Morning Real Estate Review

Housing affordability indices reach record in 1st quarter (National Ass. of Realtors)  The affordability index, a relationship between median home price, median family income and average mortgage interest rate, crossed above 200 for the first time since 1970.


Homes for sale hard to find in some parts of the U.S. (Bloomberg Businessweek) The number of homes for sale in the U.S. fell 22% in March from the same time the previous year, as homeowners opt to stay where they are.

Home sale shortage affecting the nation (UPI)  Markets across the country showing signs of a housing shortage.

Trying to save K Street's grandeur (Washington Post)  The street, now known for its uniformity of office buildings, was once known for grand residences, and some are trying to save what little history is left.

Is the stadium really the reason for southeast's revival? (CityPaper)  The new stadium has certainly helped bring visitors from across the river (a winning team hasn't hurt), but development began before the stadium and would likely have continued without it.

Bethesda Americana Redux!

By Beth Herman

In literature it’s been said that the real measure of mastery is when the individual becomes inseparable from the act, as when the dancer becomes the dance, or the musician is indistinguishable from the sound he produces.

For antiques dealer/restorer and interior designer Marilyn Hannigan, former owner of Dupont Circle's Cherishables Antiques, creating a four-level home addition for her and commercial real estate developer husband, John, was to be much more than just another example of her work. Like the dancer or musician, it would become synonymous with a life steeped in coveted Americana.

Purchasing their two-story 1,060 s.f. Edgemoor post war Colonial Revival-style residence in 1971, at the time the house was emblematic of their close Bethesda enclave. Now within a block of the community’s burgeoning, bustling cafes, bookstores and upscale shopping, homes in the area are considered prime real estate and are almost unrecognizable from their nascent forms, according to architect Michael Callison who helmed the multi-storied renovation. In fact the Hannigans had more than a typical update in mind.

Undergoing three earlier incarnations that expanded the home's footprint to 3,066 s.f. and involved the kitchen, living room, a bedroom and the home’s façade, an addition had been built on a concrete slab consisting of only a first and second level (the old basement and attic were restricted to the original space). Under Callison’s baton, the homeowners desired to extend their existing basement to match the home’s addition-created footprint, turning the below-grade results into a combination antiques gallery and entertainment space for their large dinner parties. What’s more, a new master bedroom suite was desired on an upper level, and above that the old attic atop the post war part of the home needed to expand into a newly-created, essentially fourth level space, creating a dormer-crowned home office with a bird’s eye view for John.

“There was no way to do any of this when you’ve got something built on a concrete slab,” Callison said, also citing the former addition’s inadequate under 8-foot ceilings, for which an additional foot was mandated. “We ended up tearing it all down and starting over.”

Molding, mantles and muscles

With the home’s Colonial Revival architecture and Marilyn Hannigan’s penchant for all things Americana, traditional, classical design details were imminent for the wood-sided, brick-based addition. In the new living and dining rooms, crown molding and substantial Adams casing—a 3½-inch wide wood casing—for doors and windows make a bold, muscular statement. “While honoring the residence’s style, we were trying to bring up the personality of the former house from the way it was originally built,” Callison said.

In the living room, an early 19^th Century hand carved mantle with acanthus leaves, dentil molding, carved ovals and quarter fans frames a limestone fireplace, with an equally elegant antique grey/green mantle—it’s the original paint, according to Hannigan—featuring elaborate moldings in the dining room.

A connoisseur of old calligraphy, Hannigan found a 19^thCentury signed and dated eagle from Pennsylvania that frames the fireplace.

“Penmanship was so important in the 19^th Century,” she explained, adding it was taught out of hotel rooms, bank buildings, etc. As it became more detailed, contests were held for bird drawing with awards. “It’s called ‘flourish drawing’ so the pen never stops,” she said. Another flourish drawing in the hall features a bevy of birds: swans; eagles; a love bird; a nest, signed and dated 1885.

Inspired by illustrations of the natural environment with another home on the Eastern Shore, the homeowners display a grouping of duck prints by Alexander Pope (the artist: 1849-1924, not the essayist and poet: 1688-1744) at the base of the addition’s staircase, as well as various Audubon prints in the living room. Delicate early 20^thCentury feather-like sconces appear in the dining room, which Hannigan said she’d never seen before despite decades in the antiques arena.

