Furioso Starting Logan Office Project

Giorgio Furioso plans to begin construction on his 14th Street office project on December 10th, the developer announced this morning.   The 42,000 s.f. office building will take the place of the empty lot at 1525 14th Street, NW, wrapped around the adjacent building Furioso already owns that holds Posto.

The Logan Circle-based Furioso Development has worked for years on the development, known now as 1525 Fourteen, but after weighing various options for the site concluded that the underserved office market was the most viable for the site.

Furioso told DCMud he sees the future building as an anchor of 24/7 neighborhood activity, bringing more feet to 14th Street during day to balance the throngs that populate the nighttime hotspot.

Furioso said several office tenants are already lined up, but no announcements have been made yet on the 3,600 square feet of street-level retail.  The project was nearly ready for construction this summer, with only "last minute" issues hindering construction.  The design for the six-story LEED gold building, which includes a green roof, geothermal heating, and solar panels, is by architecture firm Eric Colbert and Associates.  Two underground floors include 28-small-car parking spaces, accessible by car elevator, and a charging station for hybrids.  The building also includes a bicycle room complete with showers.

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Development of Rare Vacant Lot in Dupont to Start Next Month

A nine-story apartment building planned for the corner of 17th and O Streets, NW will break ground this year, replacing a parking lot on one of the last undeveloped lots in the Dupont Circle neighborhood.  The First Baptist Church of Washington owns the lot, but developer Keener Squire will build the 218-unit building under a 99-year ground lease with the church.  Eric Colbert and Associates is the architectural firm on the project.

Rendering: Eric Colbert & Associates

DCMud reported in April that the developer intended to break ground this year, but unlike project start dates that regularly slip indefinitely, executives at Keener Squire assure DCMud that the initial estimates are still valid.  Developers expect the total construction time to be about 18 months.

The project has obtained necessary approvals from the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) (the site sits in the Dupont Circle Historic District), and the DC Board of Zoning adjustment, and has the support of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B and the Dupont Circle Conservancy.  The building's 118 units will be mostly junior one-bedrooms and some two-bedrooms, which were added to plans in response to requests from neighbors.

The building's design fits in with neighboring 1930's-era buildings, an architect on the project said.   "The design draws from the art moderne apartment buildings in the area, but at the same time is an updated 21st century building," Steve Dickens, architect with Eric Colbert and Associates told DCMud.  He cited Bay State Apartments and Boston House Condominiums, both just across the street from the site, as examples of neighboring art moderne-style structures.

Art moderne buildings in the neighborhood, Dickens said, were built after just after the historic district's so-called "period of significance" - a period historic districts look to in consideration of design appropriateness - which goes up until the 1930's.  Still, the HPRB backed the design.  "Given that this neighborhood has almost no buildings that date to the period of significance, the HPRB felt that the buildings that were around us were the significant buildings to look at."

Dickens emphasized that the design process has been collaborative, with the church as a major partner, "they want to make sure that whatever goes there is something that the most immediate neighbors are happy with."

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PN Hoffman's "Northern Exchange" Opens on 14th

"Northern Exchange", Rendering courtesy PN Hoffman

This weekend, the former switching station for the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company at 14th and R Streets, NW, built in 1903, re-opened as "The Northern Exchange," a 36-unit "loft-style" condo delivered by PN Hoffman.  Eric Colbert and Associates are behind the design, which converts the deep building with two sides of windows into units averaging about 650 square feet.  Construction is not yet complete - some units on the third, fourth, and fifth floors are still under construction, but some lower units were on view this weekend.

The newly-converted condominium building is smaller than most new loft buildings, but the design focuses on efficient use of space, which lies at the doorstep of the thriving 14th Street corridor.  While square footage is on the smaller side, ceiling height and window sizes benefit from the building's original design.  Some units feature windows over nine feet in height.

