HPRB Approves In-fill Project: Historic 14th Street Filling Up

Yesterday, the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) recommended approval of a six-floor office space development at 1525 14th Street, NW in the 14th Street Historic District. Originally approved in 2004 as a seven-floor residential project, developer Giorgio Furioso of Furioso Development decided to switch gears given the difficulty of financing and unloading a small-scale condo operation under...

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First Piece of Arboretum Place Puzzle: The Flats

On Wednesday Clark Realty Capital broke ground on the first phase of Arboretum Place. Amidst the late morning downpour, developers plunged shovels into the muddied earth at at 1600 Maryland Avenue, NE, signifying the start to the first phase of construction, set to yield 257 "high-end apartments." The initial phase has been dubbed "The Flats at Atlas District," and developers expect the residences...

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Wilson High School Modernization Video

The city has released a video virtual tour of the Wilson High School in Tenleytown. The $85m project began in February of 2009 and is expected to meet LEED Silver certification when it is completed next Ju...

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Buildings at 1776 Wilson Blvd to Crumble Soon

As Skanska continues to build up at 10th and G Streets NW, approaching "concrete topping out," developers expect the current buildings at their project site on the west side of the Potomac to come down very shortly. Rosslyn's Medical Service Corp. International office, Arlington Motor Cars, and Fashion Dreams, purchased from George Contis for ten million dollars in early 2009, are set to be razed...

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Foreign Investors Not Scared of Housing Market At All

The word is out…real estate in Tampa Bay and around Florida is a hot commodity for foreign investors! Not only is the weather hot in Tampa, Florida, so is the real estate market. International investors from Argentina, Canada, Colombia, France, Israel, Italy, Norway and Venezuala are swarming to Florida for what they see as irresistible real estate deals. According to msnbc.com’s recent article, Foreign Investors Not Scared of Housing Market, “For the international investor class, the United States’...

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The Tell-Tale Architect

By Beth Herman For D.C.-based architect Edgar Sever and his wife, interior designer Lenore Headly, of Sever Headly Design Group, the opportunity to renovate a deteriorating 160-year-old Alexander Jackson Davis Gothic Revival-style house in remote, sleepy Gallows, Va. seemed, like the dark rain that preceded it, to have fallen from the sky. Lauded from D.C. to Tokyo for their signature industrial steel-and-glass...

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Paradigm Begins New York Ave Apartment Project

Paradigm has ordered its army of construction vehicles into Mount Vernon Triangle to begin work on the hefty 390-unit rental building at 425 L St, NW. Indeed, ground had broken on what project manager Jimmy Dotson calls a "bold, urban building with all the modern comforts of home." Under construction is a mass of brick and glass that will eventually total fourteen stories, sitting on three levels...

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JBG and Grosvenor Unveil Name for 14th & S Condo Project

In an unparalleled combination of simplicity and genius developers at JBG and Grosvenor have titled their much-talked-about, seven-story condominium project set for 14th and S Streets NW District Condos! Today that name was officially christened. And while no champagne bottles were smashed over the corner of Whitman Walker Clinic, suits and ties from the development world, as well as Jack Evans and...

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Rosslyn Station Kicks Off Today

Development of the expanded Rosslyn Station kicks off this morning with sacramental event to publicize construction of the $32m project. The 10am ceremony will highlight expansion of the underground station and replacement of the single elevator with three high-speed lifts intended to increase speed and create redundancy for Virginia's highest-trafficked station. The event will be attended by officials...

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District Takes Action Against Condo Developer

Developers of shoddy condo projects beware. The District government has filed a complaint against Charles Jenkins, who the District said had performed "inadequate renovations" on numerous condominium projects, and that he "failed to disclose to potential purchasers the true condition of the condominiums, which suffered from severe defects." The District is seeking to enjoin him from further condo...

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Corner of Ninth and Eye Street NW Gets Delicious Makeover

Chalk up the Penn Quarter neighborhood for another trendy, upscale restaurant and lounge. Yes, the entrepreneurial ambitions of David Von Storch and his Urban Adventures Company continue to spill out across the District, with the fourth VIDA on the way to U Street next year, and now a new signature restaurant will serve as a more elegant showcase for the many craft beers of Capitol City Brewing Company...

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Bethesda Church Moves Forward With Development, Receives Council's Blessing

Twice the Montgomery County Planning Board had approved the plans of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bethesda-Chevy Chase to build a 107-unit residential building combined with a six-story church and community center. And twice Hearing Examiner Martin Grossman had recommended denial of the proposal, citing a lack of "compatibility" with several nearby rows of single family homes. The Church's...

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Erkiletian to Start Old Town Apartment Project

Developers in Old Town Alexandria haven't had the stomach for starting large residential projects of late, but at least one thinks the timing is now right. Locally based construction and development company Erkiletian says it is just a few weeks away from starting work on The Asher, a 206 unit apartment building two blocks from the Braddock Road Metro station.Developers of the apartment building...

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Monroe Towers Apartments Take Big Green Step Into Record Books

Yesterday, on a scorching hot rooftop in Columbia Heights, a group of environmental engineers and entrepreneurs unveiled the completed construction and installation of the second largest solar thermal project in the District, consisting of 32 giant solar panels, and storing over 1,600 gallons of hot water. Sound like the type of trendy green construction reserved for some pricey, experimental zero...

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Hickok Cole to Design New AIA Center in DC

The Washington D.C. Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA|DC), in partnership with the Washington Architectural Foundation (WAF), recently revealed that a team from Hickok Cole Architects has been awarded the task of designing the new District Architecture Center (DAC) at 421 7th Street NW in downtown Washington, D.C. AIA received 17 contest entries from firms throughout the District,...

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Hines Affirms Spring Construction for City Center DC

Developers of downtown DC's last block of empty land are holding firm on their commitment to start building City Center DC, and confirmed in a statement released yesterday that construction could begin as early as April of next year. Colorado-based Archstone and Texas based Hines development plans for the 10 acre site were approved by the DC Council back in 2005, but have since stalled over financing...

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Dupont Underground Plans Unveiled

Last night, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) hosted a meeting at the Dupont Hotel to introduce interested parties, mostly journalists and artist-types, to the selected development team and their preliminary plans for the 100,000 s.f. space known as "Dupont Underground." After a failed endungeoned food court experiment in '95, and some 35 years without a...

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To Raze or Not To Raze

By Beth Hermanp { margin-bottom: In the film "Prizzi's Honor," Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner played hitmen (or hitpeople, to be politically correct) assigned, in parlance, to rub each other out. When Nicholson fell in love with his nemesis, he had a rather pivotal conversation with himself, ruminating, "Do I ice her; do I marry her? Do I ice her; do I marry her?" When the time comes to decide...

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