Construction on The Tellus in Arlington Underway

The Tellus, a 16-story apartment building on the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and Arlington's first to earn LEED Gold, is now under construction.  The Tellus will replace the 1960's-era "Arlington Executive Building" and developer Erkiletian has now started groundwork on the project, Bill Denton of Erkiletian told DCMud on Tuesday. Erkiletian completed demolition of the old building, located on 14th Street North in the Courthouse section of Arlington, in early October.

"We are right on the construction schedule," Denton said.  The team is busy with sheeting, shoring and excavation.  S.E. Foster is the general contractor on the project.   Denton said Hurricane Sandy caused a four-day hold-up in construction, but that the team would try to make up for lost time. "The storm had a little impact, but we are going to try to pick that up."  The building is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2014.

The Tellus, a 254-unit rental apartment building, is expected to be Arlington's first LEED Gold certified building.  The project has been in the Arlington development pipeline since 2009, but developers put off starting the project during the recession, and started moving forward on the project just this year.  Designs call for 254 residential units and 15,008 s.f. of office and retail space.  Plans call for smart car and bicycle facilities, and water-saving and energy-efficient features.  The schematic design is by the Lessard Group, WDG Architecture is the firm behind the newest working design.

Erkiletian has also promised a $75,000 art project, which could come in the form of a contribution to the Arlington Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources or an on-site art commission in collaboration with the County.  Denton said Erkiletian hasn't decided which art avenue it would take. An on-site commission could put Tellus developers in a longer lineup of DC area developers who have supported public art projects, especially sculpture, as part of their buildings.  In July, a developer installed a 16-foot stainless steel sculpture at the corner of 3rd and I Streets NW, adding to the neighborhood's existing sculpture at 5th and K Streets NW.

Arlington, VA real estate development news

Bethesda Industrial Site to Be Remade as Residential Complex

A moribund, paved-over industrial site just off of Little Falls Parkway in Bethesda is slated to be replaced with a 30-townhome housing development.

The 1.8 acre property at 5400 Butler Road is bracketed by Little Falls Parkway and Butler Road, between River Road and Massachusetts Avenue, and surrounded on three sides by parkland.  Presently the site of the BETCO complex of buildings and surface parking lots, plans call for the site to be razed, the pavement removed, and replaced with a Lessard Group-designed "scale-appropriate residential community" of 30 single-family garage-centered homes.

"We actually just got our planning board approval last week for the site plan and preliminary plan," said Stephanie Marcus of lead developer EYA Development.  "We hope to start construction at very end of this year or early in 2013."

Five of the townhouses (16.67%) will be moderately-priced units, and just under forty percent of the new site will be green space, up from basically zero percent at the current site.  Plans also call for about 2 parking spaces per market rate unit and one per MPDU, totaling approximately 64 spaces.

The developers have made several optional concessions, including
removing the existing pavement at their own cost, throwing in an extra MPDU (they're only required to include four), installing stormwater management at their own cost, and setting the amount of green space at 38%, 8% above the requirement.  The project will also remedy the BETCO plant debris' encroachment onto nearby parkland.

The plan itself is somewhat unremarkable - let's face it, a development of townhomes excites pretty much no one - but it's essentially making something from nothing, and in the big picture the removal of the pavement, remediation of parkland encroachment, and significant addition of greenspace, more than makes up for what may be lacking aesthetically.


Bethesda, Maryland real estate development news