Photo Tour Part 3: Apartment Construction

Most of the new residential buildings under construction in Southwest are rental apartments - the only condo building currently under construction is VIO at District Wharf. Above is a photo of 301 M, which is the rental apartment building furthest along, aside from District Wharf, by The Bernstein Companies. Since these pictures were taken in early August, progress has been made on the buildings, especially Valo, the chosen marketing name for the apartment project attached to the new St. Matthews at 222 M Street, developed by Trammell Crow Company, High Street Residential, Meadow Partners, and CSG Urban Partners. A few more floors have been added to the building since the below photo was taken. Advertising went up last month for Valo, a Finnish word meaning light or glow.

Valo apartments at 222 M Street.

Another project making progress is the two-building addition to The View at Waterfront along M and K streets from Mill Creek Residential Trust. Both buildings are mid-rise structures with a concrete base and wood-frame construction above. 

New M Street building at the View at Waterfront.

Meanwhile, the Riverside Baptist Church project at 7th and I streets by PN Hoffman is still a hole in the ground. Construction began earlier this year and won't be complete until 2019. The most recent addition to the construction list was 1399 Maryland Avenue at The Portals, a 373-unit apartment building which started a couple months ago by Republic Properties.

Tower crane at Riverside Baptist site.

Construction Begins at The View at Waterfront

Construction fencing started going up in early August around the two parking lots for The View at Waterfront apartments at 6th and K and 6th and M streets, located between Arena Stage and Waterfront Station. Last week, demolition of the parking lots began, which will make way for two new mid-rise apartment buildings with 276 units (h/t to reader Alexander for the scoop that demolition had begun). Back in the spring, some upgrades were made to the courtyard between the Pei buildings. There will also be courtyards between the Pei and new buildings. Each will be about 57 feet wide. 

K St. side of The View

M St. side of The View

Mill Creek Realty Trust owns The View and is developing the new apartment buildings. Parking for the new construction and the existing I.M. Pei-designed apartment buildings will be below-grade. The M Street building will have some ground floor retail. Both buildings are expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2019 while leasing will commence in the second half of 2018. 

Construction of The View joins 301 M Street, The Eliot on 4th, and the St. Matthew's site (its groundbreaking will be on September 11), which are all in the vicinity of Waterfront Station. In addition, there are three apartment buildings and two condominium projects underway at The Wharf (525 Water received its certificate of occupation last month). Other multifamily buildings that may get underway in 2016 around the quadrant include The Portals (1200-block of Maryland Avenue), Riverside Baptist Church at 7th Street and Maine Avenue, and the addition at Capitol Park Tower (4th and G streets).

Rendering courtesy of SK&I Architecture

Construction Activity at St. Matthew’s Site

Construction equipment has finally arrived on site at Delaware Avenue and M Street, which will be transformed into a new sanctuary for St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church and a 221-unit apartment building. The sanctuary will be at the corner of Delaware Avenue and M Street and the 11-story apartment building will run along M Street. Chain link fencing has been up around the site for years, but in the past few days, a construction trailer arrived along with backhoes, and Delaware Avenue was closed on Monday as construction crews started digging in the street. Parking restrictions on both sides of Delaware Avenue are expected for the next two months as utility work is done for the project, but restrictions on the west side of the street will last longer since it will take about two years to finish construction.

The St. Matthew’s project is a long time coming – the PUD was approved in November 2012 and a two-year extension was requested in late 2014. This is the second rental apartment building to start construction over the past couple of months in the quadrant. Construction began last month at 301 M Street, located cattycorner from the St. Matthew’s site. Within the next few months, two more apartment buildings will get underway. Construction on two new rental apartment buildings on the parking lots of the View at Waterfront apartments on 6th and M streets and 6th and K streets should get started this summer (a new name for this project will be announced soon). 

Rendering courtesy of Shalom Baranes Associates

View at Waterfront Revised PUD Gets ANC Support

At Monday’s ANC 6D meeting, representatives from Mill Creek Residential Trust and SK&I Architecture presented plans for the development of two apartment buildings on the parking lots of The View at Waterfront apartments on 6th Street. A modified PUD has been filed for this project earlier this year – the original PUD was approved several years ago under a previous owner, but several changes have been made. The height and density of the project have been reduced, resulting in a change in building materials from concrete to wood-frame. Also, the number of apartment units and parking spaces have been reduced. In addition, the number of bicycle spaces has increased and the distance between the new and existing buildings has increased. Below is a summary of the major changes to the design of the buildings: 

Building Height 

• Old PUD: 112 feet 
• Revised PUD: 85 feet 

Floor Area Ratio (FAR)

• Old PUD: 4.35 
• Revised PUD: 3.40 

Number of New Units 

• Old PUD: 324 units 
• Revised PUD: 260 units 

Parking Spaces 

• Old PUD: 569 (0.98 spaces per unit) 
• Revised PUD: 290 (0.56 spaces per unit) 

Courtyard Space Between New and Existing Buildings 

• Old PUD: 51 feet 
• Revised PUD: 57 feet 

The north tower will be on the K Street lot and the south tower will be on the M Street lot. Ground floor retail with 20-foot ceilings will be located in the south tower at the corner of 6th and M streets, ideally a restaurant. The south tower will also have a cut out on the top of the building for a large rooftop entertainment area where residents can gather and get a view of The Wharf. Meanwhile, the north tower will have loft units and a two-level gym. 

