Revised Plans for 1319 South Capitol Site

A presentation was made during Monday’s ANC 6D virtual meeting by Jefferson Apartment Group and Fortis, the new team which will be developing a site adjacent to Camden South Capitol apartments and across the street from Nationals Park at 1319 South Capitol Street. The majority of the site is currently used as a parking lot. Plans include an 11-story multifamily rental building although the number of units was not revealed during the presentation – a story in Bisnow from when the site was sold indicates there will be up to 320 units. Previous plans for 1319 South Capitol project under a different developer included less apartment units. Current plans for the project also incorporate some of the historic townhomes on South Capitol and N streets. Four of the townhomes on N Street will be converted into two Affordable Dwelling Units while two on South Capitol Street could become either commercial or residential units. The end units on both streets will be demolished to widen the alley access from N Street and provide a dog run for the apartment building adjacent to the alley entrance on South Capitol Street. The main entrance to the building will be on South Capitol Street adjacent to the alley entrance. 

View from N Street.

View from Syphax Village.

The corner site where Capitol Liquors is located is owned by a separate entity, as well as two rowhomes on N Street and one on South Capitol Street. These parcels will be developed separately as an 11-story apartment building with two levels of retail. There are two other rowhomes on South Capitol Street not included in the JAG/Fortis development and will remain, including a private home and South Capitol Smile Center dentist practice. 

Rowhouses on N Street

Rowhouses on South Capitol Street. 

Alley entrance on South Capitol Street and access to lobby.

The development team will go back before the ANC later this fall to seek their approval as they go through the Zoning Commission process.  Construction of 1319 South Capitol is expected to start in the first half of 2021. 

Renderings courtesy of Beyer Blinder Belle

Mixed-Use Development Planned for 7-Eleven Site

I’m coming out of hiatus to report on plans that emerged for the northwest corner of South Capitol and M streets, considered to be the gateway to Southwest. JBG Smith applied with the Zoning Commission to develop a two-phase project on the site called 5 M Street, with a mix of uses including residential, ground floor retail, and potentially office. The site includes most of the block bounded by Half, L, South Capitol and M streets and will replace the 7-Eleven and parking lot currently on the site. New York-based Ruben Companies controls the northeast corner of the block (where the KFC/Taco Bell used to be) which is not part of the proposed project – an office building was planned for the 1101 South Capitol parcel, but the project website is no longer active. 

While the east side of South Capitol Street between the freeway and the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge has filled up with multifamily buildings (and Nationals Park) in recent years, not much activity has occurred on the west side of the street. Camden South Capitol and the Capitol Skyline Hotel are the only large-scale buildings currently on the west side of the street, but more development is planned for the empty lots along the corridor. In addition to 5 M Street and 1101 South Capitol, a two-building development is planned to the north between K and L streets by Ruben Companies and the site north of Camden South Capitol was purchased recently by JAG to develop as a multifamily project. 

Current plans for 5 M Street include an L-shaped multifamily building along Half and L streets with 371 units and an office building along M and South Capitol streets with approximately 226,000 SF of space and over 25,000 SF of ground floor retail. The project is planned in phases – the office building with ground floor retail will be constructed first and the multifamily building after. The developer is asking for flexibility to change the proposed office building to multifamily depending on market conditions, which would increase the total number of units between the two phases to 688 units along with a slight reduction in the amount of ground floor retail. 

According to the zoning application, the Gensler-designed project includes a “modernist concrete and glass palette for the towers” to tie in with buildings in the Southwest and Navy Yard neighborhoods, as well as industrial elements due to its proximity to Buzzard Point. The entrance to the office (or multifamily) building will be on M Street while the other multifamily building will have its main entrance on L Street along with street access to units along Half and L streets. The multifamily units at 5 M Street will be all market-rate since current zoning does not require the addition of inclusionary zoning units, but the additional density requested for penthouse-level residential and commercial uses will require a donation to the city’s Housing Production Trust Fund. 

The ANC will review the project over the coming months, but at an initial meeting with the developers, the commissioners indicated they were not pleased with the concept design, as they felt it was in direct contrast to the surrounding neighborhood, particularly the former 2-3-story sanitary housing south of M Street on Carrollsburg Place and Half Street. Below are some renderings of the proposed development. What are your thoughts on the plan and design? 

