WBJ: Streetcar backers gather ammo to sway skeptics

According to the Washington Business Journal, earlier this month district officials and developers with major holdings along the proposed streetcar system traveled to Portland Oregon. The group met with meet managers of the Portland system and property owners who helped finance the Rose City's streetcar line.

Portland Streetcar image from flickr user KGradinger

The WBJ article collects impressions from several major developers, including the Wilkes Company which counts Mount Vernon Place project in the Triangle among its holdings.

The Wilkes Company's Sandy Wilkes, already a fan of streetcars, said he was further impressed by the residential occupancy and retail leasing rates along the Portland tracks. “There’s been a level of economic activity that is probably greater than they had even forecasted,” he said. His company plans mixed-use developments for Mount Vernon Triangle and NoMa, and Wilkes said the walkability, cleanliness, and ultimately value, of both those projects would be enhanced by streetcar lines. “There is something about the streetcar experience that is so appealing,” he said.

WBJ discusses Temporary Urbanism with Harriet Tregoning

In today's Washington Business Journal staff reporter Jonathan O'Connell discusses "temporary urbanism" with Office of Planing Director Harriet Tregoning as a means to to bring dead construction zones and storefronts alive with active, temporary uses.

Examples of temporary urbanism around the city include the Washington Trapeze School and Kastles Tennis at the City Center site, the yearly Artomatic event and and outdoor event area coined the Bullpen outside Nationals Park.

O'Connell points out that developers are often luke warm to the idea of temporary uses as they are concerned that when the time for development does arrive the public will object to displacement of the temporary amenity.

I support the concept of temporary urbanism. When the stop gap for every stalled development is a parking lot it stifles livability. The district has made strides in this regard under Tregoning's tenure but other cities show that much more is possible. Portland Oregon not only has pioneered the modern streetcar line but also prominently features temporary urbanism in the form of a vibrant downtown food cart scene. The perimeter of most downtown surface parking lots in Portland are lined with food carts (over 400!) that offer diverse and cheap dining options including Bosnian pitas, Venezuelan Arepas, Deep Fried Double Dogs, Poutine, Vegan options, and much, much more... This leads blocks with parking lots to become hubs of activity rather than barren wastelands.

A 555 Mass resident send in a tip that a successful venture in Austin called the South Austin Trailer Park and Eatery would be a great idea for temporary urbanism. It merges the foodcart concept of Portland with picnic tables and kid friendly attractions.

Triangle under consideration for new 6,000 seat theatre venue?

On Wednesday the Washington Business Journal created enormous buzz with news that the Madison Square Garden LP is aggressively scouring D.C. to identify a site for a new theatre venue. The article suggested MSG would open a venue of a 6,000 seats or more, requiring up to 100,000 square feet near shopping and public transit.

A day later, WBJ reporter Jonathan O'Connell unveiled more specifics on the locations under consideration. Two locations are in the immediate vicinity of the Nationals ballpark. The other three strike much closer to home:

• The Wilkes Company - Mount Vernon Place. Sandy Wilkes apparently met with the MSG team and he is planning 2.2 million square feet of development two blocks east of Mount Vernon Square. Not much further from the action.
  
• Douglas Development - Mount Vernon Triangle. Ever since assembling 1.2 million square feet across from the convention center, Douglas Jemal has been pursuing an entertainment attraction.
  
• Hines - CityCenter DC. The old convention center site will be the city's most high-end major development and has 111,460 square feet along New York Avenue between 9th and 11th Streets. Close to downtown, subway stations and dining options, it may be the most New York City-esque part of D.C.

How big would a 100,000sf venue be? Nearly double the size of the 59,000sf City Vista Safeway. From a capacity standpoint it would be 6X that of the 930 club, 3X the previously proposed House of Blues, and 1.5X the size of DAR Constitution Hall.

Proposed MSG venue would have 1.5 times the capacity of DAR Constitution Hall

What are reactions to this? I can't believe Mount Vernon Place is a serious contender. By my rough math neither of MVP's two largest remaining continuous assemblages of land on K Street is > 45000sf. City Center could definitely accomodate this project if desired. Douglas Development might have problems because of all the holdouts (Marrakesh, Rupperts) and historical properties they have to work around.

Where ever this project lands I hope MSG has a commitment to producing an architecturally beautiful building befitting a grand theatre rather than a value engineered blank box like the Convention Center or the 6th Street frontage of the Verizon Center.

UPDATE (8/18/09 7:10PM) - I've talked to an industry insider and while MSG needs 100,000 sf for the venue the required land footprint would be 50,000sf. Mount Vernon Place still is a non-starter as their largest land assemblage is 45,000sf which falls shy even before you have to carve a few thousand square feet out on the ground level for supporting infrastructure like parking garage egress, loading docks, etc...

