Design Team Selected for Randall School

According to DCist, a trio of architecture firms has been selected to work on the Randall School redevelopment project on I Street. The article states that Bing Thom Architects (the same firm that designed Arena Stage) will be the principal firm, along with landscape architects Oehme van Sweden and DC-based architectural history and historic preservation firm EHT Traceries, Inc. Oehme van Sweden has worked on other projects in Southwest, including the World War II Memorial and the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial.

If you recall back in February, a partnership between Telesis Corporation (a DC-based developer) and CACB Holdings LLC (owned by the Rubell family that owns the Capitol Skyline Hotel across the street from Randall) signed a purchase and sale agreement for Randall School from the Corcoran. Plans include a contemporary art museum, 225-key hotel, and a residential building. The museum will be 20,000 square feet in size and will house the Rubell Family Collection/Contemporary Arts Foundation, which will serve as a satellite location for the Rubell Foundation's main museum in Miami, Florida. The hotel and residential building will be approximately 480,000 square feet. The sale has to be approved by the DC Council, since the original sale by the city to the Corcoran has a covenant that stipulated that the intended use of the building would be a college, which won't be the case under the new development plan.

Waterfront Station Presser Planned

Mayor Fenty will hold a press conference at Waterfront Station with the development team on Wednesday, June 2nd at 10:30am to officially reopen 4th Street. Perhaps there will be an announcement about retail...

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.

Screen on the Green to Return this Summer

The Washington Post reports that Comcast has agreed to be a sponsor with HBO of Screen on the Green, so the popular free summertime National Mall activity will be back, showing movies on Monday evenings during four weeks in July and August. Below is the movie schedule:

• July 12: "Goldfinger"
• July 19: "The Goodbye Girl"
• July 26: "12 Angry Men"
• August 2: "Bonnie and Clyde"

Screen on the Green films will be displayed on a 20' x 40' screen and seating will be available from 4th Street to 7th Street.

Constitution Center Under Consideration for Massive DHS Lease

In Monday's Capital Business section of The Washington Post, there's an article about the need for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to move into more than 1 million square feet of space, even though the agency is moving its headquarters to St. Elizabeths over in Congress Heights. This follows a story that DCMud did a couple months ago about the topic. From the WaPo article:

P. Brian Connolly, senior vice president at Akridge, said his firm had hoped to pitch a proposed 2.7 million-square-foot development it plans at 100 V St. SW, but the GSA ruled the property ineligible because it is slightly more than the required half-mile from a Metro entrance.

Connolly said that when he read the solicitation, he thought the specifications seemed to match those for Constitution Center, the renovated former headquarters for the Transportation Department in Southwest D.C.

"If it didn't say it, it hinted around all four corners of that," he said.

That building, owned by David Nassif Associates, has 1.4 million square feet to rent, is highly secure, energy efficient and only three Metro stops from the future DHS headquarters, at the site of the former St. Elizabeths Hospital.

Constitution Center, located at 400 7th Street and directly above the L'Enfant Plaza Metro, delivered in late 2009. There have been rumors that the owners of Constitution Center wanted the FBI to move their headquarters from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to the secure complex, but no tenants have been announced. In the past month or so, additional finishing touches have been done around the buildng, including several park benches. Here is a look at a hard hat tour I took of the building last summer.

South Capitol Shopping Center Redo Closer to Reality

The Washington City Paper's Housing Complex Blog reported last week that the South Capitol Shopping Center in Bellevue will be one step closer to being redeveloped after the D.C. Council approves a bill to close a public alley in Square 6172, located within the project's blueprint. Back in December 2008, CityInterests LLC, the developers of the planned revamped shopping center complex, received tax increment financing (TIF) worth $8.8 million to build what is described as:

A 530,000-square-foot $108 million project to replace South Capitol Shopping Center, a strip of stores in the 4000 block near the District’s southern tip that currently includes Domino’s Pizza, Mai’s Nails, a liquor store and Jackson Hewitt tax service. It would include 220 residential units, 85,000 square feet of office space, 500 parking spaces and 47,000 square feet of retail.

Bike Share Expansion Announced

The District Government announced on Friday during Bike to Work Day (and has been widely reported in the press) that DC will be teaming up with Arlington County to create an expanded bike share program between the two jurisdictions, which will become the largest bike share program in the U.S. It is likely that the expanded bike share program, which will contain 1,100 bikes at 114 stations, will include portions of Southwest (my guess is one will be located at the Waterfront-SEU Metro station). The current bike share program in DC only has ten stations - all located in Northwest. DC's burgeoning bike lane network includes 4th Street. Bike lanes were installed on the recently reopened portion of 4th Street and will connect to the bike lanes that run on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW later this year, as WashCycle reported last week.

Above is a bike share station used by the National Park Service, located in West Potomac Park at NPS Headquarters.

