Akridge seeks new capital partner for Half Street project

http://www.akridgehalfstreet.com/ima...e/picture1.jpg

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Sep 12, 2014
http://www.bizjournals.com/washingto...lf-street.html

I'm curious about what will come of the plans for the 2 new office buildings. DC already an abundance of office space and all signs point to the market being pretty flat for the next 5 years or so, with companies using less space and sequestration reducing government/contractor demand.

The apartment market also looks a little overbuilt in the near term, but that seems likely to recover quicker as DC urbanizes and population shifts from the suburbs to the central city.

In the short term, condo development looks like the best bet. There haven't been many new projects in recent years and demand seems likely to rise as yuppies upgrade from apartments and empty nesters downsize. But, large condo projects still seem really hard to finance. Perhaps, the EB-5/Chinese Investors will step in a fund a new DC condo boom.

319-Unit Residential Development Proposed Adjacent to Howard University
 

319-Unit Residential Development Proposed Adjacent to Howard University

Sept. 16, 2014
By Lark Turner
Urban Turf

http://assets.urbanturf.com/dc/image...barry550_1.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

"A 319-unit residential development abutting Howard University has been proposed for the intersection of Barry Place and Sherman Avenue NW. The six-story building at 907 Barry Place (map) would be 80 feet tall and include retail on Sherman.

Howard, which owns part of the site, plans to lease the space for the Sherman Avenue apartments to Ambling University Development Group. Ambling is collaborating with Gateway Partners, partial site-owner Pinak Mehta, and architect Niles Bolton Associates on the project, which will include 143 parking spaces on two levels and 12,000 square feet of retail. The development will include market-rate apartments, though Howard plans to push for more affordable housing than is required by the city as well as subsidized faculty housing in the building.

Plans for the apartment building include plenty of amenity space for residents, including a two-story roof deck with scenic views and perks including yoga rooms. The specifics of the building were sketched out at a meeting of the Bloomingdale Civic Association on Monday night.."

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...th_street/8967

I really like the looks of this thing, what are the odds it will turn out looking like the render?

We live right down the street from this. Right now it looks like a subtropical rain forest: http://www.jdland.com/dc/index.cfm/4...s-Half-Street/ .

34-Unit Mixed-Use Building Planned for H Street’s East End
 

34-Unit Mixed-Use Building Planned for H Street’s East End

Sept. 30, 2014
By Lark Turner
Urban Turf

http://assets.urbanturf.com/dc/image...9/hflor550.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

"The eastern end of H Street is next.

A developer wants to construct a mixed-use building at 1401 Florida Avenue NE (map), a part of the corridor that has so far seen less development amid the western end’s building boom. (The Flats at Atlas development is an exception in terms of recent large-scale development.)

In plans submitted to the Board of Zoning Adjustment on Monday night, one of the developers, Mehari Sequar, laid out plans to build a six-story building on a triangular parcel adjacent to H Street’s starburst intersection. Sequar also developed the Boundary Heights condominium on the U Street Corridor..."

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo..._east_end/9030

New 26-Unit Project Planned Adjacent to H Street Whole Foods
 

New 26-Unit Project Planned Adjacent to H Street Whole Foods

September 29, 2014
By UrbanTurf Staff

http://assets.urbanturf.com/dc/image...6-H_Street.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

"Back in June, UrbanTurf reported that Rock Creek Property Group and Cornerstone Development Group had acquired 646-654 H Street NE (map) with plans to develop a residential project at the address.

Now we have a better sense of what the team is bringing to the H Street Corridor.

The rendering of the planned 26-unit development, designed by PGN Architects, was included in documents filed with the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) on Monday. Among the variances, the development team is looking for an exception to the requirement for 17 parking spaces at the site. It would provide six compact spaces instead..."

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...l_project/9028

Love this render!

Rhode Island Avenue development
 

This area is a bit rough now but has a lot of potential. It is only a matter of time before the Giant supermarket, Home Depot, and the large surface parking lot are redeveloped. Additionally, this is between Union Station, NOMA, and Brookland, all of which are either rapidly redeveloping and improving or, in the case of Union Station, will hopefully redevelop and expand.

Developer Pitches a Private Version of New Communities in Brentwood

Posted by Aaron Wiener
Oct. 1, 2014
Washington City Paper

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/b...2014/09/b1.png
Image courtesy of the Washington City Paper.

"On a recent afternoon, Brookland Manor's spacious courtyards are mostly quiet. So are the basement community center in one of the 19 apartment buildings, where the kids have yet to arrive, and the nearby community garden teeming with brassicas but devoid of humans. Out in front of the decrepit strip mall facing Rhode Island Avenue NE, three men are hanging out, but the place is otherwise deserted, and the stores—a pawn shop, a cleaner, a nail salon, a large vacant space—don't show many signs of life.

Between the shopping center and the apartment buildings, on 14th Street NE, it's a different story. Close to 30 people, mostly men, mostly young, gather in clusters around dominoes or open liquor containers or nothing in particular. A couple of cops eye the crowds from a wary distance, making sure nothing gets out of hand. Rounding the corner onto 14th, visitors are treated to a whiff worthy of Bonnaroo. "The smell of weed is never very far," says Michael Meers.

