Showing posts with label Georgetown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Georgetown. Show all posts

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Today in Pictures - Washington Harbor

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Georgetown's Washington Harbor is coming back to life.  A flood devastated the retail pavilion in March of 2011, when high water in the Potomac filled the parking garage and nearly submerged several restaurants, but restaurants have since been revamping and only one retail bay remains vacant. With several anchor restaurants on the lower level having reopened last month, the harbor is slowly returning to its former glory, or perhaps better, as the fountain - never the best part of the complex - has been reconfigured into a winter ice skating rink.  Owner MRP Realty expects work on the complex to be completed by Thanksgiving.

National Harbor, Washington DC - MRP begins renovations to the waterfront plaza in Georgetown

National Harbor, Washington DC - MRP begins renovations to the flooded waterfront plaza in Georgetown

National Harbor, Washington DC - MRP begins renovations to the waterfront park in Georgetown, DC
Tony & Joe's

National Harbor, Washington DC - MRP begins renovations to the waterfront plaza in Georgetown
Tony & Joe's

Washington Harbor - DC's waterfront park in Georgetown, purchased by MRP

Washington Harbor - DC's waterfront park in Georgetown, purchased by MRP

Georgetown retail and restaurants at Washington Harbor after the flood

Georgetown retail and restaurants at Washington Harbor after the flood

Washington DC retail and restaurants news: MRP renovates Washington Harbor after the flood

Washington DC retail for lease - the Washington Harbor in Georgetown

Washington DC retail and commercial real estate news

Friday, November 02, 2012

A More Accessible Georgetown, and Other BID Ideas

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For a guy who has spent his career hopscotching between the public and private sectors, heading up the Georgetown Business Improvement District could be the ideal job. Joe Sternlieb, a Northwest DC resident and former vice president for acquisitions with EastBanc, the DC-based developer, started his new job as CEO of the Georgetown BID in mid-October. It’s his second round of employment with one of the city’s BIDs; Sternlieb spent ten years as part of the Downtown BID at a time when that area was just beginning to bloom. Before that, he spent time as a staff director for the DC City Council and worked on social justice issues.

Reporters and others focused on the city’s development scene might know Sternlieb as one of the chattiest and most accessible folks in the business. Here, he talked to DCMud about his new gig.

DCMud: Why did you decide to work for the Georgetown BID?


Joe Sternlieb: I’ve never had more fun than when I was working with the BIDs and I thought it could be a really fun and interesting opportunity to apply what I’ve learned in last 20-some years. And it’s in a new and interesting environment, quite different from the Downtown BID.

DCMud: How is it so different?

Sternlieb: When I started working for the Downtown BID, there were something like 40-50 surface parking lots, few restaurants, and very few people living there. We were trying to give definition to a place while development was occurring from private sector. [In contrast], Georgetown is really well-defined and developed: it’s got a vibrant retail and restaurant presence, and all these other physical attributes, from the C&O Canal and the waterfront to historic neighborhoods. The task here is how to make it appear and be a really accessible place.

DCMud: What do you mean, “accessible”?

Sternlieb: A lot of people perceive it as difficult to get to. There are lots of ways to change that. [For example], there’s a huge number of underground parking spaces in Georgetown that are closed on the weekend; demand isn’t high because there’s street parking. But the latter creates a lot of congestion. So I’d like to look at how to improve congestion parking. I also think we need a lot more bike racks, cabbie stations, and Circulator service. I think of transportation the same way DDOT does: considering all options, including cars, buses, bikeshare, pedestrians—it’s all a single system.

DCMud: Georgetown used to be the place to go in DC, but there are so many dynamic neighborhoods now. How do you plan to compete?

Sternlieb: We’ll need to work harder to remind people that Georgetown is here. We’re working with local merchants to think about ways to attract people back to Georgetown; we have opportunities to do open markets and special events, and we’re also working closely with home furnishings and design retailers to create a real urban design district.

DCMud:
The new park along the river is such a terrific resource—do you have plans for it?

Sternlieb: Because that park is owned by the National Park Service, things like vendors selling food can’t happen there. We haven’t yet come up with a program for concerts, movies, etc. to occur there, but that’s not to say we can’t. It’s on our radar screen and we’ll be spending time with the Park Service to figure out how to better integrate the neighborhood and the park.

DCMud: How do you define your job, and the role of the BID?

Sternlieb: BIDs can help facilitate programs, projects, and solutions to problems that individuals might not be able to tackle on their own. It’s a middle space between the private, governmental, and residential sector. For example, the regional bus map that WMATA uses was developed out of the Downtown BID. I see us doing things like that here—some demonstration projects, sometimes convening a bunch of people to look at something and try to develop a better plan.

