WASHINGTON, DC | Development News

[edale]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

I think your assessment is correct but I largely attribute it to the Height Act. If you can only build to 120 - 130 feet, developers are going to maximize every allowable square foot of space. There are some interesting buildings at the Wharf. Some of the embassies have interesting architecture, the Pan American Health Organization building, the Hepburn condos, and some of the libraries are interesting and not boxy.

Absolutely. The Wharf is really impressive, and thankfully DC has a tremendous historic building stock to build off of. I'm not trying to be critical of DC here...I love the city and think it's absolutely incredible that development is so pervasive in many parts of the city that were basically parking lot districts when I lived in DC. My observation was really just from scrolling this thread and thinking "hm, all of these look pretty interchangeable". Not sure what the fix is, or even if one is really needed. Just an observation.

[202_Cyclist]

This is outside of DC but this would be a significant development. If this is built, hopefully it will encourage better transit to National Harbor and southern Prince George's County.

Exclusive: Peterson opens two National Harbor sites to potential corporate HQs — nearly 2 million square feet of office

By Alex Koma
Washington Business Journal
July 26, 2021

"The Peterson Cos. is confident its 13-year-old Prince George's County project has matured to the point that it is ready for this kind of development."

https://www.bizjournals.com/washingt...expansion.html

[dlg569]

Originally Posted by edale

Absolutely. The Wharf is really impressive, and thankfully DC has a tremendous historic building stock to build off of. I'm not trying to be critical of DC here...I love the city and think it's absolutely incredible that development is so pervasive in many parts of the city that were basically parking lot districts when I lived in DC. My observation was really just from scrolling this thread and thinking "hm, all of these look pretty interchangeable". Not sure what the fix is, or even if one is really needed. Just an observation.

I think the height act is a good thing. It requires DC to grow out instead of up. How many US cities, other than NYC, would have built the Capitol Crossing project over 395 as well as the planned Burnham Place development over the amtrak tracks? Philadelphia has been discussing building over the amtrak tracks near 30th Street Station for 20 years and has never done it and will likely never do it because there are still surface parking lots in Center City. Why build over those amtrak tracks when you can get a surface parking lot at 18th & Arch and build a 1000 footer?

I think the reason Capitol Crossing was built, and hopefully soon Burnham Place, is because DC has to build over that infrastructure because there is nowhere else to build because of the height act. All the development in Navy Yard, NoMo, the Wharf, and really all thru DC, is likely because the height act forced development outside the downtown core. Without the height act, someone would have just built a 1000 footer near the White House instead of building six 130 footers on S Cap St.

So - yes - DC is very boxy and a lot of the development looks the same, but that development pattern has caused the entire downtown to be build-out and the resurgence of neighborhoods throughout DC. I think that's an acceptable trade-off.

[202_Cyclist]

430 Apartments, Research Center in the Works Beside Georgia Avenue McDonald’s Site


August 5, 2021
By Nena Perry-Brown
Urban Turf


Image courtesy of Urban Turf.

"Howard University is adding another of its properties to the development pipeline.

The university announced plans this week to build a 260,000 square-foot mixed-use laboratory/office/residential project at the surface parking lots by the McDonald's at Georgia Avenue and Bryant Street NW (map).

Capstone Development, Quadrangle Development Corporation and EDENS would helm the project, which will deliver a National Research Center for Health Disparities intended to house a biomedical research or pharmaceutical tenant that is focused on chronic illnesses and their impact on people of color..."

https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/bl...21&omhide=true

[202_Cyclist]

This will be a great development for east of the river.

748 Units, a Grocery Store, and a Sandlot: The First Phase of the “Bridge District”

August 9, 2021
By Nena Perry-Brown
Urban Turf


Image courtesy of Urban Turf.


Southeast corner of the proposed development. (Image courtesy of Urban Turf)

"The first phase of the Anacostia project formerly known as Columbian Quarter is coming back into focus.

A Redbrick LMD-led development team has filed a design review application for a mixed-use project in Poplar Point at 632 Howard Road SE, an area that the development team has dubbed the "Bridge District". The 130 foot-tall development would deliver 748 residential units above roughly 46,700 square feet of retail and restaurant space and a grocery store. ZGF Architects is the designer; Cecconi Simone will do the interiors..."

https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/bl...idge-dis/18591

[DCDevelopmentAddict]

Originally Posted by RCDC

U/C at 1200 3rd St. NE - plans call for 600+ residential units, 200 room hotel, 60k s.f. retail/restaurant, rooftop, and a pedestrian connection to the station.

Here's the other side, taken today:




Building across the street:

[202_Cyclist]

DCDevelopmentAddict: Thank you for posting the photos. It is amazing how much the area around Union Market has grown.

SWILL (@SWTLQTC
) posted a couple of photos of the development on 4th and I Street, SW, near the Safeway. This will have residential and a diner.

[RestonSkylines]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

SWILL (@SWTLQTC
) posted a couple of photos of the development on 4th and I Street, SW, near the Safeway. This will have residential and a diner.

It's always incredible to me how much the few blocks around the Waterfront station have changed over the past 15 years since I lived there. Literally unrecognizable now from then, but for the better.

