Approved by the HPRB way back in August of 2007, and then by Zoning in May of 2008, Roadside Development‘s mixed-use CityMarket at O project apparently has a long shelf life. Developers have regularly attempted to quell the usual doubters with news of restructured financing, and updated timelines, but will finally lay uncertainty to rest, as a groundbreaking shindig is dated for Wednesday afternoon of this week. Festivities could include some palpable political tension, as mayoral candidate rivals political-polling master Vincent Gray and the Smart-car-piloting Mayor Fenty will likely both be in attendance. After the two year stall in action, a strategy becoming evermore popular in development world, Roadside’s shovel plunge at CityMarket is an important step in the revitalization of the Shaw district.

Now residents are set to receive their long-awaited attention with a one million s.f. urban infill project that will solidify, restore, and protect the historic facade of the enduring O Street Market, constructed in 1881 and now only a shell, as well as populate four lonely acres of mostly abandoned land between 9th, 7th, P and O Streets, NW with residential (over 600 units) and commercial buildings (87,000 s.f. of retail). Shalom Baranes Architects has been trusted to oversee the design process. A heavy snowstorm destroyed the roof the Market building in 2001, but architects and developers are confident the building will be restored to its original grandeur. Project architect Andrew Taylor says that they intend on avoiding a monolithic design theme, and that each building will have its own personality. “There is an effort…to create a composition of buildings surrounding and drawing attention to the Market, using modern elements that pick up on the more playful elements of the Market’s Victorian architecture.”

The project also includes the demolition of the current Giant grocery store, with plans for a much grander replacement. Roadside says of the planned Giant: “The new store will combine the charm of the 19th Century with 21st Century efficiency to create one of Washington’s largest food stores and the East Coast’s most unique and interesting shopping experiences.” Stabilization of the O Street Market building for the purpose of preservation, and protection from subsequent ground excavation, is the first order of business, beginning this week. Demolition of the current Giant is next on the agenda, scheduled for later this winter, with the 24-month shot-clock commencing on January 15th, counting down the time developers have to deliver the new grocery store. The redevelopment won’t be fully realized until sometime in 2013. Clark Construction is handling general contracting duties.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Developers of North Bethesda, having just completed the county’s tallest residential building and the Pike’s largest recent project, are hoping for an encore. Now nearing completion of the North Bethesda Market, developer JBG has begun courting the community for a second phase, seeking an increase in density for new office and residences that will produce demand for the 200,000 s.f. of retail built in the first phase.

Developers of Rockville Pike in North Bethesda have long hoped that if development continues, and smart urban planning matches pace, the congested corridor might make the triple-jump to a walkable urban district. JBG unveiled initial plans to the community last week, still just conceptual, that would add 745,000 s.f. of development with a 40% increase in density to the block just north of its current project. JBG isn’t the only player in the game, as the White Flint Sector Plan highlights several other major developments in the area, including Federal Realty’s “Mid-Pike Plaza,” and LCOR’s White Flint development. JBG submitted initial plans to the Montgomery National Capital Park and Planning Commission early on Friday the 27th, depicting additional retail fronting Rockville Pike and a series of residences on the block behind it. Approval could take anywhere from 18 to 24 months, so construction on the newest phase is not expected to start until late 2012 or early 2013.

After announcing earlier this summer that Florida-based restaurants Season 52 and Dolcé Amoré Café, along with furniture juggernauts Arhaus, will join Whole Foods and L.A. Fitness at the round table of tenants in the nearly completed North Bethesda Market, JBG hopes to broaden the scope of NoBe (or NoBeMa, take your pick) with an array of new residencies, office space, and expanded retail options. NoBe sales representatives said they are hoping Whole Foods will open for shoppers by spring of next year.

The new site extends the Market north to Nicholson Lane, replacing three low density 40-year-old office and retail buildings, and one new office and retail building. Torti Gallas will stay on as the planning architect. One of the goals in maintaining some sort of unifying theme within the development is the extension of Paseo north into Phase II.

Paseo is the “concept of an intimate, pedestrian-oriented, retail lined street” that is meant to tie together the residential and commercial aspects of the project.