Washington, D.C., real estate development news

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Georgetown Plant Sale: Top Arts Official Urges Open Discussion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday, September 17, 2012

Cobbling Together Georgetown's Streets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Restored streetcar track. Photo courtesy DDOT

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

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Your Next Place

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By Franklin Schneider

This fine Georgetown home is as cute as a button. A 1.5 million-dollar button. Seriously though, this house is adorable. Inside, the house is exactly what you think of when you think "Georgetown" - classy wainscoting (is there any other kind?) crown moldings, gleaming hardwood floors, and two fireplaces. This house is more "Georgetown" than a cupcake in a polo shirt. (Why is that image so disturbing?) There's a cozy kitchen and three generously proportioned bedrooms upstairs.



Out back is a beautiful walled garden and patio with a fantastic cherub-themed fountain that I strongly suspect was looted from a museum. It just seems too nice to have been bought retail. If I was a better person I would've said something to someone, but instead I made a mental note to buy a Powerball ticket so I could buy my own house with a possibly-looted fountain. (What's that you say? Accomplishing things through hard work instead? What do you think this is, China?)
Also, the house is on a quiet one-way street, and located mere blocks from Georgetown University, so you'll often see peppy young people walking by who, unlike you, have their whole lives ahead of them. (Don't feel bad, they'll almost certainly screw things up just as much as you have. It's "the Circle of Life"! Hakuna matata.)

3526 P Street NW
3 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths
$1,499,000




Washington D.C. real estate news

Monday, March 19, 2012

Retail, Fountain, Ice Rink Slated for Washington Harbour

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Washington Harbour retailWork to upgrade the retail offering of Georgetown's Washington Harbour has begun, owners MRP Realty and Rockpoint Group LLC announced today.  Washington Harbour is undergoing a $20 million exterior renovation led by architecture firm Gensler and general contractor Clark Construction, after a flood pushed out the restaurants that once lined the riverfront pavilion. Some of the most significant changes are slated for the lower level. Those upgrades include retail storefront improvements and a revamped fountain with lights and animated jets that will double as a 12,000-square-foot ice skating rink in the winter.
Washington Harbor fountain, Gensler design, MRP Realty
Work on the lower level is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2012, and the fountain will be completed by the end of this summer.

Rendering courtesy of Gensler Architects

Washington DC commercial real estate news

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Your Next Place

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By Franklin Schneider

This is the first time this victorian-style home has been on the market since 1961. I don't think you could come up with a more powerful endorsement for a place: "we liked it so much we stayed for half a century." You know how we all know that one hilarious, brilliant, gorgeous person who are always in a relationship, and when they hit the market like every five years everyone around them goes temporarily insane and dumps their significant others and basically follows them around like whipped puppies? This house is the real estate equivalent to that perfect person! Go ahead and drunk-dial it and be like, "Forreal, I've always thought you were the only person to really get me, you know that right?!" Better yet, show up out front late at night holding a boombox over your head! Hey, it worked in a movie - it must be a good idea!

Seriously though, it's easy to see why they stayed for so long. (Sadly, they're only leaving now for health-related reasons.) I mean, they really don't make them like this anymore. This house defines authenticity - it still has the original wood floors and custom moldings, six (!) fireplaces, immaculately aged wallpaper, vintage light fixtures, all of it lovingly maintained. The ceilings are 10.5 feet high and the rooms are large and spacious, there's a rare mature rose garden, and a large, private patio.


My personal favorite was the sleeping porch - some of my fondest memories from childhood are sleeping out on the screened-in porch in the summer, watching fireflies. They're right up there at the very top with my memories of that time I threw a snowball at a car, the driver got out and chased me for two or three, and ended up having a (mild) heart attack just as he was got me cornered. True story! (And people wonder why I don't want to have kids - it's because they're evil!)

1519 31st Street NW
Washington D.C.
5 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths
$1,785,000




Washington D.C. real estate news

Monday, December 19, 2011

"Ultra-luxury" Georgetown Hotel Secures Financing

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The long-simmering Georgetown luxury hotel project has secured financing and is finally moving forward, with an eye towards a December 2012 completion, just in time for the 2013 presidential inauguration.
The Capella Georgetown will be an “ultra luxury” hotel at 1050 31st Street NW, the former American Trial Lawyers Association building. The five-story building, which overlooks the C&O Canal, will feature just 49 rooms and interiors designed by German firm Peter Silling & Associates. The design also calls for a public restaurant and bar overlooking the canal, but details aren't in place just yet. The project, spearheaded by Capella Hotels and Resorts, ICG Properties, and D.C.-based Castleton Holdings Inc., recently brought in Point Ford Management Ltd., an investment firm based in Indonesia, to complete financing for the project, which is estimated in the $45 million range.

