ANC Unanimously Supports St. Matthew's PUD Application

At tonight's ANC 6D meeting, representatives from Trammell Crow, CSG Urban Partners, St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church, and Shalom Baranes Associates came to the commission to seek their support for the St. Matthew's PUD submission. The PUD includes the development of a new St. Matthew's Church at the corner of Delaware Avenue and M Street, an 8 & 11-story apartment building shaped in the letter L with approximately 220 units, and a community center named the Thurgood and Cecilia Marshall Southwest Community Center.  Details on the development can be found here.  

Some changes have been made to the PUD since last year, especially the community benefits portion of the development. There will be a 1/3 acre landscaped courtyard on top of the parking garage that will be open to the public from dawn until dusk and the opening from Delaware Avenue has been widened from six feet to 12 feet. The loading has been moved from M Street to the parking garage on Delaware Avenue in an underground loading facility.  Parking concerns have been addressed by offering four electric car parking stations, 80 bike parking spaces, 2-3 Zip Car spaces, and residents of the apartments will not qualify for Residential Parking Permits (RPP), similar to the newer multifamily buildings in Near SE. The setback along M Street has been increased from 22 feet to 24 feet to provide for more open space.  Ten percent of the housing will be set aside for households earning up to 80% of Area Median Income (AMI). Trammell Crow will contribute towards the installation of a fence around the vegetable gardens grown at Amidon-Bowen Elementary School by Kid Power DC. In addition, a donation will be made to Casey Trees to plant trees in the median along M Street, as well as a $20K donation to the Near SE/SW Community Benefits Coordinating Council (CBCC) to help the organization in its support of community programs.  The CDC formed to run the proposed community center will have a board member serve on the board of the CBCC and vice versa.  

The ANC supported the PUD application, but excluded the CBCC donation in its approval. However, the donation was offered by the developer, not by the ANC, so it will still be offered as part of the application to the Zoning Commission.

Rendering courtesy of Shalom Baranes Associates

St. Matthew's Gets New Architect

At this past Monday's SWNA meeting, Reverend Huber from St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church, along with architect Shalom Baranes from Shalom Baranes Associates Architects presented their latest plans for their mixed use project at Delaware Avenue and M Street, which are still in the concept phase, so no renderings are available. Also present were representatives from Trammell Crow, the developer of the project. Some changes have occurred with the new plans, including the siting of the new sanctuary and community center relative to the planned apartment building. In the new plan, the development is in the shape of an "L" - the apartment building will be situated along M Street & extend south along the western border with 240 M Street and the church will be located at the corner of Delaware Avenue & M, in order to preserve what is left of the view shed along Delaware Avenue north to the Capitol dome. Baranes explained that over the years, Delaware Avenue south of M Street was reduced in width and the center line of the street shifted to the east, which altered the view towards the Capitol. In addition, the new design will maintain the courtyard-design aesthetic of Southwest, with buildings interspersed with open space.

There will be a shared open space along Delaware Avenue with a seating area and a shallow pool that will be connected to the fellowship hall of the church. A landscaped buffer will be installed along Delaware Avenue to shield the outdoor space and provide some security. Existing trees will be maintained on three sides - Delaware Avenue, the western border with 240 M Street, and on the south. New landscaping will be planted on M Street.

Such a large open space can be made because the apartment building will be 10-11 stories tall and use 4.3-4.4 of FAR, allowing more open space. The apartment building will be 2-3 stories taller than other buildings on M Street, but Baranes explained that it's good to have structures of varied heights and the building will be brought closer to the street to give the corridor a more urban feel. Other developments along M Street, including future phases of Waterfront Station will have buildings closer to the street as well. The apartment building will be designed as a simple box, similar to other residential buildings in Southwest, with a variety of building materials, playing off of what currently exists in the neighborhood. The main entrance for the apartment building will be located on M Street. Ten percent of the housing is mandated to be affordable housing by inclusionary zoning, but St. Matthew's would like for it to be designated workforce housing (for teachers, police officers, firefighters, etc.) since the neighborhood already has plenty of public housing.

St. Matthew's has partnered with Arena Stage to design the sanctuary as a performance space. When the old church was in existence, the fellowship hall was used almost daily and Reverend Huber referred it to the "town center" for Southwest -the redesigned fellowship hall will aim to serve that purpose once again. A grand entryway for the church will be designed on M Street. In addition, a community center will be located between the church and the apartment building with a separate entrance on M Street. A 501(c) non-profit organization called Transforming Southwest Community Development Corporation will manage the community center. Within the community center will be a coffee shop called Sacred Grounds Cafe: "Coffee with a Purpose." Some features and planned activities for the community center include: free Wi-Fi access, Internet terminals, seniors morning, book club, live performances, community forums, a gallery to support local artists, movie night, preschool program, thrift shop, and a multimedia classroom. Other ideas floated by Pastor Huber is to offer "Dinner at Your Door" for residents of the apartment building, a community outreach center with a social worker, and a Southwest youth & children's choir.

The PUD will be submitted in either January or February 2011. By that time, more details about the design will be fleshed out. Construction is scheduled to begin by the first or second quarter of 2012. The Lutheran Church helped finance the PUD process and most likely will be involved with financing the project. Until construction begins, temporary uses will be encouraged for the vacant site. Previously, the lot has been transformed into a Christmas tree lot during the holidays and last summer, 20 plots were created for gardeners. The Christmas tree lot will return on December 2nd - details about prices to come soon. Other temporary uses are being contemplated for the site, such as a community yard sale, partnering with Arena Stage and the Corcoran for an outdoor arts festival, and a wine festival. St. Matthew's is looking for other ideas for temporary uses for the space. If you have any ideas, feel free to contact Reverend Huber - his email address is: pchuber@hughes.net.

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)