Senior VP of Marketing Matthew Blocher depicts the community feedback so far as positive, as developers expect the enthusiasm surrounding the opening of the first phase to carry over as they continue to unveil second stage plans. But one of the obstacles to moving forward with redevelopment is getting the community and county officials on-board with the increased density. Developers say a minimum base density of 3.5 FAR is necessary to buoy the requisite investment, and appropriate given the proximity to the White Flint Metro, but authors of the White Flint Sector Plan currently recommend 2.5 FAR. County officials have been keen on spurring the kind of redevelopment that JBG is pursuing across the region, but have also been conscious of just how fast that growth is developed.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

1.  Produce from the farmer’s market at 14th and U.  Every Saturday from May 1-Nov. 20th fruits, veggies, baked goods and more are available on the corner of 14th and U St.  It’s seasonal, fresh and  locally produced.  This was today’s haul.  Yum!

2.  The Green/Yellow Metro stop that’s two blocks from our house.  I know people poo-poo everything but the Red line but I love it.  I can hop on the Metro and get to Target in one stop.  It’s three stops to the Verizon Center and four stops to the National Mall.  We went to Jazz in the Sculpture Garden yesterday and it took 10 minutes to get there. 

3.  The 9:30 Club.  I don’t fully take advantage of living across the street from the 9:30 Club but I’m trying.  The Gabriela y Rodrigo show was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. 

4.  Solly’s patio.  Sitting outside of Solly’s for happy hour and  $1.50 Miller Lites makes me smile.  When the weather is beautiful, there’s nothing better than having a beer and people watching.

5.  The ESL guys think my ‘hood is cool too.   Marvin, The Gibson and Patty Boom Boom were their first forays and they’ve been successful from day one.  I can’t wait for the bakery, the British Pub and the beer garden to open.  All of these amazing places (and how could they suck?  It’s the ESL guys and they have the golden touch) are within five blocks of my house.  Hell yea!

After last week’s announcement of Bozzuto-Pritzker Venture’s new alliance with Abdo in developing the $200 million project on Catholic’s South Campus, every propogator of real estate news (including DCMud), was happy just to have something printable during a hazy August. But the cash infusion into the neighborhood was good for other developers too; namely EYA, which rebroadcast the news in advance of its own groundbreaking around the corner. The area’s current access, or lack thereof, to quality, independent eateries and retail is regrettable, and any chance of more commerce, whatever the time-frame, is good news. Now piggybacking on these housing-market huzzahs, EYA has given the area’s residents and real estate news junkies more to cheer about, announcing that their expansive LEED-certified residential development will break ground on Tuesday. As proof of the regional renaissance, EYA also notes “the massive 40+ acre Dakota Crossing development and the Rhode Island Avenue Metro redevelopment”.

The 10-acre field of grass EYA purchased from St. Paul’s College is now tilled, and come the first week of September foundations will go in and construction will start moving vertically. EYA expects to deliver their first townhouse models in February or March of next year. Upon completion the whole project will bring 237 Lessard Group-designed single-family townhomes to the former campus field. The townhouses are currently being offered from $470,000 to $590,000. According to EYA, only 206 of the total will be officially “luxury townhomes” while the remaining 31 will be marketed as “affordable dwelling units.” Half will go to those unit-dwellers (a.k.a. humans) earning 50% Area Median Income (AMI) and half to those earning 80% AMI.

EYA began marketing their Chancellor’s Row houses in May, before they had even finished constructing their sales center. Not to be misled by the subtle art of neighborhood cartography, neighborhood watchdogs have pointed out that the “Brookland Metro” development lies a few blocks east of the unofficial “official” dividing line (9th Street NE) of Brookland, in Edgewood.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Already a presence in the blossoming NoMa district next door, Paradigm looks to extend their influence into the neighboring Mount Vernon Triangle with the construction of a commodious 390-unit rental building at 425 L St, NW. Paradigm’s nearby student-housed Washington Center opened a few months ago, and the company continues to manage the imposing Meridian at Gallery Place just down the street. According to Paradigm project manager Jimmy Dotson the new property is intended to be a “bold, urban building with all the modern comforts of home.” The building will rise fourteen stories above ground, and root itself three levels deep into the earth to provide below grade parking for residents.

Like the majority of newly built rental buildings these days, amenities include a top level pool and club room, as well as an expansive lobby and fitness center. Dotson conceded that sustainable aspects are not a major focus on this project, and that the building will not be credentialed as green, but at least a few unique, environmentally conscious features like hybrid and electric car refueling stations in the parking garage are being worked into their plans. Few travelers up New York Avenue will miss the surface parking lots that will be replaced, or the warehouse at eastern corner that has sat unused for years.