"Northern Exchange" model unit

The smallest units are 550 s.f. and feature raised living areas above the kitchen accessed by a ship's ladder.   Because of the historic use of space - the third floor housed telephone lines - some units feature 16-foot ceilings.  Developers have left original terra cotta ceilings on the second and third floors and the fourth and fifth floors feature exposed concrete ceilings. 

Some of the units slated for completion within the next three weeks still have the original heart-of-pine flooring, some of it one inch thick.  Bao Vuong, PN Hoffman's development manager on the project, said condos feature original exposed brick and some of the original steel columns.

"We've painted them with intumescent paint to try to highlight them," Vuong told DCMud. Painting the steel columns also involved fire-protecting them, not a cheap process.  "It's much cheaper to cover them up, but since they add so much character we have tried to do that," he said.  He said the units would be ready for move-in during the first quarter of next year.

Vastu, a 14th Street a interior design firm and modern furnishing dealer, worked to prepare the model units for the recent open house. "Vastu and PN Hoffman have been fortunate to work together on numerous projects over the years," Jason Claire, co-owner of Vastu, told DCmud. He said the project was also unique in that the condos were built in a historic building, unlike most other condos in the neighborhood, which are predominantly new construction.  "For the models, the look is warm, modern with a nod to a rustic industrial aesthetic picking up on the industrial architecture of the building," Claire said.

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Furioso's "1525 Fourteen" on 14th St. Close to Breaking Ground

An office building in the midst of 14th Street's many condos will soon bring the busy entertainment corridor a little closer to true mixed use development.  That is, when Furioso Development breaks ground on "1525 Fourteen", a mixed-use building slated to break ground this fall.  That moment is nigh, according to Giorgio Furioso. He puts the time until groundbreaking at eight weeks.

"We are moments away from breaking ground," Furioso told DCMud, "and we are doing some preliminary stuff to cross all our Ts and Is."  Developer Giorgio Furioso sees the future 42,000 s.f. building - in the planning stage for nearly a decade - as an anchor of 24/7 neighborhood vitality, bringing some daytime activity to a night-time destination.

Some office tenants for the building are ready to move in, Furioso said, but there are no decisions about a tenant for the 3,600 square feet of street-level retail.  That announcement could come in the next few months, Furioso told DCMud.

Original 2004-approved scheme

"We could have gone with one large tenant but we chose not to do that so that it is a collection of different people," he said.  Furioso said he believes this mix of different smaller tenants will contribute to neighborhood vitality. "The building's whole attitude is small, green and neighborhood," Furioso said, "so you are trying to represent in that collection of tenants people the neighborhood would appreciate."

The project has already gained the necessary approvals and financing. The Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) approved the in-fill project in 2010.  It was originally planned as a seven-story, cubist-inspired residential building in 2004, but Furioso changed direction.

The design for the six-story LEED gold building, which includes a green roof, geothermal heating, and solar panels, is by architecture firm Eric Colbert and Associates.  Two underground floors include 28-small-car parking spaces, accessible by car elevator only, and a charging station for hybrid cars.  The building also includes a bicycle room complete with showers.

The Mohawk artists lofts, the condo building Church Place, renovation of the historic Roosevelt, and Solo Piazza residential building on 13th Street are all past projects of Furioso.  Furioso, who is stately in favor of a quality-over-quantity development model, only builds one development at a time.
"I think you can grow by being better rather than being bigger - sort of the Lorax idea," Fuioso, who was born in Italy and holds an MFA, told DCMud. "Sometimes the idea of success is measured by how many projects you do - whether you're the architect, the developer, the builder - rather than saying 'this project contributes to this neighborhood the way other projects don't.'  It's a different approach to working and living."

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Today in Pictures - Progression Place

Progression Place may be only one of numerous projects underway in Shaw, but it will be one of the first large development to be completed.  Developers began work in 2010 on with 100,000 s.f. of office space, a 205-unit residential apartment building, and 20,000 square feet of street-level retail. The project was designed by architects Eric Colbert & Associates and Devrouax + Purnell, and built by Davis Construction.
Ellis Development, The Jarvis Company, and Four Points combined forces to build the project above the Shaw Metro station. 

