Washington D.C. Development News

[desertpunk]

Georgia Ave Housing Redevelopment Moving Forward

A city plan to overhaul a DC affordable housing neighborhood on Georgia Avenue, called Park Morton, is moving forward and the city will unveil its first apartment building on Friday.


Workers put finishing touches on The Avenue on Thursday

"The Avenue at Park Morton" is an 83-unit mixed-use apartment building located at 3506 Georgia Avenue NW. City officials will gather to celebrate its grand opening Friday from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Completion of the building is a mile-marker for "The Park Morton New Communities Initiative", which has realized only a small part of its potential. The $170 million initiative was established under then DC mayor Anthony Williams to replace an aging public housing complex on Georgia Avenue. The initiative is a collaboration between the District's Housing Authority (DCHA), which owns and manages the complex, and the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.


Image courtesy Wiencek + Associates

The old Park Morton housing has 17 apartment buildings. In a report on the overhaul initiative and the old Park Morton housing, the city notes "the site consists of suburban-style apartment buildings and incorporates design elements that tend to foster criminal activity."

In 2008, then-Mayor Adrian Fenty sent out a Request For Proposals for developing in the project in 2008, promising that no former residents of the complex would be displaced; the building broke ground in 2010. The overall plan calls for 317 market-rate housing units, 206 affordable housing units, a 10,000 square foot park, and a new community center with green designs throughout.

[desertpunk]

DC Zoning Commisssion postpones Decision On Hines Development

Requests more information on loading docks, sanitation issues.

[desertpunk]

EastBanc's West End Project Encounters More Legal Hurdles

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.

[desertpunk]

MRP Breaks Ground On Washington Gateway

Earth movers arrived at the Washington Gateway site in NoMa several weeks ago, signaling the imminent groundbreaking of the $360 million Washington Gateway, and now MRP Realty officials have acknowledged that construction is in fact beginning on the mixed-use project. A groundbreaking ceremony will be announced shortly.

In February 2012, DCMud reported that MRP had moved equipment to the site for preliminary work, but nothing substantial followed. Now, officials say that construction is beginning on a 14-story, 400-unit apartment building at 100 Florida Ave., NE. The promotional material states that the building will feature a "brick and metal panel exterior with floor-to-ceiling glass at the prominent corners." The residential building will be the first of several phases that will eventually include an office component. SK&I designed the building, Davis Construction is the general contractor.

An important component in the growth of NoMa neighborhood, Washington Gateway is bordered by the intersections of New York and Florida Avenues to the west and the Metropolitan Branch trail to the east. It is also situated one block from the New York Avenue Metro Station and neighborhood amenities including Harris Teeter.



Washington Gateway will join Archstone's First and M 469 luxury apartments and Mill Creek's Trilogy NoMA project (pictured, above) which includes 603 units, just to name a few of the "3,500 residential units delivered or under construction."

Update: Developers say the project will be in 3 phases, with 2 and 3 being office buildings. The project will break ground Sept. 12.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

[desertpunk]

Two Megabuildings Downtown in Pipeline for Gould

On the edge of the Mount Vernon Square, where some of the last vacant lots in the downtown core still exist, plans for more office buildings are heating up. One developer with a stake in the zone is Gould Property Company. Gould has plans to build two oversized office buildings - a 380,000 s.f. office building at 600 Massachusetts Avenue and a 620,000 s.f. office building at 900 New York Avenue. While both await tenants before construction will begin, sources say designs are done and waiting on the right tenant.

Gould's "Z"-shaped parcel - nearly half the block at the corner of 6th Street and Massachusetts Avenue, was designed by Core Architecture + Design, also architect on the completed Gould project Market Square North. The building's plan calls for 10 floors with ground floor retail. In 2006, the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) first gave approval to the developer's concept to move two row houses it owns, 621 and 623 Eye Street, built in 1852, next to a cluster of other row houses on the southeast corner of the lot. It also approved Gould's plans to demolish a row house at 627 Eye St. to make way for the building, and demolition has already taken place. After the HPRB put its stamp on the demolition, a Mayor's Agent gave a final necessary nod to the plan in 2007.


Gould Property's 600 Mass Ave. - Rendering courtesy CORE

The design has also passed the Chinatown design review process necessary for buildings in the neighborhood.



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The 600 Mass Ave project is not the only building in the pipeline for Gould. The developer is also behind plans to develop a portion of the old Convention Center Site at 900 New York Ave. The building is part of an $850 million dollar mixed-use CityCenterDC which started construction last year. Hines and Archstone are developing most of the CityCenterDC master plan, which calls for condos, office buildings, apartments, and retail, replacing the 10 acres that were left empty after demolition of the old convention center in 2004.

For CityCenterDC, Gould is planning a 12-story building designed by Pickard Chilton Architects. The design includes a center atrium that reaches the full height of the building's 12 floors. The atrium is covered with a "unique free standing" glass roof supported by v-shaped columns. Renderings also call for lushly planted rooftop terraces, nine-foot ceilings, and ground floor retail.




900 New York Ave. - Rendering Pickard Chilton website

Gould, run by real estate scion Kingdon Gould, obtained the site from the city in exchange for a parcel it owned 9th Street NW, which the city needed to make room for a 1,175 room Marriott Marquis through a 99-year lease agreement.