Parc Rosslyn

Collins & Kronstadt of Silver Spring, MD is the architecture of record, but responsibilities for the design have been mostly shouldered by the team at Architecture Collaborative, Inc. in Elliot City, MD. Collins & Krondstat and Paradigm are familiar partners; as the firms collaborated in an effort to bring to life Parc Rosslyn in Arlington, VA, completed in 2008. This most recent design process was at least partially governed by the aesthetics of their soon-to-be neighbors like CityVista Apartments to the west and Yale Steam Laundry to the north on New York Avenue. Inspired by their surroundings, designers have forged an angular but sleek amalgamation of brick and glass, with accents of steel, granite, and metal paneling. The color scheme will wedge its way into the middle of the spectrum, somewhere between the light-tan bricks of City Vista and Yale’s richer-toned burgundy bricks. Paradigm Construction will undertake general contracting responsibilities, and is in the process of awarding subcontracts.

Building permits are to be finalized soon, and although developers have not yet officially closed on the pending financing, Dotson says team is in “very good shape” to square away the remaining logistics and put a shovel in the ground by mid to late September. If things go smoothly, developers expect their first delivery in the spring of 2012, with completion of the building wrapping up later that fall.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

The Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB), which annually issues a list of the District‘s most endangered properties in hopes of scaring developers into action, and preservationists into sign-painting and check-writing, has recently issued its new list for the year. This year HPRB has focused it’s 2010-attention on the preservation and renovation of the District’s neglected firehouses. A special emphasis was placed on pre-WWII firehouses and police stations. Thankfully, two years ago Argos hammered out a deal with the District to redevelop two foresaken buildings: Firehouse No. 10 at 1341 Maryland Avenue, NE and Police Precinct No. 9 Station at 525 9th Street, NE. Developers refer to the two renovations as the Capitol Hill Condominiums, “The Station” and “The Engine House” respectively. While the 115-year history of public use of the firehouse will be sacrificed for the purpose of private residences, the character of both buildings, and their attractive, storied facades will be maintained for the enjoyment of passers by and history-lovers alike.

Designed by architect and firehouse specialist Leon Emile Dessez (1858-1919), erected in 1894, and completed in 1895, HPRB claimed in 2008 that the structure “is probably the best and most characteristic example of a Victorian-era firehouse still owned by the District.” Sorg Architects has tackled the challenge of retrofitting the building with two market rate condos and two smaller affordable units. The former police station on 9th Street will be an almost identical project, with just enough room for an additional condo. The footprint of both the Engine House and the Station will be strictly maintained, with both facades to be restored with masonry refurbishment, various touch-ups, and only the slightest of noticeable augmentations. Windows and doors will be replaced, fading paint of old will be stripped away, and the addition of a few small second floor awnings will ready the building for residents. The interiors on the other hand will be completely gutted and overhauled – the roof, walls, flooring, HVAC, plumbing, electricity, and the works will all be replaced. 

An unusual occurrence in the development world, construction on both projects began exactly on time, breaking ground two months ago as originally promised. Work is now chugging along with completion of each building expected in April of next year.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Work on southeast DC’s grand Canal Park will be set in motion on Tuesday, at least officially, when the District holds a formal ceremony to celebrate the new park that will grace the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood a few blocks from Nationals Stadium. Actual construction has not yet been scheduled, but the park’s caretakers are showing progress, having just selected Davis Construction to build it and Blake Dickson Real Estate to locate a suitable restaurateur for the pavilion on the park’s southern end.

The 2-acre park will offer a variety of water features, but its most iconic feature will be the pavilion designed by Studios Architecture. Wayne Dickson of Blake Dickson notes that Canal Park will be an environmental improvement as well as an aesthetic one, and projects that the Canal Park Development Association will select a “family-oriented” restaurant that offers positive synergy with its green locale.

Despite the lack of hard start dates, promoters are sticking to a late 2011 completion date . The design incorporates a boardwalk, “rain garden,” three pavilions, ponds, a large fountain, sunken amphitheater, and seasonal ice rink

The District is picking up a $13.5m tab to ensure the success of the park in what is destined to become the centerpiece of the neighborhood. The bill is a relative steal compared to what DC spent on the stadium next door, and the Lerners can’t even charge for admission. Total costs for the project have not yet been determined.