S. Capitol & M (office option)

S. Capitol & M (multifamily option)

M and Half (office option)

M and Half (multifamily option)

South Capitol (office option)

South Capitol (multifamily option)

Renderings courtesy of Gensler

Buzzard Point Nominated as Opportunity Zone

Last week, the District government nominated 25 Census tracts to be Opportunity Zones and one of those was Census tract 6400, covering a portion of Southwest including all of Buzzard Point. Census tract 6400 is bordered by Delaware Avenue and Fort McNair to the west, South Capitol Street to the east, M Street to the north, and the Anacostia River to the south. The nomination was the result of tax cut legislation passed last year by Congress, which created a federal program to facilitate investment and job creation in low-income urban and rural areas. In the District, a majority of the nominated Census tracts are located in Wards 7 and 8 – the only nomination in Ward 6 is the Buzzard Point area. According to a press release by DMPED: 

The tracts were selected with a focus on bringing new investment to communities most in need of jobs, commercial activity and amenities by leveraging actionable investment opportunities. As certain benefits end in 2026, census tracts with projects ready for investment were given greater consideration as the sooner funds can be deployed, the greater the value. 

Census tract 6400 falls into this category – billions of dollars’ worth of development is planned, but the area is currently lacking in jobs and opportunities for residents. According to Census data, the unemployment rate is over 15% and 2016 median household income is $23,485. This compares to the 20024 ZIP code median household income of $75,703.  While Audi Field is seen as a driver of recent activity in Buzzard Point, the Opportunity Zone designation could potentially put development in this area of Southwest into overdrive.  Whether this new designation ultimately helps current residents get jobs and climb out of poverty remains to be seen...

Buzzard Point Update

Over the weekend, the District transferred control of the D.C. United stadium site in Buzzard Point to the team, according to The Washington Post. The District was responsible for assembling the land, razing the existing buildings, and utilities upgrades. A revised PUD application was released over the summer and the team will be facing the Zoning Commission in November. If the stadium plan receives approval, construction can begin in early 2017. As a result, the scheduled opening of the new stadium has now slipped a few months to at least June 2018. The team will likely have to plan an extended road trip in the first part of the 2018 MLS season before they can play their first match in their new home since they intend to leave RFK at the end of the 2017 season. 

Meanwhile, construction continues at the new Pepco Waterfront substation, with the steel frame of the south side of the building now up. Road closures around the construction sites of the stadium and the substation are now in effect, limiting access to the area. The substation is scheduled to be completed in 2017. 

Akridge has revived their marketing for 100 V Street, the seven-acre site they own just south of the stadium site (the site was originally nine acres – two acres were taken by eminent domain for the stadium project). 100 V Street is now planned as a 2.4-million SF mixed-use development (it previously was planned as an ideal location for a federal tenant pre-soccer stadium). The site is just north of the former Coast Guard headquarters building, which will be redeveloped by a team of developers including Akridge to a mixed-use project called Riverpoint with rental apartments, condos, and retail. 

The new owner of the site to the east of the Riverpoint project has renamed the proposed condominium Peninsula 88. A press release was sent last month stating the new name and that plans were submitted to the Zoning Commission (the plans are not yet available online). Even though the architect remains the same as what it was under the previous owner, the design has been changed. Part of the site is currently being used as a flower farm, which was featured in The Southwester. Construction on the condo project is expected to start in 2017.

Renderings courtesy of D.C. United and Akridge

Introducing The Bard at 501 I Street

Representatives from Shakespeare Theater Company (STC) and their developer partner Erkiletian held a community meeting on Tuesday evening to continue a “dialogue” about their plans for The Bard, a mixed use development at the former Southeastern University building, located at 501 I Street. STC purchased 501 I Street from the GS Graduate School USA and plans to consolidate their back of house operations to the site from leased space scattered across the city, including administrative offices, studios, costume shop, classrooms, rehearsal space, as well as artist housing. Approximately 75 employees will relocate to The Bard. In order to make the project financially feasible, STC has partnered with Erkiletian, who will develop a 173-unit residential building that varies in height between three and nine stories, which is designed by Shalom Baranes Associates, the same architect as the office buildings at Waterfront Station. 

