DIY City Planning: OP and AIA DC Launch Citizen Focus Groups

Ever been to a planning meeting?  Fuzzy on development zoning and permitting, but still have ideas about D.C. development or what exactly makes a great neighborhood?  The D.C. Office of Planning (OP) - the municipal authority charged with shaping the District's urban landscape - still cares about what residents like you have to say.  That's the message the office is sending with a new series of focus groups.

The District Architecture Center, Image courtesy AIA

In collaboration with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) DC Advocacy Committee, the OP, under the direction of Planning Director Harriet Tregoning, has launched a series of focus groups to get a picture of resident thoughts on place-making and everything from transportation to use of public space. Two focus groups, of two hours each, have already met and two are coming up.

The focus groups signal a real effort in the planning department to look beyond planning meetings and foster citizen agency.

The deadline to join the groups was August 8th, and OP officials say there was an overwhelming interest to join: the office received hundreds of applications and selected participants who had been both more engaged and less engaged in official city planning processes.

"We have these very official – and some might say officious – ways of doing business and engaging people," Tregoning said. She noted that development and planning initiatives go through a complex approval process some residents might find distancing.  But, she said, many are already working informally - both outside city hall and with the city - to improve their neighborhoods. Tregoning points to a recent project under the city's Temporary Urbanism Initiative in which, with grant funding from ArtPlace, citizens painted a plaza with cafe tables and imagined structures to show what the plaza would be like if it were a place for people and not cars. 

"People have a lot of energy around this but there is not necessarily a place for it to go, and how can we harness it for the betterment of the city and for the neighborhood?" Tregoning asked.

The idea for the forums emerged from joint meetings between OP officials and the new D.C. advocacy committee of the AIA.  Carolyn Sponza is the enthusiastic head of the committee and has been a key force behind spearheading the effort.  She said the two groups realized there was a real "synergy" between AIA D.C.'s advocacy committee's goal to engage broad community issues larger than architecture, and the OP's "Citizen Planner Initiative." 

An architect at Gensler and AIA volunteer, Sponza said that residents have raised a diverse range of issues so far.  She said two main themes have been urban mobility and connectivity. "There were a lot of things about making connections, like the 'I can't get there from here syndrome,'" Sponza told DCMud.  She said people were also interested in growing connections, both between neighborhoods and between citizen organizations and non-profit planning and architecture services.

Tregoning said the forums are meant to explore ways to reach people and engage people more informally and more frequently on different kinds of issues. "There is just a ton of interest in what makes good neighborhoods and good places and a lot of people in the city have this deep curiosity in good cities," Tregoning added. "We were interested in ways to try to satisfy that curiosity and at the same time try a better constituency for better planned neighborhoods and better citizen engagement."

Tregoning pointed to many possible outcomes that could emerge from the focus groups:

• A "Development 101" module about how development happens in the city and how residents can have influence in the process.
• Further engagement of citizens around traffic and development and aspects of "the built environment that lead to more trips by car or fewer trips by car."
• Efforts in particular neighborhoods to clean up trash, get more retail, or build facilities from public trash cans to parking.
• DIY projects
• New ways people can participate in planning.  Most avenues for citizen input in planning are geared toward in-person meetings.  Possible new avenues might use technology to include people to engage remotely.
• Walking tours in areas that citizens nominate geared toward fostering dialogue surrounding the question: "what makes a great place?" 

One of the explicit objectives, Tregoning said, "is to have citizens not be the passive recipients of the city's planning but figuring out ways that they can be more involved – not just as commenters in the planning project – but in thinking about what they can do to make their neighborhoods better."

The AIA DC advocacy committee will present an overview of the meetings on October 4th at the new District Architecture Center at 421 7th Street NW, in DC's Penn Quarter neighborhood, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.  The street-level space, also home to the Washington Architecture Foundation, was designed by Washington firm Hickok Cole Architects.  The center hosts events and exhibits aimed at engaging the public and professionals in architecture.

Morning Real Estate Review

Builder confidence continues to improve in August (National Assn of Home Builders) Builder confidence for newly built, single family homes improved for a 4th straight month in August, standing at one of the highest rates in 5 years, though that isn't saying much.

History will be kind to TARP (Wall Street Journal) The federal bailout helped stabilize many small and local banks, a service that will earn it commendations down the road, and that have already earned a net profit for the taxpayers - car industry excluded.

