Catching Up on a Few Quick Items: Micro-Units, Constitution Center, DC United, Green Bike Lanes, Retail, Early Voting

- Micro-units are planned for a portion of one of the rental apartment buildings in phase one of The Wharf, according to DCmud.  The micro-units are planned for parcel 2, which also includes the Wharf Center performance space and the co-gen plant. These units will range from 330 - 380 square feet and will have space-saving features such as built-in furniture and cabinets, Murphy beds, and small appliances. Large windows will offer views of the Washington Channel and some units will have small French balconies. The theory behind having smaller units is that the lifestyle of people in cities has changed - many renters spend less time in their living space and more time at restaurants, bars and other entertainment venues, which will all be present at The Wharf.  Smaller units are also more affordable for renters (and more profitable for developers).

Rendering courtesy of Hoffman-Madison Waterfront

- Constitution Center, the massive office building on top of the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station at 400 7th Street, will be occupied by the Federal Trade Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, according to an article in the Washington Business Journal. These tenants will fill the 1.4 million square-foot complex since the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Housing Finance Agency already committed to the bulk of the space after the SEC backed out of their lease in 2010.

- Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans mentioned in an interview with The Washington Post earlier this month that he hopes a framework of a deal for DC United to build a stadium at Buzzard Point will be in place by the end of the year.  From the article:

United would cover the costs of constructing the stadium but also seek to keep a share of the tax revenue. The D.C. Council would have to approve such a request. The city would also pay for infrastructure improvements at Buzzard Point, an undeveloped area next to Fort McNair near the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. 

- More green bikes lanes have started to pop-up – the latest has appeared at the intersection of 4th and I Streets. Earlier this month, lanes were painted green at the intersection of South Capitol and I Streets. At the 4th & I intersection, the green bike lane was painted on 4th Street southbound leading to the intersection. In addition, a green bike box was painted at the intersection, a buffer area where cars are not supposed to cross when stopped at the intersection.

- A Caseys Coffee is coming to 355 E Street, the Phase 3 building of Patriots Plaza, according to DCmud. Construction of the 2,245 SF space is supposed to begin in November. The downtown location on L Street, NW is open Monday - Friday from 6:30am - 4:30 pm, so the new SW location will probably have similar hours. They serve coffee, soups, sandwiches, and salads.

- Early voting began this week at One Judiciary Square, but starting tomorrow, each ward will have a polling place open for early voting. The Ward 6 polling station is King Greenleaf Recreation Center at 201 N Street. The polls will be open each day (except Sunday) from October 27 - November 4 from 8:30am - 7pm.

Patriots Plaza Almost Fully Leased

According to Real Estate Bisnow, Phases II & III of Patriots Plaza will most likely be fully leased by the end of the year (they are currently 95% leased to government tenants). Recent tenants include the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General and Office of the National Coordinator for Information Technology. There was an event at Arena Stage in late November hosted by Bisnow where real estate developers came together to talk about Southwest. In another article in Bisnow, a lawyer from Arent Fox that specializes in real estate development made some comments about the future of Southwest stemming from one of the panel discussions she moderated:

There really seem to be two “Southwests” (the GSA-dominated area at the edge of the Mall and the residential neighborhoods closer to the water). JBG's L’Enfant Plaza, PN Hoffman and Madison Marquette's Southwest Waterfront, and Forest City, Vornado/Charles E. Smith, and Bresler & Reiner's Waterfront Station will bring the quadrant together. “In five to 10 years, District residents will start to see Southwest as a live/work/play environment unlike any other in the city.

I would argue that Southwest is already unlike any other place in DC.

Patriots Plaza Gets HHS Lease

The GSA, on behalf of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response – a part of the Department of Health & Human Services, has signed a 58,143 SF lease at Patriots Plaza II, according to the Washington Business Journal. With this signing, the building will be about 74% leased. The other tenant at Phase II is the FBI, which signed a lease in March. Both Phase II and III buildings were recently awarded LEED-Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Patriots Plaza II Gets Tenant

The Washington Business Journal (subscribers only) is reporting that about 800 FBI employees will be moving to 180,000 SF of space at phase II of Patriots Plaza, a 351,502 SF office building that delivered last fall on E Street. With this lease, the building is now slightly over half leased and neighboring Patriots Plaza III is mostly full, since back in November, it was announced that the USDA will move to that building. An interesting part of the article has to do with Constitution Center, which wasn't in the running for this lease from the GSA, because they have higher ambitions...from the article:

“Constitution Center has expressed strong interest in becoming the new FBI headquarters facility, with all 1,400,000 square feet being utilized by the FBI,” said Robert Hines, managing director at Cassidy Turley, who is marketing the building. While the Hoover Building’s size and design is widely shunned, it’s not clear if the FBI will ever entertain moving into a secure building in another location, freeing up the redevelopment of the existing Hoover site.