Some changes were made to the development since the duo met with the community several months ago. The main change was moving Shakespeare’s rehearsal space at the corner of 6th and I streets 14 feet below grade. Below the rehearsal space will be a level of parking accommodating 69 vehicles. This change allowed a portion of the residential building that is set back from I Street to rise to eight stories instead of nine. There is a three-story section along I Street that wraps around the alley from which the eight-story section of the building is set back that will include 30 artist housing units. In addition, five two-story townhouses off of the alley on the northeast corner of the site will contain an additional eight parking spaces. However, the section of the building that is at the corner of 6th and I streets remains at nine stories, plus a penthouse. The unit mix is comprised of 25% studios, 40% 1BR and 1BR/Dens and 35% 2BR units. Access to the project will be via 6th Street and not I Street due to DDOT’s concerns about safety since Amidon-Bowen is located next door along I Street. 

The meeting was contentious at times. Concerns about the building’s height and limited parking were echoed by many in the audience. Although the taller section of the building along I Street was set back from the street frontage with a three-story section and one story was removed from the taller section, the nine-story plus penthouse section at the corner of 6th and I remained a major problem for residents, some of whom have homes that will directly face the building and feel that the proposed building is out of place in their neighborhood. It was also brought up that the building will tower over neighboring Amidon-Bowen Elementary, casting shadows on the school. To help alleviate concerns about the limited parking and the potential for tenants of the new building to use street parking, residents of the rental building will not be eligible for Residential Permit Parking (RPP) and the property manager will be doing a periodic audit of the DMV to make sure residents don’t try to game the system. Parking will not be provided to STC’s employees. 

STC and Erkiletian have brought in Bo Shuff to deal with community outreach for The Bard. A phone town hall was held Wednesday evening and other outreach efforts will be implemented over the summer to keep residents informed about the project. A project website will soon go live and a Facebook page has been set up so the project’s process can be followed via social media. Bo can be reached at outreach@thebard501.com or by phone: 571-336-6343. 

Currently, zoning at the site does not allow what the development team has proposed, but they intend on going through the Planned Unit Development process unless their lobbying efforts are successful at the DC Council to make changes to the Southwest Neighborhood Plan. Demolition began last week at the site, which should last another three to four weeks. 

Rendering courtesy of Shalom Baranes Associates

SEU Campus Demolition Underway; Community Meeting Tomorrow

Demolition began last week at the former Southeastern University campus building, located at 501 I Street. It will take approximately five weeks to demolish the structure, which has been vacant for several years. The Shakespeare Theater Company purchased the building last year from the Graduate School USA and has partnered with developer Erkiletian to build a mixed-use project with space for theater operations and apartments above. There will be a presentation tomorrow evening at Westminster Church (400 I Street) starting at 7pm where the development plan will be shared with the community. 

Demolition in the background & Amidon-Bowen roof replacement in foreground.

Photos courtesy of reader JP

SEU Demo to Begin June 22

Fencing is up and raze permits have been approved for the demolition of the former Southeastern University campus at 501 I Street. Demolition will begin later this month after school is out for the summer at neighboring Amidon-Bowen Elementary. The demolition process will last five weeks, starting on the north side of the site for the first week and moving to the west side during weeks two and three. Then demolition will shift to the east side for the last two weeks. Work hours will be from 7am to 5pm Monday through Friday. 

All of the debris from demolition will be sorted on site, placed in containers and then hauled to recycling centers. In addition, all of the hardscape and landscape materials will be removed from the site, but Erkiletian has offered to provide the materials to members of the community or for use on other public sites, such as the Southwest Duck Pond or the SW Community Garden. For those who are interested, contact Paul Kokosinski at Erkiletian if you would like any of the landscape materials on site.

The Shakespeare Theater Company is partnering with Erkiletian at 501 I Street to build a nine-story building with approximately 155 residential units (a portion of the units will be set aside for actors, interns and affordable housing under Inclusionary Zoning), as well as rehearsal space, a black-box theater, a costume and set equipment fabrication shop, and the administrative headquarters for the Company. Most of STC’s operations will be located below-grade. Once demolition is complete, the site will be leveled off and remain fenced off until excavation begins, which won’t happen for 12 to 14 months since the developer still needs to go through the PUD process.

A Few Quick Items: Development Map, Arena Stage Scales Back Institute, BoA Checking Out SE, Civilian BRAC Could Involve Deptartment of Energy, Constitution Center in Search of a Tenant

- I've created a new page on the blog with a development map showing projects that are either under construction or planned in Southwest. It's not complete, so other projects will be added in the coming days. Soon, I'll add a map showing projects that have recently been completed.

- Arena Stage is scaling back its American Voices New Play Institute according to The Washington Post.  From the article:

Underlining the challenges it faces in realizing its aspirations to be a national center for research, Arena Stage announced Wednesday that major components of its 2½-year-old American Voices New Play Institute are relocating to Emerson College in Boston.

