Baltimore would be a logical choice, and DC and Baltimore are certainly connected, but the two lack enough rapid connections to make it a feasible choice.

If they invested in the plan they had , they would have enough to support rapid growth all they need to do is expand , enhance and electrify the MARC and VRE system and build out the Rapid Transit system in Bmore.... Make Baltimore the Regional Hub...

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/53/192...06fcd7d9_o.png
Proposed map of a Washington-Baltimore regional rail system by rllayman, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8023/7...9df3e745_b.jpg
Baltimore Regional transit expansion plan by rllayman, on Flickr

They need to invest in Maglev between the two cities. A commute time of 10 minutes or less would be a huge demand boost to Baltimore.

As-is, it isn't bad. DC is booming and there's plenty of room for new residents. I think the 800,000 figure would be quite low for an upper population ceiling. If current trends continue, the District will have roughly 750K people come 2020.

I think 1M is certainly feasible, but it will involve significant development in areas that are currently neglected. I think much of SE DC will come to resemble the area around the Nationals Stadium, and the potential is definitely there--as well as the lack of NIMBYism, as the neighborhoods in SE are still generally lower class & desolate.

Concurrent with the growth of DC proper is the growth of the close in suburbs. I was just back in McLean over Christmas, and the Tysons Corner skyline is actually almost impressive as you approach from the east, on route 123. It will look like Vancouver after another decade, with dozens of new high-rises in the 20-30 story range. I don't think traffic will get any better though, and is actually like to get much worse... it only takes a drive around Tysons I to see how bad things will get. Lanes are already inadequate (esp during the Holidays) and the Macerich expansion (which is now under construction!) is going to make things much, much worse. My faith in the Tysons redevelopment is now near 0. There is no sense in redeveloping a neighborhood as 'urban' if certain developers (Macerich & Lerner) are exempted from the new zoning requirements.

Yes, I think that absolutely, at some point our transit system will both have to expand and become more reliable in order to maintain a consensus within DC for more growth. At our December 2012 Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting, Andrea Limauro from the DC Office of Planning discussed the current effort to revise the auto-centric 1950s DC zoning code. Mr. Limauro noted that since the 1950s, DC's population has declined by almost 200,000 people but the District has approximately 20% more housing units (due to changing demographics and fewer people per household).

One of the big policies the Office of Planning is pushing in the zoning revisions is removing parking minimums (regulations requiring that developers provide a certain number of parking spaces). Our group, Ward 3 Vision supported a development next to the Tenley metro station without any parking. This is good policy but it is only sustainable if there is a decent transit system. Fortunately, DC's planned 37-mile streetcar network, if it is ever completed, will help accommodate some of this growth, as will the Silver and Purple lines, more Capital Bikeshare stations and bikes, and expanded Circulator bus service.

Currently, however, you're already starting to see some backlash to DC's growth with the hysteria over DC's zoning revisions. Greater Greater Washington has covered this extensively: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/...oning-debates/

Thanks. I had been wondering how much NIMBY organization there was in DC. As a casual observer it seems like almost everything is getting built that any developer wants.

Depending on the location, there can be quite a bit of opposition to growth and development in DC. The Hine School on Capital Hill and the Cathedral Commons development that I posted a photo and links for are two of the most notorious examples. There is an extremely active group of NIMBYs (a handful of cranky people) that is very active in upper Northwest DC (i.e. Friendship Heights, Tenley, Cleveland Park). We've created an all-volunteer group, Ward 3 Vision, to counteract these NIMBYs and to support smart-growth and walkable neighborhoods.

The Committee of 100 is anti-growth (http://www.committeeof100.net/) and this past year, another group has formed to oppose the zoning and parking revisions (http://greatergreaterwashington.org/...zoning-update/).

Woah woah woah, don't say that or else people will see it as proof positive confirmation of THE PLAN! That's the form that NIMBYism takes in eastern DC, and particularly East of the River.

And west of the river NIMBYs take the form of the stuff posted earlier -- read my post from the 12th for selected excerpts from a particularly fine example of NIMBYism on display.

Major development expected to come to New Carrollton Metro stop (Washington Post)
 

Admittedly, this is outside of DC but it is still significant.

