All these developments are expected to be complete by 2020 in Washington, D.C. There are dozens more of these types of developments planned for the City in the coming years, but these are the largest either by total square footage or estimated cost.

To illustrate the dramatic turn-around in D.C. investment, in 1996, there were no new residential units authorized to be built in the City in that year. Now, there are thousands upon thousands of residential units authorized each and every year to be built.

All information below is taken from the development database of the Washington, DC Economic Partnership and verifiable at: http://www.wdcep.com/development/index.php

Arbor Place
Location: New York Avenue & Bladensurg Road, NE; Ward 5
Total Square Footage: 3.5 million
Estimated Cost: $1.1 billion
Developer(s): Abdo Development, Broadway Management
Arbor Place is a 17-acre site that is planned to contain approx. 3,500 residential units, 200,000 square feet of retail, and over 3 acres of open space. The first phase is planned to be completed by 2009.


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/184/447577786_c52f558613_o.jpg
Rendering of The Yards

The Yards
Location: New Jersey Avenue & M Street, SE; Ward 6
Total Square Footage: 3.2 million
Estimated Cost: $1.5 billion
Developer(s): Forest City Washington, PN Hoffman
The Yards is a 42-acre site that is planned to contain 2,700 residential units, 1.8 million square feet of office space, and 250,000 square feet of retail space. The first phase is projected to be delivered by 2009.


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/239/447577748_1afa15f270_o.jpg
Rendering of City Center

City Center
Location: 900 9th Street, NW; Ward 2
Total Square Footage: 1.4 million
Estimated Cost: $650 million
Developer(s): Hines, Archstone-Smith, The Georgetown Company
Current plans for this 10.2 acre-site call for a total of nine new buildings in Penn Quarter and will include 686 apartments and condos, 450,000 square feet of office space, 280,000 square feet of retail, and 1,700 parking spaces. There is additional space on this site that is awaiting master plan approval and may include a new DC central library in addition to development on the Gould-owned portion of this site.

Parkside
Location: Kenilworh Avenue & Hayes Street, NE; Ward 7
Total Square Footage: 3.1 million
Estimated Cost: $400 million
Developer(s): Bank of America CDC, Lano International, Marshall Heights CDO
Parkside s a 26-acre site that is planned to include 1,500 residential units, 30,000 square feet of retail, 500,000 square feet of office space, and a one-acre park. The first phase is planned to be completed by 2009.


Buzzard Point
Location: 1st & T Streets, SW; Ward 6
Total Square Footage: 2.7 million
Estimated Cost: $700 million
Developer: Akridge
Initial plans for Buzzard Point call for 1.1 million square feet of office space and 1,600 residential units. Buzzard point is a 9-acre site.


New Town at the Capital City Market
Location: 4th Street & Florida Avenue, NE; Ward 5
Total Square Footage: 3.2 million
Estimated Cost: $1.2 billion
Developer(s): FLGA LLC Real Estate Group, Sang Oh & Company Inc
New Town is a 24-acre development that is planned to include 1,450 residential units, 448,890 square feet of retail, a hotel, a 570,000 wholesale/distribution facility, office space, a library, and 2000 parking spaces.


Poplar Point
Location: Poplar Point; Ward 8
Total Square Footage: 1.7 million
Estimated Cost: $300 million
Developer(s): Anacostia Waterfront Corp.
Poplar Point, a 100-acre site is planned to include a new soccer stadium for DC United, aa 500-room hotel and conference center, approx. 1,400 (possibly much more) residential units, and a 70-acre public park.


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/169/447577780_8f3db52a51_o.jpg
Rendering of Burnham Place at Union Station

Burnham Place at Union Station
Location: 100 Columbus Circle, NE; Ward 6
Total Square Footage: 3 million
Estimated Cost: $700 million
Developer(s): Akridge, Leucadia
Burnham Place is to be built above the existing rail yard directly north of Union Station on a platform deck built above and across the tracks. Plans also call for a new rail passenger concourse, a new transportation center, and a pedestrian galleria. Burnham Place is planned to include 1.5 million square feet of office space, 1,300 residential units, 240,000 square feet of retail, and a hotel.


Fort Totten Metro Station Development
Location: Fort Totten Metro Station; Ward 5
Total Square Footage: 605,000 square feet
Estimated Cost: $325 million
Developer: Cafritz Company
This development is planned to include 1,000 affordable apartments and 52,000 square feet of retail space.