Philadelphia-based OLIN is the landscape architect for the project. The federal government still owns the land in arrangement that gives full control to the District, which in turn has a 20-year agreement with the Canal Park Development Association to develop and manage the land. The canal that once ran across the site connected the Anacostia to Tiber Creek (now buried under Constitution Avenue), which ran to the C&O canal.

Washington DC real estate development news

Northwest One‘s race for the first residential project is showing some contest. The development team for the SeVerna had forecasted earlier this year that their 60-unit affordable housing project would get moving this summer, which DCMud dutifully reported, but construction does not appear imminent, and now William C. Smith & Co claims their $80 million, 314-unit “classy, rental building” will in fact be the first to break ground – next spring. The District has already built the Walker Jones Education Campus, a school and recreation center, officially the first successful portion of the redevelopment plan, but it remains unclear where its next students will come from, as neither the Severna developers nor William C. Smith have offered a definitive groundbreaking date.

William C. Smith’s proposed building will stand twelve stories tall upon completion, with a small ground-floor retail component, a first installment on the

larger Northwest One Initiative (part of the New Communities Project), a $700 million redevelopment project in Ward 6, providing a makeover for the scarred, crime-infested real estate extending from K Street in the
south to New York Avenue in the north, and stretching from North Capitol Street in the east to New Jersey Avenue in the west. In 2007, Mayor Fenty and DMPED awarded the rights to the redevelopment project to One Vision Development Partners headed by William C. Smith & Co in partnership with Jair Lynch, with Banneker Ventures and affordable housing provider Community Preservation and Development Corporation also involved with portions of the larger project. As promised, the building will offer 93 affordable units, 30% of the total apartments.

The first parcel (out of a total of 5 or 6) will be situated on the corner of North Capitol and M Street, NE, technically in NoMa. Architectural designs are courtesy of Eric Colbert & Associates; William C. Smith-affiliated WCS Construction will build the structure. Architect Brian Bukowski says the industrial nature of this part of DC was the major inspiration for a unifying aesthetic theme. “We wanted to give the building an updated post-industrial flavor,” Bukowski explained. The exposed fixed post steel, generous use of red brick, and angular, geometric fenestration seem to bear out his claim. But if on whole the building brings to mind a downtown warehouse, the ten two-level townhouses serve as a friendlier introduction to the large facade on the M Street side of the building. The townhomes and accompanying courtyard will help relate to the residential-nature of the immediate neighborhoods. Loading and and parking access will be relegated to the opposite site of the building on Patterson Avenue. A roof penthouse will crown the building.

The main rooftop will not only provide panoramic views, but will also be ornamented with a landscaped green terrace and lap pool. A rain harvesting cistern on the roof will conserve run-off and curb water consumption; low-flow showers will further aid the conservation effort. On what will likely be a crowded roof are several solar panels, funneling electricity to the building’s energy grid. In the end, residents will be able to brag about one of the greenest roofs in the city, collecting water, converting the sun’s rays into usable energy, and deflecting thermal load with it’s organic plant life, all aspects in an effort to earn a LEED Silver certification, with the possibility of becoming the first LEED Gold-rated multifamily residential building in the District.

William C. Smith is in the final steps of negotiating the lease agreement with the District, and although financing is not in place, developers are working toward securing funds, still optimistic that groundbreaking will happen in the late first quarter or early second quarter of next year. A request for subcontracting bids has been issued by WCS, a sign that the developers and teammates are serious about moving forward. The estimated 20-24 month construction time places delivery in the early part of 2013.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

The corner of 4th and Rhode Island Avenue, NE, may be one of the District’s least celebrated corners, but an area hitherto untapped by real estate developers, is finally getting attention. Thanks to PERS Development, a plan to remodel an abandoned 32-unit building at 329 Rhode Island Avenue NE will soon be underway, making way for “hip, boutique, luxury condominium homes.” Just a few blocks east of the Rhode Island Ave – Brentwood Metro, the project will build off the local momentum of Baltimore-based A&R Development Corp‘s 8.5 acre, $108 million project (including 274 new residential rental units and 70,000 s.f. of ground floor retail) that broke ground this spring on the former WMATA parking lot, making the vicinity a “transit oriented developer hot spot.” PERS Development is a young and ambitious team with four completed projects under their belts, and now two more in the works. All four of their finished developments have sold out, the last being Sky DC in Randall Highlands. On their four previous projects, PERS has specialized in small, moderately-priced condos, but this endeavor seems destined to be slightly more high end than the units sold in Randall Heights for $200,000, as PERS President and CEO, Ramin Bassam is shooting for a price point between $500-600k. Marcus & Millichap brokered the deal that sees the property travel from the reluctant hands of the previous owner Byung S. Shin of BSS Partnership to the more purposeful and enterprising hands of the developer.