Major development expected to come to New Carrollton Metro stop

Posted by Dana Hedgpeth
January 3, 2013
Washington Post

"A major development, with offices, retail and housing, is expected at the New Carrollton Metro station.

In a joint development deal with Metro, Forest City Washington and Urban Atlantic will build on 39 acres Metro owns near the stop. The project is expected to include 2 million to 4 million square feet of space and is estimated to be worth $1 billion, according to Metro.

In a statement, Metro General Manager Richard Sarles said the project would be on a fast track to construction..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...on-metro-stop/

Neighborhoods in SE west of the Anacostia are neither lower class nor desolate. SE DC from Nats stadium to the Anacostia and up to East Cap is almost completely gentrified and comprised of low rise row houses. It will never look like the area surrounding Nats Stadium. Really, outside of the area immediately surrounding Nats Stadium, there is no where to build large residential in SE DC west of the Anacostia with the exception of the Hines School site at 7th & PA (which has been at war with ANC6b for years), and the Reservation 13 site (RFK Stadium site).

81-Unit Residential Project in Glover Park Moving Forward (Urban Turf)
 

Both Urban Turf and the Washington Business Journal note that an 81-unit development is planned for Glover Park. Glover Park is a mostly mature, built-out neighborhood that has not seen as much construction as the rest of DC, although we got two new restaurants in the past year.

The proposed development with renovate the existing retail (Washington Sports Club and Glover Park Hardware) along Wisconsin Avenue and from the rendering, it looks like it will activate the alley between Sushi Ko and Glover Park Hardware. The residential units will be located at the rear of the property, along the Naval Observatory.

81-Unit Residential Project in Glover Park Moving Forward
http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...g_forward/6515

http://www.chesapeakerealtypartners..../rendering.jpg
Image courtest of Chesapeake Realty Partners (http://www.chesapeakerealtypartners.com/?q=node/65)

Residents Eyeing L Street Warehouse as 'Half Street Market' (JD Land)
 

This would be an interesting proposal and certainly a lot better than a vacant warehouse.

Residents Eyeing L Street Warehouse as 'Half Street Market'

January 10, 2013
JD Land

http://www.jdland.com/dc/images/draw...drawings-2.jpg
Image courtesy of JD Land.

"Could Near Southeast get a new "food destination"? Resident Nathan Alberg and new 6D02 commissioner Ed Kaminski are proposing that the federally owned warehouse at Half and L SE be converted to a market and community space called the "Half Street Market," and are now starting the process of drumming up support.

Alberg, who lives just across the street and so presumably has spent a lot of time looking out his window at the warehouse, envisions the building as a site similar to Eastern Market or the new Union Market in Northeast DC, or Milwaukee's Public Market. He hopes it could "offer independent merchants a market to sell their artisan foods and prepared food products to the public, provide a managed risk incubator for self-employment, to provide public culinary training and education in a working demonstration restaurant, drive the development of new food markets, income generation, increased economic growth." In other words, it could be a combination indoor/outdoor market, cooking school, and rentable event space..."

http://www.jdland.com/dc/index.cfm/3...Street-Market/

2251 Wisconsin Avenue
 

The blog, Hyperlocal Glover Park, has some more information about the proposed development at 2251 Wisconsin Avenue in Glover Park. According to the blog, this development will have 97 parking spaces for 81 residential units and the retail that is part of the development. I think this is more than the amount necessary for a project this size but Glover Park has the scarcest curbside parking in Ward 3 and our neighborhood is two miles from the nearest metro station. I'd rather see this development built than arguing about whether this should have 77 vs. 97 parking spaces.

Hardware store and gym to stay put during construction (Updated)
http://hyperlocalgp.files.wordpress....-rear-view.png
Image courtesy of Hyperlocal Glover Park.

http://hyperlocalgp.wordpress.com/20...-construction/

Developers briefed on FBI headquarters offer (Washington Business Journal)
 

Developers briefed on FBI headquarters offer

Daniel J. Sernovitz
Washington Business Journal
January 18, 2013

"Officials at the General Services Administration are hoping for an even swap that would allow them to give to one lucky developer the 6.6-acre site of the J. Edgar Hoover building in downtown D.C. in exchange for a new consolidated headquarters for the FBI.