The ANC commissioners voted unanimously to support the revised PUD application, which will go before the Zoning Commission on June 11. The current development timeline calls for construction to begin around mid- to late April 2016 and exterior work on the north and south towers to be complete in December 2017 and March 2018, respectively. Construction is currently scheduled to be completed by November 2018.

Renderings courtesy of SK&I Architecture

Revised PUD for The View at Waterfront

Back in late December, Mill Creek Residential Trust, the new owner of The View at Waterfront apartments at 6th and M streets, submitted a revised Planned Unit Development (PUD) application for construction of two new residential buildings on the parking lots fronting M and K streets. A PUD was approved several years ago when Fairfield Residential owned the property, but several changes have been made since then. Generally, Mill Creek has reduced the scope of the project. In the previously approved PUD, a total of 324 new units were planned, but the proposed changes reduce the number to about 260 units. Additionally, the height has been reduced from 112 feet to 85 feet. The Floor Area Ratio (FAR) has been reduced to 3.4 from 4.39 and the lot occupancy is proposed to be 42% compared to the previously approved 51%. Parking has been reduced significantly from 569 total spaces for all four buildings to 290 spaces in three levels of below-grade parking; however only 175 spaces are required under zoning. 

The look of the proposed buildings has also changed since Fairfield retained Esocoff & Associates to design the previously-approved project. SK&I Architecture has designed the new buildings with a grey and white color palette that resembles neighboring Lex at Waterfront Station. The PUD application describes the design of the new buildings: 

Each new building is comprised of two volumes. The first is a taller, lighter box that is supported by a tall recessed ground floor with exposed columns along the primary streets and corners; the second is a more subdued, lower mass that meets the ground plane and also is pulled back and tapered from the corners between the proposed and existing buildings along the street edge. 

Current SK&I Architecture design.

Esocoff & Associates design.

The north tower will have seven stories, including a mezzanine on the top floor and the south tower will have six stories, including mezzanines on the ground and top floors. A two-story retail space is still planned for the new south tower at the corner of 6th and M streets facing Arena Stage, but has been reduced from 8,900 SF to 5,200 SF. One thing that hasn’t changed is the amount of space set aside for affordable units. There will still be 6,500 SF of affordable housing evenly distributed on floors 2-5 of both new buildings, in addition to the 9,500 SF of affordable housing that currently exists in the I.M. Pei buildings. 

Each of the new towers will have amenity spaces within the buildings, as well as “vest pocket parks” between the proposed and existing buildings designed by Land Design. The “vest pocket parks” will contain amenities that can be used year round throughout the day and night. Some of the planned amenities include lawn panels, flexible seating, grilling areas, outdoor fireplaces, and water elements, each designed in “rooms” with heavy landscaping. The south tower will have a two-level lobby and amenity space, as well as loft units with mezzanines while the north tower will have a two-level lobby and amenity space. 

The developers will go before ANC 6D later this year to seek their support before meeting with the Zoning Commission. If approved, Mill Creek would like to start construction in 2016.

Renderings courtesy of SK&I Architecture, Esocoff & Associates, and Land Design

The View at Waterfront Sold

The View at Waterfront apartments at 6th and M streets has sold to Mill Creek Residential Trust in a deal that closed earlier this week. According to Bisnow, The View sold for $67 million. The property has been on the market for several months and with its sale, the development of the two parking lots facing K & M streets can finally move forward. A PUD was approved for the parking lots at The View by a previous owner in 2005 with a plan to build two 9-story towers on the parking lots with ground floor retail in the M Street building. In addition, the plan called for renovating the existing I.M. Pei buildings as well as improvements to the open space between them. The existing I.M. Pei buildings were renovated in 2008 and the open space was improved, but the new towers were never built and the property was sold at auction during the Great Recession. 

The new owner will need to resubmit a PUD since the existing one has expired; plans for the buildings have likely changed from the original plan from nine years ago. The Bisnow article states that Mill Creek hopes to start construction on the new buildings in about 18 months.

The View at Waterfront on the Market

The View at Waterfront apartments at 6th and M streets is on the market and the tenants are vetting proposals from developers to partner with and buy the buildings under TOPA rules. In addition to the two IM Pei-designed apartment buildings next to Waterfront Station, the sale would include the opportunity for the developer to build on the two parking lots that face the buildings – one on M Street and the other on K Street. The Pei buildings were renovated in 2008 when Fairfield Residential owned them and a Planned Unit Development (PUD) was filed to develop the two parking lots. The original PUD called for two new towers that were designed by Esocoff and Associates. At the time, the planned M Street building would have ground floor retail. However, the project was shelved during the housing crisis and Fairfield lost the complex in a foreclosure sale. Part of the PUD called for the renovation of the large courtyard and pool area between the existing buildings, which was the only portion that was completed. In addition, the PUD called for repairs to the Southwest Duck Pond once the first building was complete, which is located across K Street from the north parking lot (pictured below).