A serving table from history’s Sheridan period, a mahogany tea table, 19^th Century armchairs painted with gold leaf, a 19^th Century tall case clock and a small vanity from the same era stenciled with fruit complement the room with its floor-to-ceiling double-hung arched windows.

Stairs, sprigs and sunlight

Where flooring is concerned, 3-inch white oak boards in the living and dining spaces, as well as in the below-grade gallery, are reflected in a prominent stair banister, which Hannigan said was initially slated for a cherry stain. “We saw the flooring and just had to do (the banister) the same way,” she said, referencing warmth and color.

In the dining room, the homeowner’s collection of Sprig China redolent of Jefferson's at Monticello features green sprigs with blue and a smidge of red in the center of its flowers. Enamored of the pattern, Hannigan recreated the sprig element in a band that encircles the room on the white oak flooring. A mahogany Sheridan-to-Empire period banquet table with twisted legs circa 1830 creates the right foundation for the china.

According to Callison, while an elevator was installed that traverses all four levels, the robust stair was designed to descend from the main living space up to the master suite and down to the gallery level, bathed in considerable light from a bank of windows. To maintain the profusion of sunlight in the subterranean environment, a large 12-by-16-foot well redolent of a patio courts light inside. Because its walls are high, Hannigan created a custom covering and uses the illuminated well space as an additional room.

Dreams, drawer pulls and dormers

In the 18-by-18-foot third level master bedroom, a painted wicker headboard, club chair, country sofa table, Sheridan period birds eye maple chest and shutters create a comfortable oasis. His and hers master baths include elements such as limestone flooring, limestone wainscoting and glass shower stalls, and in her bath a vaulted ceiling crowns a generous oval-top mirror created by architect Callison, who is also a furniture designer.

Though not officially part of the addition, walls for what was formerly a utilitarian kitchen were bumped out two feet, and Montgomery Kitchen and Bath was called in to partner in Callison’s warm country kitchen-style transformation. Punctuated by soft, recessed lighting, pendant lights, strong molding and fine design details such as drawer pulls in the form of clock faces, a decorative laser-carved tile element behind the stove was created by Bethesda’s Bartley Tile Concepts.

Mentored and employed for 23 years by visionary James Rouse who’d created Columbia, Maryland, later on under the auspices of Federal Realty Investment Trust John Hannigan helped build California’s toney Santana Row and also Bethesda Row. His new home office sits atop the addition in what is considered the fourth — or extended attic — level. Its three classical but buoyant dormers afford him a handy view from the top, both literally and figuratively.

“They almost doubled the size of the existing home to 5,382 s.f. with the new addition,” said Callison, who’d previously undertaken a 20-year transformation of his own Chevy Chase residence. “They ended up with a brand new house.”

Photo credit: Rey Lopez

Shaw's Parcel 42 Gets a Redo

The city is once again seeking bids for a vacant lot in Shaw once occupied by protesters demanding subsidized housing, this time DC leaders hope its prominent Rhode Island Avenue address will invite great architecture rather than protests.

Parcel 42, the catchy name given to the site at Rhode Island and 7th St., NW, across from the new Shaw library and planned affordable housing project, has been vacant for over a decade, but was awarded as a development parcel back in 2007.  Economic necessity lead to scaling back the project, with all the design of a county college dorm, from 94 units to 52 units, and to a higher income bar to applicants.  That, in turn, caused a sit-in and tent city to pop up in 2010, with protesters demanding lower income levels in a zone dominated by low-income housing.  But those plans also failed too, and the site remains vacant.  

But city leaders have finally issued a new Request for Proposals, now with a new vision.  Rather than shoot for the lowest income residents, the District government is again encouraging a maxed out building and - a first - decent architecture.

Current zoning allows a 65 foot building with 4.2 FAR, but the District and local ANC are encouraging a zoning change that allows a 90 foot building with 6.0 FAR, a ground floor dominated by retail, and now an 80% AMI designation rather than the lowest subsidized housing designation.  The proposal also states a preference for additional affordable units, a "high quality" public space component, and "high quality architecture" with a "signature design."  