Representatives from both agencies met Thursday with an audience of roughly 350 people interested in the prospect, including high-powered developers from Boston Properties Inc. and Hines Interests LP, to outline their goals for the offering. Many of them waited for more than a half hour outside the GSA’s headquarters at 1800 F St. NW just to get into the building and through security. Once inside, the crowd was too big to fit into one room and the GSA set up an overflow room so others could hear the presentation as well.

Ideally, the GSA envisions an even-steven trade that wouldn’t cost the federal government an extra dime. But the agency also is also mindful that many real estate developers have privately questioned whether the FBI’s current site at 935 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, attractive as it may be, is equal to the cost of building a new headquarters for the agency elsewhere in the Washington region..."

http://www.bizjournals.com/washingto...dquarters.html

George Washington University School of Public Health
 

Here is a photo I took last weekend of the George Washington School of Public Health. This is located right off of Washington Circle, in Foggy Bottom.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8079/8...b701caa1_z.jpg

Here is a rendering of the building, courtesy of George Washington University.
http://neighborhood.gwu.edu/campusde...Renderings.jpg
George Washington University's website has more information about the development: http://neighborhood.gwu.edu/campusdev/square39.cfm .

JBG's Woodley Park condos
 

Here are two photos of a development by JBG in Woodley Park, right next to the Marriott Wardman hotel. This development will have 211 apartments.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8225/8...038ba4af_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8472/8...455e913a_z.jpg

DC Mud has more information about the project.
JBG's Woodley Park Residential Tower Reborn as 2700 Woodley

http://dcmud.blogspot.com/2012/03/jb...ial-tower.html

Kennedy Center announces plan for $100 million in additions to campus
 

Kennedy Center announces plan for $100 million in additions to campus

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...51a9-10502.jpg
Image courtesy of the Washington Post.

By Katherine Boyle
January 29, 2013
Washington Post

"The Kennedy Center plans to build a $100 million expansion of the performing arts venue, the center announced Tuesday. Designed by American architect Steven Holl, the privately funded project includes public green spaces, a video projection wall for simulcast productions and a floating outdoor stage on the Potomac River.

Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein will donate $50 million to the project, the single largest gift in the institution’s history.

“David has been an extraordinarily generous chairman,” said Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center. “He has funded programming in many ways and now also a physical structure...”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...y.html?hpid=z2

Fort Totten WalMart
 

Urban Turf has an update on the construction of a mixed-use WalMart in Fort Totten, inside the District, with 345 apartments.

http://dc.urbanturf.com/images/blog/...tottensite.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

Walmart, Fort Totten Square Move Forward
http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...n_walmart/6587

Golden Triangle is having to work harder for retail tenants
 

Golden Triangle is having to work harder for retail tenants

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...1359583026.JPG
This Golden Triangle storefront use to be home to Filene's Basement. (Image courtesy of the Washington Post)

By Abha Bhattarai
Feb 03, 2013
The Washington Post

"The Golden Triangle — the downtown D.C. neighborhood wedged roughly between Farragut Square, Washington Circle and Dupont Circle — is having to work harder for attention, and tenants, these days.

Upcoming multi-use developments such as CityCenterDC, also in downtown, and The Yards, in Southeast Washington, have ratcheted up competition for higher-end retailers.

That can increase the scrutiny on high-profile vacancies along Connecticut Avenue NW, at the former sites of clothing stores Filene’s Basement and Talbots — the latter of which has been empty for a year and half..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...pital_business

golden triangle=too many offices. That area could use 10 condo conversions to increase retail demand

so what's the latest on where the FBI will relocate? Somewhere in the burbs, or will it be in DC?

No one will know for months or years. (These are the feds we're talking about.) GSA wants to trade the Pennsylvania Ave site for a new building, and just recently briefed developers on the idea -- developers will have to put together very complex deals for the RFP, then there will be a selection process, etc.

That was the idea behind requiring residential in the redevelopment of the West End, which ended up being high-end hotels instead.

Development dynamics in DC are so strange due to the Height Act. Instead of repurposing old downtown office buildings as apartments, as has extensively occurred elsewhere, here they get torn down and rebuilt as... office buildings.

Adams Morgan developments
 

Urban Turf has details about two new developments for Adams Morgan. The first would be at the site of the vacant Ontario Theater.

65-85 Unit Project Planned For Former Ontario Theater Site

http://dc.urbanturf.com/images/blog/...heatersite.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.
http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...esidences/6614

The second development is planned for the site of a former Exxon station.