Cannon Shots Tomorrow at Fort McNair

It's been a busy day of posting! Here's a notice to pass along from MPD's District One Lieutenant Nicholas Gallucci:

During ceremonies at Ft McNair tomorrow there will be a total of 34 cannon shots to honor the changing of the Commodore & Vice-Commodore of the USCG. The event spans from 10:00am - 1:00pm. It may sound like “explosions”.

Poolside this Summer at the Capitol Skyline Hotel

- Nocturnal Vibe passes along word that the Capitol Skyline Hotel will be hosting pool parties again this season on Saturdays. Below is the press release:

WASHINGTON (May 24, 2010)—Nocturnal Vibe, DC’s premier nightlife events planning and multimedia organization announces an exclusive partnership with the popular Capitol Skyline Hotel to produce Saturday afternoon pool parties. The parties, sponsored by Vida Fitness, have been named Liquid Lounge and will feature some of the best house music DJs from Washington, DC and beyond. The hotel and Nocturnal Vibe will host their inaugural event on Saturday, June 5th from 2 p.m. – 9 p.m., poolside at the architecturally iconic DC destination. The event will feature DJ Mr. Greene, RGF, Eric D. and Billy Quest as well as live percussion and saxophone along with other performers and guests.

The Liquid Lounge parties cost $15 at the door and will include $8 drink specials and $5 beers all day long, including an exclusive Liquid Lounge cocktail for $5. Guests will also be able to buy food from the hotel and chill in the swanky hotel lounge if they wish to take a break from the sun. But if you’re a sunseeker wishing to soak up the rays, you’ll have one of the largest poolside decks in DC to enjoy the entertainment. Liquid Lounge features a capacity of 1300 people including 17,000 sq ft of VIP space. Large umbrellas and seating areas are available for rent for larger groups and guests receive special room rates if they wish to spend the night and party poolside again the next day. In other words, DC has never seen a poolside party quite like this.

Nocturnal Vibe is made up of four professionals dedicated to doing something different with the DC nightlife scene. Their passion comes from their love of house music, which is the driving force behind the Nocturnal Vibe brand. Their parties consist of blending local talent with powerhouse names in the house music world to introduce DC to a new style of pool party more commonly found in South Beach during the Winter Music Conference and the famed Nikki Beach. Nocturnal Vibe also wants to use the opportunity to introduce guests to various artists and performers to provide an ultimate user experience by the pool.

The Capitol Skyline Hotel is located just a few blocks from the Navy Yard Metro station at 10 I Street SW. For more information about the event, visit http://www.nocturnalvibe.com/. To schedule DJ interviews or inquire about press access, please contact Douglas Van Sant at 202-579-6055 or nocturnalvibe@gmail.com

Last summer, the pool deck at the I Street hotel made its debut on the DC scene, hosting poolside events throughout the week, including Pool Boy Parties on Thursdays, Young Professional mixers on Fridays, DJ parties on Saturdays, and Spike'd Sundays (where Real World DC cast members were spotted on several occasions).

- In addition, I forgot to pass along this tidbit from reader Drina via urbandaddy.com about the 2010 Water Polo season underway at the Capitol Skyline Hotel. The Capitol Skyline Conference started play on May 4th and will last for 7 weeks on Tuesday evenings, with playoffs on Saturday, July 10. See the Arlington Athletic & Social League's website for details on the schedule in case you want to see the players in action. The next game is scheduled for June 1.

Potomac Place Tower Delayed Again

The general contractor at Potomac Place Tower, the condo conversion project at 800 4th Street, has filed for bankruptcy. This is is an excerpt from an email sent to the owners of Potomac Place Tower last Wednesday by the management company describing what happened:

The general contractor, Dietze Construction Group, filed Chapter 11 today. Apparently, Dietze had not been paying its subcontractors, despite being paid by the Declarant [Monument Realty], and the pattern of non-payment wasn't confined to this project. The developer is working expeditiously with the subcontractors to resolve the matter, which is expected to take between 14-21 days. In the interim, there will be no settlements or significant progress in the Phase III renovation schedule. We will forward an update when new dates are set for the items remaining, including the presently vacant Phase III units, canopy roof repair and community room upgrade. Due to the fluidity of the matter, there is very little information available at this time. However, we will do our best to update you on the matter on a weekly basis until the project resumes normal pace.

The news was confirmed in an article in Friday's Washington Business Journal. Since Monument Realty isn't able to demonstrate a clean title to the condo units due to the liens placed by subcontractors on Dietze, about 25 settlements have been affected. This is the second time that renovations have been delayed at Potomac Place Tower - back in late 2008, construction was halted at the condo conversion when Dietze placed a lien on the building, because Monument lost the financial backing of Lehman Brothers.

Update: A representative from Monument Realty states that sales are still occuring at Potomac Place Tower, but some settlements have been postponed due to the bankruptcy of Dietze.