Construction to Begin Soon on The Kiley

Financing has been secured for The Kiley, a planned apartment project by UIP behind Capitol Park Tower at 4th and G streets according to Bisnow. The project has been in the planning stages over the past few years and went through several iterations before receiving approval from HPRB in early 2016. HPRB approval was needed since the adjoining Capitol Park Tower was landmarked as historic, as well as the landscaping. Now planned as 315 units, construction on The Kiley will start in about four months, after the existing parking lot behind Capitol Park Tower is demolished. Therefore, delivery of the new apartment building will likely be in late 2020.

Rendering courtesy of WDG

Capitol Park Tower Addition to be Called The Kiley on 4th

The second phase of Capitol Park Tower apartments now has a name…it will be called The Kiley on 4th. The name pays homage to Dan Kiley, the landscape architect that designed Capitol Park and other Southwest landmarks, such as Benjamin Banneker Park. Since Capitol Park Tower was deemed historic by the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB), the project needed to seek approval from the Board. After a lot of back-and-forth with HPRB, the 330-unit project gained approval in early 2016. Some original elements from Dan Kiley’s design will remain, such as the large pool on the east side of Capitol Park Tower. Other components will be reimagined, such as the concrete canopies used to cover the parking garage will be repurposed as covered walkways between the existing building and the addition. New landscaping between the addition and Capitol Park Tower will be designed to more closely resemble Kiley’s original design. In addition, the surface parking located on G Street will be replaced with landscaping. 

Construction on The Kiley is expected to get started in 2017 with completion in 2019. 

Renderings courtesy of WDG

Further Revisions to Capitol Park Tower Addition

Since its last meeting with the Historic Preservation Review Board over the summer, the developers of the Capitol Park Tower addition at 4th and G streets have come up with a revised plan. At the July 30 HPRB meeting, the Board stated the following about the proposed addition: 

The Board found that a new building addition in the proposed location could be compatible, but that revisions were needed to achieve compatibility with the site and existing building. Among its comments, the Board found that the pool pavilion should be retained, the end wings of the new construction should be eliminated, the design and materials of the new building should be restudied, the landscape plan should continue to be refined to closely follow Kiley’s design, the perimeter fence should ideally be eliminated or relocated and simplified, and that any enclosure of the ground level should be with much greater setbacks of the glazing. 

Perseus Realty and UIP took to heart the recommendations of the HPRB and made the following changes after meeting with the Capitol Park Tower tenant association and the ANC: 

• The existing pool house will remain. 
• The building mass has been simplified – the eastern and western nubs have been removed. 
• Metal panels are no longer the dominant skin material of the addition – terracotta and pre-cast panels were added. 
• The landscaping will more closely resemble Daniel Kiley’s original plan. 
• The ground floor of the existing building will remain open – no residential units will be added; however, the total number of units in the new building increased from 300 to 330 units. 8% of the units in the new building will be set aside as affordable housing. 

Below are some additional renderings, designed by WDG Architecture: 

View of courtyard (addition at left).

View south from SW Freeway.

End cap view from 4th Street.

Alternative design for end cap.

The developers will present their revised plans to the HPRB tomorrow afternoon at 1pm. 

Renderings courtesy of Perseus Realty

Revised Plan for Capitol Park Tower Addition

Development plans for the addition to Capitol Park Tower at 301 G Street have changed. Plans call for a seven-story, 270,000 SF building with 300 units – 8% of the building area will be set aside as affordable units. A 350-space garage will provide parking for the new and existing buildings. Gone is the four-story addition on the northeast corner of the site that fronts Capitol Park II. Also, the pool will remain, but it will be refinished. The pool pavilion, however, will be removed. The development team has proposed to enclose the open area of the first floor of the existing building with glass and turn this area into 20 apartment units, which will increase the total number of units in the existing building to 309. 

Last month, the ANC unanimously supported the plan, with a reservation about the building height. Zoning in the area is set at 60 feet, but the proposed addition is 74 feet. The development team is measuring the height of the building, not from the street, but from the Southwest freeway which abuts the site. The Office of Zoning approved that interpretation, even though the building will not be accessed from the freeway. By that measure, the new addition is 55 feet tall. In any case, the new building as proposed will be 12 feet lower than the existing building. 