Adams Morgan Residential Project to Break Ground By End of 2013

http://dc.urbanturf.com/images/blog/...Adams-Mill.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.
http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...d_of_2013/6604

Fairfax’s big-name options for FBI (Washington Post)
 

Fairfax’s big-name options for FBI

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...ges/fbijpg.jpg
Image courtesy of the Washington Post.

By Jonathan O'Connell
Feb 11, 2013
Washington Post

"Fairfax County officials may have lined up behind the idea of trying to lure a new consolidated headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to Springfield, thinking federally owned warehouses located near Interstate 95, close to the Franconia-Springfield Metro station, offers them their best shot to top offers from Maryland and the District.

But the competition among the developers there could prove just as fierce.

Some of the most established, savvy and deep-pocketed developers in the Washington area have land holdings in the center of Springfield, and they all have experience with major projects in downtown D.C., where the J. Edgar Hoover Building site is considered one of the best development sites to become available in decades. The GSA has proposed trading the Hoover site for a new FBI headquarters..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...y.html?hpid=z4

377-Unit Apartment Project Breaks Ground Next to Union Station
 

This is another big development for the booming H Street corridor.

377-Unit Apartment Project Breaks Ground Next to Union Station

http://dc.urbanturf.com/images/blog/...2nd_Street.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...n_station/6642

Wal-Mart plans getting reworked by developers
 

Wal-Mart plans getting reworked by developers

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...alMart18p3.jpg
Reworked plans by developers, including the D.C. Housing Authorty, include offices and, shown here, apartments. (Image courtesy of the Washington Post)

By Jonathan O'Connell
Feb 17, 2013
Washington Post

"After months of delays, Wal-Mart has three stores under construction in the District, and developers are re-working plans for a fourth and fifth store, on East Capitol Street and New York Avenue NE, respectively.

Of the three stores under construction, two are part of mixed-use projects the likes of which the retailer shied away from until a few years ago. Two are scheduled to open later this year.

At 77 H St. NW, the JBG Cos. is building a Wal-Mart on the ground floor of a brick-clad building with 300 apartments upstairs..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...adb_story.html

D.C. United ‘very hopeful’ for new stadium
 

D.C. United ‘very hopeful’ for new stadium

Posted by Steven Goff
February 15, 2013
Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...dpoint-map.jpg
Image courtesy of the Washington Post.

"D.C. United’s leadership is “very hopeful” of striking a deal to build a soccer stadium in Washington and end the MLS club’s decade-long search for a new home in the area, Jason Levien, the team’s managing partner, told the Insider.

In his first comments about the proposal in several months, Levien said: “The stars are aligning in a good way for us. We’re working closely with the right people and we feel better about it today than we did three months ago, no question.”

Levien declined to go into detail about negotiations or provide a timetable for a possible agreement. “We want to honor the process and confidentiality of the proceedings,” he said. “We feel we have positive momentum and we don’t want to do anything to deter it...”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...r-new-stadium/

Craft brewery with built-in dreams
 

Bluejacket can't open a minute too soon! I will be going here a lot.

Craft brewery with built-in dreams

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...1360857371.jpg
Image courtesy of the Washington Post.

By Daniel Fromson
Feb 19, 2013
Washington Post

"From the ground floor of the future Bluejacket brewery — the 7,300 square feet that will contain the bar, restaurant and storage space — a visitor can tilt back his head and gaze into a soaring atrium. Wrapping around the emptiness is a horseshoe-shaped mezzanine. The mezzanine, in turn, is surmounted by a small third floor, like an announcer’s box at an amphitheater. Sparks flew and tools roared on a recent weekday as Megan Parisi, Bluejacket’s head brewer, led me to the top.

In this former Navy Yard building where workers once made boilers for ships, a construction crew welded the glass-and-steel skeleton of a business at once familiar and new. “All of the brewing will take place up here,” Parisi said. But the real excitement, the fermentation, will occupy the mezzanine level. There, we met Greg Engert, Neighborhood Restaurant Group’s beer director, who started talking about oak barrels, a sensory analysis and yeast propagation lab, and a whopping 19 fermentation vessels, including some that are rarely seen outside a handful of Old World breweries.