Armed Forces Retirement Home
Location: Irving & North Capitol Streets, NW; Ward 5
Total Square Footage: 5.3 million
Developer: Crescent Resources
This development calls for 3,300 residential units, office space, and retail on 77-acres of land on the Retirement Home. At a later time, another 40-acres may be made available for even more development. This is now the largest development planned in the District of Columbia.

I'm going to try to post all projects planned and proposed that are 300 million dollars or more. Most of them don't have renderings though.

Another thing encouraging is the location of many of these projects. A nice portion are on the east side of the city.

Oh, that is an excellent project, NovaWolverine. Ever since joining this forum, I haven't quite understood why there isn't more discussion about D.C. The development in D.C. easily trumps other cities all across the U.S., but hardly anyone is talking. We have $51 billion of development going on in D.C. alone - and we have the 3rd largest office market in the country. That represents a lot of new buildings, projects, parks, transit, and other things to talk about. What I have seen is many posters engaging in my city is better than your city posts without a whole lot of facts and statistics to back it up.

Oh, that is an excellent project, NovaWolverine. Ever since joining this forum, I haven't quite understood why there isn't more discussion about D.C.
I agree wholeheartedly. The District is the raison d'etre for the suburbs and is definitely a hotbed of construction activity. Whole neighborhoods are being replaced by cutting edge office complexes, but nobody seems to notice...probably because few of us actually live in the city.

I was shocked by how many cranes I could see in Northeast from atop the Post Office Pavilion.

I agree wholeheartedly. The District is the raison d'etre for the suburbs and is definitely a hotbed of construction activity. Whole neighborhoods are being replaced by cutting edge office complexes, but nobody seems to notice...probably because few of us actually live in the city.

I was shocked by how many cranes I could see in Northeast from atop the Post Office Pavilion.

If you look east from the New York Ave metro station, I counted seven cranes and two smaller buildings going up right next to the tracks.

As of August 2006, the Washington, DC Economic Partnership counted 33 construction cranes operating in the City at that time and on any given day. The number should be a lot more now since development activity has actually increased since then.

I've been hearing the condo market may be (or has been) recently over-built. I also seem to recall sales price stagnation or drops in DC. Is this true? Is this the metro area and not the District. It wouldn't seem wise to accelerate the development if this is true.

Nate

The increase in development for D.C. proper is a combination of the condo, apartment, office, retail, and cultural/entertainment building.

A lot of the development is multi-use. Additionally, some projects are mixed with condos and apartments. There have been some projects that have converted from condo to apartment during the construction phase. Some of the condo projects that have not broken ground yet are moving forward as apartments or a mix of condos and apartments on the same property.

The Class A and Class B apartment vacancy rate as of December 2006 for the city of Washington is around 2 percent. This statistic is from Delta Associates.

Previous to the boom in development in D.C, when studies on our area were done, it mentioned the Washington, DC area as mostly one unit. Moving forward, the condo and apartment markets in the D.C. area submarkets are actually quite different. There has been significant overbuilding in the D.C. area's outer suburbs. However, this does not include the conditions in the city proper. Similarly, the inner suburbs have their own market conditions. When people say there has been overbuilding in the D.C. area, it is partially true and partially not true because the various submarkets in our region have different conditions.

As reported in February 2007 in one of the Washington Business Journal newspapers, titled "Home sales show hint of making comebacks in D.C." it states that sales volume increased in D.C. and an area of Northern Virginia during February of 2007. Sales activity increased by more than 15 percent in D.C. proper, while sales volume increased 7 percent in Arlington and Fairfax County.

To address the price stagnation / drop, at the same time that D.C. proper recorded the 15 percent increase in sales volume, prices dropped by 2.7 percent during the same period. (Good for buyers who intend to live in the home for the long term, not investors / speculators - which is also good for stabilizing the market). It is forecast for prices to rise again very shorty, just not at the levels of 2003 through 2005.

So, D.C. proper is now on the map as a legitimate housing expansion jurisdiction, and it is like a ripple effect. The largest increase in sales volume happens in the central city first and then ripples out to the inner suburbs second, then on to the outer suburbs third. Sales volume dropped in the outer suburbs by 30 percent in February 2007 (Prince William County), Prince Georges County recorded a 24 percent drop in sales volume in February 2007. So, you see, market conditions are quite different all over this region. The increase in sales volume won't get out to Loudoun and Prince Williams Counties for quite some time.

