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.

Gensler Out, BBG-BBGM in as Watergate Architects

Interior restoration work on the famed Watergate Hotel has been quietly moving forward for weeks now and DCMud has confirmed that hotel owner Euro Capital Properties has engaged the firm BBG-BBGM as the new architectural firm on the project.

BBG-BBGM replaces Gensler as the architectural firm working on the hotel at 2650 Virginia Avenue, NW in DC's Foggy Bottom neighborhood.  Architectural firm Gensler, which completed conceptual designs for the project, has not had any involvement since October, according to a source.

Thomas Luebke, FAIA, secretary with the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) said the Commission gave preliminary approval under a courtesy conceptual review of the designs for the restoration last July 2011.  The CFA asked Euro Capital Properties to make a few minor changes.  But Luebke said the CFA has not seen plans since.  "If there is a final proposal, we would love to see it," Luebke said.  Designs submitted to the CFA last year showed very minimal changes to the exterior of Italian architect Luigi Moretti's iconic 1960 structure.

The Shipstead-Luce Act of 1930 designates that exterior changes to properties within a geographic overlay area - the Watergate complex falls within that area - are subject to final approval from the Commission in order to promote design sensitivity.  Under Federal Law, the project must have CFA's stamp of approval on plans for exterior work before the DC permitting authorities can issue permits for exterior restoration work.

Final plans for the hotel must also be approved by the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) in the Historic Preservation Office of D.C. Office of Planning.  According to city staff, HPO staff last met with BBG-BBGM in January 2012 to discuss details of the initial restoration plans, but has not received any new plans from Euro Capital Properties. 

Plans to renovate the hotel have seen challenges since the property was sold to Monument Realty in 2004.  With the hotel still open, Monument plowed forward with plans to revert the building to its historic use as co-operative residences, but pre-sales slumped in 2006 and legal problems beset the conversion.  Monument stalled and closed the hotel in 2007.  Monument's lender PB Capital Corporation foreclosed on the hotel and put it up for auction in 2009 but there were no bids.  
Euro Capital Properties bought the hotel in 2010 with plans to turn the property into a $300 a night luxury hotel.  Euro Capital principal Jaques Cohen has said his company plans to invest $70 million in the project, according to The Georgetown Current.  Progress on the Watergate Hotel restoration again seemed to hit turbulence last fall when some residents of the Watergate complex's co-op residential units voiced opposition to the developer's restoration plans.  Neither Euro Capital Properties nor BBG-BBGM had responded to DCMud inquiries at the time of publication of this article.

 
















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