Silver Springer
February 7th, 2007, 02:42 PM
JBG seeks dense zoning for Glenmont Metro plan
by Sonny Goldreich | Special to The Gazette
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Developer JBG Cos. of Chevy Chase is close to acquiring Privacy World in Glenmont, a 1960s garden apartment complex next to the last stop on the eastern leg of the Metro Red Line, where the company plans to build a dense mix of retail and housing that would revitalize the neighborhood.
The company has struck a deal with owner Greg Eisenstadt and is proceeding under a right-of-business agreement to line up regulatory approval for the project, which would be on 30.8 acres at the corner of Georgia and Glenallen avenues, immediately north of the subway stop. Eventually, the 352-unit apartment complex would be replaced by 90,000 square feet of retail space and 1,550 residential units, under an application for transit station zoning to be considered Feb. 12 by the Montgomery County Planning Board Development Review Committee.
That’s the same zoning designation planners use to review projects surrounding the Silver Spring and Bethesda Metro stations. The project is the latest example of JBG’s development of property near subway stops throughout the Washington region. The company has been active in Virginia’s Rosslyn-to-Ballston corridor and has invested heavily near the Twinbrook and Silver Spring stations.
But JBG managing partner Brian Coulter said it wouldn’t be appropriate to compare those areas with the much smaller development plans in Glenmont. He said the mixed-use project will be ‘‘sensitive to the neighborhood but at the same time create services that can be shared by the entire community.”
The development likely will include a mix of rental and condominium units, plus 250 townhouses, with a 12.5 percent set-aside for affordable housing, said project manager Pete Jervey.
Construction likely won’t start until 2010 and the build-out could take 15 years.
The development, which might include an upscale grocery and restaurant, should come as welcome news to many in Glenmont, which has not seen any major development since the Metro stop opened in 1998. However, county and Metro planners already are wrestling with loud complaints from some of the station’s immediate neighbors who oppose plans for a new garage on the west side of Georgia Avenue.
‘‘Something good and upscale is needed in that whole little area around the Metro, which has suffered from crime and lack of maintenance and upkeep,” Jervey said. ‘‘It would be good if there were services and people on the streets seven days a week and 24 hours a day.”
Other developers also are pouring money into the neighborhood, including Winchester Homes, which plans to build 700 homes on the site of Indian Spring Country Club. In the past few years, the Glenmont Shopping Center, a strip mall immediately north of the Metro station, has seen some revitalization, with the opening of a Shoppers Food Warehouse grocery, where a Hechinger’s once stood, and a Staples office products store that replaced a Magruder’s grocery.
JBG sees Glenmont as fertile ground for development as a small hub of services and amenities.
‘‘As a company, we are big believers in transit-oriented development,” Coulter said. ‘‘Some mix of uses is something we think makes the whole project better as opposed to a single use.”
Such development has the potential to transform a neighborhood, he said.
‘‘Mixed-use can create opportunities to open up an area more than it has been in the past,” Coulter said. ‘‘This is the perfect example. Privacy World doesn’t sound too inviting.”
JBG has won praise for its Twinbrook Commons project, which includes a 350,000-square-foot, 13-story office building and condominium tower next to the Twinbrook Metro stop. In Silver Spring, the company also is building the Silverton Condominium, converting the Art Deco Canada Dry building into 210 innovative condominiums. JBG is also developing Silver Spring Gateway next door, a 6-acre, mixed-use project that will include more than 20,000 square feet of retail and 460 apartments on East West Highway.
Shulman Rogersmoving to Park Potomac
Law firm Shulman, Rogers, Gandel, Pordy & Ecker plans to move to Park Potomac, a new building in Rockville that Foulger-Pratt of Rockville will build.
The firm will take 65,000 square feet of the 175,000-square-foot building on Park Potomac Avenue near Interstate 270.
‘‘If they build it, we will come,” said managing partner David Pordy of Shulman, Rogers, which has been on Rockville Pike for several years. ‘‘We’re really excited about moving.”
Foulger-Pratt plans to start construction by the end of this year, in time for Shulman, Rogers to move in August 2009. The building is part of the second phase of Potomac Park, after construction was completed last year on a 425-unit condominium building. Another residential building is slated to open in this year, the second of six that are planned. Foulger-Pratt also has proposed a mixed-use development that will include a hotel and retail space.
Minshall Stewart to develop$41M property in the District
Minshall Stewart Properties of Bethesda is seeking zoning approval to expand and redevelop a 99,916-square-foot office building it bought in Washington’s downtown business district.
The 36-year-old property, at 2175 K St. NW, was sold by Kevin F. Donohoe Co. of Philadelphia for $41 million, according to leasing agent Don Konz of Donohoe Real Estate Services. Expansion plans call for adding two or three stories of office space, he said.
RLJ Lodging buysNew York Marriott for $69M
RLJ Lodging Fund II LP, an affiliate of RLJ Development of Bethesda, has acquired the 438-room New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott from LaSalle Hotel Properties of Bethesda for $69 million.
The acquisition marks RLJ’s entrance into the New York City lodging market and RLJ Fund II plans to spend $11.5 million to renovate the hotel, according to RLJ Development information.
