Your Next Place

Rare in Georgetown (or any other neighborhood in the District), this house features a two-level floor plan, with half the first floor elevated.  The effect is of a larger, offset living space, and one in which you're guaranteed to trip on the steps in the middle of the house at least once a month, probably while carrying beverages and/or attempting a seduction.  The main living area is flooded with light, as is the dining room, thanks to some extremely oversized windows, large even by oversized window standards.

The huge master bedroom features long, wide windows and tree-filled views, and a fantastic mirrored closet.  The master bath has a really cool curtain-less shower, with a small protruding wall instead of a door or curtain.  It felt very European to me, plus you wouldn't have to worry about your significant other coming in to grab something "really quick" while you're showering, seeing you through the shower curtain, and being like, "are you shaving your chest with my razor?"  ("Um, yes, and just be glad you didn't see what I was shaving with your razor thirty seconds ago.")  The guest bedroom has fantastic built-ins and a massive skylight; definitely get your guests drunk and then crouch outside their door the next morning and howl with laughter at their moans as they're awoken by the intense midday light streaming in.

Finally, the crown jewel of this house is undeniably the garden.  Designed by Oehme Van Sweden, this backyard paradise is lush, intensely green, and decorated with a discreet Far East vibe.  (Loved the marble Buddha head.)  It's like your own little piece of Thailand, only without the eight year old pickpockets and Frenchmen wearing sarongs.

1313 28th Street NW
4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths
$2,695,000

A More Accessible Georgetown, and Other BID Ideas

For a guy who has spent his career hopscotching between the public and private sectors, heading up the Georgetown Business Improvement District could be the ideal job. Joe Sternlieb, a Northwest DC resident and former vice president for acquisitions with EastBanc, the DC-based developer, started his new job as CEO of the Georgetown BID in mid-October. It’s his second round of employment with one of the city’s BIDs; Sternlieb spent ten years as part of the Downtown BID at a time when that area was just beginning to bloom. Before that, he spent time as a staff director for the DC City Council and worked on social justice issues.

Reporters and others focused on the city’s development scene might know Sternlieb as one of the chattiest and most accessible folks in the business. Here, he talked to DCMud about his new gig.

DCMud: Why did you decide to work for the Georgetown BID?


Joe Sternlieb: I’ve never had more fun than when I was working with the BIDs and I thought it could be a really fun and interesting opportunity to apply what I’ve learned in last 20-some years. And it’s in a new and interesting environment, quite different from the Downtown BID.

DCMud: How is it so different?

Sternlieb: When I started working for the Downtown BID, there were something like 40-50 surface parking lots, few restaurants, and very few people living there. We were trying to give definition to a place while development was occurring from private sector. [In contrast], Georgetown is really well-defined and developed: it’s got a vibrant retail and restaurant presence, and all these other physical attributes, from the C&O Canal and the waterfront to historic neighborhoods. The task here is how to make it appear and be a really accessible place.

DCMud: What do you mean, “accessible”?

Sternlieb: A lot of people perceive it as difficult to get to. There are lots of ways to change that. [For example], there’s a huge number of underground parking spaces in Georgetown that are closed on the weekend; demand isn’t high because there’s street parking. But the latter creates a lot of congestion. So I’d like to look at how to improve congestion parking. I also think we need a lot more bike racks, cabbie stations, and Circulator service. I think of transportation the same way DDOT does: considering all options, including cars, buses, bikeshare, pedestrians—it’s all a single system.

DCMud: Georgetown used to be the place to go in DC, but there are so many dynamic neighborhoods now. How do you plan to compete?

Sternlieb: We’ll need to work harder to remind people that Georgetown is here. We’re working with local merchants to think about ways to attract people back to Georgetown; we have opportunities to do open markets and special events, and we’re also working closely with home furnishings and design retailers to create a real urban design district.

DCMud: The new park along the river is such a terrific resource—do you have plans for it?

Sternlieb: Because that park is owned by the National Park Service, things like vendors selling food can’t happen there. We haven’t yet come up with a program for concerts, movies, etc. to occur there, but that’s not to say we can’t. It’s on our radar screen and we’ll be spending time with the Park Service to figure out how to better integrate the neighborhood and the park.

