Potential for NPR site? Look to 901 New York Ave

Earlier today I mentioned the purchase of NPR's Headquarters building by Boston Properties and the arrangement the two parties have.

While any redevelopment of the site is way off (post-2012) it's still interesting to speculate on the potential for the NPR site. There is a roadmap of sorts as Boston Properties developed 901 New York Avenue NW which is just one block away occupying a near identical lot of land.

PURPLE=901 New York Ave; RED=NPR Site

The Madison Retail Group states the building has 27,365 square feet of ground floor retail and lists as retail tenants as Chevy Chase Bank, Lawsons Grille, Starbucks, Bright Horizons Daycare and Acadiana Restaurant. The primary office space tenant is the law firm Goodwin Procter LLP.

901 New York Avenue NW photo by flickr user M.V. Jantzen

Architectural firm Davis Carter Scott describes the property the following way :

901 New York Avenue presented Davis Carter Scott with a unique and rare opportunity to place its signature design on an entire city block in the District of Columbia. 140 foot towers incase glass curtain walls and cast stone to create a classic building with modern undertones. The large structure is broken up by an expansive three story lobby that features a polished stone floor, wood accent walls and a vaulted ceiling with metal arch-shaped trusses. A crystal clear glass finish on the ground floor provides street views through the building to both New York Ave and K street. Creating a unique, panoramic-like view of the expansive city block in this up-and-coming area of the district.

The design of 901 New York Avenue lends itself to both large corporate and public sector uses. The building contains a total of 547,000 SF on eleven floors with 4 levels of underground parking. The ground floor provides prime retail spaces and white cloth restaurants, while the expansive 49,000 SF floorplate, 40’ x 20’ column spacing and 9 foot high finished ceilings for corporate use. Because the building occupies an entire city block, tenants will have prominent city views for up to 80 perimeter offices. Two separate elevator and mechanical cores allow flexibility for tenants with full or partial floor requirements.

This signature building offered some unique challenges as well. Situated between K Street and New York Avenue on a massive site, 901 New York Avenue presented non-typical design challenges. Each corner of the site differed in elevation by as much as 8 feet, which made it difficult to design entry points and retail access on the ground floor. Breaking up such an expansive space, and creating an attractive and inviting streetscape, was made possible though the use of innovative materials and design. Davis Carter Scott overcame the challenges to provide a new Class – A building in the heart of Washington D.C.

Boston Properties purchases NPR HQ

Last week the Washington Business Journal reported that Boston Properties completed a deal to purchase the National Public Radio building at 635 Massachusetts Ave NW. NPR is targeted to relocate to NoMA by 2012.

Photo from flickr user NCinDC

NPR's arrangement with Boston Properties covers both their current location and the construction of their new headquarters at 1111 North Capitol Street. The new headquarters development will involve an adaptation of the 78,600 s.f. Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company building into 400,000 s.f. of office space. In the interim Boston Properties will lease the Mass Ave office space back to NPR until the new facility is completed.

Long term plans for the current NPR site call for a 450,000 s.f. Class A office building to deliver in 2014 or 2015.

WBJ reports on Jemal development today

DG-Rad, of Anacostia Now, has informed me that the Washington Business Journal ran a story about Jemal and Square 450 and 451 today in their print edition. A coincidence or did our coverage prod them into contacting Jemal to see what's up? =)

In the article it says Jemal plans for the project to include 800,000 square feet of office space, 400,000 square of retail, 500 residential units, a boutique hotel and an entertainment attraction such as House of Blues. The article hints that the city's requirement for housing to be included, given the residential real estate market, has slowed the time frames down for the project as Jemal is "waiting for the storm to go by".

Two take aways for me: 1) Good to hear House of Blues still being mentioned as I wasn't sure if Live Nation's interest had evaporated given their recent deal in downtown Silver Spring. 2) If inclusion of housing is slowing this down the city should ease up on that requirement. The Mount Vernon Triangle will still have the greatest concentration of residential units of any BID even if these two squares have none. Let's not stall this for years over more residential units.

Near the very bottom of the article WBJ also reports bidding is underway for headquarters of National Public Radio, which NPR will be vacating in 2011. An NPR spokeswoman told WBJ a deal is expected in coming weeks.