Translation: If most craft breweries are akin to spacious but modest homes, Bluejacket, when it opens in May or June, will be a small mansion with all the amenities. The quantity and variety of equipment, much more than a brewery of its size would usually have and all custom-built, will arguably make Bluejacket like no other small brewery in the country: a facility that NRG hopes will turn out a staggeringly diverse, constantly changing array of topnotch beers..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifest...adb_story.html

83-Unit Residential Project Planned For Hill East
 

83-Unit Residential Project Planned For Hill East

http://dc.urbanturf.com/images/blog/...ennave_550.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

February 20, 2013
Urban Turf

"An 83-unit residential project is planned for 1550 Pennsylvania Avenue SE (map) in Hill East. ANC 6B Commissioner Brian Flahaven got a hold of initial plans for the project, designed by architect Eric Colbert..."

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...hill_east/6679

Sources: Mayor to propose relocating FBI headquarters to Poplar Point
 

Does anyone know why Walter Reed isn't being considered as a site for the new FBI headquarters? Walter Reed is: 1) large enough, 2) presumably meets the security requirements, 3) is owned by the federal govt, 4) is served by several bus routes, and 5) would keep these jobs within DC.


Sources: Mayor to propose relocating FBI headquarters to Poplar Point in Southeast D.C.

By Jonathan O'Connell
Washington Post
2/21/2013

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...EeKc1bVcODiJYg
The J. Edgar Hoover Building, the current home of the FBI. (Jeffrey MacMillan - Capital Business)

"D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) will suggest that the federal government relocate the FBI from its outdated headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue NW to Poplar Point, according to three administration officials involved in the plans.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the proposal is not yet complete and the mayor has not authorized release of its contents.

Poplar Point, located between Interstate 295 and the Anacostia River, meets many of the criteria that the FBI and the General Services Administration, which manages real estate for the federal government, have outlined in a search for ideas about where to build a new campus for the FBI. The 110-acre waterfront property in Southeast D.C. has easy highway access, is close to Metro (the Anacostia stop, on the Green Line) and is already owned by the federal government..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...70da_blog.html

Van Ness development
 

A 273 unit mixed-use apartment is planned for Van Ness, next to Connecticut Avenue. This development will have potentially up to four restaurants. This is located about two blocks north of the Van Ness metro station. This, along with the University of District Columbia student center that is under construction will hopefully add some more vibrancy to one of the more sterile neighborhoods of Washington.

Park Van Ness will fill in Connecticut Avenue streetscape

http://greatergreater.com/images/201302/pvnnorth400.jpg
Image courtesy of Greater Greater Washington.

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/...e-streetscape/

More information about the development, as well as renderings can be found here: http://twileshare.com/aglw .

This is exactly what PA SE needs near Potomac Ave Metro. Increase density in that area and hopefully bring in more retail.


QUOTE=202_Cyclist;6022311]83-Unit Residential Project Planned For Hill East

http://dc.urbanturf.com/images/blog/...ennave_550.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

February 20, 2013
Urban Turf

"An 83-unit residential project is planned for 1550 Pennsylvania Avenue SE (map) in Hill East. ANC 6B Commissioner Brian Flahaven got a hold of initial plans for the project, designed by architect Eric Colbert..."

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...hill_east/6679[/QUOTE]

Am I the only one who'll be a little upset if they totally demolish the FBI building? I guess I've always felt like Brutalism never gets a fair shake. It's part of our architectural history and when done right...well it's not so bad. :rolleyes:

No.

Well that's good, then.

I would like to see the FBI headquarters relocated elsewhere, preferrably in the District (Walter Reed) or else next to one of the underutilized metro stations in Maryland or Virginia. The FBI headquarters is on prime land right on Pennsylvania Avenue that takes away significant tax revenue from the DC government. Additionally, because of the security concerns, this creates a sterile void for an entire block on Pennsylvania Avenue. One of America's most famous avenues is lifeless and dull most of the time because of the federal buildings located on this valuable real estate.

On a related note, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee will be holding a hearing on March 6 to discuss consolidation and redevelopment of the FBI headquarters. The hearing will be televised on the Committee's website: http://transportation.house.gov/hear...-consolidation .