Of course, these dynamics are all different now because from about 1960 to 2000, the resounding majority of the housing activity in the D.C. region was around the central city, but not in it. That has now changed.

Some have a hard time believing me, but I am putting my neck on the line when I state that people will be very surprised when the Census 2010 population report comes out.

The increase in development for D.C. proper is a combination of the condo, apartment, office, retail, and cultural/entertainment building.

A lot of the development is multi-use. Additionally, some projects are mixed with condos and apartments. There have been some projects that have converted from condo to apartment during the construction phase. Some of the condo projects that have not broken ground yet are moving forward as apartments or a mix of condos and apartments on the same property.

The Class A and Class B apartment vacancy rate as of December 2006 for the city of Washington is around 2 percent. This statistic is from Delta Associates.

Previous to the boom in development in D.C, when studies on our area were done, it mentioned the Washington, DC area as mostly one unit. Moving forward, the condo and apartment markets in the D.C. area submarkets are actually quite different. There has been significant overbuilding in the D.C. area's outer suburbs. However, this does not include the conditions in the city proper. Similarly, the inner suburbs have their own market conditions. When people say there has been overbuilding in the D.C. area, it is partially true and partially not true because the various submarkets in our region have different conditions.

As reported in February 2007 in one of the Washington Business Journal newspapers, titled "Home sales show hint of making comebacks in D.C." it states that sales volume increased in D.C. and an area of Northern Virginia during February of 2007. Sales activity increased by more than 15 percent in D.C. proper, while sales volume increased 7 percent in Arlington and Fairfax County.

To address the price stagnation / drop, at the same time that D.C. proper recorded the 15 percent increase in sales volume, prices dropped by 2.7 percent during the same period. (Good for buyers who intend to live in the home for the long term, not investors / speculators - which is also good for stabilizing the market). It is forecast for prices to rise again very shorty, just not at the levels of 2003 through 2005.

So, D.C. proper is now on the map as a legitimate housing expansion jurisdiction, and it is like a ripple effect. The largest increase in sales volume happens in the central city first and then ripples out to the inner suburbs second, then on to the outer suburbs third. Sales volume dropped in the outer suburbs by 30 percent in February 2007 (Prince William County), Prince Georges County recorded a 24 percent drop in sales volume in February 2007. So, you see, market conditions are quite different all over this region. The increase in sales volume won't get out to Loudoun and Prince Williams Counties for quite some time.

Of course, these dynamics are all different now because from about 1960 to 2000, the resounding majority of the housing activity in the D.C. region was around the central city, but not in it. That has now changed.

Some have a hard time believing me, but I am putting my neck on the line when I state that people will be very surprised when the Census 2010 population report comes out.

You’re painting a one sided picture and looking at one month isn’t going to tell you anything.

You’re painting a one sided picture and looking at one month isn’t going to tell you anything.

Thanks for your comment. Well, at least it does tell that activity in our region is not uniform. And, our region's housing slide has not been as extreme in other parts of the country due to the strong economy here and more jobs being added.

I'm looking at the chart right now, and for the full-year 2006 chart, total units sold was much more stable over the entire year in D.C. versus Maryland and Virginia with a drop off in October 2006 with a big spike up in January of 2007. On the other hand, average sell price was much more uniform in Maryland versus D.C. or Nothern Virginia.

I've been hearing the condo market may be (or has been) recently over-built. I also seem to recall sales price stagnation or drops in DC. Is this true? Is this the metro area and not the District. It wouldn't seem wise to accelerate the development if this is true.

Nate

The market is saturated w/ high end units, but jobs are still being created and the unemployment rate is still very low. More supply is a good thing and will send prices down so more people can afford to live here.

Well, if hyper-expensive DC can get more affordable units for condos, why can't Baltimore? There's plenty of people like me who make a municipal wage who can't even afford a house in Baltimore that doesn't need tens of $1000s worth of work or isn't in the WORST sections.

We've at least got height here to amoritize costs to build. I mean how hard can it be to build a condo buiding with units of 500 SF and have it cost $100,000 each? If you build 12-15 (or more) stories on a 0.3-0.5 acre lot, I would think this would be feasible.

What am I missing here? Is it just parking requirements (desires/needs) fouling it up?