DCMud: How do you define your job, and the role of the BID?

Sternlieb: BIDs can help facilitate programs, projects, and solutions to problems that individuals might not be able to tackle on their own. It’s a middle space between the private, governmental, and residential sector. For example, the regional bus map that WMATA uses was developed out of the Downtown BID. I see us doing things like that here—some demonstration projects, sometimes convening a bunch of people to look at something and try to develop a better plan.

Washington, D.C., real estate development news

Development of Rare Vacant Lot in Dupont to Start Next Month

A nine-story apartment building planned for the corner of 17th and O Streets, NW will break ground this year, replacing a parking lot on one of the last undeveloped lots in the Dupont Circle neighborhood.  The First Baptist Church of Washington owns the lot, but developer Keener Squire will build the 218-unit building under a 99-year ground lease with the church.  Eric Colbert and Associates is the architectural firm on the project.

Rendering: Eric Colbert & Associates

DCMud reported in April that the developer intended to break ground this year, but unlike project start dates that regularly slip indefinitely, executives at Keener Squire assure DCMud that the initial estimates are still valid.  Developers expect the total construction time to be about 18 months.

The project has obtained necessary approvals from the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) (the site sits in the Dupont Circle Historic District), and the DC Board of Zoning adjustment, and has the support of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B and the Dupont Circle Conservancy.  The building's 118 units will be mostly junior one-bedrooms and some two-bedrooms, which were added to plans in response to requests from neighbors.

The building's design fits in with neighboring 1930's-era buildings, an architect on the project said.   "The design draws from the art moderne apartment buildings in the area, but at the same time is an updated 21st century building," Steve Dickens, architect with Eric Colbert and Associates told DCMud.  He cited Bay State Apartments and Boston House Condominiums, both just across the street from the site, as examples of neighboring art moderne-style structures.

Art moderne buildings in the neighborhood, Dickens said, were built after just after the historic district's so-called "period of significance" - a period historic districts look to in consideration of design appropriateness - which goes up until the 1930's.  Still, the HPRB backed the design.  "Given that this neighborhood has almost no buildings that date to the period of significance, the HPRB felt that the buildings that were around us were the significant buildings to look at."

Dickens emphasized that the design process has been collaborative, with the church as a major partner, "they want to make sure that whatever goes there is something that the most immediate neighbors are happy with."

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Morning Real Estate Fix

DC real estate pros discuss the commercial market (Costar)  A pending election, fiscal cliff, and potential changes to the capital gains tax rate have stimulated conversation, if nothing else.

Beach front isn't better - rising sea levels would be a disaster for DC properties (PR Newswire)  If the seas were to rise a few feet due to global warming, DC could begin to feel the effects in damage to its property and infrastructure.

Barnes & Noble to close - no, wait, open - at Union Station (Washington Post)  Ashkenazy, which leases space at Union Station through an agreement with the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation, had told the book seller, already beset by greater market forces, that it had to close, but has now relented.

Alexandria Affordable Housing Complex Back on Track

An AHC Inc.-developed affordable housing complex at the corner of East Reed Avenue and Route 1/Jefferson Davis Highway, in Alexandria, is now slated for an early 2014 groundbreaking, after hitting delays earlier this year.

The latest iteration of the project, which has increased to 77 units, from an original 59, should head to the Alexandria City Council in December for final approval, according to John Welsh, Vice President at AHC.

"We're really happy with the design," says Welsh.  "The city planning office gave their opinion on it, and asked for a few minor changes.  Mostly design stuff - switching a metal accent to the other side of the building so it would be a stronger element on Route 1, that kind of thing."

The Bonstra-Haresign-designed building will offer 15 one-bedroom units, 51 two-bedroom units, and eleven three-bedroom units, at 60% of AMI (approximately $56,000/year).  The facade is "primarily brick, with a few other materials, and some metal accents to give it a nice polish," said Welsh.  The building will be five stories tall on the east side, and taper down to three stories on the west, and there will also be 77 below-grade parking spaces, a one-to-one ratio that marks a significant increase from the earlier design's 0.77 ratio, a number that caused some consternation among city planners as potentially insufficient.  Construction is projected to take 18 months, with leasing estimated to take until the end of 2015.