The transfer will mean a loss of some key personnel who have been deeply involved in the molding of Arena’s widely talked-about play development programs. Most notably, David Dower — Arena’s associate artistic director and one of the chief architects of Arena’s transition to its refurbished complex in Southwest Washington — will be leaving in April for a new job at Emerson. Departing, too, is the institute’s director, Polly Carl, who joined Arena only last July from Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre and will be working with Dower in Boston.

More from the article:

What will leave with Dower and Carl are the institute’s online projects, run for the industry as a whole: the New Play Map, the live-streamed New Play TV and Howlround, a journal of provocative essays on American theater edited by Carl that has become a lively and popular digital forum.

In addition, Dower and Carl will run out of Emerson the industry “convenings” that had been based at Arena, on topics such as diversity, black playwrights and developing new work, though the company will continue to be an occasional site for the symposium.

The actual institute will remain at Arena, as well as Theater 101, which allows spectators to view a production as it evolves during the rehearsal process.

- JDLand reports that Bank of America is in negotiations with Monument Realty to move from their trailer at Waterfront Station to 55 M Street, SE. The current lease at Waterfront Station ends in December 2012, but the bank may leave sooner than that.

- The Washington Business Journal (subscribers only) reported a couple weeks ago that the disposition of federal property called for in a House bill dubbed "Civilian BRAC" would save the Federal government $565M over the next five years according to the Congressional Budget Office.  The bill includes the sale of the Department of Energy headquarters (the Forrestal Building straddles 10th Street near L'Enfant Plaza) as well as the move of the Federal Trade Commission to Constitution Center. The redevelopment of the DOE campus would go a long way towards jump-starting the Southwest Ecodistrict Initiative.

- Also in the WBJ (subscribers only), there's an article about Constitution Center and the search for a tenant to replace the SEC, who backed out of their lease a few months after taking 900K SF in the summer of 2010.  Since then, the SEC has worked with the GSA to find replacement tenants. The Federal Housing Financing Agency will start moving there in January and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency should move into their space by the end of next year. About 358K SF of space is still left to lease. Besides the pending legislation in Congress to move the Federal Trade Commission to Constitution Center (see above), the SEC and GSA are close to a deal with an undisclosed federal agency.

Community Summit Announcement

Here is a link to register for the event, but space is limited. Lunch and refreshments will be served. Childcare is available upon request for children ages 11 and under.

ANC Votes to Urge Community Uses at Vacant Parcels at Waterfront Station

At tonight's ANC 6D meeting, the Commissioners voted unanimously in a resolution to urge the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) to allow community use of the vacant NE parcel at Waterfront Station on a temporary basis until the site is ready to be redeveloped as a mixed-use residential development with ground floor retail. In addition, the ANC urges Waterfront Associates, the developer of Waterfront Station, to allow community use of their vacant NW parcel on a temporary basis. Below is the resolution that passed:

Whereas, Waterfront Station is now open and after nearly fifty years Fourth Street, SW is again the primary commercial corridor in the dynamic urban center of our neighborhood connecting both sides of Southwest and generating renewed pedestrian, bicycle and automobile traffic to and from the site and points north toward Pennsylvania Avenue, and

Whereas, the large parcel of vacant land located on the northeastern most section of Waterfront Station is currently in the real estate portfolio of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) and is slated to be built upon with residential housing and community serving retail in the Waterfront Station Second Stage PUD, and

Whereas, the Zoning Commission has already agreed to delay the completion of the First Stage Waterfront Station PUD for another two years, and Whereas, a Second Stage Waterfront Station PUD is unlikely to be actively developed until such time as the First Stage Waterfront Station PUD is completed and until the climate for residential real estate construction significantly improves, and

Whereas, the Southwest Community, although undergoing significant revitalization with the construction of the first stage of Waterfront Station containing three District agencies, a brand new Safeway, and 35,000 sq/ft of additional retail, the architecturally significant Arena Stage project and hundreds of units of both redeveloped and new housing stock, still lacks centrally located communal open space for our residents to meet, gather and recreate,

Therefore, be it resolved that ANC-6D, on May 10, 2010 at a regularly scheduled meeting by a vote of 7-0, supported the adaptive temporary re-use of the northeastern most parcel of land at Waterfront Station by the Southwest Community until such time as DMPED is ready to build the residential housing and community serving retail upon that parcel, as has been previously approved, and do hereby encourage DMPED to engage in discussions with the ANC in conjunction with Council member Wells’ office to ensure that the parcel may be productively utilized for, among other potential uses, a children's playground, a dog park and a community garden.

