Morning Real Estate Fix

New home construction back to 2006 levels around DC (Washington Post)  While new home construction in the urban core has been on the rise for the past few years, single- and multi-family home construction is now on the rise in the suburbs, putting the whole area back to development not seen since before the crash.

Wheaton Costco opening delayed til March or April (Gazette) The store was originally scheduled to open this month, but construction issues have pushed it back half a year.

The Great Recession: U.S. added 4.8 million renters, lost 1.7 million homeowners (HousingWire) In a dramatic shift away from an ownership society since 2008, ownership fundamentals have shifted significantly in last 4 years.

Refinances expected to fall in 2013 (HousingWire)  In a significant downward revision, the Mortgage Bankers Association expects refinances in 2013 to be far below its original prediction.

Vida at the Yards, Officially

Vida Fitness finally announced today that it is opening its next location at the Yards, Forest City's mixed-use neighborhood next to the ballpark.  The site has been a not-very-well kept secret for the past few years, but new details emerged about the 28,000 s.f. facility, including that it will house another Penthouse Pool Club and Lounge, a rooftop lounge which Vida added to its new U Street location last year.  Vida, along with 50,000 s.f. Harris Teeter, is being built as part of Forest City's Twelve12 mixed-use project at the corner of 4th and Tingey Streets.  Designed by Shalom Baranes Associates, the building will house 218 apartments, and is scheduled to open in the spring of 2014.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

The Crimson on Glebe Set to Break Ground

Having gained unanimous approval from the Arlington County Board back in May, The Crimson on Glebe, Crimson Partners' six-story 165-unit apartment building at 650 N. Glebe Road, across from Ballston Commons Mall, faces a clear runway to construction.

"We were approved for 165 apartments, so now we're working through the last of the permitting, " says Christian Chambers, Managing Partner at Crimson.  "We're going to break ground in January of next year."

The Crimson will also feature approximately 2,200 s.f. of ground floor retail space along Glebe Road; however, no decisions have been made yet as to a potential tenant.  "With this amount of retail space, we'll probably wait until closer to delivery before we sign someone in there," says Chambers.

The site, formerly a Goodyear tire store, is located on one of the area's longest blocks, and developers, as part of an agreement with the County, have agreed to build a 220-foot extension of North Tazewell Street at the rear of the property to ease resident access without disrupting traffic on Glebe.  Developers also secured increased density for the building (which was originally five stories) by agreeing to build to LEED Silver standards, and by contributing a half million dollars to the county's Affordable Housing Investment fund, $75,000 to the public art fund, and $42,000 to the utility fund.

For all those concessions, developers get to build a mixed-use building along one of the busiest stretches of Glebe Road, just a third of a mile from the metro, in the heart of commercial Arlington, at a time when the area is just starting to transition from an auto-centric area of strip malls, surface parking lots, and office buildings (a previously approved site plan, dating from 1989, was for a four-story office building) to a more pedestrian-friendly vision of shops, restaurants, and apartments.  This Janus-faced transitional moment is perhaps best summed up by developers' agreement to, on one hand, "encourage residents and retail tenants to live and work car-free," while on the other still providing 164 below-grade parking spaces.  The plan also calls for additional street trees along both frontages, as well as dramatically widened sidewalks.


The L-shaped, KTGY Group-designed building will feature a small internal courtyard for residents, and a varied facade of neutral-toned brick, laminate cladding, metal panels, and manufactured stone and glass, with a residential entrance and lobby along North Carlin Springs Road.  The average unit size will be just over 700 s.f.

Crimson Partners and Washington Real Estate Investment (WRIT) acquired the site for $11.8 million in June 2011; construction is expected to cost approximately $43.5 million.  Crimson is also working on the 65-acre Dulles Station project along the toll road.

Arlington, VA real estate development news

Morning Real Estate Fix

Tenleytown Safeway seeks Bozzuto for redevelopment (Washington Post)  Like Giant down the street, executives at Safeway are in talks with Bozzuto over the slow-going redevelopment of their Tenleytown store.

Commercial property continues slow recovery (NuWire Investor) Despite a slow recovery, commercial property has been making a slow but steady contribution to the recovery, and will likely continue doing so, though much uncertainty remains.

New Maryland University dorm opens as sustainable project (Multi-housing News) Designed by WDG Architecture, the new residence has earned a LEED Gold ranking by the USGBC.

Are you worse off than you were 4 years ago?  65% of housing markets are (Washington Post)  A recent study says that 65% of 919 counties surveyed are in worse shape now than they were in 2008, while the other 35% is only slightly better.

Morning Real Estate Fix

Should investors buy into housing recovery?  (U.S. News & World Reports)  The backlog of people able to buy their own home is large, making housing stocks a good investment.

Amid positive signs in housing, uncertainty remains (Fannie Mae)  Although the majority of news about the housing sector has lately been positive, substantial risk remains, and the looming fiscal cliff caused by unsustainable debt tilts risk toward the downside.

