Showing posts with label LeMay Erickson Willcox Architects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LeMay Erickson Willcox Architects. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

EastBanc's West End Project Encounters More Legal Hurdles

18 comments

The redevelopment of West End's library and fire station--that long running saga--has hit another speed bump. EastBanc-W.D.C. Partners LLC, the development team, had spoken optimistically about breaking ground in 2012, but it looks like a lawsuit filed by a library watchdog group will push that back until March 2013 at the earliest.

It's been a long road. The development team--which consists of EastBanc, The Warrenton Group, Dantes Partners, and L.S. Caldwell & Associates--was granted the project in 2007, then lost it due to community outcry that there hadn't been a fair bidding process. In 2010, they won a competitive bid, beating out one other competitor, and since then have held some 70-odd meetings (by their own count) to keep the community abreast of plans. 

The project has always been a complicated one. It includes two separate parcels: one, Square 37, sits at the corner of 24th and L streets and includes the low-rise, funky West End Library, as well as a police operations facility and a parking lot; the other is Square 50 at 2225 M Street and and includes the West End fire station. EastBanc won the project by promising to rebuild the library and fire station; in return, the city gave the developers the land, then valued at $20 million, for free.

And therein lies the problem. The DC Library Renaissance Project, an organization founded by Ralph Nader to improve the city's library system, claims that EastBanc is dodging the affordable housing requirements that exist under the city's newish inclusionary zoning policy by calling the library and firehouse "amenities."

"We don't understand why [the library and firehouse] would count on the balance sheet of the PUD process for the developer," explained Robin Diener, director of the DC Library Renaissance Project. "The city is selling the land to EastBanc. They're not giving money, they're giving new facilities as payment." As a result, says Diener, the developers should still provide a certain percentage of affordable housing in each square as required under inclusionary zoning.

But the DC Zoning Commission agrees with EastBanc. This spring, the commission granted the developer's application for a map amendment for Square 37. And in June, when the DC Library Renaissance Project applied for a reconsideration of that decision, the Zoning Commission denied their effort, writing, "The enhanced level of service that will result from the construction of the new library and fire station so clearly will enhance the neighborhood that they set a benchmark in excellence for any future requests for Inclusionary Zoning waivers through the PUD process."

In response, the library advocates filed a notice last week in the DC Court of Appeals that they intend to appeal the Zoning Commission's decision, not an idle threat since the group has been at least partially successful in stopping the project since at least 2006.

"We're certain there's no merit, but we'll file a brief arguing that no, the Zoning Commission didn't make mistakes in its decision," said Joe Sternlieb, EastBanc's vice president for real estate acquisitions, in response to questions about the suit. "It can take up to a year, and can cost developers up to $1 million to defend. It's really a nuisance suit."  When will the issue be resolved? "The courts will decide," said Sternlieb. "Hopefully before March."

Despite the threat hanging over its head, EastBanc is moving forward. Sternlieb said that the Square 37 project has gathered all the necessary approvals, including from the Commission on Fine Arts, and the firehouse is almost there. The company is currently working out construction documents and getting financing in place, and Sternlieb is hopeful that they could still break ground in March 2013.

The project, which is being designed by TEN Arquitectos, WDG Architecture and Lemay Erickson Willcox Architects, hasn't changed substantially since 2010 (though TEN hasn't bothered to add the project to its website). Square 37 will become a 10-story building with a library and roughly 7,000 square feet of ground floor retail that faces 23rd Street--including a coffee shop on the corner, adjacent to the library--plus 164 market rate units above. That section does not include any affordable housing.




But the fire station portion does; in fact, all 61 rental units will be priced at 60 percent of the area median income. Some of those units are created under the inclusionary zoning policy, but EastBanc said it couldn't afford to make the entire building affordable without assistance, and so the District kicked in an extra $7 million to go the final distance.

Robin Diener and her colleagues aren't happy about that. Given that the two sites comprise some of the most valuable land in the District, they believe the initial development deal should have been structured so that the city made, rather than spent, money on it.

But neighborhood groups, including the West End Library Friends, Foggy Bottom Association, and the ANC covering the region, overwhelming support the project. 



Washington D.C. real estate development news

Friday, April 08, 2011

Eastbanc to Unveil West End Residences

20 comments
At long last, Georgetown's Eastbanc will unveil its plans for West End library and fire station sites on the 25th of April at a meeting of the ANC. After months of meeting with local community groups to fine-tune plans, Eastbanc intends to roll out its plans more publicly for redevelopment of the two sites.

