Morning Real Estate Fix

Jumbo mortgage market making big gains (Daily Mortgage Reports)  Any way you look at it, home sales above $500k are showing strong gains, despite talks of limiting the interest deduction.

The urbanist case for DC's height restrictions (Atlantic Cities)  Sentimental (and some economic) reasons for keeping DC looking more like Paris than Vancouver.

Tight lending is choking nascent housing recovery (CNBC)  Modestly good numbers continue to be the narrative of the national housing market, but qualified buyers without cash continue to be shut out by banks.

Housing starts up 3.6% in October (National Association of Home Builders) The Commerce Department reports the highest level of new home construction since July of 2008.

Zoning Commission Approves Hine School Redevelopment Project

Observers of the long-running saga that is the redevelopment of Capitol Hill’s Hine School can finally turn the page. Yesterday, DC’s zoning commission definitively approved the project’s PUD, which means developers Stanton-EastBanc can now move forward and focus on next steps: gathering financing and preparing for a groundbreaking next summer.

Last night’s meeting was the project’s final action hearing. At a meeting last month, commissioners requested clarification on a number of mostly-small matters, like whether trucks would be limited to accessing the project’s loading docks by driving in rear-first. Stanton-EastBanc representatives submitted their responses—in the loading dock case, pointing out that the entire design would have to be altered in order to facilitate front-end loading—and the commissioners were satisfied.

The Hine School project—which will include residential units and ground floor retail in Capitol Hill’s busy Eastern Market area—has moved slowly since it was awarded to the developers September 2009. Intense community engagement has necessitated a bevy of meetings and consultations, and numerous revisions.

But the project’s community-engagement process has finally come to an end, and the developers are ready to move on. “We’re seeking financing for the project, and are starting that whole process of getting building permits,” explained Alex Golding, a senior associate with Stanton Development Company. He said that the partners started assembling construction documents and drawings some time ago in order to hit the ground running once the PUD was approved, and will be soliciting construction bids in early 2013. “We’re closing with the District [on the property] in July 2013 and hope to begin construction right after that,” he added.

Of course, not everything related to the project’s community aspects has been sewn up. Questions of where the Eastern Market flea market will be located are still unresolved. The market—which has been located on the Hine School site and is currently run by two different private entities—will temporarily operate on a closed 7th Street, but the city hasn’t yet approved that location as a permanent solution. To boot, questions of whether those private groups will continue to run the weekend markets, or whether the city should take them over, are still pending.

Washington, D.C., real estate development news

Your Next Place

This semi-detached Georgetown federal is a masterpiece of sophistication, sort of like a Paris Hilton DJ set, but the complete opposite.  Tall and clean-lined, it's also southfacing, so, unlike me as a child, it'll get plenty of warmth.

There's a huge, bright living room and a subdued study perfect for having a late night cigar with your pals while plotting a coup d'etat, or at least discussing fantasy football.  The formal dining room is elegant and spacious, and the kitchen sports high-end appliances and subtly sophisticated cabinets. The very fine washroom is wallpapered with ornate ink-drawn birds, and it's so nice that you'll basically have to drive to 7-11 every time you need to go to the bathroom, it's just far too disgusting of a thing to do in a room this nice.  Upstairs, the bedrooms have personality plus, and there's a fourth bedroom en suite that could also be used as a library, depending on if you own any books and/or are literate.

And then there's the breathtaking custom-built flagstone garden.  A wide flagstone-lined terrace with a sunbathing area and stairs leading down to an intimate firepit area with stone benches, I'm pretty sure this is the nicest backyard I've ever seen.  It's probably nicer than ninety percent of the actual houses I've been in.  You could have a nice sideline renting the yard out so guys could propose to their girlfriends there.  There's even a fireplace, so if she says no, he can fling the ring directly into the flames.  Even if he kept the receipt, the store probably wouldn't take it back anyway, because of the clinging reject stench.

3053 Q Street NW
4 Beds, 3.5 Baths
$1,735,000

Morning Real Estate Fix

The real estate deal that could change everything (Atlantic Cities)  The crowd funding experiment of the Miller brothers' H Street restaurant project has the potential to radically change the way buildings are funded.  Could local funding, like eating local, become the new it thing?  This was once the way cities were built.

Douglas gets loan for Wonder Bread building (Globe St)  Douglas scores a $21.3 million loan for redevelopment of the beloved building.

Small units may get smaller.  Much.  (Atlantic Cities)  Municipal approaches to small units are getting much more favorable to smaller units, and people are buying them.