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First Baptist's Apartment Building to Replace Dupont Parking Lot

Having finally received approval for their requested zoning exceptions, the First Baptist Church of Washington's planned nine-story, 218-unit apartment building, set to be built on one of Dupont Circle's last remaining surface parking lots, is juuuuuust about ready to go.

"The project has a clear runway to ground- breaking. All we need now is the building permit. We're thinking we'll start construction in 4Q of this year, and it'll take about 18 months, all told," said Michael Korns, Developer at Keener Squire, the firm overseeing the project.

The Eric Colbert and Associates-designed project was initially met with considerable community resistance, for reasons ranging from noise, a potential influx of students, and preserving the neighborhood's last parking lot (arguably the least sympathetic cause of all time). In response to the outcry, developers and architect Eric Colbert revised the design to reduce the exposure of rooftop common areas, and reduced the number of efficiency units. (There was some speculation that the reduced number of efficiencies was in response to complaints that the building might become a magnet for students. Perhaps sensitive to the suggestion of reverse ageism, ANC 2B removed text praising the efficiencies reduction from their resolution in support of the project.)

At around ninety feet, the building will fit in with the established scale of the area, and aesthetically it should match the neighboring structures. "It's a stone and brick and precast building, yellow in color, a fair amount of glass, and metal sunshades," says Korns, all of which is in keeping with the modern architecture in the area. Though the area will lose some parking spaces once the lot is gone, the edifice does include 93 below-grade parking spaces. And although any construction is, of course, disruptive, the plan that was approved was the least disruptive of all possibilities that were discussed.

"Some of the plans we were thinking of presenting would have involved demolishing an extension built onto the church in the Eighties, but we decided against that. It would've been too disruptive to the neighborhood and to the church; they have daycare there, and community programs."

Having finally cleared the last hurdle, after withstanding fierce community resistance and making significant concessions and design changes to appease those concerns, did Korns have anything he'd like to say to the community?

"No comment," Korns said dryly.

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The Mission in Logan Gets Extension

The former auto show room and current home of Central Union Mission in the 14th Street Historic District is one step closer to a long-awaited redevelopment following a Historic Preservation Review Board meeting on Thursday.

With limited discussion, the board voted to accept staff recommendations granting a two-year extension to the project on the southeast corner of 14th and R Streets, accepting refinements made in response to the Board's 2006 direction, and restating that it is consistent with the Preservation Act.
Developer Jeffrey Schonberger (Alturas LLC) has been planning to renovate and expand properties at 1625 - 1631 14th Ave., NW since 2006, pending relocation of the homeless shelter that now owns and operates the building. The current structure - a 5-story former Studebaker show room built in 1922 and three, 3-story brick row homes originally built in the late 1800's but remodeled after the turn of the century for commercial uses - will involve restoration and new construction.
According to the Historic Preservation Office staff report prepared for Thursday's meeting, the redevelopment will include restoring the four buildings' facades to their early-20th-century appearance, building a seven-story addition behind the rowhouses and adding underground parking in what used to be the showroom basement. The double-height auto showroom would also be restored and the buildings appearance maintained to the greatest extent possible.

The ground floor of the project will be designated for retail, said Eric Colbert of Eric Colbert & Associates, the architect for the project, predicting at least one restaurant in the mix. The upper floors of the row homes and the additional rear structure will form residential units including some two-story units, Colbert said. The Mission building was built by the Wardman Construction Company.

Delays primarily related to relocating Central Union Mission, once slated for Georgia Avenue but now scheduled to go to the Gales School, have hindered development in the past.

Colbert and Schonberger said after the meeting that construction documents would be filed next month and that they would be ready to break ground on the project in 7 to 12 months. Wayne Dickson of Blake Dickson is handling retail for the project.

