Long-Awaited Shaw Project Breaks Ground

Yesterday, the Jefferson at Market Place (formerly Kelsey Gardens, then Addison Square) project in Shaw broke ground after several delays including a halt due to lack of funding and a changing of hands from Metropolitan Development to Jefferson Apartment Group.

The subsidized housing project has a long history behind it: Executive Vice-President and partner with the Jefferson Apartment Group Greg Lamb said, “It’s a long time coming on the project. We entered the venture on this project at the end of 2011, where we took over the managing partner position. When we became involved, there wasn’t financing available, and the project had somewhat stalled.”

So Jefferson brought in Starwood Capital Group, its equity partner, and got construction on the mixed-use, 8-floor, 281-unit project.  Its 260,000 s.f. will include 13,000 s.f. of retail on the ground floor and 54 of the 281 units will be affordable housing units, while the rest remain market-rate.

The project is surrounded by other construction projects as Shaw bursts with new development, including the O Street Market, Progression Place (a large residential, office and retail project now well into construction), and the Wonder Bread building, plans for which are now being hashed out, as well as the Howard Theater. Another piece of the Market Place project was begun last spring when Capital City Real Estate purchased the land and began a small housing project.

What sets this complex apart is who will be residing in those affordable housing units: the former tenants of the affordable housing that was there, about six years ago, when this began.

“The neat story about this project is that the previous residents of Kelsey Gardens, which is the project that is being demolished, have the opportunity to move back into the complex after it is finished,” Lamb said. “Those tenants moved out back in 2007, so it’s rare that over a five or six year period that they’ll still come back.”

Those tenants have a representative group that has been working with Jefferson to ensure a smooth transition back.

Lamb said 35 to 40 of the new affordable housing units in the development will be occupied by former tenants of the building.

JAG paid $16.5m to control the site, keeping the permits obtained by Metropolitan, and took advantage of tax breaks previously authorized by the city.  "The city has helped and been a tremendous advocate on this project, providing some tax incentives on the project to make it work,” Lamb said.

The project is slated for completion in 24 months, with the first units becoming available for occupancy in 18 months.  “It’s been a great story with the coordination between the city, the developer and the tenants,” he said.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Groundbreaking held for Aurora, first building in White Flint's new sector plan

Yesterday, LCOR hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for Aurora at North Bethesda Center, "the first building to break ground since the new sector plan for White Flint,” according to project manager Mike Smith. He said he was pleased with the attendance, which included county officials, community activists and the development team.

The 18-story high rise will have 341 units and will be located in North Bethesda Center. The center will be a “city within a city,” according to its website, which also says the 32-acre plot will include 202,000 s.f. of retail and bring in 5,400 new jobs. Too bad a city center can’t be elected president.

Aurora, which will be built 1,200 linear feet from the White Flint metro station, will include 42 “affordably priced” units, meaning 12.5 percent of the building will be “well below market price … to help augment the affordable housing supply in the community,” Smith said. The other 298 units will be market rate.

It will reside across the street from a 24-hour Harris Teeter, perfect for buying frozen pizzas and asparagus at 4 a.m. (because who doesn’t buy frozen pizzas and asparagus at 4 a.m.?).

“It’s a really great amenity for our residents to have a grocery store available at their beck and call,” Smith said.

Aurora, which was designed by WDG Architecture, has a project budget of $86 million and construction by KBR has begun.

“We are well underway with construction activity on site,” Smith said.

He said the units will be available in rough two years, in mid-2014.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Morning Real Estate Review

Silver Line faces yet another hurdle in confidence (Washington Post)  MWAA set for a vote today amid a chorus of complaints about union friendly details in the contract, affecting phase 2 of the metro line's construction.

Commercial mortgage delinquencies fall, CMBS defaults increase (Mortgage Bankers Assn)  Figures for the first quarter of 2012 indicate mixed signs for the economy and real estate.


FNMA gets new CEO (HousingWire) The exiting CEO's bonus structure was questioned in 2011 amid continuing questions about the organization's practices.  The new CEO was Bank of America's lead attorney.

Archstone begins work on 227-unit Arlington apartment building (Citybiz) The Lehman-owned developer breaks ground on new apartments at the corner of Glebe Road and Lee Highway.

Mortgage rates rise from historic interest rates (Mortgage News Daily) Rates tick up lightly for 2nd straight day, to about 3.75% for a 30-year fixed.

Construction Begins on Wonder Bread Building

Construction has begun on the historic Wonder Bread building at 641 S street, NW in Shaw.  Douglas Development will turn the factory into an office building with retail filling out the first floor.