No more drive-by appraisals on some loans (Wall Street Journal)  Rules proposed by federal regulators yesterday would require physical inspections of a property before financing, something banks are doing increasingly often.

Mortgage rates reach 2 month high (Mortgage News Daily)  Despite lackluster underlying events, rates have been slowly creeping up this summer.

The Ground Floor

Pei Wei Asian diner, a fast casual national chain owned by PF Changs, is coming to 1212 18th St, NW.   The 4,000 s.f. restaurant will start construction in late September, taking over the Mattress Discounters space below 18th St. Lounge.

Morton's Steak House, the archetypal steakhouse chain, is getting a face lift.  The location at 1050 Connecticut Ave, NW will undergo renovations to open the floor plan.  Work is slated to start at the beginning of September.

Panera Bread, the bakery/cafe chain, is opening it's fourth DC location in Chinatown at 673 H St, NW.  Construction will begin in October.

eatsPlace, a pop-up restaurant space, is raising funds via Kickstarter to renovate a 100 year old vacant building in the Parkview/Petworth neighborhood.  The brains behind the project, Katy Chang, hopes to create a commercial, community kitchen for a variety of chefs using local ingredients.  Chang hopes to start renovations in 2012 and open in the Spring of 2013.


*correction: Panera will be opening its fourth DC location not second.

The Wharf's "Resort In the City" Anchor Hotel Appeases Critics, Inches Forward

The four-star Intercontinental luxury hotel in the Wharf - the Southwest waterfront megadevelopment - is inching towards reality, though not without some changes along the way.

"Right now we're in the process of gathering equity," says Austin Flajser, President of Carr Hospitality.  "We anticipate construction starting in the third quarter of 2014, with delivery in the first quarter of 2016."

The 245,000 s.f., 278-room hotel from developer Carr Hospitality and designed by BBG-BBGM, will overlook the Washington Channel, now being developed by the Hoffman-Madison team, and feature a lavish 5,000 s.f. rooftoop lounge.  Plans also call for not one but two restaurants, two large water-facing ballrooms, and up to 7,000 s.f. of ground floor retail space.  The design calls for a red and gray brick facade, intermingled with terracotta, granite, and tinted glass.

Developers were forced to alter their plans, though, after ANC 6D passed a resolution recently in opposition to many of the specifics in the Phase 2 Planned Unit Development (PUD).

"We took down the clock tower, which was really just an architectural embellishment," says Flajser.  "We also altered the corners of the building a little bit, and there's no longer any sign."  (The above rendering depicts the original design; the rendering below depicts the revised design.)

In addition to those changes, the height of the structure - a planned 12-stories/130 feet - was also lowered.  After these changes were announced at a special meeting late last month, the ANC voted 4-3 to reinstate their support.  Carr also has a boutique luxury hotel in the works for Alexandria's contentious waterfront plan and has received objections from neighbors there as well.

Parcel 3b, where the hotel will be built, is near 9th and Water Streets (see map, above), and also abuts one of the development's planned piers; if Carr is able to purchase boat slips from the development group, guests could potentially arrive at the hotel by boat. Rates for the rooms will reportedly be between $300 and $400 per night.

Carr Hospitality notably restored the Willard hotel, a project widely lauded for its successful execution.  The Wharf Intercontinental will be its second hotel in the District.  Monty Hoffman of PN Hoffman has been quoted as saying the hotel will be an "anchor" of the megadevelopment.  The first construction at the Wharf should be begin early next year.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Morning Real Estate Review

Fannie Mae says its too early to declare victory on housing (Forbes) The mortgage giant showed strong gains in yesterday's report on the 2nd quarter, but it says headwinds remain, 2nd half may be not as strong as first half.

Wells Fargo pays $6.5m to SEC to settle mortgage sale charges (HousingWire) The mortgage giant was accused of selling risky mortgage packages to investors.

Residents plan to acquire Onyx apartment building near ballpark (Biz Journal) Tenants in the 266 unit building near the waterfront move to acquire the building under the District's first-right-of-refusal laws, after Canyon Johnson contracted to sell the building to Equity Residential.

Rising home prices in DC area push affordability to lower levels (National Assn of Home Builders) A national study finds that prices are rising nationwide, stretching affordability, despite historically low interest rates that make purchasing easier.