[202_Cyclist]

We were in DC this weekend and I took some photos while walking around. We lived in Glover Park around ten years ago. It is a very nice, safe, neighborhood with a lot of open space but it also seems like the best days have passed the neighborhood as the Navy Yard/Capitol Riverfront and the U Street corridor continue to grow. The Whole Foods and many restaurants have closed in the past few years.

Here is a new mixed-use residential development which replaced two dated single story retail stores at 2210 Wisconsin Avenue, NW.



Here is a mixed-use development that is being built on the former Pearson's Liquor parking lot at 2430 Wisconsin Ave.



Here is a photo of the property prior to the development.


Image courtesy of Glover Park DC.

[202_Cyclist]

Speaking of Glover Park, another residential project is planned at the site of the British International School.

A 278-Unit Building With an Educational Component Pitched in Glover Park

August 16, 2021
By Nena Perry-Brown
Urban Turf



"A large residential development has been pitched to replace an office building on the site of The British International School of Washington, abutting Dumbarton Oaks Park.

The property owner of the office building at 3300 Whitehaven Street NW has filed a conceptual review application to the Old Georgetown Board (OGB) to replace the building with a five-story residential/educational building. Grosvenor is the developer and Hickok Cole is the architect..."

https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/bl...ver-park/18609

[202_Cyclist]

I walked by the now-closed Newseum yesterday and took this photo. This was unfortunate to see, as the Newseum was an excellent museum and we have a friend who worked their prior to it closing. Johns Hopkins University purchased the building and will be using it for classroom space (The School of Advanced International Studies is currently on Massachusetts Ave, NW).





A rendering of the proposed changes Johns Hopkins University plans to make to the former Newseum building in Washington. Hopkins officially purchased the building Monday. (Image courtesy of the Baltimore Sun)

Johns Hopkins University officially purchases former Newseum building in D.C.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/busines...5vm-story.html

[202_Cyclist]

I took these photo of a residential development in Buzzard Point, on First Street, SW, near Audi Field.





Here are a couple of photos of the new Frederick Douglass bridge.

[202_Cyclist]

Here are a couple of photos I took yesterday of a development at the corner of Martin Luther King Ave, SE and Good Hope Road in Anacostia.

[202_Cyclist]

D.C. budgets $10M to buy Georgetown site key to the Potomac River gondola vision

By Alex Koma
August 18, 2021
Washington Business Journal

"The District is moving to acquire at least a portion of an old Exxon gas station property across from the Key Bridge, a crucial step in making the long-sought Georgetown-Rosslyn gondola, among other potential infrastructure projects, a reality.

The D.C. Council included $10 million for the purchase in the 2022 budget it passed earlier this month, teeing up a deal for the property at 3607 M St. NW once the spending plan receives sign-offs from both Mayor Muriel Bowser and Congress.

The half-acre site, by the famous “Exorcist" steps, currently belongs to a joint venture of Altus Realty Partners and DYNC Atlantic Property and Investment, who have spent years pursuing its redevelopment as condos, so far to no avail. But the shuttered gas station has also been envisioned as an ideal landing spot for a gondola stretching across the Potomac River, providing a transportation link between Georgetown and Rosslyn that some local business leaders and politicians have championed..."

https://www.bizjournals.com/washingt...e-gondola.html

[SouthCentralPA]

^^ Nice updates!

[JMKeynes]

I love DC, but I’d really like to see more of the terrible, Brutalist structures in NW DC come down. Great progress has been made, but there’s still a lot to do.

[C.]

Originally Posted by JMKeynes

I love DC, but I’d really like to see more of the terrible, Brutalist structures in NW DC come down. Great progress has been made, but there’s still a lot to do.

Yes! I can't stand architects that defend brutalism, saying it was a style of an era. Fuck that shit. I feel like brutalist structures are protected from demolition more than any other architectural style in America.

[Busy Bee]

Not all brutalism is created equal. Breuer's Whitney yes. FBI headquarters not so much.

[JMKeynes]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Not all brutalism is created equal. Breuer's Whitney yes. FBI headquarters not so much.

Furthermore, many Brutalist structures in DC are falling apart and need enormous sums to restore. The FBI building is a prime example.

[202_Cyclist]

Housing might be coming to the DC Fire and EMS repair garage, located on M Street, SW.

Community-controlled affordable housing model could address gentrification in Southwest Washington

By Kaela Roeder
Aug. 18, 2021
Street Sense Media


(1101 Half St. SW, the current site of a fire truck repair shop, could be the new site of a community land trust. Photo by Kaela Roeder)

"Southwest residents are pushing for soon-to-be-available land to become a new community-controlled, permanently affordable housing and retail space.

At a community meeting Thursday, lead organizers Coy McKinney of grassroots organization SW D.C. Action and Vaughn Perry of the 11th Street Bridge Park project presented the concept behind community land trusts to Ward 6 residents. These land trusts, or CLTs, are community-led nonprofits that collectively own and lease access to land at below-market prices.

The site in mind, 1101 Half St. SW, is currently a firetruck repair shop that is slated to move to a different location in three years. Under the District’s newly updated Comprehensive Plan, the land-use designation of the land has changed to allow for residential and commercial development. Instead of selling the lot to a private developer, McKinney, Perry and others are urging the District government to set aside funds to establish a CLT..."

https://www.streetsensemedia.org/art.../#.YR-S-b5KhPZ