Washington D.C. comes in 2nd in commercial real estate gains (Boston Biz Journal)  Boston leads the nation in recovery in the commercial real estate market, while DC takes 2nd place, ahead of New York City.

October sales up, nationally (RealEstateRama)  Existing home sales picked up in October, as did prices, as inventory continues to fall.

What will become of DC's closed schools? (Washington Post)  Fenty's closure of 20 schools in the last round were sold off to developers - a process that is just starting to take root - while the Gray administration wants to hold on to the closed buildings.

New Renderings of MoCo's Tallest Building

After building the tallest building in Montgomery County, JBG is putting the final touches on plans for an even taller building next door.  JBG's North Bethesda Market II (NoBe II), a second phase to the development that built the county's tallest structure, will add 400 new residences, 120,000 s.f. of retail, and a 150,000-s.f. office building when completed.  Renderings, completed by ArchiBIM, show the distinctive building rising above the 24-story tower now on the site.  Although a timeline has not been determined, JBG and co-developer MacFarlane Partners have been hoping to break ground on the 4.4 acre site in the first half of next year, producing an iconic, 26-story (300 ft) apartment building designed by Studios Architecture.

Montgomery County approved the building back in March.  The project furthers the goals of increased density and design along Rockville Pike, a goal that got a shot in the arm with the recent release of plans across the street for a replacement for the White Flint mall.  JBG owns more land to the south and west of the two sites, but for now, NoBe II is its sole focus in the area.  NoBe II will be completed in one phase, taking 2-to-3 years once construction starts.

Montgomery County real estate development news

Ward 7 Gets a $10 Million Amenity in New Tennis Center

Image: courtesy Clark Nexsen

A multi-million dollar tennis and education center opened Saturday off of East Capitol Street in DC's Ward 7.  The complex adds a big amenity to an area of the District with one of the city's highest percentage of vacant or abandoned space, but that has lately seen new developments.

The Washington Nationals in July began work on a youth baseball academy very nearby at Fort Dupont Park.  In 2008, developers Donatelli and Blue Skye were selected to develop a city-owned lot at the nearby, Ward 7 hub of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road, NE.  Work on the $65 million mixed-use retail and residential project started this summer.

New Courts at Stoddert Pl SE. Photo courtesy WTEF

These developments mean that land in Ward 7, which, according to the Office of Planning, has 32 percent vacant or abandoned space compared to Ward 1's six percent, is seeing more construction.

The force behind the $10 million project is the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation (WTEF), an organization that specializes in a unique combination of tennis training and tutoring to serve school-aged youth from East DC who might not otherwise get tennis lessons or school help. Clark Nexsen is the architect on the project.

The new center sits on 7.5 acres rented under a 40-year lease with the District Department of Parks and Recreation.  It is located at the Benning Stoddert Recreation Center at 200 Stoddert Place SE,  and includes nine outdoor tennis courts.  The 64,800 s.f. of indoor space includes six indoor courts, a community room, four classrooms, offices, and a 50-seat computer training room.   The site, which already had a field, a playground, and some tennis and basketball courts, also got enhancements, including lighting and better paths.

Image: courtesy Clark Nexsen

"It is envisioned as an additional community resource," Frank Kaye, architect with Clark Nexsen, told DCMud.  He said designs for the facility considered how to save trees, improve existing spaces, and how to best facilitate overall project goals of tennis training and mentoring.  Designers met with community leaders, as well as with the United States Tennis Association to make sure the facilities met their guidelines.

Eleni Rossides, director of WTEF, said fundraising for the center began during the recession, but that donors pulled through to raise almost all of the money for the project privately. 

Photo courtesy WTEF

In addition to work at 23 schools, WTEF had, until now, worked out of a facility on K Street NW and bused kids there from east DC.   With the new facility, students in WTEF's fee-free programs will be able to get tennis training and tutoring in their own neighborhood. Rossides said the center will be open to programming for adults and seniors, organizational collaborations, and someday maybe advisory neighborhood commission (ANC) meetings.

"For us, we really looked at this as a family community center and we really hope that it can help to transform this community," Rossides said.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Net Positive by Pigment

Q and A with Miche Booz 
by Beth Herman

Swiss-born and French bred (that's bred, not bread), Miche Booz of Miche Booz Architect spent a peripatetic childhood navigating the neighborhoods of Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia.


