Nate

nm

Hey Nate,

DC is also in a crisis for affordable housing, but it could have been a lot worse if they had not started acting a couple of years ago. I can feel your pain though. It is not easy. A believe a lot of it has to do with high land costs for these developers. They are paying some big money for these vacant lots and such. They are trying to make a return on their investment.

Have you looked on the www.maryland.gov website yet? I am not so familiar with Baltimore, but I just looked at a few resources on there. They have some state-owned homes for sale on there. Have you seen that before?

http://www.dhcd.state.md.us/Website/programs/reo/reo.aspx

I know in DC that they have a multitude of programs for affordable housing and workforce housing, and these units go quickly. D.C. has financed I think over 14,000 units of affordable housing since 2000, and those programs are really ramping up these days.

I looked at Baltimore, but I could not find many resources at first glance. There is some value in buying a house and fixing it up. But, I know it is not for everyone, and it is risky.

That is how so many D.C. neighbourhoods have been revitalized over the last 6 years. People bought up houses in distressed neighbourhoods and fixed them up. Now, they are reaping the benefits of a return on their investment, safer neighbourhoods, and the benefit of living in the City.

Take a look at www.maryland.gov again. You may have already done this.

^The problem is that, even in Baltimore now, many cannot afford to buy a house and pay the mortgage and fix it up, too.

I work for City Rec and Parks, make a modest salary. Five years ago, had I had a full time job, I could have easily afforded many a Baltimore homes. Now, there out of reach.

I'm looking at a 3 house long townhouse apartment to condo renovation and conversion on Charles St in Mt. Vernon. The cheapest unit and the one I'm looking at is $125,000. It's 320 SF. In theory, I could afford the mortgage, but I'd be broke of contingency and disposable income. I guess it's best to stick to renting. I wouldn't mind how things are playing out up here if our business development were on fire, but it's not. It's simply coasting along. DC and the rest of the East Coast are driving the market wild.

Density is the key to affordability. (Non-urban thinking people are totally lost on the concept of higher density as good--it's a lost cause until they experience it regularly). It just seems one could build a lot of well-constructed affordable housing if one builds enough units per land area.

At a rather long glance, 500 SF at $100,000 would be like 2000 SF and $400,000 for a 2 story Daylight rowhouse. It doesn't cost nearly that much to build a 2 story Daylight rowhouse in most locations (save probably 2/3rds the District), so why can't one build my above condo scenario? The cost per foot should be lower for the condo, since one's building a scale economy--but it's the reverse. Sure, individual units within a building that are smaller will be more expensive per SF than larger ones (like mayo at the supermarket), but between large scale buildings and 2 story rowhouses, units of equivalent size should be cheaper in the condo, no?

I don't mean to derail the thread here. It appears land in DC is too expensive to build rowhouses. I haven't really been hearing of any late. Is this correct? So the cost of mid/high-rise condo buildings has been of interest lately.

Nate

Wow $51 billion is a lot of investment for an already dense city, with height limitations. But yeah, if I'm on the New York Ave bridge, I can easily see almost a dozen if not more cranes (including those near the baseball stadium). Parking lots are going underground or disappearing underneath all this development.

That City Center rendering looks good, and I think a new MLK library with be a welcome asset for a project like that. Maybe they can throw a dozen or so chess tables down there as well.

Hey Nate,

Thanks for the comments. I enjoyed reading your thoughts. There are a couple of new rowhouse developments in DC actually. Their is land being developed right now from a former public housing project. They are replacing every low-income housing unit and dispersing them throughout a new mixed-income neighbourhood called Capitol Quarter somewhat near the new baseball stadium going up.

The entire project contains over 1,600 units, and a percentage of those will be rowhouses. There will be almost 100 workforce rate housing there for purchase, 707 public housing rental units, and 525affordable rental units. Each one of these has a preset range of the income a person or family must have to qualify. And, there also will be market-rate rowhouses here.

http://www.jdland.com/dc/capper.cfm?tab=no2

There are similiar developments like this in NE and SE DC, a lot of which even contain single-family detached and attached housing. The DC Government is subsidizing a lot of the units for new mixed-income neighbourhoods.

Like I said, DC has financed over 14,000 affordable units of varying types since 2000 and thousands more in the pipeline.

But you are right, for the most part, most of the new development will have to be denser and put in mid-rise buildings.

I hope you find something in Baltimore.