Fannie and Freddie:  making money, but not enough to pay dividends owed to taxpayers for bailouts (Wall Street Journal) Through a complex financial arrangement with the federal government, the secondary mortgage buyers have no mechanism to pay back loans, and will keep drawing from the government in order to pay dividends, but those draw-down funds are getting depleted.

Gallaudet Kicks off Building Campaign with New Dorm

Opening this week will be a special building at Gallaudet University, a $16 million dormitory, designed by deaf students, for deaf students.  The new dorm is the first of a series of buildings to debut at the school for the deaf, and may even lead to national guidelines for deaf-friendly design and construction.

Creating a building to be used exclusively by deaf people has unique challenges, said Jeffrey Luker, chief architect with Quinn Evans, architect of record on the project.  Design needs include wider hallways, more open space, and doors that open automatically so that conversations aren't interrupted having to turn knobs or push handles.  Designers also had to concentrate on visual stimulation and light intrusion to maximize signing, giving a new dimension to interior design.

Gallaudet is now preparing its 10-year campus plan to submit to the DC Zoning Commission; its ambitious design is for at least a half dozen new buildings incorporating the same design guidelines that make spaces more livable and conducive to conversation, according to Hansel Bauman, Director of Campus Design & Planning for Gallaudet.  Bauman said that while design catering to the deaf is not a new concept, it is constantly reinvented.  Bauman instead intends to develop a set of guidelines based on this experience to benefit national design initiatives.

Bauman, an architect by training, highlights the use of color and light as extremely important.  "This is a visually centered environment, you are communicating visually - largely a signing environment - and that's important to understand from an architectural perspective because the building becomes a communications vehicle."  He notes that deaf people are constantly surveying the environment and people around them and need proper light without confusing visuals that would go unnoticed by most audiences.  Bauman points to mini-blinds, ubiquitous throughout the campus, that create a "vibration" as a background when you visually study someone signing in front of them.  "You have an extraordinary amount of visual activity."

"The visual noise of the architecture needs to be modulated well.  Traditional lighting is in a room with a high contrast of dark and light...what we try to do is create an environment with a much more muted, diffused light," says Bauman.  As for colors: "try to pick hues that contrast human skin tones with saturated colors" to set of uses of rooms.  "Walking aisles need to be easy to navigate, then you tend to focus less on navigation than on conversation."

Architect Jeffrey Luker adds further that "visual cues are very important when you're deaf. You need to be able to pick up those cues quickly when you're walking."  Space is key, he said. "There's a preference in deaf communities that there not be walls. You need clear sight lines. One of the advantages is that with deaf people you can communicate at long distances. There's no disruption, its just visual...To the extent possible we've tried to put in place these guidelines into this building."

The building is the first new dorm in the university's plan to renew its housing stock.  The 85,000 square foot building will have two floors of offices and workspace on the first floor, and four floors of open dormitories with 175 beds where some of the university's 1870 students can sign across halls and floors.

"You can sign almost one hundred yards away with someone, or have a conversation with someone in a second floor dorm while you're the courtyard, without bothering anyone else," says Luker. "We've gotten our expertise in deaf space design from Gallaudet itself.  Deaf students are part of the design, every step of the design we've tested with the deaf community."

Because of the school's specialized focus, it foresees only modest growth in the student population, but Bauman sees a need to replace its aging building stock with replacements designed to assist and appeal to the deaf population.  The school also owns 4 acres next door at the Union Market site, currently used as a parking lot, but has no current plans to incorporate that into the Campus Plan or sell to Union Market's developer.

The new dorm comes as the area begins to enjoy a renaissance, with H Street booming - first in nightlife and now in residential construction - and the ever-imminent trolley line getting closer, MRP is beginning their transformative project next door, and now Union Market is opening as a restaurant destination.   Sigal Construction built the dormitory.

Washington D.C. real estate development news.  Photos credit Gallaudet University.

Morning Real Estate Review

Costar report shows more DC retail needed even after Wal-Mart (Washington Post)  According to a new report by Costar, Washington D.C. proper is underserved by retailers - especially grocery stores - with 1 out of every 3 dollars spent on groceries by DC residents going outside the District, meaning that Wal-Mart won't harm DC retail.

Ivy City fights Gray's plan to create bus depot (Washington Post) One of the poorest neighborhoods in the city doesn't want DC's junk anymore and has filed a lawsuit.

Office vacancy rates in Arlington on the rise (Sun Gazette)  The rest of the U.S is also seeing higher commercial vacancy rates, leading to higher taxes for homeowners.