With a developmental economist father (also an admitted closet interior designer who coveted Danish Modern), and writer/ illustrator/ painter mother, Booz grew up in the shadow of iconic architecture like the Taj Mahal and Eiffel Tower, and without television, which left considerable time to cultivate his own artistic DNA. Though the young Miche trained his pencils and brushes on favorite military tanks and boats, as an architect he has turned his attention to painterly (and/or colored pencil) executions of design, much in the manner of Le Corbusier. DCMud spoke with Booz about his art and how he has applied it to his latest project: a 2,000 s.f., 3-bedroom, 2-bath net positive residence scheduled for momentary groundbreaking in Clarksville, Maryland.

DCMud: Why do you draw and paint as opposed to using 21st Century technology?

Booz: I went to art school and got into watercolor, and liked the medium a lot, before I came to architecture at age 32. It's not the only medium I use, though I find it the most evocative and it helps me design and understand things in a more tactile way. There's something that goes on when you actually have a colored pencil or a brush in your hand that connects you to the architecture and helps you work out design solutions.

DCMud: When does technology come into play?

Booz: We're an office of four, and the three others here use it more than I do: AutoCAD and SketchUp. I don't design on the computer at all.

DCMud: So with all that, how did the Clarksville net positive project come into your orbit?

Booz: I've known Ed Gaddy, a solar energy engineer for spacecraft, since 1980. We've had dialogues over the years about doing an energy efficient house. A few years ago he found a 1 1/2-story Cape three minutes' walk from where he works. As an environmentalist, among other things he wanted to walk to work to conserve his carbon footprint.

DCMud: Describe the property.

Booz: It's 1.2 acres on a south-facing lot. The existing house was not very energy-efficient, and we determined we could not effectively renovate it into such. There is that truism that the greenest house you build is the one you don't tear down; in this case we'd have had to disassemble it so much it would've been akin to tearing it down. That said, we are actually keeping the first floor deck and the basement underneath for storage, and building a platform with a sculptural, prismatic object that we're putting the solar array on. The house will be built next to it and is a composition of two squares: A public square and a private square. The kitchen/pantry/living area has a taller roof, and then bedrooms and bathrooms are under the lower roof.


DCMud: What about the net positive aspect of this house?

Booz: It may be a little tongue-in-cheek, but Ed's special goal is to have the most energy-efficient house in Maryland -- he's going for the trifecta of certifications. He wants to have a Passive House (Passive House Institute U.S., or PHIUS) - a German performance-based certification program whose principles have a long history in the U.S. that addresses air tightness, insulation and energy use. PHIUS is less interested in materials and site strategies than LEED and Living Building Challenge are. But he's also going for LEED Platinum, and for the Living Building Challenge.

DCMud: Rather ambitious objectives. With all of that, how are you going to achieve net positive -- to build a home that produces more energy than it uses?

Booz: For one thing, we rotated the house directly south, which is one reason for building a new one, for purposes of solar gain. It has architecturally integrated solar panels, and we also have a couple of thermal solar panels on top of a shed behind the house for hot water.

The exterior is concrete block and corrugated metal. The roof is a standing seam Galvalume, and it all sits on a polished concrete slab.

DCMud: Tell us about insulation.

Booz: It's going to use very little energy to heat and cool with highly insulated walls, roof and slab insulation: R-Values are 68, 100 and 38, respectively. In fact the R-Value of the Zola window glazing is 11.1 -- comparable to the R-Value of 3.5-inch thick fiberglass batt that's found in many homes.

The one thing this house does is avoid thermal bridging, where you have structure or components of the house that conduct either heat or cold through the wall out into the environment or from the environment back in. It takes an insulated covering that wraps not only up and down the walls and around the roof, but down in front of the foundation wall and under the footing, so the footing doesn't touch the earth. It's sitting on insulation. The entire house is wrapped, which is different than the way most houses are built.

In fact one of the challenges was finding an HVAC system that's small enough to heat and cool this house as it takes so little. We're using a Mini-Split Mitsubishi system, which is the smallest one they make. There's an ERV and 0.6 air changes per hour -- an extremely tight envelope

DCMud: From your paintings it appears there is extensive fenestration, including a huge south-facing exposure with all that this can imply.

Booz: We have high performance windows facing south that offer shading, and an innovative system of translucent exterior roller shades that automatically deploy over these windows to prevent overheating.

DCMud: Interesting you should talk about these key exterior shades, as we did a story with Mark McInturff where they figured prominently into the design.

