Showing posts with label DMPED. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DMPED. Show all posts

Friday, October 26, 2012

Six Developers Invited to Present Plans for Parcel 42

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Six developers are on the short-list to present their plans for Parcel 42, the vacant, city-owned lots at the corner of 7th and R Streets, NW in DC's Shaw neighborhood, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) has announced.

Several joint proposals, low-income housing development groups, private developers, and a religious organization all made the list. In an email to DCMud on Friday, Jose Sousa, deputy chief of staff for DMPED, listed those developers. They are: Warrenton Group and Four Points LLC, POUNDS and Jubilee Housing, United House of Prayer for All People, Neighborhood Development Corporation, Tensquare LLC and Chapman Development Group LLC, and Baywood Hotels and Dantes Partners.

Those developers will have a chance to present their plans, but the long-awaited selection of a developer for the lots will not happen until 2013, the city told DCMud Thursday. The parcel is a coveted piece of real estate for developers eager to build in Shaw, a fast-growing neighborhood.  It is also a lot with some history, surrounded by a neighborhood that remembers city promises to make some units affordable.

Parcel 42
That presentation will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Watha T. Daniel / Shaw Library at 1630 7th Street, NW. The city has invited six developers, who met qualifications laid out in a request for proposals released in April, to present their plans to the community and give Shaw neighborhood residents the chance to ask questions.  The public is invited to attend, hear and see the presentation, and ask questions at the end of the program," Sousa wrote to DCMud in an email. The city-owned parcel has sat vacant for ten years and seen some drama in the last five.

An affordable housing development plan launched in 2007 fizzled, and in 2010 protesters occupied the lot with a tent city when the city eased up on affordability requirements for the faltering project.  That development was never built.  The announcement in April marked the second time the city has asked developers to present plans for the parcel. The city asked that developers present a building that reaches the full height that zoning allows: 65 feet. It also stated a preference for a "high quality" public space component, "high quality architecture" with a "signature design."  The city and local ANC also encouraged ground floor retail, 80% AMI designation (rather than the lowest subsidized housing designation) and affordable units. In March, ANC Commissioner for the area Alex Padro told DCMud he expected the building to meet high architectural standards like the Shaw Library just across 7th Street from the lot. Padro told DCMud then, "Its gotta be a building that works financially, that activates the street, we already have a significant pocket of affordable housing in the area."

"There is no projected timetable for a developer selection at this point in time, but we imagine it will happen in late first quarter/early second quarter of 2013," Sousa said.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Friday, September 14, 2012

Bringing Berlin to DC: Inspirations for Dupont Underground

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What inspiration can D.C. draw from Berlin about what to do with an unused trolley tunnel under Dupont Circle?  That is the question at the center of a new exhibit and events series organized by Provisions Library and the Goethe-Institut of Washington D.C.  The exhibit, called "Parks and Passages," runs at the Goethe Institut September, 14 through November 2.

The exhibit is meant to bring a "poetic interlude," in the words of research co-curator Stephanie Sherman of Provisions Library, to the ongoing and emotional discussion about how to best re-enliven the Dupont Underground.  That 75,000 square feet of space in tunnels lies - closed off for now - under the District's most visible circle.

Dupont Underground, Image courtesy Provisions Library
Built in the 1940's for trolleys (they ran only briefly), the space has been cast as a potential bomb shelter, health club, food market, even a "columbarium" (for cremated remains.)  None of those ideas ever panned out, although the tunnel did house a maligned food court for about a year in the 1990s called "Dupont Down Under."

Even now, the tunnel remains a virtually unknown public amenity in a city of above-ground monuments, boulevards, and upward-looking gazes.  But diverse gazes are shifting underground, as the exhibit shows, as more District-dwellers find resonance in the story of the tunnel.

In 2010, the Deputy Mayor's Office For Planning and Economic Development issued a Request for Proposals for the space, and a group called The Arts Coalition for the Dupont Underground - brainchild of longtime tunnel fan and architect Julian Hunt - clinched the exclusive rights agreement for the space.
Dupont Underground, Image courtesy Provisions Library

According to coalition managing director Braulio Agnese, the coalition estimates that it would take at least $30 million to open up the entire space, but so far has fund-raised what amounts to a "drop in the bucket."  The group hopes the space could become an arts venue.  "We are eager to see what these artists have come up with," Agnese said of the exhibit at the Goethe Institut, adding that he hoped the research would be useful moving forward.

But the coalition's exclusive rights agreement expires soon, and the coalition continues to work with the city toward obtaining a lease.  The city had not responded for a request for comment by the time of publication of this article.  And the space - even now - remains closed to the public, or open for imagination, depending on how one looks at the situation.

"Parks and Passages" documents the adventures of four DC-based Provisions Library Fellows - an architect, two artists, and a cultural theorist - who spent 10 days in Berlin and then fleshed out their inspirations for DC using archival materials, architectural renderings, mixed-media installations with historic film footage, and even graffitti.

Exhibitors are artist Edgar Endress, a George Mason University professor of new media and public art, visual artist James Huckenpahler, architect Pam Jordan, and cultural scholar Paul Farber.

