with the stainless steel appliances and granite countertops you'd expect from a house of this caliber.  The enclosed sunroom is perfect for some cozy afternoon reading and napping during the winter, or for quickly dropping fifteen pounds of water weight in the summer.  (Pro tip: wear a black garbage bag poncho for increased heat retention.  Great for those class reunions that sneak up on you!)

Upstairs, the master bedroom suite makes most other master bedroom suites look like shabby college-student efficiency apartments, minus the "Goodfellas" and Bob Marley posters.  Out back is ample private parking, and you're only two blocks from the Library of Congress and the Capitol, so whenever you have some spare time you can always zip on over and scream epithets at the elected representative of your choice. I suggest following the "YOU LIE!" guy down the street and shouting "YOU LIE!" over and over and over again while making air quotes with your fingers.  He really likes that.

324 Independence Ave SE
4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths
$1,570,000

Today in Pictures - Trilogy Apartments

Trilogy apartments opened last week, and though the neighborhood's location is more contested than the Spratly Islands (either NoMa or Eckington, you pick), the first building is now open - and soon all 3 buildings and 603 apartments will be complete.   Designed by the Preston Partnership and developed by Mill Creek Residential Trust, the project broke ground in March of 2011.  Below are pictures of the completed portions of the building.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Very Far, Very Fast: Firefly

Q and A with Griz Dwight and James Lafley 
by Beth Herman

Delivering a fully redesigned, rejuvenated restaurant in three weeks' time, architect Griz Dwight of GrizForm Design and Superintendent and Senior Project Manager James Lafley of Potomac Construction Services raced to reopen the outmoded Firefly, 1310 New Hampshire Avenue NW, located inside the Hotel Madera. Frequented by tourists and locals who covet the venue's famed pumpkin hummus, and steamed blue bay mussels, expanding the now 62-seat dining space and adding 8 more bar and lounge seats was at the top of the menu. DCMud spoke with Dwight and Lafley about the project.

DCMud: Why the rush? Where's the fire (fly)?!

Lafley: Firefly is a working restaurant and staff was given three weeks off. There are many regular, local customers, and there were functions like weddings planned, so we had to accomplish a phenomenal feat given the extent of the work.

DCMud: Describe the existing space.

Lafley: The whole space - a back dining room; main dining room; bar; a reception room - was drab and dingy. There was a round, outdated, inadequate bar with worn wood on the back. A wall around the kitchen with a cobblestone-like finish looked like the 1950s, though it had been installed in the '60s. Carpeting was very old.


Dwight: The space already had a woodsy feel and we were limited by time and budget, so rather than come up with a completely new scheme, we wanted to take what was there and amp it up. We took the idea of dining alfresco in the woods as far as we could. There was a tree there before, so we attached a swing for cocktail seating.

DCMud: The kitchen appears to be something out of a storybook.

Dwight: It was made to appear like the outside of a house or cottage. We used recycled brick, windows and shutters. They open up so the chef can pass items through them for happy hour. It feels like the kind of space in which your grandma might be as she calls you in for dinner.

DCMud: What are some of the design challenges you faced?

Dwight: One of the major goals of the renovation was to address some of the problems the restaurant was having. There was a huge sound problem, so a lot of our design intention was focused there.

Lafley: The ceiling was sprayed with an acoustical paint for a quieter environment.

Dwight: Acousti-Coat is a NASA-invented paint with ceramic modules inside the paint to dull sound. We also clad an entire dining room wall with leather-wrapped sound panels. The leather has that warmth and outdoorsy feel and absorbs 100 percent of the sound that hits it. We also took tree flaps - giant slices of naturally fallen trees - and made a dividing screen between the bar and dining room. So the bar can have that happy hour where people get a little bit louder, but the sound isn't going right to the dining room.


DCMud: Can you speak to some of the unusual lighting?

Dwight: We were really limited by ceiling height, but wanted to enhance the idea of tree branches and fireflies. Accordingly we attached bent pipes around the ceiling to imitate branches. Each one ends in a dimmed Edison bulb, which evokes the tail end of a firefly. Between this feature and the (cottage) kitchen, it makes it a very warm space.

DCMud: What are some of the other design elements you incorporated?