At the July 30 Historic Preservation Review Board meeting, the Board voted unanimously for the following: 

The Board found that a new building addition in the proposed location could be compatible, but that revisions were needed to achieve compatibility with the site and existing building. Among its comments, the Board found that the pool pavilion should be retained, the end wings of the new construction should be eliminated, the design and materials of the new building should be restudied, the landscape plan should continue to be refined to closely follow Kiley’s design, the perimeter fence should ideally be eliminated or relocated and simplified, and that any enclosure of the ground level should be with much greater setbacks of the glazing. 

The development team will need to go back to the drawing table in order to gain approval for the project. Earlier in the year, it was projected that construction would begin by November, but it’s now likely that start date will slip a bit.

Rendering courtesy of WDG Architecture

Capitol Park Tower Addition May Start Construction Later This Year

 

Over the past several months, the owners of Capitol Park Tower at 4th and G streets have made improvements to the common areas of the building, such as a new lobby, hallways, gym, bike storage, and lounge. In addition, the units now have new windows, appliances, countertops, and fixtures. About 95% of the interior improvements have been completed. These improvements follow the purchase of the property by UIP and Perseus Realty in 2013 and are part of the agreement made with the tenants association during the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) process. Despite the fact that Capitol Park Tower received historic designation for the 289-unit building and landscape in 2014, the next phase of improvements is an addition to the property. 

View of north building addition from I-395.

At last week’s ANC 6D meeting, Adam Peters from Perseus Realty presented plans for a 295-unit addition. The rental apartments, designed by WDG Architecture will include units ranging from studios to 3BR units. About 24 units will be set aside as affordable housing under Inclusionary Zoning (IZ). A seven-story building is planned to the north of the existing building where the covered parking area is now located and a four-story building is planned on the east side of the property where the pool is now located, closer to Capitol Park II Condominium. An entrance to the new west wing of the property will be located on 4th Street near the I-395 underpass. 

New north building with an entrance on 4th Street.

In his presentation to the ANC, Peters explained that several components of the original landscape plan as designed by Daniel Urban Kiley have been lost or altered, including trees, shrubs, and the pool. The development plan intends to reuse many landscape elements – for instance, the canopies used to cover the parking garage will be repurposed as covered walkways between the existing building and the addition. Existing sculptures will be repositioned throughout the property. The development team intends to restore some of Kiley’s original landscape plan, including trees bosques and shrubs that were removed or died since they were originally planted. 

Courtyard features parking canopies reused as covered walkways.

New amenities include two rooftop swimming pools, community room, fitness center, vegetable garden, playground, and a green roof on the original building. A total of 310 below-grade parking spaces will be built beneath the addition – the surface parking located on the G Street side of the building will be replaced with landscaping. All of these amenities will be available for residents of the entire property to use. 

Although the proposed development is by-right, Capitol Park Tower is a historic property so the ANC will vote in a future meeting on whether to support the development plan before the owners go before the Historic Preservation Review Board. Construction is expected to begin by the end of 2015 and last about two years.

Renderings courtesy of WDG Architecture

Plans for Capitol Park Tower Addition Moving Along

Capitol Park Tower has been upgraded in recent months following the purchase of the building from UIP and Perseus Realty. Units have been renovated with stainless steel appliances, new cabinets, subway tile backsplash, new bathroom fixtures, and USB ports in outlets, among other things. A photo gallery can be found here. Within the past month, new signage has appeared outside of the building and some of the common areas have been improved (the above photo is an older photo from 2012). 

A meeting was held last week with residents of Capitol Park Tower to discuss the next phase of improvements. The owners are planning an addition on the north and east sides of the property. Of the approximately 295 rental apartment units planned, 271 will be market-rate and the remaining 24 will be IZ units. 

Dan Urban Kiley was the original landscape architect of Capitol Park Tower, which was designed by Chloethiel Woodard Smith and built in 1962. The landscaping and building were designated historic by HPRB a couple of years ago, which put on hold previous plans for the property. On the north side of the property, the new construction will be built on top of the parking area. Below is a tweet from Capitol Park Tower:

@swchase24 Development Plan includes preserving key elements: concrete canopies, totem, terracotta walls, etc & recreating Kiley Landscape.
— Capitol Park Tower (@301GStreetSW) March 2, 2015

Construction is expected to begin in November and would be completed by the end of 2017. Due to its status as a historic landmark, the plan will need to be approved by the Historic Preservation Review Board. More information will be forthcoming as this project goes through the approvals process. 

