Your Next Place

Look how cute this little building is, nestled cozily between two much-larger buildings, and yet with an undeniable appeal all its own.  (Insert your own "size doesn't matter" joke here.  It sounds too autobiographical if I do it.)

This beautiful unit is one of 22 in this boutique building, which means it's just big enough that there's probably at least one other person in the building you can have an ill-advised romance of convenience with, but not so small that you won't be able to avoid them after it crashes and burns.  It's a corner unit too, so it's a bit bigger and brighter than the other units, a fact you should bring up constantly when you run into other building occupants.  ("You look depressed, is it because your apartment is slightly smaller than mine?")  The main area is open and gets a ton of light; it features glowing hardwood floors and recessed lighting.  The kitchen comes with the granite countertops/stainless steel appliances one-two punch, and there are a ton of built-ins for your collectible plate collection.  The master bedroom is spacious and wide, and boasts a world-class walk-in closet.  It got me thinking, "wait, why doesn't my bedroom have a walk-in closet?"  And then I realized, my bedroom IS a walk-in closet.  Explains all the built-ins, and why my twin mattress takes up 90% of the floor space.

This building also comes with concierge service, extra storage, rental parking, and even a gym.  Imagine how much guiltier you'll feel about not working out when there's a gym right downstairs!  It's located in Penn Quarter, so it's close to Chinatown, downtown, NoMa, and other neighborhoods people go to, look around, and say, "wait, is this it?  Really?"  (I kid, I kid; aside from that horrible intersection where they have the huge tvs, I actually really like Chinatown.)  Also, it's equidistant from two metro stations, turning each morning into an agonized internal debate over where exactly you want to go to get the back of your neck breathed on by total strangers.

675 E Street NW #500
1 Bedrooms, 1.5 Baths
$509,000

Morning Real Estate Fix

DC's Sinking Commercial Property Fortunes (Commercial Property Executive) With year-over-year declines, thanks to government and contractor cutbacks, Washington D.C. is slipping on investors' wish lists.

Costar launches new multi-family database Costar expands analytics on its database of 400,000 multi-family properties.

Realtor.com publishes baseline for housing recovery (Forbes) The median time for homes on the market nationwide is 91 days, and those metropolitan areas with longer average selling times tend to lag on pricing recovery.

District weighs proposals for renovating the MLK library in downtown DC (Washington DC)  As the library board weighs costs and historic preservation options, keeping the facility as a library remains the likely outcome.

4 reasons not to get excited about a housing recovery (Progressive Policy Institute)  Modestly improving housing markets are good news, but there are a handful of reasons why the recovery may not be all that it seems.

Georgia Ave. Housing Overhaul Moving Forward

A city plan to overhaul a DC affordable housing neighborhood on Georgia Avenue, called Park Morton, is moving forward and the city will unveil its first apartment building on Friday.

Workers put finishing touches on The Avenue on Thursday

"The Avenue at Park Morton" is an 83-unit mixed-use apartment building located at 3506 Georgia Avenue NW.  City officials will gather to celebrate its grand opening  Friday from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Completion of the building is a mile-marker for "The Park Morton New Communities Initiative", which has realized only a small part of its potential.  The $170 million initiative was established under then DC mayor Anthony Williams to replace an aging public housing complex on Georgia Avenue.  The initiative is a collaboration between the District's Housing Authority (DCHA), which owns and manages the complex, and the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.

Image courtesy Wiencek + Associates

The old Park Morton housing has 17 apartment buildings.  In a report on the overhaul initiative and the old Park Morton housing, the city notes "the site consists of suburban-style apartment buildings and incorporates design elements that tend to foster criminal activity."

In 2008, then-Mayor Adrian Fenty sent out a Request For Proposals for developing in the project in 2008, promising that no former residents of the complex would be displaced; the building broke ground in 2010.  The overall plan calls for 317 market-rate housing units, 206 affordable housing units, a 10,000 square foot park, and a new community center with green designs throughout.

The entire Park Morton redevelopment is being carried out by the Park Morton Development Partners (PMDP), a joint venture between Landex Corporation and the Warrenton Group. Wienecek + Associates designed the project.  Hamel Builders is the general contractor.