If Meers' plans come to fruition, the place could look dramatically different in a few years' time. Meers is executive vice president of the Germantown-based Mid-City Financial Corporation, which owns Brookland Manor, a Great Depression-era complex of 535 apartment units, about two-thirds of which are subsidized by the federal government through the project-based Section 8 program. (Despite its name, Brookland Manor is located in the Brentwood neighborhood and is sometimes known by its older moniker, Brentwood Village.) Mid-City also has the strip mall under contract and expects to close on it next year."

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/b...-in-brentwood/

Urban Turf also has a posting about this proposed development:
Developer Lays Out Vision for 2,200 Units Near Rhode Island Avenue Metro
http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...wood_park/9038

I agree. It looks like it will be a very attractive building and I like these flatiron-style buildings.

Now this is very architecturally different. So much so that I like it. I hope they get the new capital partner that they seek.

Love how DC is probably the only metro in the country that is actively redeveloping strip centers built in the last 20 years (Potomac yard and rhode island avenue)

Roughly 200 Units and Retail Planned For Union Market Burger King Site
 

Roughly 200 Units and Retail Planned For Union Market Burger King Site

October 2, 2014
By Lark Turner
Urban Turf

http://assets.urbanturf.com/dc/image...aburger550.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

"The development on the boards for the area around Union Market just doesn’t seem to slow down.

Level 2 Development is planning to submit a planned-unit development (PUD) to the Zoning Commission for a mixed-use, multifamily project on the site of a Burger King at 3rd Street and Florida Avenue NE (map). The project will likely have about 6,000 square feet of retail and a couple hundred units, UrbanTurf has learned. Level 2 wouldn’t confirm the number of units or the retail square footage, but did say Eric Colbert and Associates is the architect on the project.

At the ANC 6C Planning and Zoning meeting on Wednesday night, Level 2 sketched out a broad plan for the project without going into any specifics, Commissioner Mark Eckenwiler told UrbanTurf. The company plans to file a PUD by the end of the year and will start making presentations about the project next month once plans for the site are finalized..."

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...on_market/9041

Design for the 11th Street bridge awarded
 

I attended a reception for the 11th Street bridge project at the DC chapter of the American Institute of Architects last month. The bridge proposal certainly is neat and would be a great regional amenity but I have two concerns with this. First, DC already has many great public parks and other public spaces. I would prefer that money be spent building the planned streetcar network or committed to expanding and modernizing Union Station, both projects that will provide tangible regionwide benefits. Second, the area near this proposed bridge is currently not at all pedestrian friendly, surrounded by ramps for I-295 and on the Navy Yard side, a six-lane road.

Architects OMA and Olin Studio selected to design 11th Street Bridge Park

By Jonathan O'Connell
October 15, 2014
Washington Post

http://img.washingtonpost.com/news/d...MA-Luxigon.jpg
Image courtesy of the Washington Post.

"A pair of architectural firms from the Netherlands and Philadelphia are the winners of a frenzied competition to design a $40 million park that would traverse the Anacostia River and could help unite the communities on its banks.

The 11th Street Bridge Park project, an effort backed by the D.C. government and private donors, aims to erect a public gathering space atop piers that held up the old 11th Street Bridge before it was replaced.

More than 4o teams comprising 82 firms expressed interest in designing the project, and the field was narrowed to four finalists. Late last month, a panel of experts selected a proposal from the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), which has global headquarters in the Netherlands and U.S. offices in New York, along with Philadelphia-based Olin Studio..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/d...t-bridge-park/

Urban Turf also has a posting about the design selection.

http://assets.urbanturf.com/dc/image...ARUP_3_550.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

http://assets.urbanturf.com/dc/image...-View--550.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...idge_park/9081

That is a very ambitious and beautiful proposal. One of the things that has made me fall for the DC area are the many waterfront parks. On one hand I am thinking "This Must Be Built"! 202_Cyclist, you been very knowledgeable of DC, raise some very valid points. I must admit that I am quite smitten by it however.

I agree. For many years, the Potomac and Anacostia waterfronts were mostly ignored but that has started to change. We now have the Georgetown waterfront park, the Yards park (in the Capitol Riverfront/Navy Yard neighborhood), and National Harbor. There are ambitious plans to redevelop the Alexandria waterfront, and of course, the massive Wharf development in Southwest is already under construction. If you add the proposed 11th Street bridge, continued development in the Navy Yard neighorhood, and (hopefully) development around Buzzard Point that the new DC United stadium would encoruage, it is easy to see Southwest DC and the Navy Yard area becoming some of the most desirable neighborhoods in Washington.

Eisenhower Memorial Commission enters next phase with eye toward 2015 groundbreaking

http://curbed.com/uploads/1474037898941378094133.jpg

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Oct 16, 2014
http://www.bizjournals.com/washingto...ext-phase.html

what do you guys think about the 25 million estimate? seems low to me. Beautiful proposal and I do think it will happen :tup:

The Hill will hopefully extend to the river within the next 10 years - and there is already a proposal to build residential on the east side of the bridge on-ramp. I think this "bridge" will get a lot of traffic in a short period of time, especially if Yards Park is connected to it along the river.

Historic Anacostia (and the many other nearby EOTR neighborhoods) will feed a lot of pedestrian and transit traffic as well.

Anacostia is gonna blow up.