Booz: The architect who has influenced me most strongly is Mark McInturff, under whom I worked for nearly six years. His language is contemporary architecture and he has a wonderful sense of design. His buildings are light-filled and sustainable, and also very beautiful -- he has a wonderful sense of color and proportion and extreme attention to detail. With his work, the closer you get the better it looks, as opposed to a lot of modern architecture where you get the Gestalt right up front but the closer you look, the more banal it gets.

City To Open Bids for Lot at Florida and Sherman Avenues

The District government is releasing its request for proposals for a long-term ground lease for a city-owned lot at the corner of Florida and Sherman Avenues.  The solicitation could go live as early as today or Monday, a city official told DCMud (Update, since original publication of this article the city has published the RFP).  While one developer reportedly already has detailed plans for the site, the open bid puts one of the District's more visible sites up for bid in a neighborhood where developers are already planning extensive construction.

City-owned lot, corner of Florida and Sherman. Image: DMPED

The request from DC's Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) for proposals for its 1.4 acre lot near DC's fast-growing U Street Corridor and Howard University is much-anticipated.

According to the Washington Post, developer JBG plans to bid on the lot and has announced a collaboration with national food retailer Harris Teeter that - if JBG wins the bid - would bring a grocery store to the site.

JBG already has a stake in the grocery store business in the area.  In July, the DCist broke news about the company's plans to build a Trader Joe's in its apartment building now construction at 14th and U Street.  JBG also controls the adjacent Atlantic Plumbing parcel, as well as the Florida Avenue parcel just a few blocks away, planning nearly 1000 apartment units in all, leaving little question as to its qualifications.

The area has so far not seen competing supermarkets.  Howard University had plans with CastleRock Partners to put a grocery store at a planned mixed-use development, Howard Town Center, located at 2100-2146 Georgia Avenue.  But the Howard Town Center project has suffered delays and there is no date to break ground in sight.  There is also speculation about whether a grocery store at Florida and Sherman could hurt plans for a grocery store at Howard Town Center, and of course Shaw will soon have its own refurbished Giant in 18 months.

Florida Ave. Reconstruction Project. Image: DDOT

But with the U Street neighborhood surging, stakes on just about any lot in this fast-growing neighborhood are coveted.  And private developers aren't the only ones who are turning a focus on the area.  This summer, the city's department of transportation finalized a plan for a massive overhaul of Florida Avenue between U Street and the Sherman Avenue intersection where the city-owned lot sits.  The Florida Avenue Reconstruction Project calls for adding more bike lanes, widening sidewalks, and planting more trees.  The city also just finished a reconstruction of Sherman Avenue.

The solicitation is likely to bring proposals from multiple bidders.  Six bidders are competing to develop a nearby, city-owned lot called "Parcel 42"...and they are just the ones who made the short list.

Update:  The city has now released the RFP, available in this link.

Canal Park Opens Today

After nearly 2 years of construction, work on Canal Park, the jewel of southeast DC, will wrap up when its supporters celebrate completion of the park today.  The 3-block park features an ice rink, stormwater management, interactive water fountains, a 135 foot fountain that serves as a "rain garden," and interactive sculptures, much of it designed for children.

But the most iconic feature will be a pavilion with 9,000 s.f. cafe and seating area, topped by a lightbox with translucent acrylic panels that will illuminate the pavilion at night on the southern (M Street) boundary, matched by a smaller, similar lightbox on the northern block.

Operated by the Canal Park Development Association (CPDA), the park is technically owned by the federal government but placed under the jurisdiction of the District government, which put $13.5m into the project and in turn licences the CPDA to run and program the park.

Far from being a strip of grass like parks of old, beneath all that seemingly simple design lies the mechanics that make it happen.  Olin, the Philadelphia based landscape architect, worked with pavilion architect Studios Architecture to create and integrate mechanics for the park and cafe to drain the park's stormwater naturally, as well as that of neighboring developments which now drain into the city's stormwater system.

Brian Pilot, a principal of Studios Architecture, says the public won't be able to see the complex systems that went into making the park ecologically friendly, visually appealing, and functionally interactive.  "The infrastructure of the park was incredibly complex," said Pilot, noting that 2 40,000-gallon cisterns, buried beneath the park, collect and store the rainwater, calling that feature "one of the primary objectives of the park's design," and will treat and reuse the water throughout the park.  Geothermal wells will heat and cool water for the south pavilion (see diagram below), and other mechanics, "including soil stabilizing rammed aggregate piers, extensive rink, fountain and stormwater piping," will help the park function.