The goal, according to Sherman, was to think about how Berlin's creative sites emerged and how the city adapted spaces. Why Berlin?  Curators were convinced the city's creative, sustainable, adaptive use of historical spaces had some inspiration for DC.
"Parks & Passages" exhibitors Endress, Farber, Jordan, & Huckenpahler
The group visited spaces under both public and newly private management, such sites as a bunker art gallery, an East Berlin amusement park, and the vast Tempelhof Airport, the city's largest public park. The airport was built by the Nazi government, was site of the Berlin Airlift, and a Cold War hub.  At Tempelhof, the City of Berlin has turned 988 acres of a history-laden, inner-city airport, decommissioned in 2008, into a thriving space for recreation, gardening, biking, and creative re-uses - some temporary, some more permanent.

Berlin's development strategy, according to Martin Pallgen, a Berlin city staff member and project developer for Tempelhof, also uses a "bottom up" approach to planning that involves creative occupants of the space. Pallgen visited Washington, D.C. with a team from Berlin for the opening of the exhibit. That feedback, he says, is a component of Berlin's development strategy, which Pallgen sees as a a "process" rather than a one-step deal.

The Tempelhof development model for the future, Pallgen said, would take time to "think about what is right and what is wrong, and think about each step...was it the right decision or not?"

Much larger than the Dupont Underground space, Tempelhof also benefits from both public and private investment. The Dupont Underground coalition - as things stand now - must raise private funds from mixed-use leases or philanthropic donations. To make matters more complicated, the space sits under confusing layers of federal and local control. While the city controls the entrances to the tunnel beginning at the stairs, the National Park Service owns most of the spaces surrounding them.

As the exhibit shows - Dupont Underground has always been a vessel of dreams and imagined uses, and sometimes a target of derision.  It was once called the "Blunderpass". "It was controversial even before it was built," said cultural scholar Paul Farber, who delved into Washington Post archives to research the trolley tunnel.  At the same time, he says, it has always been a symbol of the future.  The archives reveal familiar patterns, Farber writes, that may affect that future: including "the dysfunctional relationship between D.C.'s local and federal governing structures" and the "inherent complications of overlapping public and private ownership."

The city released homing pigeons when the streetcar line opened to traffic around 1950, but the trolley line would see just a few short golden years. District streetcar operator Capital Transit Company lost its charter in 1955, and the last trolley ran in 1961. A trolley funeral was held in Mt. Pleasant.   The number 42 bus line now runs along that old trolley route. 

In the early 1960s, the space was stocked with food and beds as a bomb shelter but never used as one.  In the early 1980s, the Marion Barry administration considered three proposals: for a health club, a health market, and a columbarium, but those didn't pan out. In the early 1990s, the city signed a deal with a questionable businessman named Geary Simon to develop a food court called "Dupont Down Under", but it closed just a year later, beset by legal troubles.

Dupont Down Under had a Sbarro's and a Schlotzsky's. Their signs - old and dusty and cast in darkness - were still there in 2009 when chair of the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission ANC2B, Will Stephens, visited the tunnel in December, 2009.  That was when Adrian Fenty's administration put out the most recent RFP.  Recent tours of the tunnels have entered at a little triangle formed where P Street, Massachusetts, and Dupont Circle all meet at a point.  That's where the ANC2B office is too. "The Z was dangling," Stephens said of the Schlotzsky's sign.

ANC door sign under Dupont, Photo: Will Stephens
Then, Stephens recalls that, as the group of ANC2B members walked with flashlights along the dark tunnel, they saw a dusty sign on a door on which were printed the words "ANC2B." "All of us there from the ANC, including the (public policy) intern were all freaked out," Stephens remembers. "We were joking with him that that was going to be his office."

In February and November of 2010, the ANC2B passed two resolutions.  Both praised the city for involving community stakeholders in the RFP process and requested that the space's long-term future use be kept open for potential transit use.

"Our chief concern from the perspective of the ANC is that whatever goes into this space be feasible and sustainable, so that we don't repeat the failure of the Dupont Down Under food court project," Stephens told DCMud.

The most inspiring lessons from Berlin for DC? The main inspiration, Sherman said, could be seizing the present moment by asking “what can we do within those (given) parameters and let it be an evolutionary process?” That flexibility, Sherman is convinced, will be important.  "We are not presenting solutions or answers," said exhibit research co-curator Don Russell, who also sits on the board of the coalition for the Dupont Underground. "We are layering and opening it up to the public."

The exhibit also features a series of "interactive" public events centered around the goal of thinking about creative approaches to urban problems and challenges:

Thursday, 13 September, 6 pm
Discussion and Exhibition Opening
Natural Adaptation, Urban Re-Use: Berlin and Washington, DC

Friday, 14 September, 1 pm
Discussion
Creative Research: Modes and Methods

Tuesday, 18 September, 6:30 pm
Reading
James Huckenpahler: Metamonument

Thursday, 20 September, 6:30 pm
Presentation
Urban Interventions

Saturday, 22 September, 12 pm
Gardening Workshop
Gardening Workshop


Monday, August 20, 2012

Georgetown Project Renovation Begins Tomorrow

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District officials will hold a ceremony on Tuesday morning for construction of The Montrose, formerly known as the the Henry and Anne Hurt Home, at 3050 R Street, NW in Georgetown.  Developers will turn the vacant property into 15 condominiums through demolition of non-historic portions of the building and renovation of the main building.