I'm sure the folks over at Penn Quarter Living would be thrilled if the FBI made the move so that prime site on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW could be redeveloped. Above is a photo of Patriots Plaza II that was taken back in September when construction was wrapping up.

USDA Renews Lease

According to the Washington Business Journal, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture renewed their lease at Waterfront Centre, an office building located at 800 9th Street. The USDA renewed their 126,000 square foot space for an additional 10 years. This news comes on the heels of an announcement in November that the USDA will occupy most of phase III of Patriots Plaza.

On another note, ANC 6D has postponed their monthly meeting tonight until Wednesday at 7pm. However, the pending snow storm tomorrow through Wednesday may cause the meeting to be delayed once again.

Update: The ANC meeting was delayed again and will probably be rescheduled for next week.

All You Need is Gov...Patriots Plaza Nabs USDA

The Washington Business Journal reports today that the US Department of Agriculture will occupy most of the phase III building of Patriots Plaza. The GSA signed a lease on behalf of the agency for 330,000 SF, which accounts for about 87% of the building. From the WBJ article:

The General Services Administration negotiated and signed the deal on behalf of USDA, which is consolidating five other locations throughout the District and Northern Virginia. Patriots Plaza III was completed in September — USDA will begin moving into the building in December 2010.

The phase I building is fully leased to the feds while Patriots Plaza II is still without tenants, so with the USDA announcement, the 980,000+ SF three-building LEED-Silver certified complex is now 62% leased. Since the tenant is the federal government, it’s highly doubtful that ground floor retail will move into Patriots Plaza, as the developers mentioned as a possibility when they were vying for the Engine 13 RFP in February. However, this announcement may help get a restaurant to move into the ground floor of Capitol View, which is down the block from Patriots Plaza on D Street. Above is a photo of the phase III building taken last month.

A Couple Quick Items

- I wrote about this in the Real Estate Notes article in October's Southwester, but I haven't mentioned it here yet that the Mary E. Switzer Building at 330 C Street is undergoing a second round of renovations. Grunley Construction is doing the renovation work, which includes the modernization of 311,000 square feet of space and the construction of an 18,000 square foot addition, which will add office space to the 6th & 7th floors. Tenants include the U.S. Department of Education, Department of Health & Human Services, and the GSA. HTNB designed the renovated space. Grunley also worked on phase one of renovations, which were completed in 2008. Work began on phase two over the summer and parking spaces have been blocked on 4th Street & D Street. Construction is supposed to be complete by July 2011 and the project will aim for LEED-Silver certification. The D Street spaces have been blocked since August and are scheduled to be available again by mid-December. Above is a photo of the back of the Switzer Building, at the corner of 4th & D Street.

- The sidewalk along 4th Street near the Phase III building at Patriots Plaza reopened a couple weeks ago. Back in August, the closed sidewalk on E Street was reopened to pedestrians. Now, the plaza in front of all three buildings is mostly done. No tenants have been signed yet for the Phase II & III buildings. Above is a photo of the Phase III building, which is just about complete.

Sidewalk at Patriots Plaza Reopens

Construction is wrapping up at phases II & III of Patriots Plaza, the massive office building complex being built by Trammell Crow. Last week, crews were installing curbs and the sidewalk in front of the new buildings. Today, the sidewalk along the north side of the 3oo block of D Street was reopened to pedestrians. While the entire sidewalk isn't complete yet, enough of it has been put in place that pedestrians can now walk by safely. While no tenants have been lined up yet at phases II & III of Patriots Plaza, I saw moving vans over the weekend at nearby Capitol View, the office building at the corner of 3rd & D Street, presumably for the Association of American Railroads (AAR), which is scheduled to move into the space in September, as Southwest...TLQTC posted back in March. Above is a photo of the entrance plaza to the phase II & III buildings, taken from D Street. The entrance to the phase I building is at far left, behind the tree.

Update: Below are some more updated photos of Patriots Plaza.

(Left) Here is a photo of the phase II building. Follow this link to a post from December to see what the site looked like as the building rose from the ground. The phase II building has frontage on D Street and is across the street from NASA headquarters.

(Right) Here is a view of the reopened sidewalk along D Street, looking east from Patriots Plaza to the Marriott Residence Inn next door.