Douglas purchased the buildings - 2- and 3-story structures totaling 60,000 s.f. built in 1921 - in 1997.  Though added density will be attached to the back of the building, the building’s historic façade will be retained.  R2L:Architect’s Sacha Rosen designed the renovations to the building.

Douglas had applied for landmark status for the building last year with the D.C. Preservation League, which supported Douglas's plans. The Wonder Bread building is next to Progression Place, which is also under construction to build 100,000 s.f. of office and 205 apartments on top of the Metro entrance.


Washington D.C. real estate development news

Your Next Place

I realized, as I walked through this house, that they do actually still build castles, they just don't call them castles anymore.  In this case, they call it a "four level turreted Victorian," but as you and I can both see, it's basically a modern-day castle.  All it needs is a catapult and a moat and we could just dispense with the euphemisms.

Of course, as befitting a castle, this Petworth grand dame is massive, with four or five bedrooms spread over four levels. There's a beautiful wraparound front porch overlooking a very large yard in front, and there's even a white picket fence.  (Sounds cheesy, but I'll take it over the DC standard wrought-iron fence any day.)  Inside, it's big and bright and it goes on and on; here's a big, bright den, and here's a big, bright living room, and here's the big, bright kitchen, and the big, bright dining room, etc.  It seems to go on forever.  It's like your coworker's anecdotes about his weekend, only not, you know, terrible.

There's also a separate one-bedroom apartment on the first floor, to help defray your mortgage payments (or just the pay the entire payment, depending on how gullible of a tenant you can find).  And it's in Petworth, which, random claw hammer attacks notwithstanding, is maybe my new favorite neighborhood.  (I know that sounded sarcastic, but honest, it wasn't!)

4309 Kansas Avenue NW
Washington, D.C.
5 Bedrooms, 2 Baths
$649,000

Washington D.C. real estate news

Morning Real Estate Review

City leaders mull TIF financing for Georgetown Park (Georgetown Metropolitan)  Gray and Brown said to be considering tax-funded bond program for Vornado to attract better tenants.

Toki Underground and Durkl teaming up for fashion / food market (CityPaper)  Maketto will be a 2-story space in the Atlas District.

Mortgage rates hit another new low (Mortgage News Daily)  The weak economic report causes rates to slide, resulting in the lowest rates ever, with 30-year fixed rates hitting 3.6%.

New soccer stadium could cost up to $157m (Washington Post) Greater Washington Sports Alliance says a new stadium could also generate up to $7m a year in revenue for the city with a 24,000 seat stadium.

Park Chelsea Underway in Southeast DC

Construction is underway on the Park Chelsea, located on 880 New Jersey Ave. SE, bordered by Second St. and H St. (also known as Square 737). W.C. Smith + Co.’s development includes 13 floors, 432 units and three underground parking levels with 430 parking spaces. The development also includes plans to extend I Street between Second St. and New Jersey Ave. and connecting H Street into New Jersey Ave. Esocoff & Associates is the project architect. The project is expected to be completed two years from this fall.

The development, located between the Navy Yard Metro and the Capital South Metro, includes various amenities such as a bicycle maintenance facility, fitness center with a yoga studio, a rooftop garden and a cornucopia of pools reaching for that “luxury apartment building” status. Well, there are only two pools, but one’s on the roof and the other is a 75’ indoor lap pool.

This sort of “luxury” construction is new to the area, according to project manager Brad Fennell, though development of the southeast ballpark area is not. Regardless, Fennell thinks this will help create new standards in an area that’s not quite known for architectural prowess but contains a draw of the waterfront, the waterfront park, of course, the National’s stadium.

“I think it sets a new standard for the architectural standard in the neighborhood. I think the units that came before it have reflected the emerging nature of the neighborhood,” said Fennell of the building that bears some obvious resemblance to Esocoff's projects in the 400 block of Massachusetts Ave., NW.

The new development will connect I St. to its other half at New Jersey Ave. and connect H St. to New Jersey Avenue, which will extend the east of reaching the west side of the city and disconnect the loop that now exists.

Because of the new street connections, “the project entails relocating some deep utilities as sort of the pre-cursors, and once that work is complete then we can begin building,” Fennell said. “There’s a deep sewer that currently runs under the street that has to be re-routed."  After completing that unpleasant but necessary work, Fennell said construction on the street and the development will be in full-swing.  He continued to say the new street connections “will help strengthen the east-west connection through the city.”

It should be noted that M St. is connected past New Jersey Ave. as the main thoroughfare, but K and L Streets, one and two blocks south, respectively, are also connected past New Jersey Ave.

Nonetheless, it could help to mitigate traffic and, if nothing else, remove the existing I to First to H loop.

“We think it’s positive for the city,” said Fennell.

Washington D.C. real estate development news