The Ground Floor

Scotch & Soda, the Dutch retailer of men's, women's and children's clothing, is coming to the former Betsey Johnson space in Georgetown at 3029 M St, NW.  Construction is slated to begin in late October.

Sweetgreen, the local salad and frozen yogurt chain, is opening it's eighth and ninth locations in the West End and Glover Park.  The West End location will open at the end of September at 2238 M St, NW.  The Glover Park location will open in November at 2200 Wisconsin Ave, NW.  (Eater)

Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Michaels, and DSW are coming to Georgetown Park Mall in 2013.  The J. Crew store in Georgetown Park Mall is also planning to expand.

Einstein Bros. Bagels, the bagel and coffee chain, is taking over the former Vespa location at 2233 Wisconsin Ave, NW.

Al Dente Ristorante, a modern Italian trattoria, has signed a lease for a 5,500 s.f. space at 425 Eye St, NW in the Mt. Vernon Triangle neighborhood.  It will be the restaurant's second location; their first location is 3201 New Mexico Ave, NW.

Rhode Island Row, the new rental complex at the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station, has signed several new retailers including Chipotle Mexican Grill and Sprint.

Poboy Jim, a Cajun restaurant, is coming to 709 H St, NE.

Absolute Noodle, an Asian restaurant from the owners of Absolute Thai, is taking over the old Quiznos space at 772 5th St, NW in Penn Quarter.

Construction Work Begins on Cathedral Commons

Initial construction work has begun on the Giant Supermarket site at 3336 Wisconsin Avenue, a 4-acre site that will be redeveloped into a mixed-use community known as Cathedral Commons.  The $130 million project has been more than a decade in the making, and will create a new, larger Giant as well as 137 apartment units, 8 townhouses, and a concourse with 125,000 s.f. of street front retail space.

Giant had been fighting a devoted neighbor- hood opposition group for years, but scored some decisive legal victories in 2011 and obtained financial partner Bozzuto Group to give the project the final kick needed to start development.  While no formal announcement was issued by the team, partners in the project have been saying for weeks that construction would be imminent, and construction crews began erecting fences Monday afternoon.  

The supermarket, one of the last major groceries to begin (a much needed) renovation, closed in March.  Renderings and descriptions for the new Giant show a wide-aisled suburban-style supermarket resembling its Bethesda counterpart more than the reimagined urban supermarket being promised by developers of the CityMarket at O.  The project was designed by JCA Architects of Reston, which is also responsible for the design work at Union Market.

Update:  A spokesperson for the project notes that Bozzuto is not only the financial partner but also the developer and joint venture partner with Giant, and that no formal date has been announced regarding an official groundbreaking.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Morning Real Estate Fix

NYU opens DC facility - New York University today celebrated the opening of its newest residence on Monday, a 75,000 s.f. facility at 1307 L Street, NW, that will house 120 students and interns.

New FHA rules could make low-downpayment condo sales easier (Washington Post) New regulations will make it easier for condominium associations to become FHA certified, after a large percentage of projects failed to obtain certification.

West End civic groups want Ralph Nader to shove off (Washington Post) Nader's group has been fighting for years for better libraries in DC.  Critics have long said his meddling is unhelpful at best, now community groups in the West End are calling his efforts obstructionist and counter-productive.

Level of commercial/multi-family debt on the decline (RealEstateRama)  The overall amount of debt dropped .4% in the second quarter, following a trend of declining debt.  Commercial banks continue to hold the largest share of mortgage debt.

Housing prices on the rise (CNBC)  Market reports due out today are expected to show that housing prices nationwide are trending upward, following on the heels of a larger sales volume.

ANC Supports RiverFront on the Anacostia Project at Zoning Hearing

Late last week, a zoning commission meeting brought the RiverFront on the Anacostia project one small step closer to fruition.