In September 2010 the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) selected the joint venture of the Argos Group and Potomac Investment Properties to redevelop the historic Hurt Home mansion at 3050 R St., NW.  Disposition of the property awaited negotiations and plans for the building, but on July 11, 2012, the property was recorded as selling for $7,750,000 according to DC Recorder of Deeds.   Neither pricing nor floorplans have been established, though a construction fence now surrounds the building and some interior work has begun.  The Montrose, named for it's proximity to Montrose Park, is scheduled for completion in late 2013.

Three wood additions will be stripped from the back of the original brick exterior, while the interior will be almost entirely gutted and rebuilt.

The Argos Group's other projects include The Station (pictured above), located at 524 9th Street NE, a mixed income historic condo conversion and The Firehouse, located at 1340 Maryland Avenue NE, a mixed income residential condo conversion.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Monday, August 13, 2012

District Issues New Development Rights Near Stadium, Buzzard Point

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The DC government today issued a request for proposals for up to 300,000 s.f. of development rights near the ballpark and Buzzard Point, inviting developers to bid on land within the "Capitol Gateway" overlay areas of southwest and southeast DC.

The District of Columbia, through the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED), is putting development rights up for bid in the form of Combined Lot Development rights - additional square footage for landholders within the overlay.  The areas are designated for mixed use development, under the current regime developers are able to combine two lots and transfer density between them.  The initiative unveiled today adds an additional 300,000 s.f. of development rights within the zone, increasing the density within the high-growth corridor that lines the Anacostia waterfront.

The Request for Expressions of Interest was issued in an 8-page publication - a more streamlined version than past requests, reducing the technical compliance burden on developers. Responses to the request are due August 31st.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Monday, June 11, 2012

DC Gov Puts 1300 H Street on the Market

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The District of Columbia government put 1300 H Street, NE - formerly a library kiosk - on the market today as a future development site.  The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) solicited development activity on the 10,800 s.f. site this afternoon with a bid for redevelopment of the site into "mixed income housing, community-serving retail, recommended uses of the H Street Arts overlay, and other cultural amenities."


The site has been vacant for 2 years since the District closed the temporary library, even though the site is surrounded by thriving retail development.

Because the site falls within the arts overlay, a maximum density of 3.0 FAR for residential is permitted on the site, or 1.0 FAR for other uses, with a 50-foot height cap under current zoning rules or 65 foot height cap under a Planned Unit Development (PUD).

The District will hold a site conference for interested bidders on June 21st and hopes to select a development team in the fall.


Washington D.C. real estate development news

Friday, December 02, 2011

EastBanc Prepping for 2012 Start in West End

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Hoping to begin construction by this time next year, the joint venture EastBanc-W.D.C. Partners LLC - led by EastBanc and joined by The Warrenton Group, Dantes Partners, and LS Caldwell & Associates - will seek Zoning Commission approval on December 19th for its West End development site.

Though hope springs eternal for the development team, Joe Sternlieb, head of real estate acquisitions at EastBanc, knows that the potentially elusive 2012 start date depends on how long it takes to trudge though and pocket approvals from D.C.'s various commissions and committees, in this case Zoning, the Commission of Fine Arts, and DDOT's public space committee, among others - yet, the team is making strides, and although the design seems to change daily at this point in the process, Sternlieb remains optimistic.

With the CFA process begun, and DDOT in the future, the focus now is on Zoning's approval of the Planned Unit Development for Square 37, one of two West End sites being developed in conjunction by EastBanc. The other, Square 50, will be matter of right. The Square 37 property - fronting L Street between 23rd and 24th Street, NW - consists of three lots now holding the West End Library, a Police Operations facility and a surface parking lot. The site needs to be rezoned as Commercial Residential (CR) in order for developers to construct a mixed-use, 11-story building designed by architect Enrique Norten of TEN Arquitectos that will house a new West End Library, 7,617 s.f. of additional retail space which includes a corner cafe, and approximately 180 residences.

Zoning Commission approval of the plan (the PUD) and rezone request should be the easy part. Capitalizing on the West End site was the goal of the District, which issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for redevelopment (of both Square 37 and 50) in October of 2009. The city selected EastBanc in March of 2010; the winning developer beat out one other competitor thanks to asserting it would build both a new library and a new fire station without District subsidy. And in advance of EastBanc's PUD application filing, Victor Hoskins, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, sent the Commission a letter in support, highlighting that fact.

The entire project includes four District-owned sites at Square 37 and 50. The Square 50 portion (the other component not included in the Commission's review this month) includes the new West End fire station which will be topped with below-market rate residences, located at 2225 M Street, NW. Although both buildings at Square 37 and 50 are the vision of Enrique Norten, the project's architect of record is WDG Architecture.

District backing can only get the project so far, however. The development team will have to revisit the Commission of Fine Arts, after the CFA determined in its October 20th review that the library exterior needs a little "refinement," and suggested a "de–emphasis of supergraphics on the windows to support the clear architectural expression of the entrance."

The CFA also expressed concern about "building performance, such as the maintenance of the glass and metal skin of the building," and will have the chance to review another submission for the project in the near future. However, in a letter to Victor Hoskins, the "Commission commended the developer, DMPED, and the D.C. Public Library for their collaboration in supporting this distinctive design."

The entire Square 37 and 50 redevelopment project is part of Georgetown-based EastBanc's purported goal "to transform the once sleepy West End from a 'transitional zone' between Georgetown and Dupont Circle into a vibrant urban neighborhood with its own unique identity."

