Thursday, January 26, 2012
Chinese Ready to Take Out 2300 Conn. Ave
Labels: Embassies, Esocoff and Associates, I.M. Pei, Kalorama
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Today in Pictures - National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art has a new exhibit: its exterior. The 33-year-old East Building is in the midst of a major renovation that recently included the removal and reinstallation of the marble veneer - 16,200 Tennessee pink marble panels with new supports. Each five foot wide, two foot high, three-inch-thick panel weighs about 450 pounds. The I.M. Pei design, completed in 1978, is not holding up nearly as well as the John Russell Pope design of the West Building. A "systemic structural failure" of the facade's design prompted Congressional emergency aid (too big to fail?) and scaffolding to protect pedestrians. On the upside, DC is treated to an architectural undressing thanks in part to an open, vertical-access scaffolding system. Work is expected to be completed by spring 2014.
Photographs by Rey Lopez.
Washington D.C. real estate development news
Friday, January 29, 2010
L'Enfant Plaza: Feds to Try Again?
Labels: I.M. Pei, JBG Companies, L'Enfant, PN Hoffman, Southwest
Friday, August 21, 2009
Southwest IM Pei Apartment Sold at Foreclosure
Labels: Esocoff and Associates, Fairfield Residential, I.M. Pei, Southwest
Fairfield purchased The View, located at 1100 6th Street SW, and the adjacent parking lots neighboring the Southwest Waterfront project, and hired Esocoff and Associates to redesign the aged building as a mixture of new construction and interior renovations on the two landmarked forty-six year-old I.M. Pei towers. Another residential tower (see rendering below) was to have replaced the surface parking, but that never quite got off the ground and the parking lots are still going strong.
Fairfield modified its PUD in late 2008 because the south tower of the project had initially been planned as a condo, but market forces required financing as rental apartments. At the time, Graham Brock of Fairfield discussed the limitations of the financial system and how they had affected the project. Brock said the "existing residents in the Pei towers wanted the option of home ownership, but then we struggled to find ways to finance that building and get those residents to qualify for loans. The market changed and the deal we had come up with wasn't as strong anymore." It would appear even the rental option was not strong enough to sustain Fairfield's hold on Pei's work. In retrospect, maybe condos, now scarcer, would have been the better option.
Beginning in mid-April 2008, Marina View Trustee LLC and Marina View Towers LLC (co-grantors of the property with Fairfield) refinanced their $14.5 million loan with Wachovia Mutlifamily Capital, Inc. The next day, Wachovia signed over its Deed of Trust with Marina View Towers for the sum of $10 to Fannie Mae, and with it the first lien of the Deed of Trust. On July 14th of this year, Fannie Mae signed over the Deed of Trust to Tritex Marina View. On July 28, Tritex designated substitute trustees from the law firm Lerch, Early & Brewer, Chtd. Tritex has been involved in a series of large real estate transactions over the past few years, taking advantage of a commercial market that is weak, and getting weaker.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Designs Unveiled for New Smithsonian Museum
Labels: Davis Brody Bond, Devrouax and Purnell Architects, Freelon Group, I.M. Pei, moody nolan, national mall
The Smithsonian has revealed (via WashingtonPost.com) the first prospective designs for the Mall’s next museum: the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. And from the looks of things, it’s going to be the grandest one yet; proposals for the 350,000 square foot museum within earshot of the Washington Monument range from glass-encased and “table-shaped” to almost pre-historic with natural materials “rising as of out of bedrock and muck.”
Last week’s presentations at the Smithsonian included new renderings and scale models by the development teams previously identified by DCmud: Diller Scofidio and Renfro (now teamed with KlingStubbins); Devrouax and Purnell Architects/Pei Cobb Freed and Partners; Moshe Safdie and Associates (now teamed with Sulton Campbell Britt & Associates), The Freelon Group (now teamed with Adjaye Associates and Davis Brody Bond), Foster and Partners (now teamed with URS) and Moody Nolan Inc (now teamed with Antoine Predock Architect).
Among the new revelations unveiled along with the designs were that the project’s budget, formerly reported at $300 million, which has now almost doubled to $500 million – half of which will be funded through a Congressional appropriation. The Smithsonian is also now projecting a 2015 opening for the museum, following the previously projected 2012 construction start date.
Once completed, the Museum will stand on a five-acre parcel at 15th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW – one of the very last prime plots abutting the National Mall. A final selection on the Smithsonian’s choice of architect will be announced by a Smithsonian-chosen 11-member panel next month, to be seconded (or not) by a final approval by the Smithsonian Board of Regents. The final design will then enter into lengthy submission processes with both the Commission on Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission.