Eastbanc's proposal is for a 52-unit low-income (max 60% AMI), 90 foot residential building above a new fire station on M Street, and a 10-story residence of up to 180 units above a new library and retail filling the 2300 block of L Street. The developer was selected by the District of Columbia in March of 2010 to redevelop the 4 city-owned sites - 1 at the fire station and 3 contiguous sites between the West End Library and special operations facility at 23rd and L, each a 2 story, deteriorating building subsumed by development and recent population surge. Eastbanc is not releasing its designs until the ANC meeting, but early renderings (at left, above) indicate the projects will be in keeping with the designer's minimalist, contemporary style.

The project is being designed by New York and Mexico-based TEN Arquitectos, (for Taller de Enrique Norten) and will add 10,000 s.f. of ground floor retail to the street.

Enrique Norten, lead designer on the West End project, started TEN Arquitectos in Mexico City in 1986 designing small, modern single-family homes. The firm has now swelled to an international presence, though still with a predominantly Mexican portfolio, and seeks to "straddle the line between Mexican and New York sensibilities," says a spokesman, who says Norton creates for a "very minimalist aesthetic." The architect has received attention for his redesign of federal buildings throughout Mexico as well as several high profile projects in New York City.

Completed projects and proposals bear that out, with designs that encompass simple, angular and monument- style towers with expansive footprints as well as diminutive rectangular buildings in more clustered urban spaces, most of which reject the graph paper effect of even lines and flat facades in favor of broken, asymmetrical contours and surfaces. (see visuals: Harlem Park in NYC above left, James Hotel in Los Angeles, above right, Mercedes House in NYC below 1, Chopo Museum Mexico, below 2, New York library below 3, Reforma in Mexico, below 4)

Sean Stadler, Principal of WDG Architecture which was chosen as the architect of record to execute the designs, says Eastbanc's choice of Norten demonstrates Eastbanc's commitment to "trying to assert good architecture into the community." Says Stadler, "they approach development not just from a dollars and sense position. I think that TEN Arquitectos is thinking with a much more global eye on architecture than DC tends to, and I think that's part of the strategy that Eastbanc has had in the past." Citing Eastbanc's other accomplishments at 22 West and Ritz Carlton Georgetown (a former power plant), Stadler credits Eastbanc with the transformative effect of well executed project. "If you look at the old power plant in Georgetown, its really made it a much more personable place."
To accomplish the LEED - possibly gold - ranking that Stadler says the team is striving for, and which Eastbanc didn't apply for on prior projects, the architect says to expect efficient glass, solar shades, exterior louvers, a green roof, and the latest wastewater management strategies. Noting the "strategy in this project in reducing our carbon footprint," Stadler calls the mostly glass, louvered shell "a much more efficient vehicle to stop heat from entering the building. Its not an eyebrow, but a more European approach, an operable full louver, somewhat like a blind on the exterior." According to Stadler, the exterior blinds block heat before it enters the building, in contrast to interior blinds, but also "visually adds texture and depth to the facade."

Eastbanc's Joe Sternlieb says the April 25th unveiling will be just the end of a years-long roadshow, acclimating the public and seeking input that has honed the design. "We tend to do alot of community meetings before we file...we've had over 60 community meetings so far over last 4 years, and retooled project many times based on community feedback." Sternlieb says he hopes to file the PUD application with the zoning forces in the first week of May, in conformance with milestones dictated by the District government, though he declines to set a timeline for construction, saying only that construction could begin within a year of zoning approval, or late 2012, at best. Only the library-police site is subject to zoning review, with the fire station "within the zoning envelope." LeMay Erickson Willcox Architects, which has expertise in designing fire stations, is helping craft the M Street site.

While the library and fire station will be rebuilt on site, the special-operations unit will be moved elsewhere.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Monday, November 15, 2010

The Evolution of Cavemen and Castaways

12 comments
By Beth Herman


In prehistoric times,it was a means to keep warm and char that woolly mammoth (please pass the salt), and in the 2000 film “Cast Away,” Tom Hanks unabashedly called himself a god on the night he created it. But in the dense, exploding, urban atmosphere of today, a roaring fire isn’t the answer.

For Reston, Va.-based LeMay Erickson Willcox Architects, purveyors of safety design and creators of more than 50 fire and rescue facilities over three decades, the structures they build in response to the demand for fire and rescue services in expanding metropolitan areas are the real answers, and maybe in more ways than one.

The Spark

Back in 2006, when the City of Alexandria sought a redevelopment plan to revitalize Potomac Yard, a former rail yard sited in the city’s north end which for more than 100 years served as the area’s primary freight yard and extended all the way into Arlington County, the idea of mixing rescue with residents was completely unprecedented according to firm principal Paul Erickson.

“We’re not aware of any other building in the U.S. that combines an apartment structure with a fire station,” Erickson said of the prototype mixed-use design for The Station at Potomac Yard No. 9. “We believe there are one or two overseas: one in London and there might be one in South Africa, but we’re not aware of any here.”