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Northwest One's Site 2 on its Way Up

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In less than one month, according to the office of Victor Hoskins, the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, construction will "officially" begin on another piece of the District's $700-million-dollar Northwest One New Community at 2 M Street, NE, known as "Site 2 (of Phase 1)", where a 12-story, 314-unit residential-and-retail building will go up.

With all permits in place, and pre-construction activity having begun on site last month, the official groundbreaking, by general contractor WCS Construction, is slated for September 12th.

Construction was initially expected to be underway in March, and when questioned about stalled District developments at a WDCAR event in mid-July, Hoskins pointed to NW1 as an example of an active site. "We are currently bringing the community to that location," said Hoskins, of the project's footprint around North Capitol Street in Ward 6, both in and west of NoMa.

NW1, approved by Council in 2005, began gearing up in 2008 and the new Walker-Jones School was the first completed component, followed by the first residential component, the SeVerna, which broke ground last summer.

According to Jose Sousa at DMPED, the "slowing of debt markets" was the cause of the delay, which affected both the development team, led by William C. Smith + Co. along with The Warrenton Group, and the District. The group, Sousa explained, "adapted by securing FHA mortgage insurance from HUD." Final confirmation and approval of the HUD transaction is imminent, said Sousa.

With construction expected to last 28 months, the 314-unit apartment building, designed by Eric Colbert & Associates, should be complete at the end of 2013.

Of the 314 units, 221 will be rented at market rate, 59 units will be set aside for former Temple Court residents (30% of AMI), and 34 units will be available for those making 60% of AMI.

There will be 4,100 s.f. of ground floor retail and an 8,000 s.f. courtyard above two levels of underground parking, offering between 184 and 192 spots. The 290,000 s.f. building will be concrete, "clad with masonry, decorative metals and soaring full height windows," according to WCS.

2 M Street is estimated to be taking $82 million of the total $700 million needed for NW1, which includes in all: 1,600 units of mixed-income housing, 40,000 s.f. of retail, and 220,000 s.f. of commercial office space.

NW1 is one of five projects being realized by the New Communities Initiative, a public-private partnership that aims to develop areas that exhibit "high rates of poverty and unemployment, as well as blight and deterioration of the housing stock." The other four projects are Barry Farm (Ward 8), Lincoln Heights (Ward 7), Richardson Dwellings (Ward 7), and Park Morton (Ward 1). 

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Miller New Director of Real Estate Development for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development

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Jeff Miller assumed the role of Director of Real Estate Development for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, yesterday, June 6th, confirms communications director Jose Sousa.

Miller founded Prospect Diversified in 2009 - a multi-family-property investment company - upon his exit from Trammel Crow, in October 2008. Prior to working with Trammel Crow, Miller spent a year and a half with Lowe Enterprises, after a five-year stint with JBG, from 2000 to 2005.

Miller first forayed into real estate in the early '90s, when, as he says, "the majority of the players were smaller, entrepreneurial groups capitalized with third party joint venture partners" before the industry "transitioned to fund-based and institutional capital, closer in form to investment bank or private equity funds."

He too went big - JBG, Lowe, Trammel Crow - from 2000 to 2008 and worked on a number of significant residential projects in the DC area before the market collapse.

For the last few years Miller has been focused on both his return to start-up, real estate enterprise, and the development of the Mount Vernon Triangle area as chairman of the Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District, a private nonprofit.

Washington D.C. Real Estate development news

Thursday, November 11, 2010

More H Street Development in the Works

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Several vacant and blighted District-owned lots on the 1100 block of H Street, northeast are set for considerable improvements, as the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) has recently announced their partnership with Wall Development in constructing a five-story residential building with ground-floor retail on the site. Constructed as a matter-of-right project (requiring no Zoning variances), and usurping addresses 1113 through 1117 on the south side of H Street, the 16,000 s.f. building will house 16 one-bedroom units. Approximately 2,000 s.f. of ground floor space will be reserved for a retail component, preferably occupied by a local business.

Still very much in the preliminary conceptual stages of design, H-Street based firm Norman Smith Architecture have offered basic drawings of the planned building but continue to fine-tune their renderings in response to community input. Aside from architectural preferences, community members have communicated concerns about needed repairs to the currently existing drainage system and rear alley. They've also voiced their wish to avoid the likely frustrations of development-generated traffic in the alley. Furthermore, local residents have expressed a desire for additional neighborhood-serving retail beyond new restaurants or bars (of which there are a growing number).

Taurus Development Group will serve as general contractor, overseeing construction that is expected to result in a LEED Certified (the base level of certification) status at completion. Estimated development costs are anticipated to total roughly $4.3 million (including land acquisition costs), according to Stan Wall of Wall Development. Subject to DC Council approval, the official land disposition should be finalized in December. But it will take almost another year to finalize the land purchase and financing, with a groundbreaking following shortly after, and construction completion expected in December of 2012.

Although a ribbon cutting lies at least two years off, developers are still giddy to get the ball rolling, as H Street continues to sprout new projects. Wall explains: "I am excited to have the opportunity to build upon the momentum of redevelopment that has been occurring in the H Street corridor over the past several years." Unlike some of the monolithic super-blocks developed downtown, H Street has been slowly but surely revitalized in what seems to be a more organic fashion. Wall says he's proud to further develop what he articulates as H Street's "own unique look and feel that is eclectic and exciting."