Image courtesy Wiencek + Associates

The building, which has 81,044 square feet of residential space and 2,388 square feet of ground floor retail, includes a mix of one and two-bedroom apartment units.  Residential space features lounge, a fitness center, meeting rooms, and underground parking.  It also will include ground-floor retail. While overall the plan calls for some market-rate housing, the Avenue is 100 percent affordable under the city's affordable housing laws.

The development was funded by a mix of city agencies and departments, as well as Freddie Mac, Prudential, Hudson Housing, and Capital One.

1-BR Unit Rendering, courtesy Wiencek + Associates

Georgetown Plant Sale: Top Arts Official Urges Open Discussion

Sometime this week, the distinctive 1940s art deco heating plant on the Rock Creek Canal in Georgetown got a listing on the federal government's real estate site, the Washington Post reported Tuesday on its Capital Business blog.  It is slated to be sold in an online auction sometime in November.

West Heating Plant. Photo courtesy GSA web

That historic steam plant - the West Heating Plant - has become the symbol of a government sell-off of thousands of unused government properties, called "federal excess properties", launched in 2010 by the Obama Administration.  In 2011, the 1940s plant at 1051 29th St. NW was added to the list, and in June the GSA briefed Congress on its nationwide efforts at the site.

How much revenue could it bring? Possibly millions. GSA can't comment on the value of "pending disposals," but developers see the site as one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in Georgetown.

But some say the sale process is taking place largely behind closed doors, including a top DC arts official. Thomas Luebke, FAIA, is Secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), the federal body charged by Congress with protecting properties of historic value in the District.  On September 5th, he wrote a letter to the GSA urging a more open discussion on the West Heating Plant's fate. DCMud obtained a copy of the letter on Wednesday.

Copy of Letter from CFA to GSA, obtained by DCMud

Luebke urges the GSA to hold an open discussion with a wide range of stakeholders about the future of the property.  In his letter, he cites Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires federal agencies to determine the possible negative impacts of an action such as a sale, and what can be done to eliminate or mitigate those.  That process, Luebke writes, normally involves open discussion.

"At this time I have not heard of any plans to proceed with this process [of open, public discussion] and hope that the GSA is committed to pursuing what would be expected for a property of this significance," Luebke writes. "While the sale of the property in the immediate term may yield a high sales price as a redevelopment project [...] it is most valuable in the long term precisely for its particular physical, spatial, and historic characteristics."

The building, the letter highlights, was designed in the Moderne style by local architect William Dewey Foster and is an example of federal government's investment in public infrastructure immediately following World War II.

Luebke, in the letter, urges the GSA to consider a use that would maintain the building's structural authenticity as a "massive masonry box-essentially open on the inside except for metal catwalks and platforms holding equipment."  That structure, he writes, lends itself to myriad cultural uses, with the Tate modern museum in London being an example.

GSA says they're doing the required review.  "GSA is currently engaged in that process," Dan Cruz, deputy press secretary for the GSA told DCMud.

Letter from CFA to GSA on Sale of West Heating Plant

Friends of Georgetown Waterfront Park and Ward 2 DC City Councilmember Jack Evans want to see part of the property turned into a park.  "Councilmember Evans, as well as the Georgetown community, continues to support a mixed use development with park land," Andrew Huff, director of communications for Evans, told DCMud on Wednesday.

On Thursday, City Councilmember Jack Evans will be meeting with the DC Office of Planning, the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, and "leadership from the Georgetown neighborhood" to "continue the discussion" Huff wrote to DCMud.  "It is not a public meeting."

Morning Real Estate Fix

Columiba Pike's Streetcars and walkable neighborhoods (Transportation Nation)  Arlington's upcoming streetcar project will serve what is now the busiest bus route in Virginia, and will help deliver a more urbanized, and livable, setting.

Housing starts rise in August (NAHB) Housing starts in August were up 2.3%, fueled by gains in the single family sector.  Every section of the quadrant registered gains.

Congressman Jackson puts DC home on the market (Chicago Tribune) Jesse Jackson, who took a leave of absence after battling bipolar disorder, is putting his $1.2m home on the market.

Mortgage rates drop to new survey lows (Mortgage Bankers Association)  In bad news for bankers, the average mortgage rate dropped back to 3.5%, its lowest rate ever recorded, as mortgage applications also dropped slightly.

ANC opposes landmarking Western Bus Garage (Greater Greater Washington) The sprawling bus garage in Friendship Heights faces a tenacious group of anti-development forces despite its location adjacent to the Metro Station, a fact that will be addressed at its upcoming hearing in front of HPRB next week.