Very much a collaborative effort where the collegiality on the project was “infectious,” Erickson was quick to emphasize, the 170,000 s.f. structure, which includes two below grade parking floors and was earmarked as both low-income and affordable housing, is the painstaking result of the efforts of legions of civil engineers, traffic consultants, historic and design review entities, fire and housing office officials, sound consultants, sustainability inspectors, a “forward thinking” general contractor–Whiting-Turner Contracting Company–and two architecture firms. “It was the best team spirit of any project I’ve been involved in since the beginning,” Erickson affirmed. “One of the distinguishing characteristics of this one was everybody sort of catching a vision of something that was unique and had never been done.” What’s more, because the City was exploring how best to manage a master redevelopment plan for the area, it wanted to make sure that if things were built, they could be protected, Erickson said, referencing the 22,500 s.f. fire station component.

Vibrations Under Fire

According to LeMay Erickson Willcox senior associate Lynn Reda, director of the firm’s public safety studio, most of the projected noise concerns had more to do with the operation of the fire station and the vibration between it and the 64 residential units above than the fear of whining sirens. “They’re not supposed to turn their sirens on until they are off the property,” Reda said, adding they are naturally traveling away from the building. To that end, acoustic technology experts Polysonics Corporation was retained, resulting in the design of a special sound-abating slab between the fire station’s ceiling and the residences above. “We were certainly concerned about vibration,” Reda said, noting that the parking garage and fire station consist largely of poured concrete while the units above are wood frame structures: the change in materials mitigating sound. Because of the station’s four pendulous 14x14-ft. bay apparatus doors (plus one more for HAZMAT trailers) that open and close several times in a 24-hour period, instead of traditional overhead doors with ceiling-mount motors that would impact the units above, the architects used “side-parting” doors. Additionally, the 1,2 and 3-bedroom residences above are arranged in a U-shape around the apparatus bays, which further attenuates sound from beneath.

Fire Walls (and roofs and floors)

Where sustainability is concerned, two different green ratings systems were applied, one to the fire station to achieve LEED Silver, with the residences submitting to EarthCraft certification. According to Reda and Erickson, EarthCraft, which is residential in nature, dispatches inspectors during construction to examine the thermal envelope and is more focused on energy conservation including appliances, for example, that have Energy Star ratings. For the building’s LEED credentials, Reda said 100 percent of the parking is below grade, considered exemplary performance from the heat island effect. The sloped red metal roof has a high SRI (solar reflective index), as does a concealed mechanical well behind it. Arriscraft block– visible at the base of the building and which provides the appearance of a heavily-rusticated stone base but is essentially veneer–is regional. Cement block, which comprises the station’s interior walls, has an inherent recycled content and wood used in doors and cabinetry is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)-certified. Occupancy sensors for lighting and occupant-controlled thermal elements are present, as is radiant heat in the floors of 15 bunk rooms. “One of the reasons we did that is because they are located above the cold, two-level parking garage and sleeping rooms need to be warm in winter,” Reda affirmed. A small municipal park sited in front along with perimeter plantings, irrigated by rainwater from garage-based cisterns that collect roof water, qualifies for green space.

Where There’s Smoke

For Erickson, whose grandfather was a firefighter (though he never knew him) in St. Paul, Minnesota, and for Reda, whose reputation for “living the job” comes from her constant immersion in firefighter training exercises and overnights at stations on out of town projects, fire and rescue station work is proverbially in their blood.

“I’ve cut open roofs, extinguished car fires, done search and rescue through smoke-filled houses,” Reda said (much in the way an actor may research a role). Because firefighters have their own culture, and characteristics of their culture may vary significantly from city to city, state to state, region to region, Erickson and Reda said it is important to understand how one city for which they are designing a facility might do things as opposed to people and factors that influenced the last project. “It’s important to be able to ask the questions that will help you design that building and not change them (the firefighters) culturally into something they don’t want to be,” Reda said.

Additionally, safety facility design has metamorphosed from the smaller, sparse, utilitarian structures of 20 and 30 years ago into the framework that needs to support escalating urban areas, as well as a changing firefighter demographic. “Back in 1979, there really weren’t any women in fire and rescue emergency services and that’s changed a lot,” Erickson reflected. “At Potomac Yard, you’ll see gender-neutral spaces that include private bunk rooms with individual restrooms consisting of a lavatory, shower and water closet.” According to Erickson, this allows for flexibility of shift and demographics. “It’s a pretty elegant solution to staffing and gender issues,” he said. With fitness paramount to employee health and morale, the architects said relatively sophisticated gym spaces with high enough ceilings to accommodate state-of-the-art equipment are encouraged in their designs, and not simply the dumb bells-in-the-basement stock of older stations.