Be it further resolved that ANC-6D will request of the owners of Waterfront Station that the parcel of land that they control on the northwestern portion of that property, also slated to be developed as residential housing in the Second Stage PUD, be left as open space for picnicking and occasionally programmed for community special events until such time as it is built upon.

Submitted, Commissioner Andy Litsky, May 10, 2010

Streetcar Investment May Spur Development in Buzzard Point

Last week, DDOT began holding meetings in each of the eight wards to explain their plans for the return of streetcars to DC. The proposed 37-mile streetcar network will include eight lines and will be built in three phases during the next 7-10 years. One of the lines is already under construction in Anacostia (the blue line on the map, from DDOT's website), and will terminate on 1st Street in Buzzard Point. Once all three phases are built, there will be two lines that run through Southwest and terminate in Buzzard Point. The second streetcar line (the orange line on the map) will run along M Street and go north on 7th Street towards downtown. Currently, Buzzard Point is a no-man's land of sorts, with industrial operations, a few office buildings, including the current headquarters of the U.S. Coast Guard (although they are moving to the East Campus of St. Elizabeth's), a couple marinas, and Fort McNair. Buzzard Point is a part of the Capitol Riverfront BID, which also covers most of Near Southeast. While there has been substantial development on the Southeast side of the BID, nothing has happened yet in Buzzard Point. Akridge has plans to develop a secure office campus at 100 V Street (the same site was rumored a few months ago as a possible site for D.C. United), but no tenants have been found yet. A few years ago during the height of the housing market bubble, Walnut Street Development had plans to build a condominium project in the area, but those plans were scuttled. With an investment as substantial as a streetcar network coming to Buzzard Point, the Southwest part of the Capitol Riverfront BID may soon start to see some development activity, or it may just be a convenient place to build a maintenance facility. DDOT officials tout the amount of private investment that Portland's streetcar system brought to neighborhoods along its route, so they are banking on a similar effect here in the District. We shall see...

They Paved Over Paradise!

Just as developer Vornado told Southwest...TLQTC back in February, Bernstein's Reliable Liquors, along with the other businesses at 1101 South Capitol Street (except for the 7-Eleven and the Taco Bell/KFC site) have been demolished and replaced by a surface parking lot in time for Opening Day at Nationals Park, which is tomorrow. The parking lot is temporary - once the economy improves, the lot will be developed into a mixed-use project. Below is a progression of photos showing the transformation of Bernstein's from a three-story building to a parking lot.

This photo was taken in December 2008. The liquor store was already closed and the ground floor of the building was boarded up.

This photo was taken in February 2009. By this time, the building was gutted and fencing was placed around the building.

This photo was taken last Sunday. The buildings have been demolished and the lot has been paved over. Since this photo was taken, parking spaces have been marked. The buildings in the background are new residential buildings recently completed and an office building under construction in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood in Near SE.

E Street Development Chosen for Engine 13

DCMud reports that the District government has chosen E Street Development (Proposal #1) to develop a new DCFD Engine 13 firehouse at the corner of 4th & E Street. Additionally, the team will build an office building on top of the new firehouse and a second office building at the site of the current Engine 13 firehouse. Read my post from February for details on the proposal, but highlights include a partnership with community organizations including Kid Power Inc. and D.C. Central Kitchen, LEED-Silver certification, green roof technology, and neighborhood retail along E Street. This is the same development team that ANC6D recommended last month to DMPED. In the post from DCMud, it states that construction of the new firehouse will happen in 2010 and the current firehouse will stay open until the new one is complete. The above rendering is the new office building planned at the current site of Engine 13, designed by Beyer,Blinder,Belle.