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"Louis at 14th" Development Unveiled

In a heated tent at the end of a long crushed velvet carpet on 14^th St. today, JBG, Georgetown Strategic Capital and city officials symbolically (but not literally) broke ground on the long-discussed “Louis at 14^th”, a 267-unit, 42,000-square foot mixed-use megadevelopment.
Formerly called "Utopia" and in the works since 2006, entitlements are finally in place and demolition has begun for a dramatic makeover of what developers called “the greatest intersection in the District.” According to today’s press release, the Eric Colbert and Associates-designed building will offer amenities including a rooftop terrace with grilling stations and fire pits, a rooftop pool (with bar), a fitness center, and a 24-hour concierge. Historic facades along U Street will be preserved, though many (but not all) facades along 14^th are slated for imminent demolition. Surely developers were buoyed by the high rents and recent high sales price of the Ellington apartments almost across the street.

If the prestige of a project is in direct proportion to the swank factor of its groundbreaking ceremony, the Louis should be very swank indeed. Aside from the aforementioned velvet carpet (and ropes), there was an open bar (so forgive any typos), as well as a solo saxophonist providing ubersmooth accompaniment as various development titans rubbed elbows with Councilmembers Michael Brown and Jim Graham, as well as Mayor Vincent Gray. When it was time to unveil the new renderings, a male model done up as Louis the XIV (get it?), complete with powdered wig, hose, and lace waistcoat, entered stage left.

But although the ceremony was long on flash, it was short on specifics. Mayor Gray made a vague, campaign-trail-ish speech, made frequent reference to his local roots, and arched his eyebrows a lot, Councilman Brown did his Obama thing (in fairness, he does a great Obama), made even more frequent reference to his local roots, and called for a comical number of rounds of applause (this blogger might have been the only person in attendance who did not, at some point, get applauded), and Councilman Graham regaled the crowd with reminiscences from his days at Whitman-Walker, and how volunteers used to refuse to set foot on the mean streets of 14^th and S Streets.

But there was little talk of future retailers. Though there were vague murmurs of unsubstantiated rumors – Trader Joe’s? – firm information was in short supply. This blogger circulated to try and confirm a rumor about a possible flagship tenant, but no one could confirm or deny. In fact, by 5 o’clock, most of the attention was on the open bar, and on snapping iPhone pics of the guy dressed like Louis the 14^th.

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JBG Celebrates 14th & U Street Groundbreaking on Tuesday

JBG Companies' Utopia Project at the corner of 14th Street and U Streets, will be commissioned tomorrow, beginning what all parties hope will be imminent construction.

City dignitaries, including Mayor Vincent Gray, Councilmembers Jack Evans, Jim Graham and Michael Brown, plan a public unveiling of the development, which will be known as The Louis at 14th, beginning 4pm on Tuesday at 1920 14th Street, NW.

JBG, in conjunction with Georgetown Strategic Capital, will include more than 200 rental units and 20,000 s.f. of new retail along the 1900 block of 14th Street, amid the fast-growing Logan Circle/U Street neighborhood, replacing a low-slung series of fast-food chain restaurants while preserving retail along U Street.

Georgetown Strategic Capital originally got zoning approval for the project back in November 2008, but the economy dashed plans for any quick construction. GSC was granted a two-year extension for the site, as principal Robert Moore sought to wrap up more than $93.5 million needed to finance the project.

The design, by Eric Colbert & Associates, will also include a rooftop pool, nearly 150 parking spaces and will be 90 feet high at its tallest point. The historic facades along U Street will be saved while the buildings along 14th Street will be demolished.

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Shaw Developers Celebrate Step Forward with Progression Place

One of Shaw's chief development projects, slowed by lost tenants and missed start dates, is finally having its day as developers celebrate a "groundbreaking" Monday for a project that began in late 2010. Developers of Progression Place began work last December on the 320,000 square foot, $150 million development, with 100,000 square feet office space, a 205-unit residential apartment building, 20,000 square feet of street-level retail, but on Monday its developers will fete themselves and the sale of an office condo to anchor occupant United Negro College Fund (UNCF).