It's hardly the only, or even by a long shot the best, exemplar of the type around. Marcel Breuer's HUD building, Harry Weese's Metro stations, Moretti's Watergate, and of course Saarinen's Dulles Airport are among the finest and best-kept examples in the USA, seen by millions of people every day, and all of them designated landmarks. There's also Breuer's HHS building, the libraries at GU and GW, and L'Enfant Plaza, although personally I could dispense with any of those as well.

If you're okay with defining 1960s reinforced-concrete structures with brick veneer as Brutalism, the region is lousy with experiments in more domestic-scale modernism: Arena Stage (so nice, we built a glass museum case around it), Tiber Island and Capitol Park, Lake Anne Village, even the still-extant Lily Pond Community Center by Louis Kahn. Maybe it's because I live in the 1960s time warp that is Southwest DC, but I don't foresee that the region will lack Brutalist-era architectural history even after FBI or Third Church Christ Scientist disappear -- and after Pennsylvania, 16th, and E St. are restored as great walking-scale streetscapes, unmarred by concrete tombstones to past architectural styles.

Forest City submits plans for Capitol Riverfront theater, apartments
 

The movie theater looks attractive but four levels of above-ground structured parking should be rejected. This is right near a metro station and several bus routes. There is no need for structured parking in this walkable neighborhood. Additionally, there is plenty of structured parking for the Nationals stadium. If you figure this is used one hundred times per year (at four hours per game or other event), the parking at the Nationals stadium is only used 15% of the entire year.

Forest City submits plans for Capitol Riverfront theater, apartments

Michael Neibauer
Washington Business Journal
March 1, 2013

"Forest City Washington continues its domination of the Capitol Riverfront district, filing a development application to create four new city blocks immediately east of Nationals Park.

The planned unit development submission filed Wednesday with the D.C. Zoning Commission covers an area of roughly 235,130 square feet bounded by First Street SE, N Place SE, Diamond Teague Park and D.C. Water's Main and O Street pumping stations. Most of the site is occupied by D.C. Water, either its facilities or its lots.

Forest City proposes to develop a 16-screen movie theater, two apartment buildings totaling 600 units (48 affordable) and 52,000 square feet of retail, arts and entertainment space, to expand Diamond Teague along the Anacostia River, to reintroduce the street grid and extend Potomac Avenue through the site..."

http://www.bizjournals.com/washingto....html?page=all

Here is a rendering of the theater:
http://www.jdland.com/dc/images/draw...g-201302-1.jpg
Image courtesy of JD Land.

The theater plan was mentioned on JDLand in November, and the neighbors freaked out over "crime" and "crowds." A few mitigating factors on the parking:
1. The site is located in a corner. There's no access from the east or south (big sewage pumping station).
2. Movie theaters are big blank-walled boxes anyways. This one at least has a big glass lobby and ground floor retail.
3. The Nationals parking garages are "temporary." The theater operator may not want to deal with that eventuality.
4. The site is just above sea level, on what were wetlands, so underground parking is much more expensive than downtown, or even a few blocks inland.
5. In particular, four levels of parking underground would be much more expensive than the 1-2 you'd need for residential.
6. The traditional, 1920s approach to a movie theater was to hide it inside the middle of a block, wrap the edges with small shops, bring the entrance forward, and make it an architectural statement. The movie theater breaks even, and the profit comes from shops that feed off the traffic. That's more or less what they've done here, except they've wrapped the edges with blocks of mixed-use buildings.

paytondc:
I think this is the reason for the above-ground structured parking. In the Misson Bay thread on the 'General Development' section on this site, there is a project with structured parking there and someone noted it is because the water levels prevent the amount of underground parking that is required. The JD Land blog also hinted at this in the post this morning: http://www.jdland.com/dc/index.cfm/3...te-15-Opening/

It doesn't get a fair shake. Subjective, aesthetic judgements about the beauty of a given building or style are almost entirely irrelevant to discussions about historical preservation. The reason to preserve buildings is because they serve as cultural and historical markers of the era in which they were built. They offer insight for current and future generations into the life and times of citizens that particular era in an immediate and material way that music, films, or artwork cannot match. They also lend texture and diversity to the urban landscape and create a sense of 'place'.

To assert that the Hoover building is not an exemplar of brutalism and therefore should be torn down is one thing (although I would strongly disagree with that sentiment regardless of how many superior examples exist within the District), but to advocate for tearing it down simply because it is unsightly would be thoughtless and without merit.