ANC 6D Recommends to DMPED to Select E Street Development

At this evening's ANC 6D meeting, a multi-pronged resolution passed 7-0 to recommend to DMPED that they select E Street Partners (proposal #1) as the preferred developer for the DCFD Engine 13 parcels. Here is a link to part 1 and part 2 of proposal #1 (the file sizes are large). The resolution also requests that the winning development team have community partners in their proposal; makes the winning team come before the ANC to discuss their plans for community benefits; the team must attempt to hire ANC 6D constituents in the design and construction of the project; and they must attempt to hire locals to work in the retail space. E Street Partners was the only team to specifically name community partners with their proposal - the D.C. Central Kitchen and Kid Power Inc. (coincidentally, or not, a former ANC 6D commissioner works for Kid Power Inc.). While the recommendations of an ANC are supposed to carry great weight with the District government, DMPED is not required to follow the ANC's resolution in whole or in part. Also passed was a resolution to appoint Commissioner Jorgensen to represent the interests of the ANC and the community as an ex-oficio member when the DMPED panel meets to select the winning proposal. Jorgensen will compile a list of comments and concerns of the ANC and community members by this Wednesday and will present them to the selection panel. If members of the community want their questions addressed at the selection panel meeting by Jorgensen, send an email to dcbiz@dc.gov with a cc: to the ANC office@anc6d.org. The panel will make its recommendation to Deputy Mayor Albert by St. Patrick's Day. (The above rendering is an office building with ground-level retail on the corner of 6th & E Street planned by E Street Partners, from their presentation to the community on February 25th)

Engine 13 Presentations Held Tonight

Earlier this evening, DMPED held a forum where the three development teams vying for Squares 494 and 495 had the opportunity to present their project proposals to the community. DMPED will post the slide show presentations from the three teams on their website tomorrow, and then I'll have a more in-depth post about the proposals. Meanwhile, I thought I'd whet your appetite with a rendering of one of the proposals for the new Engine 13, courtesy of E Street Development. The above rendering is a view of a new two-story firehouse, with an office building on top, at the corner of 4th & E Street (the vacant parcel alongside the SE-SW Freeway).

Update #1: The presentations have been uploaded to the DMPED website. You can see the presentations for E Street Development, 494 Partners, and Trammell/CSG/MVH. I'll give more details on each proposal by this weekend.

Update #2: Following is a description of each of the proposals, along with some renderings. For reference purposes, parcel A is the site of the current Engine 13, which is located at the corner of 6th & E Street. Parcel B is the parking lot at the corner of 4th & E Street. All three proposals plan to move Engine 13 to Parcel B into a 22,000 SF space and all include some office space and ground-level retail. The similarities end there...

Proposal 1 (E Street Development)

E Street Development is a combination of Potomac Investment Properties, CityPartners, and Adams Investment Group. Their architect is Beyer, Blinder, Belle. E Street Development has partnered with the D.C. Central Kitchen and Kid Power Inc. to provide community-oriented space in their development. Both parcels will be designated LEED Silver and will have green roofs. In this proposal, parcel A would become a 307,000 SF nine-story office building with ground floor retail space along E Street. The D.C. Central Kitchen wants to create a retail outlet on the first floor of the building, in the form of a restaurant where their trained cooking staff can prepare affordable nutritious meals. Retailers that the development team will target include a coffee shop and daycare center. Parcel B will be a 191,000 SF, 10-story office building, with a new Engine 13 firehouse on the ground floor. The firehouse will be facing 4th Street, while the office building's lobby will be oriented towards E Street. There will be 3,000 SF of community space on the second floor of the building, where Kid Power Inc. will have space to implement their programs. Locally, Kid Power Inc. works with 50 kids at Amidon-Bowen Elementary and Jefferson Middle School, but currently don't have enough space to do after school programs. (The above rendering is parcel A, viewed from the corner of 6th & E Street, from the DMPED website)

Proposal 2 (494 Partners)

494 Partners is made up of a partnership between JLH Partners, Chapman Development, and CDC Companies. Their architect is Compu.tecture, and as in proposal 1, both parcels will have green roofs. This proposal would put a 208-key extended-stay hotel on parcel A. The hotel would be 9-stories tall, shaped like an L, and the main lobby would face E Street. In the hollow area of the "L", there would be an 11,000 SF all-weather atrium, which would be open to the public 365 days a year. The atrium would be oriented towards historic St. Dominic Church and contain green space. There would be 6,000 SF of ground-level retail space, targeting a restaurant, coffee shop, and drug store. During the presentation, the development team mentioned that they have spoken with the proprietors of La Tomate (a restaurant along Connecticut Avenue, NW in Dupont Circle) about opening a second restaurant at their site. Parcel B will have a 103,000 SF eight-story office building with a firehouse on the first two floors, and 3,450 SF of retail space on floors 1-2. Compu.tecture designed the upper floors of the office building to curve along 4th Street. The firehouse entrance would be on 4th Street and the office building lobby would be on E Street. (The first rendering is parcel A, viewed from the corner of 6th & E Street; the second rendering is parcel B, viewed from the corner of 4th & E Street, from the DMPED website)