The 1.1-million-square-foot mixed-use project, which was designed by SK&I architects and is situated on the Anacostia River just south of Nationals Park, had a hearing in front of the DC Zoning Commission Thursday night. While commissioners were noncommittal, requiring supplemental information from Florida Rock Properties (FRP) and Mid-Atlantic Realty Partners (MRP), the developers, the coup was a letter of support from the local ANC commission covering the site.


The zoning commission originally approved plans for the 5.5 acre site back in 2008, but the developers proposed last year to change the project’s first phase from office space to 300-350 residential units, given the current dismal situation for office space in the neighborhood. A February 2012 hearing didn’t go well—the commissioners all but told the developers to start all over with the designs—but John Begert with MRP Realty said this one seemed a little better, though he didn’t draw any conclusions. “We feel like our presentation went pretty positively, and that’s kind of all you know,” he said.

The commissioners tasked the developers with sending in additional information, including clarifications on the project’s roof plan and how an alley running through the development will be designed. The developers will submit the information within two weeks, but the commission may not make a decision until later this year or even early 2013.

Still, support from the ANC was good news.  "After presenting at multiple monthly ANC meetings and working with the ANC and my SMD’s Citizens’ Development Advisory Committee, the development team presented a final plan this month that we were happy to support,” wrote ANC 6D commissioner David Garber, whose district includes the site, in a letter dated September 20. “The elements of this most recent plan that we hope you will join us in specifically supporting are its engaging architecture, creative and usable public space, ground floor and roof-top retail, and the promised play installation designed specifically for children that is noted in the plan but will be laid out as part of a future phase of the PUD.”


The project’s first phase is a nine-story building that will feature almost 19,000 square feet of retail space and a small amount of affordable housing; 8 percent of its residential units will be priced at 80 percent of the area median income. The project will also include an expansive public section: picture wide green lawns, wetlands-type areas that act as bio-filtration mechanisms for stormwater management, and tree covered spaces, as well as a marina that could accommodate up to 50 boats.

The project, a former concrete plant, is set at the foot of the South Capitol Street Bridge, and has been in the works off and on since 1998.  The developers have more plans for the property, but subsequent phases are several years down the road.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Today in Pictures - 800 N. Glebe

In 2006, Chevy Chase based JBG demolished the Bob Peck Chevrolet dealership, a uniquely futuristic building at 800 N. Glebe Rd. in Arlington that inspired some adoration in the architectural world.  But rather than break completely with the past for its flagship Ballston office project, JBG hired Cooper Carry to design a 10-story office building that would incorporate a faithful reproduction of the one-story dealership, including the blue diamond canopy that became the symbol for the dealership, and what JBG calls "a bold exclamation point on the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor."  The office building, completed this summer, features a glass curtainwall with three "sails" and has been designed for LEED Gold certification.

Arlington,  VA real estate development news

Morning Real Estate Fix

Head of Drew Co. headlining National Mall Project (Boston Herald)  The $700,000 plan to restore the National Mall is underway, with the reflecting pool the first completed section, and is being headed by a Bostonian to assist in the fundraising.

House Subcommittee passes bill to reform GSA's land use (Sierra Sun Times) The bill, headed to full committee, would reform a number of GSA procedures for holding property, and require the federal agency to reduce space in buildings it controls by 1 million square feet per year through 2016.

Architecture revenue down 40% since 2008 (Atlantic Cities)  Gross revenue at architecture firms fell from $44b to $26b, and 28% of jobs were lost, but the industry is trying to adapt.

Montgomery County plans new tech corridor just north of the beltway (Gazette)  County planners have approved a plan for 3,000 acres to be redesigned with tech centers in mind, transforming an unplanned suburban enclave into a job-hosting, mass-transit oriented gateway to rival I-270.

The new app for DC's best landscape architecture (Architecture Newspaper) The American Society of Landscape Architects has a new mobile-friendly site for visitors (locals included) to tour the city's best architectural landscape features.

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