Brutalism isn't my favorite style of architecture but I agree with paytondc that there are much better examples of brutalist architecture than the Hoover building.

Here are the reasons to replace this building:
1) It creates a huge lifeless, dull block-long space right on Pennsylvania Avenue and right downtown in what should be a very vibrant area of Washington.
2) The space is inadequate for the FBI.
3) Having the FBI headquarters located right on PA Avenue, in the middle of Washington removes significant taxable property from the DC government.
4) Relocating this elsewhere (Anacostia, Prince George's County, Fairfax) would help encourage development around some of the more under-utilized metro stations in the Washington-area.

Regarding your four reasons:

1) Agreed, but nobody says the building (and especially the site) cannot be creatively modified without altering the character of the design. Imagine the architectural synergy of a sleek, modern, and glassy element inserted into the fortress of concrete. If this sounds far-fetched, consider the success of the Tate Modern in London as a rough comparison. Obviously that was not a 70s era brutalist building, but it was nonetheless a massive concrete monolith that has been reinvigorated. I don't know about you but I would sure as hell pay to visit, say, a small art gallery located in what used to be FBI HQ. How cool would that be?

2) If the FBI wants to move then so be it. No harm, no foul. In fact that would almost certainly facilitate the creative reuse of the building. I was just arguing to leave the thing standing.

3) There's definitely an argument to be made here, but how is this any different from the countless other federal government buildings, many of which have no architectural merit whatsoever?

4) Again, I'm all for the proposed relocation. Just keep the building please!

The primarily problem with the FBI building is that it kills PA AVE NW. Now - I also think its ugly and a hulking mess - but the primary problem is that walking on the street near it is depressing.

80-Unit Condo Project Coming to 11th and M Street
 

80-Unit Condo Project Coming to 11th and M Street

February 28, 2013
by Shilpi Paul
Urban Turf

http://dc.urbanturf.com/images/blog/...thandM_550.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

"An 80-unit condo project is coming to the northeast corner of 11th and M Street NW (map), UrbanTurf has learned. Community Three Development’s Grant Epstein presented details of the new project on Wednesday night, in advance of a meeting with the Historic Preservation office.

The development will contain units ranging in size from 550 to 1,000 square feet, and will have at least 20 parking spaces, though Epstein will consider adding more spaces if the market seems to demand it..."

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...den_Alley/6723

So what *can* we tear down, particularly in a city which regularly chews through 20-year-old, 10-story buildings so it can build brand-new, 11-story buildings? Every single building is a window into an era. Even the vacant lots along H St. were historical markers of an era (the 1968 riots). The logical conclusion of your argument is to preserve the city as a museum set piece, where nobody can do anything to any building.

Ultimately, it *is* a subjective decision that the FBI building is not as worthy of preservation as, say, the HUD building. Judging buildings by architectural merit is inherently subjective.

What's objectively known is that adaptive reuse of the FBI building (even for offices) would be obscenely costly: just keeping the FBI in place would apparently require $1 billion in upgrades, and other users would demand even more costly changes. Many systems are apparently failing, the courtyard and open second floor cannot be enclosed at a reasonable cost, its huge interiors were not meant for daylighting (rather for storing millions of FBI files), the street faces are explicitly not designed for retail use -- to do so would require extensive demolition.

And as for sense of place and density, both would be vastly improved by tearing down the building. It was built at a time when the surroundings where chancy, filled with vacant buildings, and is built to nowhere near the maximum allowed on the site.

Sorry if I seem kind of harsh, but there are plenty of people locally who want (a) for the city to grow, since they agree that it's more sustainable to keep people at the core of the region, (b) to preserve the core neighborhoods as the existing low-rise fabric, and (c) to keep the height limit. One of the three must give. We can't simultaneously keep everything the same and grow, and demolishing structures like FBI and Forrestal is completely the right thing to do for the city.

GSA receives 10 responses for proposed redevelopment of Federal Triangle South
 

GSA receives 10 responses for proposed redevelopment of Federal Triangle South

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...EeKdcfD-r90TlA
Image courtesy of the Washington Post.

By Jonathan O'Connell
March 5, 2013
Washington Post

"The General Services Administration received 10 proposals for redeveloping a collection of federal buildings it owns along Independence Avenue south of the National Mall, raising the possibility that the government will move forward with an overhaul of the area.

