The Ground Floor

Yo! Sushi, the British fast food sushi chain, is opening a second location at 675 H St, NW. Construction is slated to begin in early October.

The Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown will be opening Cafe M, a 635 s.f. pastissieurre and cafe located off the front courtyard, this Fall.  It will be located in the M29 Lifestyle store which re-opened after an expansion in June.

DC Noodles, which closed to make way for Louis at 14th on U Street, is reported to be planning to reopen at 1817 Columbia Rd. in Adams Morgan.

Sherman Golden, a 75 seat restaurant, will open at 1316 9th St, NW.  (POP)

Union Town Bar and Grill, a Cajun style restaurant in Anacostia, closed after the owner has pleaded guilty to two felony drug charges.  (WJLA)

Ambar, a restaurant focusing on Serbian cuisine, will open in Capitol Hill at 523 8th St, SE in November.  (WP)

Numerous changes to alcohol licensing have been proposed under the Omnibus Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Amendment Act of 2012 which, among other changes, would streamline the application process and provide a penalty for holders of liquor licenses not in active use.

Jen Angotti is a DCRE realtor licensed in DC and VA.  She also writes Concrete Jungle DC.

Morning Real Estate Review

Group files to stop Georgia Avenue Wal-Mart (Washington Business Journal)  Builders are expected to start construction of the site within weeks, but opponents have asked the Board of Zoning Adjustment to reverse the building permits issued earlier this year.

NIH signs 10 year lease in Bethesda (Washington Business Journal) The GSA has signed a lease renewing the NIH's Democracy Plaza lease of 365,000 s.f.

Contracts for commercial construction way up in NOVA (Virginia Business)  Contracts for future construction surrounding DC on a 22% increase over July of 2011.

District picks Akridge-Argos group to develop Stevens School site (Washington Post) Gray's selected team will build a 10-story office building behind the school with ground floor retail.

Today in Pictures - Archstone's NoMa Apartments

Archstone's First + M apartments in NoMa was just the second apartment building to go online in the once quiet neighborhood, but thanks to its distinguishing design and sheer size, is helping transform the area that is now busy during the day and even sometimes at night.  Occupancy of the building began June 1, and the leasing office says that 162 of the 469 units are now occupied.

The building was designed by Davis Carter Scott and broke ground in June of 2010, and features 192 one bedrooms, 206 two bedrooms, and 71 three bedrooms – as well as a smidgen of ground floor retail.  Amenities include a communal "chef's kitchen" that opens onto an outdoor dining area, a 5000-square-foot 24-hour gym, a large interior courtyard, a “Rooftop Resort” that features a heated lap pool and sun deck, an internet cafe, a theater, two soundproof music studios, a bike workshop, even a pet spa.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Plans Presented for a New Woodridge Library

Despite its intense building spree over the past couple of years, the DC Public Library system isn’t quite finished. A final big project included in the budget for the city’s rebuilding of existing libraries is a redo of the Woodridge Library, located on Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast DC. On Monday night, architects Bing Thom and Wienceck + Associates met with local residents to introduce the new plans, which showed a three-story building with a roof deck, windows overlooking nearby Langdon Park, and a potential adjoining café.

The meeting, held at the existing library, was crowded with roughly 50 residents, according to library spokesman George Williams. Many had submitted suggestions earlier in the year for what they’d like to see in a new facility: a business center that included a fax machine, up-to-date books, more sitting areas, and better computers, lighting and restrooms.

The designs incorporated some of those hopes. While the skin of the building isn’t visible in the drawings and 3-D models, the structure is clearly airy, open and organic. From the outside, the facility’s most notable feature is its broad roof, designed to glow at night.  Internally, a series of balconies open the atmosphere, and a circular third story reading room looks out on a wide terrace largely shaded by the trellaced roof. Throughout the structure, southeastern walls are lined with windows to take advantage of the green hills of adjacent Langdon Park.

There are still lots of maybes on the table—like whether the facility will include that café, something residents throughout the city have clamored for in their libraries, but which doesn’t yet exist in any of the new structures. The architects would also like to close Hamlin Street, an east-west artery that runs just in front of the library, and create a public plaza instead. Williams said that library officials are discussing the issue with other government departments - and are also talking about how many parking spots can be accommodated on the site.

The presentation was largely well received by residents, who are by all accounts eager to see their library transform like so many others in the city. The only library within miles, the Woodridge facility is a squat, two-story brick structure built in 1958 that encompasses about 19,500 square feet. The new structure, which is fully funded at $16.5 million, would be approximately 22,500 s.f.

Library advocates and Rhode Island Avenue residents rejoiced when the architecture team was announced in April. Bing Thom, based in Canada, is responsible for the much-heralded renovated Arena Stage in Southwest, and the local Wienceck + Associates built the new Francis Gregory and Washington Highlands libraries. The Friends of Woodridge Library held a “meet and greet” to introduce Thom to the community in May, and Chief Librarian Ginnie Cooper traveled to British Columbia earlier this month to examine a library designed by Thom there.

Demolition is scheduled to begin next summer. The new library is slated to open in 2015.

Correction: The library is a two-story structure. The original post described it as having only one story.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Morning Real Estate Review

DC's 21st century waterfront, connecting past with future (Atlantic Cities) The evolution of the revived waterfront is bringing design full circle, with urban parks ebbing and water-centered commerce on the rise.

Pending homes sales rise for 15th straight month (HousingWire) Pending home sales in July rose to the highest level since 2010.