Proposal 3 (Trammell/CSG/MVH)

The third team is made up of Trammell Crow, CSG Urban Partners, and Michele Hagans. Their architect is Gensler, the same designer who did Trammell Crow's Patriots Plaza development catty corner to parcel B, which is currently under construction. This proposal has the most office space planned out of the three development teams, while both buildings would have either green or white roofs and would be LEED Silver. Parcel A would have a 306,000 SF 11-story office building with nearly 14,000 SF of ground level retail along E Street, 6th Street, and School Street. About 2,200 SF of community space would be provided on School Street, however, a community partner has not been identified yet. The main lobby would be on E Street. Parcel B would be a 190,000 SF 11-story office building with Engine 13 on the first two floors. The firehouse entrance would be on 4th Street and the main lobby for the office building would be at the corner of 4th & E Street. Currently, there are four levels of below-grade parking planned, but since Trammell Crow has Patriots Plaza nearby, they may share parking to try and reduce construction costs. (The first rendering is parcel A, viewed from the corner of 6th & E Street; the second rendering is parcel B, viewed from the corner of 4th & E Street, from the DMPED website)

After the presentations, there was a question/answer session, where members of the community were able to ask the development teams questions about their proposals. Not many community members attended the forum, so most of the questions came from ANC 6D commissioners. I asked the development teams whether the large amount of vacant office space in SW would require them to secure a major tenant before starting construction on the office portions of their proposals. All three teams committed to start construction on parcel B first with or without a lead tenant, since opening a new firehouse is a priority. It wasn't clear from their answers whether there would be any delays in building on parcel A. Even if you weren't able to make it to the forum, DMPED wants your input, so questions and commentary about the proposals can be submitted to dcbiz@dc.gov until Tuesday, March 3rd. The questions and the developer teams' responses will be posted on DMPED's website by the end of next week. In addition, please vote on which proposal you like best by participating in our poll (see the left sidebar). While the Deputy Mayor's office will make the final decision on which team will win the bid, I will forward the results of the poll to the project director at DMPED. The poll will be open until Friday, March 6th.

L'Enfant Plaza Expansion Planned

In the Spring 2009 issue of OnSite Magazine (subscribers only) from the Washington Business Journal, there's an article about eyesore buildings around the city, including the FBI headquarters and the new convention center. Inevitably, L'Enfant Plaza was profiled, a 1960's-era concrete mixed-use complex that sits on top of the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station. Currently, L'Enfant Plaza consists of three office buildings, the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel and an underground retail promenade. JBG, one of the largest developers in the region, owns two of the office buildings totaling 631,000 SF, the 370-key hotel, and the retail promenade totaling 179,000 SF. (Above is a photo of the central courtyard and the north & west buildings taken in December 2008 - JBG owns the north building). JBG has plans to expand L'Enfant Plaza with two office buildings, an extended-stay hotel on the north end of the property, and a 202-unit apartment building on the south end of the site. In the article, JBG publicist Julie Chase mentioned the following about the goal of the expansion:

“The goal is to make [L’Enfant Plaza] far more pedestrian-friendly and bridge the up-and-coming vitality of the Southwest waterfront,” Chase says.

The article also states that Chase predicts that L'Enfant Plaza will emerge as a "second ring" to the clubs and restaurants along the Southwest Waterfront and will act as a buffer between the National Mall and the Maine Avenue corridor. The folks over at JBG were kind enough to send Southwest...TLQTC some renderings of the new office and hotel components (see below). SmithGroup has designed the new buildings and has also designed Constitution Center.

Here's a rendering of the southern facade of one of the new office buildings, which will be located in the central courtyard and will have ground-floor retail.

Here is a view of the two new office buildings as seen from across 10th Street, which will total about 500,000 SF. The retail component will contain about 25,000 SF.

On the northeast corner of the complex, a new 234-key extended-stay hotel will be built along D Street.

Ms. Chase at JBG said in the OnSite Magazine article that construction would begin next year and will deliver in phases in 2011 & 2015.