The development will come as welcome news to local residents, but especially so for blogger Dan Silverman who several months ago compiled a slide show of evidence in an effort to convince DCRA that the building at 329 Rhode Island was a hindrance and hazard to the community, and therefore should be classified as “blighted.” The District was in the midst of designating the building as blighted and condemned only two months ago, but PERS was able to step in, usher through the necessary building improvements, and remove said designations, enabling the financing and property transaction to go through, and development plans to move forward. The top floors of the building were significantly damaged by a fire that raged in the evening hours of July 31st last summer. While the neglected building, singed, dirty, and windows boarded, is an eyesore at the moment, its proximity to the metro and its location on a highly visible island-like street corner, makes the property apparently attractive to real estate developers. In a press release, Bassam stressed that: “This project represents a great opportunity to fulfill the growing demand for luxury condominiums in the District of Columbia by delivering a high end product in an under-served submarket at a time when supply is getting tight. It has just the type of character and location that we have been looking for.”

SGA Arcitects have been contracted for the design, and initial renderings should be finalized later this week. The building will transform from a sordid blemish of a property into ultramodern, highly-wired chic condos. Each unit will be outfitted with wi-fi and iPad docking stations. Other amenities include a state-of-the-art glass-enclosed gym, a rooftop deck outfitted with a European shower, and various community lounges. Units will be planked with natural bamboo flooring. The bottom floor will reserve room for five retail leasers, an amenity that new owner Bassam says is desperately needed in the neighborhood. “A late weeknight trip to the McDonald’s across the street is an at least twenty minute wait in line, there are not enough retail options at the moment,” explains Bassam. The often elusive project financing of the acquisition and needed construction, normally the last piece of the development puzzle, is already in place, compliments of Bethesda-based Monument Bank. Urban Pace will be responsible for the sales of the completed condos.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

A shocking post title?  Not really…buying your kid a condo vs. dorm life in college is common occurrence in Foggy Bottom.  In fact, I’d say 75% of the business that The Murphy Team does in Foggy Bottom is helping parents and their children find a place to live.  That’s why I was fascinated to read the article in the Post real estate section that discusses the practice.  (“Consider buying a home instead of dorm rent”)

George Washington University (GWU) is the most expensive university in the US.  If parents can afford to send their kid to be educated at GWU, it’s likely they can afford an investment property.   $840 a month for part of dorm room is cheap vs. renting a studio or 1 bedroom in DC.  A studio in Foggy Bottom can rent from $1300 to $1900 a month.  A one bedroom can rent from $1300 to $4000.  For most parents coming from other (cheaper) states, there is a lot of sticker shock.  Buying becomes a more attractive prospect once they see the rental prices.

What the article doesn’t address is the current market in Foggy Bottom.  A lot of the buildings in Foggy Bottom have a number of investor owners (owners that don’t live in the unit).  Lenders don’t like investor buildings.  Refer to the recent mortgage crisis.  In fact, you pretty much have to buy with cash in Foggy Bottom unless you have a creative lender.  Loans are usually sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by whatever lender that finances the condo.  Fannie and Freddie are currently no longer purchasing any loans in a building that has over a 50% investor ratio unless the purchaser is living in the unit.  Since most of these units are being purchased by parents for kids, this poses a problem.  The kid can’t get a loan.  He/She doesn’t have a job therefore they have no income.  It’s proving to be quite a dilemma.  In fact, this is the number one topic of conversation at most of our staff meetings. 

Thankfully for the current owners, this snafu doesn’t seem to be impacting prices dramatically.  Studios continue to sell for 175K-250K in Foggy Bottom.  Hopefully, this trend will continue and buying a condo for your kid will continue to be an option.