“And from a firefighting perspective, equipment such as ambulances, engine and ladder trucks – they’ve gotten bigger and bigger and bigger,” Reda said, noting sometimes the older facilities cannot be retrofitted to accommodate them and stations must be built larger. What’s more, she cited a greater understanding of the impact of firefighting on gear itself (it costs $1,000 to suit-up a professional), and the trend in building climate-and light-controlled storage rooms to manage gear’s off-gas toxins following a fire.

On Fire Now!

Alluding to the firm’s website, Erickson said despite so many requirements there is no uniform design response for fire stations. “You’ll see some very contemporary designs, as well as those that try to take on historic characteristics and blend into an historic neighborhood,” he explained, noting that because of Rust Orling Architecture’s (the second firm involved) high standing for work within an historical context in Alexandria, fulfilling the requisites of the design review board, planning commission, town council and neighbors to develop the character of the building’s exterior was supremely achieved. The result, Erickson said, is a “Richardsonian-Romanesque kind of architecture, but done in a Virginia brick that blends the image of a civic building with the particulars of Old Town Alexandria.” In fact, among the multitude of awards the building has received is a 2007 U.S. Council of Mayors’ Award and a 2010 Craftsmanship Award.

With a project in Durham, New Hampshire and two projects in development in the District that will apply similar mixed-use principals, one where an 1895 horse-drawn pumper on Georgia Avenue will yield to affordable housing and improved emergency response with one proverbial stroke, Erickson indicated word is getting around. And with creativity extending to financing, in Alexandria some of the cost of the $23 million project was defrayed by funding sources and options that included the developer, Potomac Yard Development, contributing just over $14 million for both the fire station and residential components, plus donating the land, and by using Virginia Development Housing Authority (VDHA) tax credits.

“I think what this all really demonstrates is that you can think outside of the box,” Erickson said.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Eastbanc Wins West End

14 comments
Life is a circle, of course. To underscore that point, the District government announced today that Eastbanc won its bid to redevelop three underused properties in the West End. The D.C. government issued the RFP last July, after a contentious process in which Eastbanc had been awarded the rights to develop the land in 2007, only to have a public outcry over no-bid contracts stop the process, and give the Council a morning-after moment and, shocked at what it had done, recall the land sale to Eastbanc. That, in turn, led to the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development to issue a fair and balanced solicitation last July, which received two offers, one from an Eastbanc partnership, the other from Toll Brothers, Paramount Development and Torti Gallas. Now, two and a half years after the Council pulled the plug on Eastbanc, the city has given it the official nod to develop the three sites. To those few unfamiliar with the sites, the properties include the West End Library, fire station, and special operations police unit, all low-rise relics in a sea of pricey condominiums. EastBanc had said in its initial proposal that Square 37, the current site of the library, would sport a 20,765 s.f. ground floor library with a 10-story residence above (rendering below). Designed by Ten Arquitectos, the plans call for approximately 153 market-rate residential units on the 2nd through 10th floors, 235 parking spaces and 10,000 s.f. of ground floor retail. LeMay Erickson Wilcox Architects will be the architects for the fire station and WDG Architecture will be the architect of record. Eastbanc's designs for Square 50 - the fire station - include a replacement fire station and mezzanine with 52 affordable residential units on the 2nd through 4th floors. Eastbanc's Anthony Lanier predicted a renaissance, thanks to the $150 million project, saying "we want to make a community...not just a street with 10-story buildings." Asked about how the new plans differed from those he proposed more than 2 years ago, which could possibly have been built by now, Lanier responded "not much." Eastbanc had earlier said it "can and would build a supermarket on site if the community and city united to support it," but has voiced skepticism about the need for one. The Toll Brother's plan for the library called for 48,000 s.f. of retail, including a 40,000 s.f. grocery store. The library would remain in place; 21,300 s.f. on two levels. To top it off, the building would have been LEED Silver and would have included as many as 220 residential condos. The group did not submit a plan for the site of the fire station. Eastbanc's partners on the project also include the Warrenton Group, Dantes Partners, TEN Arquitectos, and WDG Architecture. Eastbanc also recently won the rights to develop a highly visible Capitol Hill property late last year. Deputy Mayor Valerie Santos said the District would work hard to "ensure what has been proposed moves forward as quickly as possible." Mayor Adrian Fenty added that he expects groundbreaking for the project "at the end of 2012, at the very latest." Washington, DC real estate development news
 

DCmud - The Urban Real Estate Digest of Washington DC Copyright © 2008 Black Brown Pop Template by Ipiet's Blogger Template