To subsidize the project, the District is providing the land, leaving developers to come up with the right building plan.  Alex Padro, ANC Commissioner for the area, notes that specifications were left deliberately vague in order to allow developers the greatest flexibility.  "In order to get the creative juices flowing, we worked with the Deputy Mayor to make sure there weren't exact minimums." We need "outstanding architecture" noted Padro.  "Its gotta be a building that works financially, that activates the street, we already have a significant pocket of affordable housing in the area."  But most of all, said Padro, the building needs to meet high architectural standards like the Shaw library.

Developers, however, will be incentivized to compete on the affordable housing provision to get the nod from the city, and the quality of the architecture is likely not going to be something the community agrees upon.

Proposals are due by July 26. 

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Morning Real Estate Review

One more (ridiculous) look at height limits (Washington Post)  Architects take a serious look at height limits, the public gets its bloomers in a twist thinking about (gasp!) change.

Southwest DC community turns 50 (Washington Post)  The visually appalling development has its supporters, dated appearances notwithstanding.

Obama urges Congress to help homeowners (Washington Times) President calls on Congress to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages.


Alexandria approves redevelopment plan (Washington Post) Alexandria council approves Beauregard area plan, extracting tens of millions from developers for affordable housing and infrastructure upgrades.

Your Next Place

 If you want a house that you can impress your parents with, this is absolutely the one.  Everything about this place is refined, understated, sophisticated, and excruciatingly classy.  Not one off note.  If you bought this place and brought your parents here, they'd just get real quiet and then look at you in a way they've never looked at you before and then break down in tears apologizing for all the mistakes they made raising you, like when they got you knockoff "Nikeys" in fourth grade because "no one will notice anyway."  (At least that's how it goes in my daydream.  In reality, my parents would just look around, nod, and move in.)

The powder blue living room is expansive and features several large windows and a fantastic white fireplace; the dining room is elegant and more than large enough for any size family.  The kitchen has been recently renovated, and it shows; right next to the classic woodwork are the latest gleaming top-of-the-line appliances.  You can also see the park from the kitchen windows, so you can gaze out at nature's glory as your Pork n' Beans simmer.  My favorite part of the house was the "pub room," which was being used as an office, but could be used as, well, a pub.  With brick floors and an awesomely weathered wooden bar and a grille for grill(e?)ing, this would be hands down the greatest man cave of all time.  There are even some beautiful french doors that lead out to the patio, for when someone needs to vomit.

Upstairs are two equally masterful master bedroom suites, each outfitted with a full luxurious bath and excellent closets.  A lot of places have one incredible master suite and then a lesser one, but here, both people can have a suite that preserves their secret belief that they are superior to the other person.  As I get older, I'm convinced that this is the key to a lasting relationship.  That, and having secret affairs.

3510 Whitehaven Parkway NW
2 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms
$899,000

Morning Real Estate Review

Skanska sells downtown office building to Jamestown (Costar) Having redeveloped the former church at 733 10th after taking over from PN Hoffman, the European developer sells its trophy asset for $833 p.s.f.

Selling McMillan Reservoir site, community is hard to define (Slate)  Members of the "community" weigh in to air their special interests, without much thought to the consequences on the rest of the city.

Home prices could rise 4% per year (WLTX)  Market watcher Fiserv says prices likely to rise 4% per year for the next 5 years.  Unless the economy tanks.

Housing snapshot: S&P says 46 months to clear inventory (HousingWire) The newest rate is just low enough to cause a bump up in home prices in many markets, signalling a possible end to national price declines.

Maryland Ave and 14th St., NE gets a new gas station, unwanted (CityPaper)  Locals fought the decrepit station in the hopes of something more sightly, but Joe Mamo has other plans.

Today in Pictures - Silver Spring Library

View from Fenton Street. Source: Pre-proposal Slide Show

The new Silver Spring library, on the shelf for more than a decade, is nearing a decision on a general contractor, a step that should allow it to begin construction this fall, with hopes of a late 2014 opening.

New renderings feature the layouts and perspectives from project architects Lukmire Partnership.

The library is planned as a 5-story, cast- stone building at Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue. A pavilion with a glass facade facing Fenton connected to the main building at the top of the second floor creates a covered path for the future Purple Line to pass through.

The project officially broke ground in August 2010. Ground work and utility relocation underway now aim to keep the project moving forward and avoid future delays.

Silver Spring real estate development news