Housing starts down in July, but permits up (NAHB)  The up and down swing of new homes reflects builders' timidity about being burned by the market, with construction slowed by a conservative housing outlook.

Life insurance companies bullish on DC real estate (Globe St)  As they make 2013 allocations, insurance companies are viewing DC as one of the top markets in the country, with investors bullish about next year.

Crystal City starts work on its Metro entrance enhancement (Crystal City BID)  A new, redesigned area outside the Metro entrance is another step in making neighborhood more attractive.

EastBanc's West End Project Encounters More Legal Hurdles

The redevelopment of West End's library and fire station--that long running saga--has hit another speed bump. EastBanc-W.D.C. Partners LLC, the development team, had spoken optimistically about breaking ground in 2012, but it looks like a lawsuit filed by a library watchdog group will push that back until March 2013 at the earliest.

It's been a long road. The development team--which consists of EastBanc, The Warrenton Group, Dantes Partners, and L.S. Caldwell & Associates--was granted the project in 2007, then lost it due to community outcry that there hadn't been a fair bidding process. In 2010, they won a competitive bid, beating out one other competitor, and since then have held some 70-odd meetings (by their own count) to keep the community abreast of plans. 

The project has always been a complicated one. It includes two separate parcels: one, Square 37, sits at the corner of 24th and L streets and includes the low-rise, funky West End Library, as well as a police operations facility and a parking lot; the other is Square 50 at 2225 M Street and and includes the West End fire station. EastBanc won the project by promising to rebuild the library and fire station; in return, the city gave the developers the land, then valued at $20 million, for free.

And therein lies the problem. The DC Library Renaissance Project, an organization founded by Ralph Nader to improve the city's library system, claims that EastBanc is dodging the affordable housing requirements that exist under the city's newish inclusionary zoning policy by calling the library and firehouse "amenities."

"We don't understand why [the library and firehouse] would count on the balance sheet of the PUD process for the developer," explained Robin Diener, director of the DC Library Renaissance Project. "The city is selling the land to EastBanc. They're not giving money, they're giving new facilities as payment." As a result, says Diener, the developers should still provide a certain percentage of affordable housing in each square as required under inclusionary zoning.

But the DC Zoning Commission agrees with EastBanc. This spring, the commission granted the developer's application for a map amendment for Square 37. And in June, when the DC Library Renaissance Project applied for a reconsideration of that decision, the Zoning Commission denied their effort, writing, "The enhanced level of service that will result from the construction of the new library and fire station so clearly will enhance the neighborhood that they set a benchmark in excellence for any future requests for Inclusionary Zoning waivers through the PUD process."

In response, the library advocates filed a notice last week in the DC Court of Appeals that they intend to appeal the Zoning Commission's decision, not an idle threat since the group has been at least partially successful in stopping the project since at least 2006.

"We're certain there's no merit, but we'll file a brief arguing that no, the Zoning Commission didn't make mistakes in its decision," said Joe Sternlieb, EastBanc's vice president for real estate acquisitions, in response to questions about the suit. "It can take up to a year, and can cost developers up to $1 million to defend. It's really a nuisance suit."  When will the issue be resolved? "The courts will decide," said Sternlieb. "Hopefully before March."

Despite the threat hanging over its head, EastBanc is moving forward. Sternlieb said that the Square 37 project has gathered all the necessary approvals, including from the Commission on Fine Arts, and the firehouse is almost there. The company is currently working out construction documents and getting financing in place, and Sternlieb is hopeful that they could still break ground in March 2013.

The project, which is being designed by TEN Arquitectos, WDG Architecture and Lemay Erickson Willcox Architects, hasn't changed substantially since 2010 (though TEN hasn't bothered to add the project to its website). Square 37 will become a 10-story building with a library and roughly 7,000 square feet of ground floor retail that faces 23rd Street--including a coffee shop on the corner, adjacent to the library--plus 164 market rate units above. That section does not include any affordable housing.

But the fire station portion does; in fact, all 61 rental units will be priced at 60 percent of the area median income. Some of those units are created under the inclusionary zoning policy, but EastBanc said it couldn't afford to make the entire building affordable without assistance, and so the District kicked in an extra $7 million to go the final distance.

Robin Diener and her colleagues aren't happy about that. Given that the two sites comprise some of the most valuable land in the District, they believe the initial development deal should have been structured so that the city made, rather than spent, money on it.

But neighborhood groups, including the West End Library Friends, Foggy Bottom Association, and the ANC covering the region, overwhelming support the project. 

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Morning Real Estate Review

Bethesda's air rights center on the block for $257m (Gazette)  One of the largest office complexes in Bethesda, owned by TIAA-CREF, holds over 700,000 s.f. of office space, and sold for $140m in 2002.

U.S. home prices post first year over year gain since 2010... (Associated Press) June prices were up, according to S&P/Case Shiller index, the first year over year increase in 2 years.  While far from a trend, policy makers are reaching for any sign of a bright spot in the housing market.

...but the U.S. housing market may be due for a stumble (Forbes)  The market may (or may not) have hit bottom, but the real question is how long it will stay there.  Some evidence indicates that the positive forces halting declines may be unsustainable.

Housing recover moves to the suburbs (Washington Post) Unlike the rest of the country, home prices in DC have been up 29 of the last 33 months, but prices rises have been much more common in the core areas, though suburbs are now showing some resilience as well.

Office of Planning rejects Adams Morgan hotel (Washington Business Journal)  For the second time, the District's Office of Planning says no to the sole hotel in AdMo, despite a strong endorsement from the ANC.  The Zoning Commission now has final say.