SW Duck Pond.

The View at Waterfront is the sister development to Town Center East, which is going through the PUD process to develop on its parking lots and ran into issues last year when the residents of Waterfront Tower and the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly applied for historic status for the existing buildings and landscaping. As a result, the PUD was revised to remove one planned building along 3rd Street and the other two planned buildings were redesigned. 

Previous plan for new M Street residential building at The View.

Several residential buildings have been trading hands recently in the neighborhood. Those include Channel Square and Capitol Park Tower. The new owners of both complexes are planning to renovate, but a new six-story addition is planned at Capitol Park Tower.

Rendering courtesy of Esocoff & Associates

Town Center East Designated Historic

Last month, the DC Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) designated both multifamily buildings at Town Center East and the grounds as historic.  It has also requested that the nomination for historic preservation be forwarded to the National Register of Historic Places. The buildings, located on 3rd Street between K Street and M Street, were designed by I.M. Pei and built in 1960-61.   Originally built as apartment buildings, Waterfront Tower was converted to condos in 2009. Meanwhile, 1001 at Waterfront was last renovated prior to its sister building’s conversion, but has remained as apartments. The two buildings at Town Center are the mirror image of the two apartment buildings to the west of Waterfront Station at The View at Waterfront (or Town Center West). Those two buildings are not included in the historic designation. In its ruling, the HPRB determined that Town Center was eligible for historic designation in three categories, including “Architecture and Urbanism”, “Creative Masters”, and “History.”  According to the ruling, “Town Center East is important as one of Washington’s best examples of mid-century Modernism, and certainly among the best in Southwest.” 

The owners at Waterfront Tower, along with the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly, applied for historic designation in response to a PUD submitted by The Bernstein Companies to build two large multifamily buildings on the parking lots of the existing Pei buildings and a smaller building on the courtyard separating the two existing buildings. It was reported in the Washington City Paper about the tension between Bernstein and the Waterfront Tower owners. With the historic designation in place, Bernstein will need to alter its PUD and have it approved by the HPRB in addition to the Zoning Commission.

Original design of Town Center PUD.

In recent years, other residential complexes in Southwest have been designated as historic, including Potomac Place Tower, Tiber Island, and more recently, Harbour Square. Other residential complexes built during urban renewal may apply for historic designation as they turn 50 years old. Thus far, individual buildings have been applying for historic designation, but eventually a historic district may be coming to Southwest, which would preserve the mid-century modern architecture of the neighborhood.

Rendering courtesy of Maurice Walters Architect, PC

Street Closure for Homecoming Celebration

Starting at midnight on October 23rd, a block of 6th Street from Maine Avenue to K Street will be closed for 24 hours in order for Arena Stage to hold its Homecoming celebration. However, there will be a 20-foot emergency lane created for traffic to move northbound - allowing residents of The View at Waterfront apartments to leave their homes by car if they show their parking pass to officers stationed along 6th Street. Only residents of the south tower will need to access 6th Street, since the north tower's parking lot has an entrance on K Street. Circulator and Metrobus will be rerouted during the street closure - details on the alternate routes will be posted once I get them.

About 7,000 tickets for Homecoming were gone after less than an hour of being available on 10/8 when they were released. For those who weren't able to get tickets, several hundred more tickets will be available at the box office starting at 10am on Saturday. Tickets are only required for tours inside the facility and for talks/performances in the theaters - no tickets are needed for outdoor activities.

A Couple Quick Items

- According to the Capitol Riverfront BID, the American Planning Association is bringing a Planning Assistance Team (PAT) to Buzzard Point in two weeks to conduct a four-day analysis of the area. The process will result in a series of recommendations and visions for the area for further study and implementation. The PAT will conduct interviews with stakeholders and property owners to gain a better and full understanding of the various sites and property owners involved, and develop a comprehensive vision for Buzzard Point. Last week, we did a post on how the proposed streetcar network may impact development in Buzzard Point. Devising a plan for the area is a good idea because there is great potential for making Buzzard Point a waterfront destination, where the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers meet.

- Earlier this week, Washington Real Estate Bisnow had an article about Waterfront Tower, the condo conversion project next door to Waterfront Station on the corner of 3rd & M Street. This is the first condo conversion the Bernstein Companies has done in 30 years. Eventually, the developer wants to build two more buildings on the parking lots of the existing towers, similar to what Fairfield Residential had planned at The View at Waterfront before it went into foreclosure in August.

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).

Updated Town Center Apartments Photos

Windows are starting to be installed in the South tower of the former Town Center Apartments. The North tower was renovated earlier in 2008 and is now called 1001 at Waterfront.

The side of the South tower facing the courtyard is first to receive new windows. Even more of this facade has received windows since I took this photo back on December 19th. These windows look different than the ones on the renovated North tower and resemble the new windows installed at The View at Waterfront on the west side of Waterfront Station.

Here is a view of the South tower from M Street. This side of the building hasn't received windows yet.