(Left) Most of the phase III building fronts 4th Street. The sidewalk in front of the phase III building remains closed as construction appears to be less further along on this side than on D Street. When Trammell Crow was in the running for building the new Engine 13, a representative from the developer stated at the community meeting in February that there was a possibility that portions of phase II & III of Patriots Plaza could have ground floor retail space. It depended on the needs of the tenant. However, to me, the design of the buildings don't look like ground level retail could be accommodated, at least publicly accessible retail.

Patriots Plaza Tops Off

Thanks to reader Curtis for the tip that Biznow recently had a feature on the topping off ceremony at Patriots Plaza that occurred last Friday. Back in December, Southwest...TLQTC had a post showing updated photos at phase II and phase III of Patriots Plaza. In the Biznow article, it describes some of the security features Trammell Crow implemented at the two buildings:

30' setbacks, shatter-resistant windows, and a lobby designed to blow air pressure outward during a blast. Trammell can lease each building as an individual facility or combine Phases II and III into one, which is what they proposed to DoJ before it landed in NoMa.

Phase II & III are scheduled to deliver in September and no tenants have been lined up yet, however, they are targeting the GSA as a potential tenant. The article also mentions other developments in the area, including Constitution Center, the CFL, and the two parcels the DC government is offering up to developers, all of which has been written about in this blog. (The above photo shows phase II of Patriots Plaza back in December 2008)

Updated Patriots Plaza Photos

Construction at Phase II & III of Patriots Plaza, the office complex being developed by Trammell Crow, at 4th & E Street is well underway. Phase I was completed back in 2005 and is fully leased with federal tenants, including FEMA. In total, the three buildings equal 1 million square feet of office space. Patriots Plaza is across the street from MPD District 1 Headquarters, which will soon move to the former Bowen Elementary School and be replaced by the city's new CFL.

This is the Phase II building, when it reached ground level back in June 20, 2008 .

This photo from December 7, 2008 shows the Phase II building at the 12th floor, stepped back due to the building's size.

This photo from December 7, 2008 shows the Phase III building reaching the 7th floor. To the right is the edge of the Phase I building.

Phase II & III are scheduled to be completed in 2009 and are seeking a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification. So far, no tenants have been lined up yet for those buildings.

Bids Come in for Firehouse Site

Yesterday, according to this press release from the DC Government, three teams responded to the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) office's solicitation for a partner to redevelop two sites in SW, including the fire station at the corner of 6th Street & School Street and a second site at the corner of 4th Street & E Street. See the Google Earth map above for the location of the two sites. The three teams are: a partnership between JLH Partners, Chapman Development, and CDC Companies; the team of Trammell Crow, CSG Urban Partners, and Michele Hagans; and E Street Development Partners (a combination of Potomac Investment Properties, CityPartners, and Adams Investment Group). At least two of the development teams have members that are currently involved in other projects in SW. Trammell Crow is building Patriots Plaza, a three-building office development cattycorner to the 4th Street site. They are also redeveloping St. Matthew's with CSG Urban Partners at 222 M Street. CityPartners is on the development team of the Southwest Waterfront. From the press release: "The responses call for rebuilding Engine 13 and building between 102,000 – 465,000 square feet of office space and a potential hotel with between 130-208 rooms. All offers proposed neighborhood-serving ground floor retail. Two of the [offers] proposed community space and one proposed an 11,000 square foot atrium-covered public indoor park." As a part of the deal, the DC government will get a new firehouse for free. It's also good that all of the proposals include ground floor retail, as I made a plea for retail in my first post on this topic back in June. The city hopes to choose a winner by the end of the year and construction could begin by the summer of 2010.

Two Sites Made Available by the DC Government

According to this article from the Washington Business Journal, the DC Government is soliciting development proposals for two sites (one at the SW corner of 4th Street & E Street and the other at the SW corner of 6th Street & School Street). The 4th Street site is a vacant lot while the other houses a fire station. A new firehouse must be part of the design for one of the parcels, or in the vicinity of the sites. While there are no specifications of what must be built there besides the fire station, that area of the neighborhood is dominated by office buildings, so I would imagine whatever is proposed will be more of the same - unimaginative office buildings with a sandwich shop or drycleaners as ground-floor retail. However, there are several office buildings either under construction or vacant near the sites, including Patriots Plaza, Capitol View, and Constitution Center, so who knows when anything would get built on these sites. At least the 4th Street site could support a sit-down restaurant on the ground floor. There are hundreds, if not thousands of workers nearby - NASA is across the street, the new forensics lab will be built across the street, as well as other existing federal tenants nearby. There are also residents as close as a block away who are yearning for more retail options in the neighborhood.