UNCF officially purchased half the project's office space on December 24th, but developers were already doing site work on the vacant lot in anticipation of the settlement and Eagle Bank's $13m loan made possible by the sale, which was in turn made possible by the city's $3.6m financing subsidy for UNCF. Ellis Development, The Jarvis Company, and Four Points combined forces to build a project that would be hard to overestimate in importance as a beacon for Shaw's development, adding housing, jobs and retail in an area that had little investment in any of those markets. Progression Place is adjacent to the Howard Theater, also being developed by Ellis, and will build in parking for the historic theater and add a rebuilt Metro entrance.

UNCF's office condo and the "7th Flats" will both be ready for occupancy in mid 2012. With a new library in place just to the south, and the Convention Center Marriott already underway, the O Street Market remains the largest holdout that could tie together development along the 7th Street corridor.

Design is being handled jointly by architects Eric Colbert & Associates and Devereux and Associates, and built by Davis Construction and Gilford Corporation. The public ceremony will be held at the Lincoln Theater at 11am on Monday.

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Utopia Construction On Track for Fall 2011

Some folks in the District have fast developed a hankering for the hot dog that's the main attraction at ChiDogo on 14th Street- a Chicago style dawg that's a lively combination, juxtaposing salty and sweet, fat and acid. Served on a poppy seed bun, dressed with a dill pickle, tomatoes, relish, and mustard and sprinkled with celery salt for good measure, the dawg can't be had for long. Despite that ChiDogo is the newest kid on the block having opened just three months ago, its tenure will be short lived: the building is slated for demolition this fall to make way for Utopia.

Conceived by Georgetown Strategic Capital (GSC), the Utopia development will serve up 220 rental units and 20,000 square feet of retail. Eric Colbert & Associates have moved forward on the drawings, says Robert Moore of GSC, with plans for completion of the drawings by spring. "The design is shaping up to be a very attractive solution, combining a sensitivity to the historic buildings and materials with a modern flair as Colbert has demonstrated in some of his other work," says Moore. Colbert & Associates also designed Church Place condos, The Hudson on P Street, The Floridian on 9th Street and The Rutherford on 13th Street.

ChiDogo, located at 1934C 14th Street, isn't the only business on the strip with numbered days: also on the chopping block is the United Supreme Council building, the Domino's location, Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken. The buildings which house Ace Check Cashing, McDonald's and El Paraiso are historic and will remain intact.

Utopia's facade is to be terraced so it blends with the surrounding rowhouses as opposed to coming off as a behomoth of the block. That may be a tall order, considering: at 90 feet high, it's set to become the most towering building in the neighborhood. Colbert & Associates maintain that they have been sensitive to community concerns, having met monthly with groups such as the ANC, Dupont Circle Conservancy, and the city's historic preservation staff.

Creating Utopia can be disquieting work. The project has been an on again and off again venture that began in 2008 and was granted an extension to November 2012 by the Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA) this past June. The group had trouble securing funding for the 93.5 million-dollar project during the flagging economy, but has since rebounded. Once permits are obtained, Moore expects a year-long construction period: a rather aggressive plan, but kudos if they can pull it off.

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A Kick Start for Buzzards Point?

Buzzards Point, the southern tip of the District above Anacostia, is about as desolate a neighborhood one can find in the DC region - empty lots, equipment storage fields, and an overall post-industrial decay that makes ballpark visitors quicken the walk back to their car late at night. An actual buzzard circling above would not seem entirely out of place. But all of that is going to change, and one local developer thinks that time might just be nigh.

The promise of the area is obvious, close to the Capitol and a focal point for DC's highways, the region is still secluded and private, and is surrounded by water, and the area's largest developers like PN Hoffman (along Water Street) and Steuart Investment (with more than 5 acres at the tip of South Capitol) and Akridge among them. But Duane Deason, who bought the empty 20,000 s.f. lot on the Anacostia back in 2004, when a new baseball stadium was maybe, just possibly, coming to southeast, has plans for an Eric Colbert-designed condominium, and thinks the time is right to start.