Linked up: Mc-B, Ashton, and Banners

• Chris Ballard, of McWilliams-Ballard, tells the Washington Business Journal that "the local condo market reached bottom months ago, and predicts there will be a supply shortage within 12 to 18 months."


• DCMud features the new Ashton Judiciary Square rental bulding which is bring some much needed 3BR inventory to downtown.
  
  
  
  
• The District Chatter considers the sales banners at City Vista and Yale as illegal billboards and applauds DCRA efforts to have them removed.
  
  
  Image from Sean Robertson

Triangle Times - Summer '09 edition

The Summer '09 edition of the Triangle Times newsletter is available on the MVT CID Website in PDF form. The newsletter has a special focus on new retail and redevelopment in the Triangle.


On interesting piece of new information is that the 425 Eye Street office building renovation plans to substantial ground floor retail:

Approximately 28,000 square feet of retail space will be created on the first floor – ideally with a white tablecloth restaurant in the mix.

For a frame of reference 28,000 sf of retail would be 3 times the size of Buddha Bar or Acadiana. While I doubt they would lease to three large restaurants it's very easy to imagine a scenario with one nice large restaurant, a cafe catered towards quick lunch food for office workers, and a mix of other service oriented businesses.

Triangle Times also announced that 455 Mass Ave won an award from WBJ:

The Buddha Bar at 455 Mass was awarded the Urban Retail Transaction of the Year from the The Washington Business Journal. The building, developed by Penzance and ASB Real Estate Investments, leased a 9,500-square-foot, first-floor space to the international restaurant group based in Paris. Congratulations!

WBJ: CityVista signs new sushi eatery from Ridgewells chef

The Washington Business Journal confirms the news that Kushi is coming to City Vista:

The concept comes from chef Darren Norris, who worked with retail real estate broker Tom Papadopoulos to secure a 4,000-square-foot location at 465 K St. NW, as part of the City Vista development. The new eatery will be named Kushi.

Norris, who has spent 25 years as a chef, most recently as executive chef for Ridgewells Caterers, is teaming up with partner Yoshihisa Ota, a well-known Tokyo chef. Ota, who will replace himself at his restaurant Ginza Gakyu, will provide a direct connection to Tokyo’s fish market.

Norris was inspired to open a Japanese restaurant partly because his wife, designer Ari Kushimoto, is Japanese. Izakayas have become trendy recently in Los Angeles and New York.

Vapiano to open Feb 24

News from the WBJ today:
Vapiano to open in Chinatown this February.

“A year later, but we’re there.”

That’s what Vapiano Chairman Kent Hahne has to say about the long-in-development Vapiano restaurant headed to 623-625 H St. NW in Chinatown. After about a year of construction delays, the place will open with a VIP party Feb. 24 and begin serving lunch and dinner the next day.

For a history of Vapiano related neighborhood news follow this link to a PQLiving search.

WBJ: Mount Vernon Triangle to be seat of Buddha Bar

Washington Business Journal staff reporter Missy Frederick follows up on the buzz about Little Buddha coming to 455 Mass Ave. Frederick reports that the plans are for a full scale 9,600 s.f. Buddha Bar rather than a scaled down Little Buddha.

“To sign a deal for a 9,400-square-feet restaurant in this market is really amazing,” said Bill Dickinson, senior director of brokerage for The Rappaport Cos., who represented the landlord.

The street-level Mount Vernon Triangle location has a soaring two-floor space that provides room for Buddha Bar’s dramatic decor, such as a large gold Buddha statue, among other accents.

Buddha Bar probably will not occupy the location until late 2009, Dickinson said.

Hat tip to Q Street News

UPDATE (1/3/2009): I've removed the embedded video because Internet Explorer was automatically playing it when ever readers loaded the page.

WBJ: F Street's Past is Prologue

The winter edition of Washington Business Journal's OnSite magazine has about the revitalization of the 900 block of F Street called F Street's Past is Prologue. In it the author doles out grades on architectural merit of Akridge's Carroll Square versus Douglas Development's projects across the street (Atlantic Building, The Ventana).

Photo of National Union Building from flickr user army.arch

The print edition has far more photos including one of the old style iron-caged elevator cab inside the National Union Building.

WBJ: Neil Albert keeps the RFPs coming, but can he deliver?

The Washington Business Journal has been keeping tabs on how the banking crisis is influencing construction inside the district. Most recently they put the focus on the RFPs that Neil Albert, the Deputy Mayor of Economic Development, has awarded.

Neil Albert keeps the RFPs coming, but can he deliver?