While the development itself will be a much-need community benefit, the District will also require the project to achieve minimum targets for CBE business participation. Wall says he is delighted to cooperate to these ends. Providing affordable housing is also an ever-present and important component: there will be two units at 80% AMI and two units at 50% AMI. Additionally, the development, design, and construction teams plan to partner with Phelps Architecture, Engineering, and Construction High School in order to utilize the development process for valuable learning opportunities (site visits to the project, guest speakers at the school, donations of surplus construction materials, etc.). Sounds like a win, win, win.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Dupont Underground Plans Unveiled

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Last night, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) hosted a meeting at the Dupont Hotel to introduce interested parties, mostly journalists and artist-types, to the selected development team and their preliminary plans for the 100,000 s.f. space known as "Dupont Underground." After a failed endungeoned food court experiment in '95, and some 35 years without a viable solution for the neglected Dupont Circle trolley station, DMPED and the development team believe they've "cut the Gordian knot" of Dupont Underground. Having released an RFP in March, the District received two official offers. Eventually deeming one "unresponsive," DMPED officials have decided to move forward and go public with the lone development plans. Spearheaded by Arts Coalition for Dupont Underground (ACDU), a registered not-for-profit "comprising artists and designers, businesspeople and community leaders," and in partnership with J.M. Zell, the newly chosen development team will look to deliver an "important cultural institution highlighting Washington’s rightful place on the cultural map." In other words, developers will transform the rat-friendly bunker, "stretching nearly eight blocks long," into a high-brow cultural center: part art gallery showcasing local talent, part sophisticated "top-tier" dining venue, part wine-swirling hobnobbing-goodness. Developers cited their "optimal goal" for delivery of the ten-million-dollar, 40,000 s.f. phase one as somewhere between 24 and 36 months, or two to three years.

SmithGroup is currently in the preliminary stages of designing an elegant new wardrobe for the currently raw and unfinished underground tunnel, and WCS Construction has signed on to build the finalized plans. Phase one will consist of 20,000 s.f. of gallery space and 20,000 s.f. of concession space (potentially a restaurant, wine-bar, and cafe). Developers expect that pending leases with a high-end restaurateur and winery of some sort will enable a loan covering three-fourth of phase one construction costs. The remaining quarter will be left to fund-raising efforts. Developers promised they "are not counting on any District financial support." Phase two will consist of an additional 60,000 s.f. of cultural space, its construction wholly dependent on the financial success of phase one and the growth of the endowment. Citing formerly rotting and now reimagined public and cultural spaces like New York City's "The High Line" (an unused elevated rail-line turned public park) and Saint-Nazaire, France's "Alveole 14" (an abandoned submarine bunker turned art-space), developers expressed their hopes of creating a cultural attraction that will even "attract international tourists from Berlin and Paris." Considering the last Dupont Underground project failed to lure their own citizens down for a lunch-time burger, it seems the difficulty of the task ahead looms rather large.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Friday, September 10, 2010

District Releases Hurt Home to Developers At Fire Sale Price

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Roughly two months ago, the DC City Council voted to release several District properties for redevelopment, but the most noticeable deal in the large release is the transaction that enables Argos Group, in partnership with Potomac Investment Properties Inc., to scoop up the historic Hurt Home mansion at 3050 R St. NW, a "contributing" building in the Georgetown Historic District, for $450,000. The deal is pending, and Jose Sousa of DMPED cautions that "[t]hese numbers are not yet final." But Sousa and Argos Principal Gilberto Cárdenas estimate that all the minor details will be chiseled out in the next couple weeks. Cárdenas has plans to redevelop the former assisted living facility for the blind, and more recently the Devereux Children’s Center for foster children, into a 15-unit luxury condominium. This isn't Argos's first effort at acquiring and transforming a vacant, District-owned, historic property into high-end condos: the development group broke ground on the renovation of the Northeast's historic Firehouse No. 10 and Police Station No. 9 earlier this summer.

Georgetown Home for the Blind - real estate development news
Argos has again contracted familiar partners Sorg Architects for the design work, and developers are leaning towards bringing in another interior design specialist to assist with some of the remodeling work. Three poorly executed wood additions will be stripped from the back of the original brick exterior, while the interior will be almost entirely gutted and rebuilt, walls, stairs, mechanicals, and all. The facade of the building will be improved and restored to its original historic charm, accented by giant two story front windows and an entrance stoop railed with hefty white columns. When finished the condos will be a spacious 1200-1700 s.f., each with two to three bedrooms and loft space. Given that the property was put mostly to philanthropic uses over the course of its long history, developers have agreed to offer three of the units at affordable rates and reserve them for blind citizens. Designers plan to link up with the American Council for the Blind to methodically outfit the units to meet the domestic daily needs of those living without sight. The back lot will be extensively landscaped, and a 30 car parking lot will be installed. Developers say there is a strong chance several Zip Car spaces will be included.

Sorg already oversaw the G-town Post Office Renovation
After the City Council meeting in July, Councilman David Catania seemed unsure of the decision: WBJ quoted Catania wondering why they'd "sell a property for $450,000 that’s worth $6.1 million," and asking, "Why not bid that out just to make sure we have the best reimbursement for the taxpayers?” But although at least five or six developers toured the property following the District's Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) last summer, Mr. Cárdenas and his partners were the only ones to go forward with an offer, and negotiations went from there. Initial plans called for an addition to the building and as many as 41 units, with the building being offered for more than $1.5 million. But it quickly became clear that community organizations, Zoning Commission, and the Historic Preservation Review Board would combine forces to put a quick stop to a proposal of such proportions, and so the number of units, with some back and forth community dialogue, was slowly reduced to 15.