Lafley: California wood slabs were installed behind the hostess stand and between the two dining rooms, suspended on rebar, to give you the feeling of being outdoors. The outdated carpeting was replaced with engineered wood flooring that matches Brazilian cherry. Stone Source Trend Q tiles, which are recycled and in this case have a greenish cast, tops the new bar and really dresses it up. Slate flanks the side of the bar and runs around the base of the kitchen "cottage," as well as the entrance foyer. We installed glass walls that open up to the outside. In warm weather, the restaurant can be exposed to the street and patio out front.

DCMud: Sounds as though you beat the clock without sacrificing anything - except maybe some sleep.

Washington D.C. restaurant design news

Trump Emphasizes Preservation in Plans for Old Post Office

Old Post Office building

From the top, 315 feet above the street, a visitor is greeted with sweeping 360 degree view of the city.  The Capitol Building dome rises in the near distance, airplanes appear to graze the Potomac, and the city's radial streets fan out in all directions. In the far distance, the Washington Cathedral and the Pentagon anchor opposite skylines.

The Old Post Office Building and tower, the third tallest structure in DC (behind the Washington Monument and the Basilica), at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, with its cavernous atrium and spectacular architecture, is finally getting deserved, if delayed, attention as a destination venue.  Long underutilized as nondescript federal offices and a food court to match, details of a new design have finally emerged.

In February, the General Services Administration (GSA) selected the Trump Organization to overhaul the building.   Thursday night theTrump team presented in-depth plans for the overhaul of the Old Post Office Tower building at the annual membership meeting of the DC Preservation League.

Bird's-eye view of existing floor plan

David Horowitz of the Trump Organization told the preservation group - the very group that that helped save the building over 40 years ago - that the Trump group sees the hotel as its top project and that the project will place a heavy emphasis on preservation.

"Our goal for this property is to build the best hotel in Washington, DC, and realistically, the world," Horowitz told the crowd. "We see an important role as the caretaker of this historic building on our nation's Main Street."  He emphasized that the plans are still in development.

Architect Hany Hassan, FAIA, partner at Beyer Blinder Belle in DC, presented the vision for the building.  He sketched a tentative plan that would extend the original ground floor level in the building's central cortile - bringing back the "slab" on which the first post office workers sorted mail - and then open it up to public entrances from all sides.

Hotel drop-offs are penciled in for 11th and 12th streets, with retail and cafe space with outdoor seating on C Street and on Pennsylvania Avenue. "The building will finally be accessible to the public from all directions," Hassan said.

Idea to extend ground floor. Image: Trump Org. presentation

The south side is where the Trump Organization would locate the public entrance to a lobby leading to the tower elevators and the Clock Tower Museum, which first opened to the public in 1985.

The existing mezzanine will likely be expanded for a restaurant or cafe, Hassan said.  He asked the audience to imagine Grand Central Station in New York.  "The only difference here is that while you are at this mezzanine level you are not only appreciating the ground floor, you will also be able to look up to the north and see the clock tower, which is one of the most beautiful features of this building," Hassan said.

Hassan said that, for him, the restoration was a dream project to be approached with humility. He said the project entails a great responsibility to preserve and enhance the building "and the synergy and energy that it will bring to Federal Triangle and connecting the National Mall and the monumental core to the downtown."

Hassan said the glass annex that was added to the building in the 20th century would house banquet rooms, conference rooms, and public event spaces. The upper levels will house guest rooms that will preserve the building's original room layout. The larger, postmaster general's office on the fifth floor, for example, might become a suite, Hassan said.  Some windows might be added on the ninth floor to "give incredible views of the city."

In Hassan's eyes, “the building has these incredible bones and all you have to do is work with it and respect it.” The Trump team - with Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump heading the DC project - has set a timeline for breaking ground in 2014 with delivery of a 250-room hotel in 2016.

Tentative rendering. Image: Trump Organization presentation

The building, dating back to 1892, was almost torn down in 1926 when construction on the neo-classical Federal Triangle began and the building went out of style.  Demolition permits were again issued in the 1970s, but a small group of protestors formed the "Don't Tear it Down" movement to save the building.  That group later turned into the DC Preservation League.

Washington D.C. real estate development news