The project will sit on a joined plot consisting of a city-owned parcel at 3600 Jefferson Davis Highway and three privately-owned parcels controlled by AHC.  Funding is being provided by a package of AHC funds, a $1.1 million-plus affordable housing loan from the city, and tax credits, the application deadline for the latter contributing, at least in part, to past delays.

Piazza Arriba!

Q and A with Jane Treacy of Treacy and Eagleburger Architects, PC  
By Beth Herman

Desiring a new kitchen and family room that fed into a garden space, Chevy Chase, Md. homeowners were also dealing with a deteriorating garage and non-existent backyard aesthetic. DCMud spoke with architect Jane Treacy of Treacy and Eagleburger Architects PC about reimagining the space to include a rooftop terrace—atop the garage.

DCMud: Describe the challenges of this project, which was both a renovation and new construction.

Treacy: When we came to the project—a bungalow built circa the early 1920s—there were multiple issues. These included an existing garage off the alley, which is about 8 feet down from the first floor. The yard itself was not at the exact same height as the first floor—it was reasonably higher. They wanted to keep the two-car garage, though it was falling down and popped up above grade—a bit of an albatross in the backyard/garden.

DCMud: What were the first steps?

Treacy: When we considered the family room addition, we placed it down a couple of steps so it could feed out to the garden level. We dropped the whole roof of the garage down by using a concrete slab for its roof to condense the height as much as possible and to get it to be at that same level.

DCMud: So the idea was to walk straight out and be on the roof of the garage.

Treacy: Yes, and we also terraced the stone paving over the roof. When the discussion arose about a screened porch, we decided to put it all the way at the back of the site, over the roof, and made an edge to the patio. It creates this kind of urban courtyard—a piazza. The area between the house and the screened porch is about 600 s.f. and the porch itself is 180 s.f.

DCMud: So to be clear, when you’re in the piazza with its screened porch and stone terrace, you’re on the roof of the garage.

Treacy: The terrace is half over the garage, and half over earth. So much of the design had to do with being able to pull the cars in from the alley, and then build over the top with the screen porch at the back of the terrace. There is also an enclosed stair that goes straight down into the garage.

DCMud: How did you create the family room?

Treacy: The kitchen, which we also renovated, is on the main level of the original house, and we stepped things down two steps into the family room. This allowed us to get a nice ceiling height in there—about 10 feet—and make that room very much a part of the garden space in the back. Three tall French doors with clerestory windows support the notion.

Treacy: The owners are ardent gardeners, so being able to push a really nice space into the garden as well as have a screened space out there was important. Following construction, they developed a beautiful, festive garden that integrates the space.

DCMud: You and your husband Phillip have produced such a vast body of residential work. Is there a particular D.C. architect who truly influenced you from the beginning?

Treacy: It would have to be mid-century modernist architect David Condon, who created Hollin Hills in Alexandria among other special properties. I have always been inspired by everything from his shed roofs to his fresh modern style.

Morning Real Estate Fix

August a good month for home prices (Washington Times)  New reports show that housing prices in nearly all major American cities rose during the month of August, and even laggards like Las Vegas are showing a modicum of improvement.

Fannie Mae reaches short sale agreement with insurers (HousingWire)  The mortgage buyer has reached a deal with 9 mortgage insurers to streamline the short sale process, which may also help refinancing.

Mortgage applications decline as refinancing diminishes (Mortgage Bankers Association)  Mortgage applications fell 4.8% this week.  Analysts have long expected this as rock-bottom rates don't have room to fall.

HARP 2:  the nuts and bolts of refinancing (Daily Mortgage Reports)  Following HARP 1, which helped refinance far fewer homes than expected and failed to get at the problem, HARP 2 aims to correct the original mistakes.

Rethinking the FBI building (Washington Post)  As one of the ugliest buildings on earth, the J. Edgar Hoover building has few supporters, especially in the increasingly posh Penn Quarter neighborhood of DC.  What to do with it?  Some idle thoughts...