"The [financing] process was challenging because of the market," says Nick Demas, Partner at Castleton Holdings LLC. "But in challenging markets there is also great opportunity. We worked through the market fluctuations and successfully secured all the funds needed to complete the project this past July. Our lender, PNC Bank, has been really supportive of the project and our partnership. And we are very excited about our relationship with our new equity partners, Point Ford Management Limited. They are terrific partners and are committed to our program of assembling an ultra-luxury hotel portfolio. As a developer, you really can’t ask for anything more."

The Capella Georgetown will cater to foreign dignitaries, captains of industry, and other international clientele (discussion at an October meeting of the Georgetown advisory neighborhood commission touched on possible entourage-related traffic jams), and the hotel will be accordingly discreet. While the interior has been gutted, the drab office building will receive only minor cosmetic changes to the exterior – new window frames and a slightly larger canopy - in deference not only to future guests' desire to keep a low profile, but also to neighborhood preferences for aesthetic continuity. By restricting the heavy redesign to the interior of the site, the developers have sidestepped the community backlash that often follows these sorts of projects. Demas says of the locals: "We are thrilled that our plan was so well received by our neighbors, the ANC and the Old Georgetown Board." And ANC2E Commissioner Tom Birch was quoted recently as praising the developers for "turning a sow's ear into a silk purse." The contrast between this hugfest and, say, the ongoing drama of the Friedman/Schrager Adams Morgan hotel could scarcely be greater.

Still, despite Demas' demurrals, this project was never realistically going to have problem attracting financing. Hotels, especially luxury ones, have proven to be safe money through the recession, and the District hotel market has historically been one of the strongest in the nation. Local occupancy rates have held steady in the low seventies, and while average luxury rates softened in the past few years, they’ve recovered to nearly the level of their 2008 peak.

This will be Atlanta-based Capella’s second hotel in the United States (its other property is in New York), and the company plans to expand into several other U.S. cities in the near future.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Your Next Place

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By Franklin Schneider


Arguably the Georgetowniest house in Georgetown. This classic townhouse is located in the prestigious East Village and has been spectacularly renovated by prestigious architect Outerbridge Horsey, a name you already know if you appreciate peerless design or if you're just into vaguely amusing names.

I almost don't know where to start with this place. It's a brilliant mix of classic charm and modern amenities, from the open floor plan to the burnished hardwood floors. There's an elegant dining room (with fireplace), a palatial sitting room, and my personal favorite, a beautiful library. I always keep books around, not just to read but also for the intellectual cachet. There's nothing like a few dozen leatherbound volumes to make your date forget about how you kept saying “mer-LOTT” at dinner.



The gem of the house, though, is maybe the brightest, biggest (Pedini gourmet) kitchen I've ever seen. Just look at it. I'm pretty sure just the island is bigger than my entire kitchen. Several French doors give out onto a huge double-lot deep garden that's probably big enough for an emergency airplane landing, or at least a spirited game of lawn bowling.

The house also features the wonderfully spartan all-white elegance of Waterworks bathrooms, which is basically the Maybach of water closets. I recently read an interview with the cofounder of Waterworks and she said one of the main reasons she started the company was because she hated seeing so many pink toilets. And in these increasingly troubled times, isn't hating pink toilets something we can all unite around?

1628 32nd Street NW
5 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths
$3,395,000




Sunday, December 04, 2011

Millwork Metamorphoses!

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By Beth Herman
With grand scale entertaining paramount for a Georgetown family of six, in many ways their late 19th Century Queen Anne Victorian did not support a contemporary lifestyle. For interior designer Marika Meyer of Marika Meyer Interiors LLC, issues of storage and functionality were high on her design dance card for the historical residence while preserving its authentic fabric.