Cárdenas reckons that other developers were reticent to get involved with the sometimes stubborn and often vocal Georgetown community. "They're a community that knows what they want, are well organized, and have the resources to force compromise," says Cárdenas, "but we came into this project with nothing but a positive attitude, good intentions, and willingness to compromise." Jose Sousa confirmed this, saying: "The development team worked in concert with the surrounding neighbors to address many of the concerns raised regarding parking and unit counts." Although the vetting process has already started, developers don't expect the receive final Zoning and HPRB approval for approximately a year. If all goes smoothly, construction will begin shortly thereafter.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Minnesota - Benning: Apartments and Sit-down Restaurants Coming

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Ladies and Gentlemen: We have lift off. Today, Mayor Adrian Fenty and Co. gathered at the Minnesota Avenue Metro station in Ward 7 to throw a demolition party for development partners Donatelli Development and Blue Skye Development at the site of the future Minnesota-Benning project.

This particular press mixer was the culmination of two years of Land Disposition Agreements that sought to answer the question: How can the District best put $80 million to good use in a neighborhood known for its high crime, heavy traffic and lack of sit-down restaurants? One of the neighborhood's first sit-downs, Ray's the Steaks, only opened this past April with the help of a grant from the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development's office, and the District wants another.

The answer the development team came up with was the Eric Colbert & Associates-designed Minnesota Avenue-Benning Road, NE, (formerly known as "Phase 2") a five-acre, three-building mixed-use development. The transit-oriented goliath will stand adjacent to the Minnesota Avenue Metro and the new, $95 million Department of Employment Services (DOES) headquarters (a.k.a Minnesota Avenue-Benning Road, NE Phase 1).

The location of the project is part of the larger Great Streets initiative, a joint venture between DMPED, The District Department of Transportation (DDOT), and the Office of Planning that seeks to transform some of DC's more blighted neighborhoods into "great streets - places where people want to be." Upon delivery in the fall of 2012, the Minnesota-Benning project will boast 325 rental housing units at 60% AMI, 48 for-sale condos offered at market rate and 23,000 s.f. of retail and restaurant space.

Five thousand s.f. of those 23,000 s.f. will be reserved solely for sit-down restaurant space and 4,000 s.f. will be set aside for local business, assures DMPED Director of Communications, Mary Margaret Plumridge.

So, let's say you have a great idea for a sit-down restaurant in Ward 7. Will you be eligible for the same type of grant DMPED made available to Ray's the Steaks? Those details are still being ironed out, and the District seems at least mindful of the fact that this will require something more luring than an empty space.

Either way, construction begins Spring 2011.

DC Real Estate and Development News

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Dupont Trolley RFP Pulls Into the Station

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The District is seeking developers to utilize a neglected piece of prime real estate 20 feet below Dupont Circle. The Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development released an RFP today for the Dupont Trolley Station. Interested parties will have until June 3rd to submit a response, which would then go before the ANC for review and comment. The District had attempted to issue the RFP in December, but postponed in order to give the ANC more time to draft a statement of preferred development, now attached as guidelines for the RFP. Today's action indicates the District is looking for groups interested in using all or just sections of the underground station, but will select no more than two groups to use the area.

A previous RFP for the site devolved into a lawsuit that lasted long enough for (most) people to forget the tunnels existed. The newest RFP would be a lease between the District and the chosen team(s). Responses can be to develop either the entire sites (East Platform, West Platform and tunnels) or part of the site (East or West platform plus tunnels). The RFP suggests respondents consider the Creative DC Action Agenda and the Retail Action Strategy. Both planning tools seek to "stimulate creative use, support the creative economy and facilitate vital commercial areas."

Citing the desire for a "creative, yet sustainable use," the District makes it clear that projects should not come with ideas and empty coffers. "The District is not prepared to offer subsidy or financial assistance."

In February, the Dupont ANC2B submitted a statement to the DMPED that detailed their hopes for the future of the Dupont Underground. The ANC wants a development that "meets the needs of the present" without taking away to the potential for future use of the area as a transit station. The ANC added that the development needs to be safe and accessible to all DC residents and that the design should make the entrances more inviting. Referencing the likely application of the DC Arts Coalition for the Underground, the ANC indicated that an arts use would be acceptable as long as the project could demonstrate necessary funding for development and upkeep. At the end of the day, the conclusion was just about any use is better than the vacant state of the property at the moment.

The RFP has come back to the forefront, thanks in part to the Arts Coalition for Dupont Underground, spearheaded by architect Julian Hunt and the Washington Project for the Arts. Along with several other arts groups and galleries in the area, the group proposes a new gallery space below Dupont along the P Street near many existing above-ground galleries. In January the Arts Coalition indicated it would compete for the RFP when it is released; now we will see just who their competition will be.