On the boards is an 80-foot high, 97 unit condominium nearly fronting the water behind the marina. "If you had asked me in the 3rd quarter of last year I would have said we were quite a ways away, but right now I'd say we are moving much faster...the market has notably improved, and I think its a good time to take advantage of that." Deason has an upcoming hearing before the Zoning Commission and is actively pushing ahead. "This is our first hearing before Zoning; there's no such thing as matter of right here, but we're sort of there, we don't need a PUD [zoning change] to do this."

Deason has little company at the moment, the other Buzzard Point developers are sitting on their hands, reasoning that there it makes little sense to develop in isolation without a pre-signed tenant. "Eventually I think it will be a great place" says one developer with skin in the game nearby that is choosing to wait. Deason is confident. "Eventually there's going to be other places, with the PN Hoffman development there, but there's a view of the water, the Coast Guard is there for another 5 years or so. There is the planned riverwalk, that will come. There are a couple of big landowners there that will cause a huge change." Deason says he paid under $1m for the property, including all costs associated with the acquisition, and that while he doesn't have a development financier, he has no financial pressure and will consider a joint venture partner.

"Being only 75 feet off there water, there's just not alot out there that currently that offers that, with a view of your boat...I love the waterfront and I just thought it was a fantastic location" said Deason. "The views are phenomenal because its on a point, almost every unit in the building will have an outstanding view of the water." Deason says most of the units will be less than 1000 s.f., and the new inclusionary zoning rules mean another 7200 s.f. of affordable housing.

While Deason may not have any immediate residential neighbors on the waterfront, another residential developer in southwest has the same sense of potential value and will break ground much sooner, you can read about that at DCMud this afternoon.

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Tax Abatement For NW1 On the Way, Groundbreaking Around the Bend

Phase One of the Northwest One project, located at 2 M Street NE, is progressing steadily towards their predicted 2011 late first quarter groundbreaking. A tax abatement bill for the property passed smoothly through the first round of deliberation at last week's District Council meeting, and has been put on the consent calender for the next Whole Council meeting on the 21st. The 10 year abatement would begin in the fiscal year 2015, and relieve developers from up to $5.7 million in District property dues. Developers at William C. Smith and Co. also report that they're nearly half way through the process to lock up financing through HUD’s Section 220 loan program. It seems a waiting game on multiple fronts, with plenty of time to cover all the bases before construction begins; project manager Steve Green reports, "We're in for every building permit there is."

The 12-story building, designed by Eric Colbert & Associates, is the first new construction project under the District-conceived New Communities Initiative, a program aimed at improving both the physical and social conditions of some of the District's most troubled neighborhoods. Not only will the transformation offer affordable places to live, but will also include social services; comprehensive efforts will be made towards connecting residents with job opportunities, offer guidance towards financial stability, and programs to reduce crime and substance abuse. The new construction, to be carried out by WCS Construction, will offer upon completion 314 units, as well as an on-site fitness center, pool, and basketball court. Fifty-nine of the residential units will be reserved for those earning 30% AMI, 34 at 60% AMI, and the remaining 221 will be rented at market rate. The building will also include 4,000 s.f. of ground floor retail.

Earning a lot of firsts, the building will be the initial installment of the Northwest One Initiative, the first neighborhood makeover of the New Communities program. The expansive project will offer much-needed development-first-aide for the scarred, crime-plagued real estate extending from K Street in the south to New York Avenue in the north, and stretching from North Capitol Street in the east to New Jersey Avenue in the west. The initial building will claim $82 million of the estimated total of $700 million in development and construction costs. The project's next phase will likely be the construction of a building directly to the north of phase one, but developers aren't getting ahead of themselves just yet; the lengthy two-year construction time for the first phase projects a delivery in the early part of 2013.

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