Photo of planned addition courtesy of ANC 6D-03 Commissioner Rachel Reilly Carroll

Apartment Sale Activity Picking Up

 

The last quarter of 2013 included a couple of apartment building sales transactions in Southwest – Channel Square and Capitol Park Tower. Channel Square was purchased in October by a joint venture of Somerset Development Company and the National Housing Trust-Enterprise Preservation Corporation. The tenants association chose the new owners in a competitive bid process through TOPA. Channel Square is located at 325 P Street and has 223 units in a mix of high-rise and townhouse buildings. The property will undergo a major renovation with a focus on green features. One third of the units will be targeted for voucher holders, one third for residents at or below 80% of AMI, and one third under a rent stabilization program similar to rent control. 

Capitol Park Tower

In November, Urban Investment Partners, PRP LLC, and Perseus Realty purchased the 289-unit Capitol Park Tower, located at 301 G Street. According to the press release, the new owners plan to invest in significant improvements over the next several years, but the property will remain rent-controlled. Capitol Park Tower was under contract in 2012 to UIP by the previous owner, but then the tenants association exercised their first right of refusal, which began a process to find an alternative buyer for the property. After a vetting process, eventually the current ownership group was able to purchase the building. 

In response to the pending sale of the building and potential for infill development, an application was filed in 2012 by SWNA to place Capitol Park Tower on the DC Preservation League’s endangered list. Capitol Tower was designed by Chloethiel Woodard Smith and built in 1962, part of the Capitol Park residential complex – a series of five high-rise buildings and two groups of townhouses arranged around open spaces and pathways. The property is also pending designation as a historic landmark by the Historic Preservation Review Board. However, it was reported in today’s Washington Business Journal that a foundation permit was issued for a six-story addition, which presumably will be built to the north of the existing building overlooking the Southwest Freeway where the parking structure and landscaped area are currently located. DCRA's website states that as of yesterday, the permit was still pending approval.

Other Capitol Park Apartment Buildings to be Sold

After it was revealed that Capitol Park Towers (pictured above) was under contract by Urban Investment Partners and the tenants formed a tenants association to exercise their Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) rights, it appears that the owner of the other two Capitol Park apartment buildings want to sell their remaining interest in those buildings as well. The Department of Housing and Community Development received a notice of transfer on April 18 for Capitol Park Twin Towers (a 320-unit building located at 101/103 G Street) and Capitol Park Plaza (a 328-unit building at 201 I Street). The owner intends to transfer 5% of their interest in the properties. The 95%/5% transaction was a loophole owners used to avoid TOPA taking effect before the law was amended in 2005. What was done previously was an owner would deed 95% of their interest in a building but maintain 5% interest, so the transaction was not technically a sale.  In the case of Capitol Park, 95% interest in the two buildings were transferred from Capitol Park Associates to Capitol Park Apartments (both Limited Partnerships) in 2002. Capitol Park Twin Towers formed a tenants association and sued to block the transaction in 2003 saying it was actually a sale and their TOPA rights needed to be enforced, but after several appeals, the suit was eventually won by the owners in 2006 due to the 95%/5% loophole.  What will happen now to Capitol Park Plaza and Capitol Park Twin Towers remains to be seen.

What Bloggers Are Saying About Southwest

- DCist picks up a story from the Examiner which describes the Bellevue community's displeasure with the design for the new Washington Highlands library. London architect David Adjaye was chosen last October to design the new library, which will be located on Atlantic Street. Check out this post from April for a description of the planned amenities at the new library. (The above rendering of the library is from the DCPL website.)

- The ArchiCritic at DCMetrocentric makes a return visit to SW - this time to Capitol Park, the residential neighborhood of townhomes and multifamily towers located north of I Street and south of the SE-SW Freeway between 4th Street and Delaware Avenue. For the most part, the critique of Capitol Park was a positive one, noting how the design of the neighborhood makes it one of the most pedestrian friendly areas of DC, despite its lack of commercial space. The critique describes the area as a "modernist interpretation of a medieval neighborhood plan on a Baroque city." There has been some infill development in the Capitol Park neighborhood since it was built over 40 years ago during urban renewal. Potomac Place Condominium was built in 2004 where parking lots for Potomac Place Tower and an adjacent park was once located.

- DCMud reports that The View at Waterfront Apartments have been sold at foreclosure to Titex Marina View, LLC. The two-building complex recently underwent extensive renovations and Fairfield Residential, the previous owner, had plans to build two new towers on the parking lots of the apartment community, but the new buildings have been scrapped (for now).