There article does mention the 5th and Eye RFP:

James “Jad” Donohoe, development director of Donohoe Development Co., expects the earliest he goes into the ground for his hotel-residential project at Fifth and Eye streets NW in Mount Vernon Triangle will be a year after the council approves it. The approval itself not expected for at least a year.

The project will be financed by a sovereign wealth fund, he said. “We’re talking to people we wouldn’t have been using a few years ago. We’re casting the net a little bit wider.”

WBJ: A city of cranes waits and wonders

In the midst of the news about the Wall Street bailout the Washington Business Journal investigated how the further tightening of the credit market may influence construction inside the district.

A city of cranes waits and wonders: Will we be able to get financing?

Photo from flickr user afagen

Excerpt:

“[Securing financing is] a significant problem,” said John Sikaitis, vice president of research for the D.C. office of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. “For any speculative project, both inside and outside the city — even in core locations downtown — it’s basically impossible.”

Further into the article Donohoe Development, recently awarded Triangle's 5th and Eye RFP, provides comments:

James “Jad” Donohoe IV, whose company plans a 200,000-square-foot office building at 1111 New Jersey Ave. SE, said he has no choice but to broaden his financing net to include nontraditional sources of funding, such as syndication arrangements with multiple banks, sovereign wealth funds and equity from hotels that will be part of the development.

“We’re still in the early stages now, but we’ve already been searching those things out for this and for other projects we have out there,” he said.

The Arts at 5th and I is suggested to be 18 months from breaking ground. Hopefully the commitment from the future tenants such as the Me by Melia hotel aids prospects for financing.

WBJ: Safeway's turf battle

Washington Business Journal reporter Jonathan O'Connell writes about what the City Vista Safeway opening signifies for the grocer in the district. He also discusses some of the same talking points in this video below.

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.

WBJ: The hunt for the next hot spots

The latest weekly issue of the Washington Business Journal arrived in my mailbox with an 84 page magazine insert called OnSite: Greater Washington's Real Estate Quarterly. The feature article in the magazine is titled "The hunt for the next hot spots."

excerpt:

The most important factor in figuring out where we’ll be living in the future is to look at how we’ll be living. Just as the automobile in the 1940s and ’50s and racial turbulence in the 1960s and ’70s drove their parents and grandparents to the suburbs, look for today’s younger generations to affect what tomorrow’s communities will look like.

Just consider developer Jim Abdo’s successful bet in the late 1990s that Gen X-ers (born from 1965 to 1980) would line up for new places in the city if he helped remake Logan Circle.

“Generation X and Generation Y are putting much more emphasis on life-work balance,” says Adam Ducker, managing director at Richard Charles Lesser & Co., a real estate firm based in Bethesda.

One of the main ways to achieve a better life-work balance, Ducker says, is foregoing a large home in the suburbs and the long commute it carries for a smaller home closer to work. Commuting in exchange for a bigger house was a deal baby boomers were willing to make for their family. For younger generations, that’s not a reasonable trade-off.

That means neighborhoods like the established Dupont Circle and the emerging Capitol Riverfront around Nationals Park in Southeast — where you can walk or Metro to work, shop, exercise and socialize, all without getting in your car — will only grow in popularity as Generation Y (those born between 1979 and 1996) ages.

According to Richard Charles Lesser’s research, 77 percent of Gen Y-ers plan to live in an urban core — a far cry from the baby boomers’ suburban dream of a white picket fence and a two-car garage.

Developers are paying attention: The 80 million Gen Y-ers (30 percent of the population to the boomers’ current 25 percent) will drive the real estate market in the coming years. They’re expected to transition from renters to homeowners starting around 2012 and flood the market with demand for more urban developments. That means more condos, more apartments and more townhouses. At the same time, even many boomers are moving back toward the city in search of walkable communities.

Generation X accelerated the trend toward city living — just look at the wildly successful Ballston and Clarendon areas — but the Washington region will only see more in-fill and new urban neighborhoods spring up in the years to come.

Much more in the online article including thoughts on how density in the suburbs, even off metro such as Shirlington and the Reston Town Center will also continue to be models for the future.



Not in the online article are WBJ's spotlights on emerging hot spots. The list was not meant to be inclusive but rather highlight a few locations inside and outside the beltway across DC, Virginia and Maryland. Those included Anacostia, Poplar Point, Fort Totten and Hill East in the District; Rosslyn, Braddock Road, Columbia Pike and Occoquan in Virginia; Gaithersburg, Green Belt, Landover, Laurel and Mount Rainier in Maryland. No direct mention of the Triangle but I think, with the exception of Rosslyn, these were meant to be longer term speculations than MVT or NoMA.