Pilot notes that the pavilion, which his firm designed, had to feature the usual mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, but with translucent walls and without the interior space to accommodate equipment.  "There's no back of house to building, every facade has an important relationship to the street, even the roof was actually an important elevation."  Considering the overall park, Pilot says the stormwater rain garden is "one of the major anchoring components of the design," running along the east side of the park, "undulating from north to south."  The "south pavilion grows out of the rain garden, so one can get an elevated view of the skating rink.  The middle pavilion is designed to float above the stormwater rain garden," and that the "two lanterns bookend the site, its one of your first impressions from whichever direction you enter."  The park is designed to achieve LEED Gold certification.  See recent pictures of the park under construction.

Washington D.C. real estate development news

Morning Real Estate Fix

Commercial real estate growth accelerates (Costar) Commercial real estate pricing ended the third quarter with strong gains - the largest quarterly gain since the start of the recession, by some measures.

Fundrise closes first crowd-source equity fund (Washington Business Journal) After $325,000 in equity contributions, the firm that sells shares in commercial buildings has closed its first venture.

Americans more confident about buying homes (Realtor Mag)  A new survey says that the number of people waiting to buy a home because of fears about the economy has dropped by half since 2010.

Housing affordability up in 3rd quarter (National Association of Home Builders) Even though the price of housing edged up nationally, falling interest rates made buying a home slightly more affordable for the average buyer.

Bernanke:  Housing still in danger (Housing Wire)  The market is making the right steps, but small shocks could send it back in negative territory, given that 20% of home owners are still underwater, and lenders are still too tight with money.

Bozzuto Celebrates Start of Cathedral Commons

Demolition to make way for Cathedral Commons is now underway both officially and physically.  Bozzuto held a press conference this morning to celebrate work that began quietly this week to demolish two city blocks and replace it with a mixed-use development and Giant supermarket.  The 4-acre, $130 million project will add an improved, larger Giant as well as 137 apartment units, 8 townhouses, and a concourse with 125,000 s.f. of street front retail space.

What remains of the SunTrust building

Construction work on the project has been expected for the past year, and evidently close when construction fences went up last month.  The project was designed by JCA Architects of Reston. According to a press release:

Cathedral Commons will include 137 apartment units and eight townhomes, more than 500 parking spaces, and 128,000 square feet of vibrant retail anchored by a 56,000 square-foot state-of-the-art Giant Food, which will include full-service floral, bakery, meat, seafood and deli departments and an expanded offering of fresh produce, natural, organic, and gluten-free products as well as international items. Resident amenities in the spectacular community will include a boutique hotel-style lobby, lounge areas and library, fitness center, clubroom, conference room, and residential courtyards.

Bozzuto to Begin 460 NY Ave. This Winter

Image: WDG website

Work on a 63-unit condominium building at the corner of L Street and New York Avenue NW, will begin in the first quarter of 2013, a representative with Bozzuto Development Company told DCMud.  WDG Architecture's design for the building adds an 8-story, contemporary structure directly on top of the existing warehouse.

According to Lauren McDonald, Bozzuto is in the process of applying for permits to start building the 11-story structure at 460 New York Avenue and anticipates completing the building in the spring or summer of 2014.   The condominium building, built on a small 9,059 square foot lot in the fast-growing Mount Vernon Triangle, will add more density to a neighborhood that, until the last five years, was landscaped by mostly parking lots and warehouses.  The new building will face the Safeway in the CityVista condominium building, which opened in 2007, and back up against The Meridian apartment building.

Image: WDG website

An existing three-story warehouse, dating to 1902 and vacant for years, will be preserved and incorporated into the condo, a change from earlier demolition plans, will be preserved and incorporated into the condo as an adaptive re-use of the structure.  Original plans released in 2010 called for relocation of the three-story structure, but that same year Bozzuto asked for a two-year delay on beginning construction.  Bozzuto then changed plans, reducing the size of the building from 13 stories and 86 units to 11 stories and 63 units.

Image: WDG website

The latest incarnation of the project includes 36 parking spaces accessed via a mechanical lift that will hoist cars up to be stored suspended vertically over each other to save space.   The building's design, in line with a developer trend toward building smaller units, will feature 63 "studio, one, and one bedroom/den units," according to a project architect description on its website.  Plans emphasize "efficient design", amenities like large common areas, large windows, and balconies, and the "unmet demand from smaller households for stylish but economical living," according to WDG.

Washington D.C. real estate development news