Commercial real estate news items may be mailed to: Steve Monroe, The Business Gazette, 1200 Quince Orchard Blvd., Gaithersburg, MD 20878;e-mailed to smonroe@gazette.net; or faxed to 301-670-7183.
by Sonny Goldreich | Special to The Gazette
E-mail this article \ Print this article
Developer JBG Cos. of Chevy Chase is close to acquiring Privacy World in Glenmont, a 1960s garden apartment complex next to the last stop on the eastern leg of the Metro Red Line, where the company plans to build a dense mix of retail and housing that would revitalize the neighborhood.
The company has struck a deal with owner Greg Eisenstadt and is proceeding under a right-of-business agreement to line up regulatory approval for the project, which would be on 30.8 acres at the corner of Georgia and Glenallen avenues, immediately north of the subway stop. Eventually, the 352-unit apartment complex would be replaced by 90,000 square feet of retail space and 1,550 residential units, under an application for transit station zoning to be considered Feb. 12 by the Montgomery County Planning Board Development Review Committee.
That’s the same zoning designation planners use to review projects surrounding the Silver Spring and Bethesda Metro stations. The project is the latest example of JBG’s development of property near subway stops throughout the Washington region. The company has been active in Virginia’s Rosslyn-to-Ballston corridor and has invested heavily near the Twinbrook and Silver Spring stations.
But JBG managing partner Brian Coulter said it wouldn’t be appropriate to compare those areas with the much smaller development plans in Glenmont. He said the mixed-use project will be ‘‘sensitive to the neighborhood but at the same time create services that can be shared by the entire community.”
The development likely will include a mix of rental and condominium units, plus 250 townhouses, with a 12.5 percent set-aside for affordable housing, said project manager Pete Jervey.
Construction likely won’t start until 2010 and the build-out could take 15 years.
The development, which might include an upscale grocery and restaurant, should come as welcome news to many in Glenmont, which has not seen any major development since the Metro stop opened in 1998. However, county and Metro planners already are wrestling with loud complaints from some of the station’s immediate neighbors who oppose plans for a new garage on the west side of Georgia Avenue.
‘‘Something good and upscale is needed in that whole little area around the Metro, which has suffered from crime and lack of maintenance and upkeep,” Jervey said. ‘‘It would be good if there were services and people on the streets seven days a week and 24 hours a day.”
Other developers also are pouring money into the neighborhood, including Winchester Homes, which plans to build 700 homes on the site of Indian Spring Country Club. In the past few years, the Glenmont Shopping Center, a strip mall immediately north of the Metro station, has seen some revitalization, with the opening of a Shoppers Food Warehouse grocery, where a Hechinger’s once stood, and a Staples office products store that replaced a Magruder’s grocery.
JBG sees Glenmont as fertile ground for development as a small hub of services and amenities.
‘‘As a company, we are big believers in transit-oriented development,” Coulter said. ‘‘Some mix of uses is something we think makes the whole project better as opposed to a single use.”
Such development has the potential to transform a neighborhood, he said.
‘‘Mixed-use can create opportunities to open up an area more than it has been in the past,” Coulter said. ‘‘This is the perfect example. Privacy World doesn’t sound too inviting.”
JBG has won praise for its Twinbrook Commons project, which includes a 350,000-square-foot, 13-story office building and condominium tower next to the Twinbrook Metro stop. In Silver Spring, the company also is building the Silverton Condominium, converting the Art Deco Canada Dry building into 210 innovative condominiums. JBG is also developing Silver Spring Gateway next door, a 6-acre, mixed-use project that will include more than 20,000 square feet of retail and 460 apartments on East West Highway.
Shulman Rogersmoving to Park Potomac
Law firm Shulman, Rogers, Gandel, Pordy & Ecker plans to move to Park Potomac, a new building in Rockville that Foulger-Pratt of Rockville will build.
The firm will take 65,000 square feet of the 175,000-square-foot building on Park Potomac Avenue near Interstate 270.
‘‘If they build it, we will come,” said managing partner David Pordy of Shulman, Rogers, which has been on Rockville Pike for several years. ‘‘We’re really excited about moving.”
Foulger-Pratt plans to start construction by the end of this year, in time for Shulman, Rogers to move in August 2009. The building is part of the second phase of Potomac Park, after construction was completed last year on a 425-unit condominium building. Another residential building is slated to open in this year, the second of six that are planned. Foulger-Pratt also has proposed a mixed-use development that will include a hotel and retail space.
Minshall Stewart to develop$41M property in the District
Minshall Stewart Properties of Bethesda is seeking zoning approval to expand and redevelop a 99,916-square-foot office building it bought in Washington’s downtown business district.
The 36-year-old property, at 2175 K St. NW, was sold by Kevin F. Donohoe Co. of Philadelphia for $41 million, according to leasing agent Don Konz of Donohoe Real Estate Services. Expansion plans call for adding two or three stories of office space, he said.
RLJ Lodging buysNew York Marriott for $69M
RLJ Lodging Fund II LP, an affiliate of RLJ Development of Bethesda, has acquired the 438-room New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott from LaSalle Hotel Properties of Bethesda for $69 million.
The acquisition marks RLJ’s entrance into the New York City lodging market and RLJ Fund II plans to spend $11.5 million to renovate the hotel, according to RLJ Development information.
Commercial real estate news items may be mailed to: Steve Monroe, The Business Gazette, 1200 Quince Orchard Blvd., Gaithersburg, MD 20878;e-mailed to smonroe@gazette.net; or faxed to 301-670-7183.