Washington, DC real estate development news

Friday, March 12, 2010

Skyland's Supreme Challenge

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Real estate development is sometimes an agreeable collaboration, sometimes a struggle, and all too often a wordy brawl, but seldomly is it constitutionally challenging. But that may well be the case in southeast DC's Skyland Town Center project, now in its 8th year of development. What began as a plan to redevelop a needy southeast neighborhood, a benefit most agreed was overdue, has morphed into a property rights battle that tests the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions on property rights.
Eight years ago, the National Capital Revitalization Corporation (NCRC) began planning a makeover of the strip mall, proposing 450-500 residential units and 280,000 s.f. of retail at the intersection Alabama Avenue and Good Hope Road, an area that saw none of the rejuvenation that occurred downtown over the last decade. The District-funded NCRC recognized the spot as a bullseye to spur development, one where private industry alone might not be tempted. The choice seems apt; shuttered beauty salons accompany a check-cashing outlet, a Discount Mart offers faded displays in the window, and the mismatched storefronts are united as much by their nearly-matching green awnings as by their peeling paint and disrepair. On a warm day, car traffic is heavy but the few pedestrians seem more inclined to linger on one of the park benches in front than patronize the stores.

Promoters have a vision: "A 20-year old dream, conceived by Ward 7 residents when this 16-acre site in southeast Washington, D.C. was declared a redevelopment zone in the late 1980's...will transform a disjointed retail area with limited offerings into a cohesive, well-designed, prominent living, shopping, and gathering place." Planners presented at a meeting to the ANC in February, promising a new retail experience for southeast: concentrated retail, multi-family residences, three above-ground parking garages, a 5-story streetfront presence, and reducing vehicular access points for less interrupted pedestrian traffic. As a bribe to locals, builders will throw several million dollars at homeowner counseling services, retail build-out subsidies, park improvements, sidewalk and road enhancements, and job preparedness.

The project was initiated during Mayor Williams' term, but the Fenty administration has gotten squarely behind the project, helping bring together the parties and promoting the project. The Council has even offered a $40 million Tax Increment Financing (TIF) package to provide gap financing to the team, a consortium including Rappaport Companies, William C. Smith & Co., Harrison Malone Development LLC, the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization (MHCDO) and the Washington East Foundation. The Feds, for their part, threw in $28m of funding to show their support. Even the ANC, which usually love development as long as its not in their district, voted to support the project.

With all the economic incentives and mutual bonhomie, what could stop such a beloved juggernaut? The people who own the land. A not-so-small detail in the rehash is that neither the development team nor the city owns most of the property; private owners (originally 15, predominantly retailers) still claim title to the land. And with concerns about displacement and the possibility that once the site is emptied developers will not have financing to build up again, owners fret that selling out means closing down, for good.

The District government is sympathetic, but not very. In view of the greater good for the area, the economic development that will ensue and tax revenue that will one day flow, District planners have opted to proceed with or without the owners' approval. In May of 2004, the District passed "emergency" legislation authorizing NCRC to use eminent domain proceedings - where the government determines and pays a fair market value and takes over the land - to acquire the 40 parcels it needed "in order to show the commitment of the D.C. government to the project." As the argument went at the time, if the District could not pull together a united front, financiers and an anchor store would be hard to come by.

That gave gastric reflux to at least some of the owners, who filed a counter suit to prevent the taking. The owners had two primary arguments: that the original PUD filed with the Zoning Commission was filed by a group that did not include the owners - an issue that is still outstanding - and that the eminent domain proceeding was unconstitutional, i.e., that the land was being taken for private use, not "public use" as required for eminent domain.

At this point forgive us for a brief Constitutional digression. The 5th Amendment to the Constitution reads, in part: "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Characteristically simple language for the foundation of U.S. law, but one that has caused recent debate. Until recently, it was obvious that sole authority for snatching land had to spring from a "public use" (building a new road or sidewalk, laying electric cables, forming a park, or even laying a railroad which served without exclusivity) - one where the government could take the land to further provision of a community service.

All that changed dramatically in 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Kelo, et al. v. New London, CT, et al. In the Kelo decision, the city of New London created a development plan for a waterfront neighborhood around an upcoming Pfizer research center. The plan was for parks, office space, retail and parking that would enhance the Pfizer site, one that was “projected to create in excess of 1,000 jobs, to increase tax and other revenues, and to revitalize an economically distressed city..." Some lifelong homeowners, however, resisted giving up their waterfront homes, so the city and a private entity called the New London Development Corporation (NLDC), used eminent domain proceedings to oust the residents.

The Court found for the city, arguing that although much of the space would not go to "public use", the Court decided it "had long ago abandoned any literal requirement" for reading the 5th Amendment, literalism being "impractical given the diverse and always evolving needs of society." So much for the 5th Amendment. The court abandoned the "public use" requirement in favor of a "public purpose" requirement; in other words, if the local government found a generalized benefit of some sort (such as "economic development") to the community, it was free to authorize the seizure of one party's land by another party. In addition to getting value-enhancing development next door, Pfizer received corporate subsidies to encourage it to build, while the shore-front owners were soon evicted and had their homes razed.

Kelo remains the Court's official position, and the Skyland project has nearly identical circumstances. But owners here see even less public use than in Kelo - no parks or public waterfront - distinctions that helped the court reach its decision. With the Court having lost Justice Souter, a key liberal vote in the 5-4 opinion, another look at the same issue might find a distinction in the circumstances that warrants a different outcome. (Conservatives, more furious with Souter than ever after this decision, later proposed an eminent domain proceeding against his private New Hampshire home for the "public benefit" of turning his family home into a museum dedicated to individual liberties and the study of the Constitution. Property rights activists used the decision to launch national speaking tours).