Gould is also behind plans with Vornado Realty for a massive redevelopment of Rosslyn Plaza that would replace six buildings with four new ones to include hundreds of new residential units, as well as hotel space.

[desertpunk]

Construction Work Begins on Giant Supermarket, Cathedral Commons

Initial construction work has begun on the Giant Supermarket site at 3336 Wisconsin Avenue, a 4-acre site that will be redeveloped into a mixed-use community known as Cathedral Commons. The $130 million project has been more than a decade in the making, and will create a new, larger Giant as well as 137 apartment units, 8 townhouses, and a concourse with 125,000 s.f. of street front retail space.

Giant had been fighting a devoted neighborhood opposition group for years, but scored some decisive legal victories in 2011 and obtained financial partner Bozzuto Group to give the project the final kick needed to start development. While no formal announcement was issued by the team, partners in the project have been saying for weeks that construction would be imminent, and construction crews began erecting fences Monday afternoon.

[Topher51]

Originally Posted by desertpunk

Completed: 800 N. Glebe



all: http://dcmud.blogspot.com/2012/09/to...0-n-glebe.html

I really like the low canopy on this building. A nice tip of the cap to it's past.

[desertpunk]

Originally Posted by Topher51

I really like the low canopy on this building. A nice tip of the cap to it's past.

Yeah what a pleasant surprise! It gives me hope that someday the bland 'Washington box' will finally die a death! ( NOT holding my breath )

[NovaWolverine]

That building is in Arlington. There are less bland boxes in Arlington, but more bland brick condos.

[desertpunk]

Capitol Square Breaking Ground Soon

[desertpunk]

Arts At 5th And I Finally Moving Forward

At a Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association meeting last night, a Donohoe Companies representative explained the firm’s new plans for the long, long, long awaited Arts at 5th & I project, which was initially announced back in September 2008.

The good news: the project, located just off Massachusetts Avenue at the corner of 5th and I streets NW, is apparently finally moving forward, according to its developers. The bad news: completion won't be until 2016, and the ‘arts’ element that gave the project its name has largely disappeared, and the development itself seems to have been distinctly scaled back from earlier iterations.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Some pictures I took today of the CityCenterDC project (from the H Street side).

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 001 by exithacan, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 002 by exithacan, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 003 by exithacan, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 004 by exithacan, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 005 by exithacan, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 006 by exithacan, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 007 by exithacan, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 008 by exithacan, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 009 by exithacan, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 010 by exithacan, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 011 by exithacan, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 012 by exithacan, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

ccdc 11-23-12 013 by exithacan, on Flickr

Seems like this project sure has been going up fast.

[jcastro805]

very cool, thanks for sharing all those pics. You're right, the project seems to be going up very fast.

[jam5]

When is it scheduled to be completed? I presume sometime next spring -or next summer at the very latest.

[jam5]

Originally Posted by jam5

When is it scheduled to be completed? I presume sometime next spring -or next summer at the very latest.

---

So no one knows?

[jcastro805]

According to the website, the projected opening for City Center DC is Fall 2013.

http://www.citycenterdc.com/condominiums

[Topher51]

The Wharf

It looks like this will be getting started soon.

http://www.bizjournals.com/washingto...king-15.html?s



http://southwestquadrant.blogspot.co...velopment.html

[jcastro805]

Capital Bikeshare’s red bicycles, already ubiquitous in the District as well as Arlington County and Alexandria, are going to be spreading through D.C. in the coming months.

The District Department of Transportation announced proposed spots for 54 new Bikeshare stations that will be installed between January and March. These stations, which will be in each of the District’s eight wards, would give the District a total of 192 Bikeshare stations.

To view a map of the new station locations, follow the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...prss=rss_local

[desertpunk]

Originally Posted by Topher51

The Wharf

It looks like this will be getting started soon.

http://www.bizjournals.com/washingto...king-15.html?s



http://southwestquadrant.blogspot.co...velopment.html

Indeed!

Phase One of Southwest Waterfront Redevelopment All but Approved by Zoning Commission

Posted by Amanda Abrams on 12/11/2012



Last night, the massive redevelopment of Southwest’s waterfront inched a couple of notches closer to reality. DC’s Zoning Commission held a proposed action hearing for the project’s first phase, approving information that had been newly submitted and asking no follow-up questions.



That sets up the $1.5 billion project, technically titled The Wharf and comprising 3.2 million square feet in total, for a final action hearing next month, which at this point should largely be a formality. After that, developers PN Hoffman and Madison Marquette will be in the clear to begin applying for permits and seeking construction financing.

[...]

That means all four parcels, each of which contains one or two buildings, have been approved—“knock on wood,” said Shawn Seaman, a PN Hoffman principal and project director for the development. The team has a lot to accomplish in the next few months, and the estimated start date has been pushed back a few months from earlier predictions. “We’re looking at a groundbreaking early in the second quarter of 2013,” said Seaman.



This first phase of development will eventually bring 1.5 million square feet of retail, residential, hotel and office space to the area, along with four piers and several open spaces, including a three‐acre waterfront park. The Hoffman-Madison team sees the project as eventually matching internationally-known destinations like San Francisco's Embarcadero and Pike Place Market in Seattle.

[desertpunk]

460 New York Ave. To Start Soon