Furioso Starting Logan Office Project

Giorgio Furioso plans to begin construction on his 14th Street office project on December 10th, the developer announced this morning.   The 42,000 s.f. office building will take the place of the empty lot at 1525 14th Street, NW, wrapped around the adjacent building Furioso already owns that holds Posto.

The Logan Circle-based Furioso Development has worked for years on the development, known now as 1525 Fourteen, but after weighing various options for the site concluded that the underserved office market was the most viable for the site.

Furioso told DCMud he sees the future building as an anchor of 24/7 neighborhood activity, bringing more feet to 14th Street during day to balance the throngs that populate the nighttime hotspot.

Furioso said several office tenants are already lined up, but no announcements have been made yet on the 3,600 square feet of street-level retail.  The project was nearly ready for construction this summer, with only "last minute" issues hindering construction.  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, and a charging station for hybrids.  The building also includes a bicycle room complete with showers.

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

PN Hoffman's "Northern Exchange" Opens on 14th

"Northern Exchange", Rendering courtesy PN Hoffman

This weekend, the former switching station for the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company at 14th and R Streets, NW, built in 1903, re-opened as "The Northern Exchange," a 36-unit "loft-style" condo delivered by PN Hoffman.  Eric Colbert and Associates are behind the design, which converts the deep building with two sides of windows into units averaging about 650 square feet.  Construction is not yet complete - some units on the third, fourth, and fifth floors are still under construction, but some lower units were on view this weekend.

The newly-converted condominium building is smaller than most new loft buildings, but the design focuses on efficient use of space, which lies at the doorstep of the thriving 14th Street corridor.  While square footage is on the smaller side, ceiling height and window sizes benefit from the building's original design.  Some units feature windows over nine feet in height.

"Northern Exchange" model unit

The smallest units are 550 s.f. and feature raised living areas above the kitchen accessed by a ship's ladder.   Because of the historic use of space - the third floor housed telephone lines - some units feature 16-foot ceilings.  Developers have left original terra cotta ceilings on the second and third floors and the fourth and fifth floors feature exposed concrete ceilings. 

Some of the units slated for completion within the next three weeks still have the original heart-of-pine flooring, some of it one inch thick.  Bao Vuong, PN Hoffman's development manager on the project, said condos feature original exposed brick and some of the original steel columns.

"We've painted them with intumescent paint to try to highlight them," Vuong told DCMud. Painting the steel columns also involved fire-protecting them, not a cheap process.  "It's much cheaper to cover them up, but since they add so much character we have tried to do that," he said.  He said the units would be ready for move-in during the first quarter of next year.

Vastu, a 14th Street a interior design firm and modern furnishing dealer, worked to prepare the model units for the recent open house. "Vastu and PN Hoffman have been fortunate to work together on numerous projects over the years," Jason Claire, co-owner of Vastu, told DCmud. He said the project was also unique in that the condos were built in a historic building, unlike most other condos in the neighborhood, which are predominantly new construction.  "For the models, the look is warm, modern with a nod to a rustic industrial aesthetic picking up on the industrial architecture of the building," Claire said.

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

Today in Pictures - Progression Place

Progression Place may be only one of numerous projects underway in Shaw, but it will be one of the first large development to be completed.  Developers began work in 2010 on with 100,000 s.f. of office space, a 205-unit residential apartment building, and 20,000 square feet of street-level retail. The project was designed by architects Eric Colbert & Associates and Devrouax + Purnell, and built by Davis Construction.
Ellis Development, The Jarvis Company, and Four Points combined forces to build the project above the Shaw Metro station.