DC moves from 1st to 8th on list of best places to invest (Urban Land Institute) In a new report on emerging trends in real estate, ULI report shows that DC fell from the top of the list as the "low-gear real estate recovery" lifts some previously slow markets.

Real inflation undermines housing recovery (Realty Biz News) Despite conventional wisdom that inflation benefits homeowners, the cost of living is going up while home prices are remaining flat, a fact that government statistics are purposely not showing.

Home price appreciation helps recovery (National Assn. of Home Builders) Rising home prices across the nation show that the recovery is underway.

Community Matters!

Q&A with Susan Stine of Redteam Strategies

By Beth Herman

As owner of interior design and strategic planning firm Redteam Strategies, Susan Stine is a long time resident of D.C. landmark The Westchester, 4000 Cathedral Avenue NW. She has served and continues to serve on many of the building’s committees, including as former chairman of the house committee that oversaw the comprehensive redesign of the building’s public spaces, completed in 2010. DCMud spoke with her about old vs. new and her traditional outlook on what it means to live in the District.

DCMud: In the last five years, D.C. has had this huge push to build new apartment buildings—part of the urban planning concept known as Smart Growth America. It’s building around public transportation - building up urban areas so it’s a work/live/play scenario. There’s now a lot of new product on the market, largely for rent, but what about people who want a different kind of lifestyle and wish to buy?

Stine:Washington has some very significant older apartment or condominium buildings that are beautiful, and The Westchester has the lowest fees and biggest apartments per square foot–and it’s on 11 acres—it’s a real, established community.

DCMud: In what sense?

Stine: People say that you buy here because of the square footage but stay because of the community. We have people at the Westchester who have moved around within the (five building-) campus four and five times. They purchase up or they purchase down. It’s a real community within Washington, D.C., and there’s something to be said about buying into that.

DCMud: In 2010, we reported on a kind of democracy in action major Westchester renovation, where residents were given a voice and got to vote for their favorites.

Stine: Unlike many newer buildings, a few older communities and particularly The Westchester are more likely to involve its member-owners in processes such as major renovation decisions. We embrace transparency because we think that makes the community better and stronger. In 2008 we began a major redesign executed through surveys, workshops and focus groups, with each household getting to vote on key components of the project. You generally don’t find that in newer properties.

DCMud: So there are opportunities for involvement on many levels.

Stine: You’re living in history, you’re living in a community, and you’re getting a lot of square footage—plus you’re still convenient to downtown. When you go into a new apartment building, you’re right smack downtown and your community is outside of your building—it’s on the street. Do you meet your neighbors? You might meet them on the treadmill, but that’s it. People buy into older, established communities like this because of the history, and they become a part of it.

DCMUD: Speaking of history and design, do you have a favorite venue in the District?

Stine: It has to be the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, which underwent the most beautiful restoration about 10 years ago. Then five years ago, a canopy was created there to join two buildings together. I go all the time to restore myself because it’s filled with art and feeds my soul.

Washington D.C. design news

GW Approves New Foggy Bottom Residence Hall

Moving forward with plans to add density and retail to its growing mixed-use kingdom in Foggy Bottom, George Washington (GW) University today announced plans to build a new, $130 million residence hall. The dorm will be constructed around and between the existing West End, Schenley and Crawford residence halls that front H and Eye Streets between 21st and 22nd Streets.  The structure will include ground-floor retail on Eye Street.  GW has retained Ayers Saint Gross as architect for the project.

2007 Foggy Bottom Campus Plan Development Sites.  Image: GWU

The residence hall adds to the university's growing list of high-dollar, ambitious construction projects, all part of a university plan to add density and retail to the parts of Foggy Bottom and West End neighborhoods the university controls, via the 2007 Foggy Bottom Campus Plan.  The Campus Plan includes 16 projects.

In summer 2011, the university started construction on a $265 million dollar, 400,000 s.f. Science and Engineering Building.  Also last year, the university announced plans to demolish townhouses on Pennsylvania Avenue and part of a large building at 2100 Pennsylvania Avenue, now occupied by Kaiser Permanente, to make room for a new office building.  The university will argue before the DC Zoning Commission in November that it should be granted an exception to a 90-foot height limit on part of the site and be able to build the office tower to its planned 130-foot height.

According to a GW press release, the planned residence hall will house mainly second and third-year students and have accommodations for short-term staff and faculty. Units will be two-bedroom apartments, studio apartments, or units in a concept called "affinity housing."  The affinity housing concept, according to the university press release, will "provide space for groups of students to create their own living communities." Michelle Sherrard, GW's director of media relations, further detailed the concept in an email to DCMud. "Students in clubs, organizations or athletics teams can create their own living community around their interests," she explained.  She said the housing units would feature large common kitchen and living areas and beds for 16 to 20 students.

With 270,000 s.f. of above-grade space, plans also call for 64,000 s.f. of underground space for student activities.  The University will preserve the West End, Schenley and Crawford halls, which were constructed in the mid 1920's. GW acquired the buildings between 1960 and 1997.  According to officials, construction on the new residence hall will begin in mid 2013.  It could be completed in time for fall semester, 2016.