Gilded by antiques and spare, elegant furnishings, the home’s towering entryway lacked practicality with no place for guests to hang their coats during frequent social events. In an effort to retain and reproduce the home’s period flavor and flourishes, Meyer chose to create an adjacent coat closet by using custom millwork to replicate the original late 1800s entry door. Turning an empty vestibule into a utilitarian closet, the result appeared as though it had always been there.
“We transformed this space by matching the door’s historic millwork detail and creating a new (closet) door, so it was almost seamless,” Meyer said. “Most people think of millwork in terms of bookcases, but this was a good example of repurposing and reusing the space” without compromising the home’s architectural history.
In the imposing living room with its 13-foot ceilings, a lack of storage did not facilitate the family’s voracious reading habit. Calling it “somewhat unorthodox” to furnish a more formal space with bookcases, the designer explained the floorplan was such that the room was used on a day-to-day basis, rendering the idea of millwork in this manner more appropriate. Accordingly, Meyer created two bookcases to house many hundreds of books and family artifacts. In an effort to make the room more scalable and approachable, she dropped the bookcases’ height for the illusion of a warm and family-friendly area. Detail from the home’s existing entry hall wainscoting was reproduced in the living room, as was crown detail from the 19th Century crown molding, along with custom ogee.
“The millwork here shows you can add depth and functionality, and also give the residence personality,” Meyer said. Though the room was painted in a more neutral palette from its former canary yellow, pops of color from the books and objects that line the book shelves brighten the space. “You can never underestimate the power of a good book installation!” Meyer quipped.

The new black
In a Logan Circle row house, a young family – also voracious readers, and the husband and father an author – desired additional storage and a way to showcase their many hundreds of books. What’s more, a singular art collection—and especially a prominent piece of art that occupied an entire wall—caused the room to appear off-balance. “The rest of the space just felt empty,” Meyer said, adding something was needed to carry the eye from a fireplace around the rest of the room.
To that end, and desiring some drama in the otherwise quiet space, the designer created a black, high-gloss finish bookcase. “Rather than white or a tint, the colors really pop off the black,” Meyer said of the books and displays. “You get a sense of movement, color and interest, but it’s also truly reflective of the clients and their love of reading.”
Because their collection of reading material was so extensive, books are actually double-stacked—two on each of seven shelves. With a 10-foot ceiling height, the designer again chose not to bring the millwork all the way up but to keep it on par with the cutout over the fireplace.
“Here it’s important to point out that custom millwork does not have to be cost-prohibitive,” Meyer said. Though the bookcase was customized and looks expensive, it was actually purchased from an unfinished furniture vendor and then spray-painted.

Here’s tinting at you
Also in Georgetown, a late 20th Century row house suffered many of the constraints and design gaps that accompany newer construction. With virtually no architectural details and a bland palette (think neutral walls, sisal rug and sofa), and boasting a large piano that anchored one side of a room, Meyer said the challenge was to create a balance that would offset the weight of the piano, add height and grandeur, and strategically brighten the room.
On the piano side, the designer created an entire wall of the homeowner’s extensive collection of colorful antique world maps, along with colorful chair fabric. On the opposite wall, millwork provided the balance in the form of a floor-to-ceiling neutral bookcase, but with a tinted interior.
“A lot of the decorative objects the homeowner—who traveled extensively—had to fill the bookcase were also neutral in color,” Meyer said, “and if you were to place them against a similar backdrop, they’d be completely lost.” She added it would all also feel a little more ordinary or average, so tinting the millwork makes it feel “more intentional – tying everything together.”

When she wants to dress the millwork, the designer said she looks for objects and books in her client’s possession, whether hard cover or paperback, and groups them by hue for concentrated punches of color and a more powerful statement. “They are fun accents that really warm up the (neutral) space.”

Catalysts and cornices
In a mid-20th Century Georgetown row house, a galley kitchen with no table space was judiciously transformed by custom millwork, including bead board, into a space that accommodated two banquettes. Comfortably seating four, cabinets and drawers provide for aesthetics and ample storage. According to Meyer, nooks and other small spaces should not be deterrents but rather catalysts for creative millwork.

In the same residence, a living room space, “contemporary and cold” and devoid of character, was badly in need of promotion. A large floor-to-ceiling window reiterated the room’s stark, contemporary feel. “There were no arches, no molding detail anywhere,” Meyer recalled.
To create a warm space and traditionalize the environment, decorous carved millwork arches with glass shelves and storage underneath, and extensive pilaster detail, were incorporated. A wood cornice was conceived to conceal harsh drapery hardware, all of it creating dimension and interest in an otherwise pedestrian room. “Every piece of molding was added to the home. Nothing was original,” Meyer said of the finished design, which included hallway wainscoting.

“From a real estate perspective, it just goes to show you what can be changed. You can transform contemporary spaces into traditional; you can push traditional into contemporary based on the elements you choose. You can use millwork for storage or to shorten a long, narrow space but still maintain a sense of functionality,” Meyer affirmed. “It’s all in the details.”
 

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