Coming Soon to a Corner Near You...a Parking Lot

Last week I noticed there were parts of the old Bernstein's Reliable Liquor site that was gutted, with fencing around the site (see photo). Now, as demolition has started at the site, which also includes the cab company around the corner, Southwest...TLQTC has learned from Vornado that the demolished buildings will be replaced temporarily with a surface parking lot, in time for Opening Day at Nationals Park. However, the 7-Eleven will remain open for the time being. There are no concrete plans yet for the site, located at the NW corner of SoCap and M Street, but most likely it will become a mixed-use project. By demolishing the buildings and creating a parking lot, Vornado won't have to pay a higher tax on vacant property, which was recently increased to about ten times the rate for occupied property, while they put together plans for the site and wait out the current state of the economy.

SW Waterfront is the Talk of the Town

Since the D.C. Council passed a resolution on Tuesday allowing the transfer of land along the Southwest Waterfront from the city government to the Hoffman-Struever team, DCMud has posted two stories about the project (here and here). I wrote a comment after the first post lauding the fact that the development could now move forward, but expressed some concern over the credit markets and whether or not it would affect the timing of the project. The second DCMud post was an interview with Scott Seaman from PN Hoffman, and at the end of the post, my concern about obtaining financing and timing was addressed:

Still, planning is still embryonic. And given that the project isn’t likely to begin construction until at least 2012 – not to mention the belt-tightening state of the economy – is seems reasonable to wonder where and when the first of Hoffman-Streuver’s cash will be spent. “The next two years will be focused on completing the design of the project, working with the community, and submitting for the PUD,” says Seaman. “We are confident that the capital market will have improved by the time we are ready to put a shovel in the ground.”

Back in September, Elinor Bacon from ER Bacon Development, one of the development partners of the Southwest Waterfront, said at a SWNA meeting that construction would begin on phase one in 2011. From the DCMud post, it sounds like that date has been pushed back to 2012...

(The above photo is the Maine Avenue corridor taken in October 2008.)

SW Waterfront Developers & DC Government Sign Land Disposition Agreement

Yesterday (I meant to post about this yesterday, but I didn't get a chance until tonight) according to a press release from PN Hoffman, the DC Government and Hoffman-Struever Waterfront LLC signed the Land Disposition Agreement for the Southwest Waterfront. From the press release: "As master developer, Hoffman-Struever will lead the transformation and development of over 26-acres of land and 25 acres of marina area in to a world-class mixed-use waterfront destination which will include acres of public parks, plazas and open green space. When complete, the project will reconnect the District and its citizens to the underutilized waterfront and a great natural resource. The project will also link the revitalized M Street corridor and Baseball District through the Southwest Waterfront to the Mall and to the millions of annual local, regional and international visitors. The LDA provides the framework for the master developer to entitle, design and develop the Southwest Waterfront project. The signing of the LDA follows the District Council’s unanimous approval earlier this summer of $198 million in financing for public costs associated with the project, which legislation was introduced through the offices of Chairman Vincent Gray at the request of Mayor Adrian Fenty. The public financing will pay for site infrastructure, utilities, roads, parks, promenades, public piers and other improvements for the project...In related actions, on October 6, Kwame Brown, Chairman of the Council’s Committee on Economic Development will chair a Roundtable discussion on the pending resolution now under consideration that would authorize the City to transfer the Southwest Waterfront land to Hoffman-Struever at the closing under the LDA." Construction is set to begin in 2011. At the SWNA meeting last week, Elinor Bacon from ER Bacon Development mentioned during a Q & A session that financing hasn't been obtained yet, but they have received a lot of interest, since it's a high-profile project and construction isn't expected to begin immediately.

Zoning Analysis of Southwest to Begin Soon

According to the Summer 2008 issue of the Ward 6 Neighborhood Planning Update, the DC Office of Planning will conduct a study of conditions in Southwest in order to help guide zoning and future development in the area. The boundaries of the study area are the Southeast-Southwest freeway to the north, the south side of P Street to the south, the Washington Channel to the west, and South Capitol Street to the east. Buzzard Point is not included in this study. Currently, there are 11 zoning districts within these boundaries, in addition to federal land, as a result of "reactive" zoning, since the zoning districts were created after Southwest was redeveloped in the 1950s and 1960s. Some issues that will be analyzed include possibly reopening some streets in the original L'Enfant plan, designate structures as historic, guide where new development should occur, and how to maximize transit use in the neighborhood. The community will be involved during this study period in a series of meetings, which are supposed to start in late summer and conclude in late fall of this year. Once the dates of the meetings are released, I'll post them here.