While the ruling is a bitter pill to retailers at Skyland, the worse aspect may be the knowledge of what took place after the decision. In New London, the city removed the homeowners and bulldozed historic homes, only to have the development plan fail for lack of financing. The former neighborhood remains flattened and unused. Pfizer later announced that it will pull out of its research center, just as its tax incentives reach their 10-year expiration.

Dana Berliner, Attorney with the Institute for Justice, was co-counsel on the Kelo case. In a conversation with DCMud, Berliner said the instance of eviction without subsequent development is a very common one. "What you are talking about here [at Skyand] is really speculative. Its a big development in a difficult part of town...that project could easily end up destroying the jobs that already do exist at Skyland. They could spend tens of millions of dollars and end up with nothing. Now, the project actually does employ people and raise tax dollars." Zina D. Williams, ANC Commissioner for ANC7B is more sanguine. "We have worked carefully with the developers to ensure there will be a space for the old tenants." Will the developers have the money to proceed with construction? "Yes, they definitely do. Rappaport and the development team have been working with assisting [owners]. ANC7B and the developers have been working very hard to accomplish what's best for the project; we are confident this project will go forward, we definitely support the development team."

In the wake of Kelo, many states revised their eminent domain laws to prevent such abuse, but the District did not. Elaine Mittleman, an attorney representing several of the parties in litigation with the District and aware of the Kelo fallout, refutes the notion that owners and tenants have been well cared for, and notes that this development is "highly speculative." Mittleman believes the developers have neither sufficient financing nor any substantial tenants, despite having previously teased the community with the promise of a Target. Representatives at Target have repeatedly denied they have any plans to open a store there, and the Skyland website says only that "the site is being marketed to prospective tenants."

Mittlement notes a change for the worse once NCRC was abolished and negotiations shifted to District attorneys, claiming that the District has never negotiated in good faith with the current owners, some of whom have come to agreements on a buy-out, only to have the offer reneged when the District took over from NCRC. But others may have it still worse. "While the owners have a right to 'just compensation,' tenants don't have such rights and have never received an offer to be made whole...and while homeowners must be relocated, businesses have no such right, and the District has done very little to help them."

The Mayor's office says only that "there are several outstanding legal issues associated with the project that have complicated the development process, but the District is working closely with the development team...to accelerate the pre-development work so the project moves on a parallel track with the legal process." Mittleman contends that fighting eviction during a recession has pushed several of her clients close to bankruptcy. "Some of the business that are now shuttered were operating when the this plan became known, this process has already forced some to close." Berliner supports that contention. "Many, if not most, condemned business do not reopen. They almost never get enough to start over" she said, citing the Nationals Ballpark as an example of eminent domain that cost alot more and produced less development than predicted.

Councilmember Kwame Brown, who may have the last word on the subject, told DCMud that property owners are at fault for not listening to the community and allowing their businesses and Skyland to become blighted. Brown said neighbors want to be able to shop in their community, but have had to watch as other neighborhoods throughout the city have been redeveloped, some of which came about through eminent domain. "The community is sympathetic toward the owners, but it's hard to attract an anchor tenant when you are mired in a lawsuit...We are going to move forward and get this done. We will develop Skyland shopping center."

Washington, DC real estate development news

Friday, February 12, 2010

Beneath Dupont, A Renaissance in the Making

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Washington DC commercial real estate newsThe District could release a request for proposals (RFP) to reuse the Dupont Trolley Station by March. As a pre-RFP requirement, the office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) is seeking community input and preferences for use of the tunnels hidden under some of the District's hottest real estate; community input would be attached as an appendix to any RFP to provide guidelines for responses. Thanks to the Dupont Circle Undergroundsnow delay, the ANC2B meeting for community input about the potential RFP was delayed from this week until next Wednesday, the 17th. Those with a long memory or a penchant for random transit knowledge are probably familiar with the Trolley Station sitting dormant under Dupont Circle. For the rest of you, take note: there are two large tunnels running underneath Dupont Circle that, until 1963, served as a station for DC's widespread system of trolley's a.k.a. streetcars. According to sources familiar with the project, the pending RFP will likely be open to any type of use, hopefully encouraging some creative submissions from groups eager to lease the space from the District and reclaim the Dupont underground from the rodents and discarded drug paraphernalia currently there. The underground venue had a short life in the '90's, when it was expensively renovated with a tacky streetcar theme, a project that failed when patrons realized that Dupont Circle had restaurants above ground that didn't require a long walk in a poorly ventilated tunnel. Why hasn't the District tried to find a use for this space sooner? The answer is that it did, but then got a lawsuit for its troubles, one that lasted long enough for (most) people to forget the tunnels existed. The RFP has come back to the forefront, thanks in part to the Arts Coalition for Dupont Underground, spearheaded by architect Julian Hunt and the Washington Project for the Arts.

Along with several other arts groups and galleries in the area, the group proposes a new gallery space below Dupont along the P Street near many existing above-ground galleries. The Arts Coalition will be competing for the RFP when it is released, it is unclear who their competition might be. The RFP will likely only be for a lease of the space, no land disposition, said sources familiar with the project. Though the District Department of Transportation does not have any plans to bring a streetcar to Dupont in the near future (20 years near future), an existing tunnel for a Connecticut or Massachusetts Avenue line would be a costly thing to give away, a fact the RFP is likely to keep in mind. 

Washington DC real estate development news
 

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