Furioso's "1525 Fourteen" on 14th St. Close to Breaking Ground

An office building in the midst of 14th Street's many condos will soon bring the busy entertainment corridor a little closer to true mixed use development.  That is, when Furioso Development breaks ground on "1525 Fourteen", a mixed-use building slated to break ground this fall.  That moment is nigh, according to Giorgio Furioso. He puts the time until groundbreaking at eight weeks.

"We are moments away from breaking ground," Furioso told DCMud, "and we are doing some preliminary stuff to cross all our Ts and Is."  Developer Giorgio Furioso sees the future 42,000 s.f. building - in the planning stage for nearly a decade - as an anchor of 24/7 neighborhood vitality, bringing some daytime activity to a night-time destination.

Some office tenants for the building are ready to move in, Furioso said, but there are no decisions about a tenant for the 3,600 square feet of street-level retail.  That announcement could come in the next few months, Furioso told DCMud.

Original 2004-approved scheme

"We could have gone with one large tenant but we chose not to do that so that it is a collection of different people," he said.  Furioso said he believes this mix of different smaller tenants will contribute to neighborhood vitality. "The building's whole attitude is small, green and neighborhood," Furioso said, "so you are trying to represent in that collection of tenants people the neighborhood would appreciate."

The project has already gained the necessary approvals and financing. The Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) approved the in-fill project in 2010.  It was originally planned as a seven-story, cubist-inspired residential building in 2004, but Furioso changed direction.

The design for the six-story LEED gold building, which includes a green roof, geothermal heating, and solar panels, is by architecture firm Eric Colbert and Associates.  Two underground floors include 28-small-car parking spaces, accessible by car elevator only, and a charging station for hybrid cars.  The building also includes a bicycle room complete with showers.

The Mohawk artists lofts, the condo building Church Place, renovation of the historic Roosevelt, and Solo Piazza residential building on 13th Street are all past projects of Furioso.  Furioso, who is stately in favor of a quality-over-quantity development model, only builds one development at a time.
"I think you can grow by being better rather than being bigger - sort of the Lorax idea," Fuioso, who was born in Italy and holds an MFA, told DCMud. "Sometimes the idea of success is measured by how many projects you do - whether you're the architect, the developer, the builder - rather than saying 'this project contributes to this neighborhood the way other projects don't.'  It's a different approach to working and living."

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Your Next Place

Oh wow.  You never see a place like this in the District.  Most houses here are sort of like most of the people here - basic, slightly uptight, old-fashioned.  This house, though, is like that girl you see at the party who's way too stylish and edgy to live here, and who you just know is going to move to New York in six months, so you better act fast, and by "act fast," I mean "stalk her on Facebook," because she's totally out of your league.

This house isn't out of your league though - well, as long as you've got $2.5 million on hand.  (Okay, so it's out of your league.)  This Tracy Place classic is open and bright and has a vague "California in the Seventies" vibe.  (Though I should mention here that I wasn't alive in the Seventies, and I've never been to California.)  The formal dining room and living room are dramatic and have windows galore, as well as recessed lighting and gleaming hardwood floors.  And this house has maybe the greatest kitchen I've ever seen, a high-ceilinged gourmet masterpiece with stained-glass-fronted cupboards, a huge island, and top of the line stainless steel appliances.  There are also two - yes, two - full-size sinks, so you can let twice as many dishes pile up and fester before sweeping them into garbage bags and buying all new ones.

Upstairs are five bedrooms, all with full en-suite bathrooms.  This is huge.  I like to think of having your own bathrooom as a kind of dividing line in life; if you do have your own, you're not allowed to complain ever, about anything in your life.  If you have to share, go ahead and whine as much as you want, I'll at least pretend to feel bad since you have to smell other people's odors on a regular basis.  Each room is bright and large and opens onto a huge shared deck.  Underneath that deck is a huge first floor patio; yes, that's two levels of leisure space looking out onto a superlative garden that features a sloping landscaped terrace surrounded by greenery.  Very private.  It's like your own mini-Garden of Eden, by which I mean you can eat apples and have sex out there, but don't get caught by Dad or you're in big trouble.

2324 Tracy Place NW
5 Bedrooms, 5.5 Baths
$2,395,000