Both interior and exterior renderings of the proposed designs are available here.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Designing the Mall's Next Museum
Labels: Devrouax and Purnell Architects, Freelon Group, I.M. Pei, moody nolan, Moshe Safdie, national mall
At present, there is no shortage of architects willing to take a shot at designing for what is, essentially, one the last "vacant" parcels abutting the National Mall - and also one of the closest to the Washington Monument. Current bidders on the $300 million project include Diller Scofidio and Renfro, Devrouax and Purnell Architects, Moshe Safdie and Associates, The Freelon Group, Pei Cobb Freed and Partners, Foster and Partners and Moody Nolan Inc. There is no word on when a final selection will be made, but construction is currently slated to begin in February (which also happens to be Black History Month) 2012.
Those interested in scoping out the NMAAHC’s exhibits in 2009, however, will have to hit the road; the museum’s inaugural exhibition, Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits, will travel the country until work on its permanent exhibition space is complete. The collection is currently on display in Detroit, with future bookings planned for San Francisco, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chicago and Cincinnati all the way through 2011.
The museum was made possible by legislation signed into law by President George W. Bush in December 2003. The same act charted the museum under the umbrella of the Smithsonian Institution, and it was that body’s Board of Regents that selected the 5-acre site bounded by Constitution Avenue, Madison Drive and 14th and 15th Streets, NW to be home of the first national museum “devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life.” Having already completed a preliminary Environmental Impact analysis, the Smithsonian is currently undertaking what it labels as the “architectural programming phase” of development, during which the space and system requirements integral to a fully functioning public institution, such as the NMAAHC, will be established, and then relayed to the prospective architects for inclusion in their designs.
Washington DC real estate development news
Friday, August 01, 2008
Marina View - New Towers Likely in Fall
Labels: Esocoff and Associates, Fairfield Residential, I.M. Pei
Graham Brock, Project manager at Fairfield Residential, said changes in the market led the developer to convert to rental units. "We planned condominiums for the South Pei tower because existing residents in the Pei towers wanted the option of home ownership, but then we struggled to find ways to finance that building and get those residents to qualify for loans. The market changed and the deal we had come up with wasn't as strong anymore. So we met with the residents again and I think everyone came out whole."
Work is already underway in the 128-unit North Pei tower; the developer had to bifurcate all of the systems and transfer tenants; all residents are now in renovated units and the developer is completing the opposite side of the building. Brock said they hope to start work in the South Pei tower in the coming months and complete the historic renovations in the next six months.
As for the new towers that will replace two surface parking lots and climb to 112 feet, Brock said depending on the market, condos could become a possibility, but for now, they too will be apartments. Construction will likely start in the fall on the South tower, which will deliver 156 units and is the only building of the four that will offer ground-floor retail. Brock said it will deliver 8,500 s.f. with 5-6,000 s.f. reserved for a restaurant. The 168-unit new North tower will follow once the South tower's parking garage is completed.
The project will also include amenities such as a small public park on 6th street and 12,000-15,000 s.f. amenities building that will include a pool, gym, lounge, and business center.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Two New Marina Views for Southwest
Labels: Esocoff and Associates, Fairfield Residential, I.M. Pei, Southwest
Taking the place of the two towers’ surface parking lot will be two new 112-foot towers each with approximately 145 rental apartments. Designed by Esocoff and Associates, both buildings will offer parking for residents, the north tower with three underground levels and the south with four; the new south tower will also include 8,000 s.f. of retail space.
Also being redeveloped in the developer-described “oasis” that is Southwest is the former Waterside Mall into “Waterfront” a mixed-use development that will share a driveway with Marina View. “It (Southwest) is not a hotbed because there are not a lot of available sites. There are the Forest City renovations, PN Hoffman, and Bernstein are working on projects in the area as well, but I do think in the next two years we will start to see a lot of cranes up in our section,” said Graham Brock, Project Manager at Fairfield Residential.
Brock added that while development in the area is picking up, the market will have a large influence on the final outcome of the project. “No one wants to sink each other. We all understand that a critical mass needs to be reached to support retail, we have to build to allow retail to succeed,” he said.
This critical mass will include the 12,000 s.f. of the project that are currently allotted for affordable housing, a number that may increase as current residents decide whether or not to stay in their units. Current residents can choose to be bought out by the developers, to buy a condo, or to rent an apartment at the project’s completion. The Planned Unit Development states what the values for the condo and rental options would be as a benefit to the city based on how many tenants stay in each option.
While plans are currently contingent upon the PUD and votes for the various conversions, the northern tower is tentatively scheduled to break ground later this year with completion in 2008; renovations on the southern tower are slated for summer 2008.