The proposals were submitted in response to a search for private sector interest in the 22-acre area issued by the GSA last fall. Daniel M. Tangherlini, GSA’s acting administrator, has floated the idea of selling or trading some of the property in exchange for new buildings or building services.

The GSA has not released the names of companies that made proposals, but the responses “offered a variety of potential transaction structures including outright sales, exchanges, proposals for leasing space, and various combinations,” according to a statement issued by the agency..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...1394_blog.html

GSA receives 35 proposals for FBI headquarters (Washington Post)
 

GSA receives 35 proposals for FBI headquarters

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...EeKmpqq6yF6ANg
Image courtesy of the Washington Post.

By Jonathan O'Connell
Washington Post
March 6, 2013

"The FBI says it needs a new home and there are a lot of firms that would like to build it for them.

Under acting administrator Dan M. Tangherlini, the General Services Administration proposed swapping the FBI’s dated headquarters downtown for a new campus in the area and says it received 35 proposals by Monday’s deadline.

The GSA has not released details of the responses, but they include proposals from landowners, developers and local governments to either build a new headquarters for the FBI, buy the J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, or a combination of both..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...g.html?hpid=z3

Issa at Panel on Building Heights: “It’s About How Well You Go High”
 

Issa at Panel on Building Heights: “It’s About How Well You Go High”

Posted by Aaron Wiener
Mar. 6, 2013
Washington City Paper

"Demonstrating more than a passing interest in the impact of D.C.'s height limits, Rep. Darrell Issa made an unannounced appearance at a panel last night on the seemingly esoteric subject of building heights in European capitals.

The panel, hosted by the National Capital Planning Commission at the National Archives, invited three European urbanists to discuss the strategies behind building heights in London, Berlin, Hamburg, Dublin, and Rotterdam. About halfway in, the Republican congressman from California, who chairs the committee with oversight over the District, made a quiet entrance and listened with apparent interest to the discussion, until he was invited by moderator Gary Hack to address the audience.

Issa took the remote control for the PowerPoint presentation and returned to an earlier slide depicting the London skyline (which Issa mistakenly referred to as a Dutch skyline). "Our roofline doesn't even look this good," he said..."

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/b...gh/#more-28164

Georgetown Heating Plant Auctioned For $19.5 Million
 

Georgetown Heating Plant Auctioned For $19.5 Million

March 6, 2013
Urban Turf

http://dc.urbanturf.com/images/blog/...gplant500_.jpg
Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.

On Wednesday, the Georgetown Heating Plant was auctioned off for $19.5 million, following several weeks of online paddle raising by five anonymous bidders. The winning bid came from “Bidder #2.”

The auction for the former General Services Administration (GSA) plant, which sits on just over two acres of land near 29th and K Streets NW (map) abutting Rock Creek and the C and O Canal, technically started in mid-January, but the first bid of $500,001 (just one dollar over the minimum deposit) didn’t show up until February 14th. Within a couple hours, a second bidder jumped in, bidding $700,001. A third bidder entered the game the next day, bidding $905,000..."

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...5_million/6700

Challenges of zoning, redeveloping West Heating Plant detailed
 

I hope this building isn't demolished. This is an attractive building that could be a great adaptive reuse.

Challenges of zoning, redeveloping West Heating Plant detailed

By Michael Neibauer
March 6, 2013
Washington Business Journal

"We know five bidders are going back-and-forth on the General Services Administration's West Heating Plant auction. But buying the Georgetown property will be the easy part compared with what comes next: its redevelopment.

Not only is the World War II-era plant property unzoned, meaning a trip to the D.C. Zoning Commission will be in order, but whatever project is proposed for the site will have to survive the Old Georgetown Board and the Commission on Fine Arts. Neither will be easy.

In February, one unidentified bidder, through its lawyer, Maureen Dwyer of Goulston & Storrs PC, sought to get a jump on the process. Dwyer approached D.C. Zoning Administrator Matthew Le Grant to see if the 110-foot-tall plant could be demolished in part and rebuilt to its original height even though the adjacent zoning district restricts buildings to a maximum 60 feet..."

http://www.bizjournals.com/washingto...t.html?ana=RSS