Douglas announces first tenant for Wonder Bread Building

Douglas Development announced its first tenant in the historic Wonder Bread building at 641 S St NW: WorkSpaces, LLC. The company will take residence immediately following the completion of construction, which is planned for January 2013.

Douglas leased 20,817 s.f. to WorkSpaces, a “strategic furniture solutions consulting agency,” according to a press release, which will be the property’s first tenant since 1988, occupying the entire third floor.

Douglas recently began construction on the Wonder Bread building, which it purchased in 1997. Douglas also applied for landmark status this past year with support from the D.C. Preservation League, which supported its plans.

The Wonder Bread building sits next door to Progression Place, also under construction. Progression Place will have 100,000 s.f. office space and 205 apartments above the Metro entrance.

Washington, DC real estate and development news

Your Next Place

I have to say, these huge loft-style units might be my favorite type of place, and not just because you could potentially lie in wait up on the top elevated level and dump a trashcan full of water down onto your significant other as soon as they walked in the door, after you hacked their email and found the "missed connection" they posted on Craigslist.  Though you have to admit that would be extremely satisfying, potentially. (As an alternative, you could just act normal but then email them, pretending to be the missed connection.  Which is what I did.)

With a 20-plus foot peaked ceiling, this penthouse loft has an epic feel to it that you could never get in a place with boring old "rooms."  As soon as you enter through the private entrance, you can tell you're in a place in which the designers paid great attention to every last detail.  The kitchen, tucked discreetly under the loft, features high-end Bosch appliances, fantastic lighting, and there are really cool cutout panels of exposed brick throughout the place.  Upstairs, there's a low wall of translucent glass partitioning off the loft, and both baths feature five-star hotel style finishes.  (Check out the showers.)

It's also close to everything and right next to Chinatown, where I'm convinced you can buy literally anything, from an Ann Taylor Loft flower-print bucket hat to one of those canes that unscrews into a sword.  (Not even kidding - those two items are sold within a block of each other.  And yes, I bought a sword cane.)

1002 M Street NW #4
2 Bedrooms, 2 Baths
$659,900

Washington D.C. real estate news

Falkland Apartments Plan Up for Review, Again

Today, Home Properties of New York, owner of the Falkand Apartments, finds itself once again in front of the Montgomery County Planning Department concerning the site plan for a multi-building, mixed-use development at the northeast quadrant of the intersection of 16th Street and East-West Highway near the Silver Spring CBD. The 9.7-acre site, split into three parcels, is within walking distance of the Silver Spring Metro and the MARC station.

In 1985, the area was denied eligibility for the designation in the Master Plan for Historic Preservation, but in 2007 all three parcels were found eligible and the Board “directed the Planning staff to initiate an amendment to that Master Plan,” according to the MCPD report on today’s hearing to approve the site plan. In 2008, the south and west parcels were added to the plan, but the north parcel was added to the Locational Atlas, which was created in 1976 and identifies potential historic sites.

That particular restriction called for the removal of the north parcel from the Atlas upon approval of the site plan.

"Faced with the challenge of weighing the benefits of historic preservation with those related to other planning objectives, the Board found that greater public benefit would be achieved through the redevelopment of the north parcel than by the parcel's designation in the Master Plan," according to the Staff report.

Being part of the Master Plan comes with eligibility for financial incentives for qualified rehabilitation and maintenance projects as well as certain protections.

The designation led Home Properties to revise their development plan and follow a few provisions, including 4.72 percent of the dwelling units to be subject to the County’s Workforce housing law for 20 years and the same amount provided for off-site Workforce housing.  Home Properties must beautify the stream on the South parcel, and all buildings must be rated LEED-Silver.

The proposed plan is for a 1.2 million s.f., mixed-use development that includes 70,000 s.f. of retail and 1,250 townhouse units with 12.5 percent MPDUs and 4.73 percent Workforce Housing units.

The project consists of four buildings, oriented to a perimeter public street or a proposed private internal street. The buildings on the East-West Highway include ground-floor retail.

The proposed development provides 65,091 s.f. of public use space, 20 percent of the lot area. This includes a public plaza, garden and pedestrian area.

Staff recommends approval of the proposed plan today.


Maryland real estate and development news

Lumber Shed Construction at the Yards Begins this Week

Construction begins this week on the Lumber Shed, an adaptive reuse component that will become the retail centerpiece of the Yards, a Forest City project. The Shed is set to be completed in the third quarter of 2013, according to a press release.

The Yards, which is one of the largest projects in Southeast D.C., has been named the best new public space by City Paper. Seven restaurants and a Harris Teeter were announced this past year in the boilermaker shops, and recently, the Alatmarea Restaurant Group of New York City announced a new Osteria Morini restaurant to open in The Yards in summer 2013.

The area was formerly the Navy Yard Annex then the Naval Gun Factory. Forest City Washington received the chance to redevelop the 42-acre riverfront property site in 2004, and construction began on several parcels within the yards in 2007.

When finished, the Yards will be a 5.5 million s.f. development, completed during three phases during the next 10 to 20 years.

The Lumber Shed - formerly owning up to its name - is located on the edge of the Yards park overlooking the Anacostia River.  The Shed will be a 30,000 s.f., two-level, retail, glass pavilion, which will temporarily house Forest City’s offices on the second floor and include five restaurants.

The inclusion of Osteria Morini and Forest City’s offices means the building is 60 percent leased.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

The Ground Floor

Tom Power, owner of Corduroy restaurant, is moving forward with renovations to 1124 9th St., NW. Plans are for a 6,200 s.f. restaurant and bar.  As reported previously, it will be a more casual concept with a "raw space feeling with exposed brick, a sky light and a big bar."  Permits are pending.

3 Stars Brewing Company, a DC brewery offering hand crafted artisanal beers, is opening their brewery at 6400 Chillum Place in northwest DC.  They hope to release their first batch for public consumption in early July.

Noodles and Company, the national chain that serves all things noodles, is coming to 1815 Wisconsin Ave, NW., into 3,000 s.f. of new space next to the Georgetown (is it still Social?) Safeway.

Louis' Rogue Club, a gentleman's club at 476 K St, NW, has closed for updating.  Current plans call for renovations of 8,000 s.f. on the second and third floors of the building.

The Dry Bar, a hair salon that only provides blow outs: no cut or color, is opening two locations in the DMV.   The DC salon will be a 1,458 sf space located at 1815 Wisconsin Ave, NW.  The Bethesda salon will be 2,005 s.f. space located at 4840 Betheseda Ave.

Buddha Bar in Mt. Vernon Triangle has closed.


Jen Angotti is a DCRE agent licensed in DC and VA.  She also writes Concrete Jungle DC, a blog about real estate and design.

Morning Real Estate Review

GOP highlights empty federal buildings in DC (AJC) Republicans will hold hearings to discuss vacant federally-owned buildings in the District of Columbia, such as the Georgetown heating plant, which the GOP estimates cost an extra $1.7b annually to operate.

Marion Barry tries to stop H Street streetcar line (Washington Post)  A week after Mayor Gray announces a contract for the turnaround of the streetcar line, Barry says he's protecting the taxpayer.


Single family housing starts rise 3.2% in May (Realestaterama) May marks the third straight month of increased permits for single-family homes.

Wesley Seminary Residence Hall to Break Ground Next Month

The first new housing in over fifty years for the Wesley Theological Seminary is set to break ground next month, after an almost six-year planning and approval process.

"We just went in for permits a couple weeks ago," said Paul Taylor of general contractor Vantage Construction.  "We hope to break ground in July, if everything goes through as planned.  Construction should take about a year, so they'll be finished by next summer, and ready for the fall semester.  Right now it looks like the final building will encompass 74 beds in about 56 units."

Back in 2006, the Zoning Commission approved an ambitious Wesley Seminary Campus Plan that would've added over seventy thousand square feet of residential, academic, and chapel space to the campus.  But the economic downturn forced a reevaulation of this plan, and in the end, this residence was the only new planned structure that survived the process.

The three-story thirty thousand square foot residence hall, designed by Falls Church-based MGMA, will feature a facade of brick veneer and contrasting concrete panels, to match the rest of the campus, and will house plant facilities for the entire campus on the lower levels.  The design has evolved over the past year, after consultations with citizens groups, to produce a more visually dynamic, varied structure.  Designers pulled out stairwells, added elements to the roof, stepped back precast elements, and "reduced the institutional feel" by strategically adding window, to create a "more interesting and more residential" building.

Wesley Seminary was founded in 1882 in Westminster, MD, and has been at its present Spring Valley location since 1958; according to the latest Campus Plan, the campus, though "outwardly tranquil and relaxed is, in reality, a place of great energy and excitement."

Washington, D.C. real estate development news