Today in Pictures - CityMarket at O

The CityMarket at O, Shaw's latest mega project, got underway last September with the closure and demolition of the Giant supermarket, which will be replaced with a new, larger Giant in 2 years time. The new 71,000-s.f. Giant will be the first completed aspect of the project, followed by a 182-key Cambria Suites hotel, 150 condominiums and 635 apartments (84 set aside as affordable senior housing) as well as restoration of the O Street Market, one of the 5 original brick markets built in Washington D.C. The project is headed by Roadside Development, with design by Shalom Baranes and construction by Clark.









Washington D.C. real estate development news. Photos by Rey Lopez.

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"Things Are Moving" for O Street Market

Think Eastern Market meets City Vista if you're trying to imagine what the CityMarket at O will look like, the $260 million dollar project to help revitalize Shaw's business district. "It will embrace an unusual combination of 19th century charm and 21st century technology," said Armand Spikell, Principal of Roadside Development about the Shaw project that will transform two city blocks in Shaw.

Though Roadside had applied to raze the Giant at 1414 8th Street at the end of January - the first of many permits - the demolition date is still hazy, though Spikell projects the store will close this summer. Between now and then, the group has been digging around the foundation and adding steel braces to support the historic market building.

The new Giant Foods will be larger than the Safeway that now resides in City Vista. 55,000 of the 87,000 s.f of retail space is slated for Giant, of which 13,000 s.f. will be underground. This includes the loading dock in particular. "During the initial meetings, the community stated they did not want the eyesore of the docks that take up 9th Street now. It is a very unusual move, but we've tucked all that out of sight," said Spikell.

Also out of sight are the 500 parking spaces, which will also serve as an option for the Convention Center so as not to congest the neighborhood, again at the behest of the community. The remaining retail space is slated for small local businesses, none of which have yet signed at this early date; businesses would not open doors until 2013.

"Working with metro on foundations, working on design, meeting with the community, securing funding through HUD, this is not a normal commercial venture," said Spikell, "and this all takes time." Having started in 2003, eight years later, "things are finally starting to move."

Washington DC real estate development news

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Shaw Community, Public Officials, Set to Celebrate CityMarket Groundbreaking Wednesday

Approved by the HPRB way back in August of 2007, and then by Zoning in May of 2008, Roadside Development's mixed-use CityMarket at O project apparently has a long shelf life. Developers have regularly attempted to quell the usual doubters with news of restructured financing, and updated timelines, but will finally lay uncertainty to rest, as a groundbreaking shindig is dated for Wednesday afternoon of this week. Festivities could include some palpable political tension, as mayoral candidate rivals political-polling master Vincent Gray and the Smart-car-piloting Mayor Fenty will likely both be in attendance. After the two year stall in action, a strategy becoming evermore popular in development world, Roadside's shovel plunge at CityMarket is an important step in the revitalization of the Shaw district.

Now residents are set to receive their long-awaited attention with a one million s.f. urban infill project that will solidify, restore, and protect the historic facade of the enduring O Street Market, constructed in 1881 and now only a shell, as well as populate four lonely acres of mostly abandoned land between 9th, 7th, P and O Streets, NW with residential (over 600 units) and commercial buildings (87,000 s.f. of retail). Shalom Baranes Architects has been trusted to oversee the design process. A heavy snowstorm destroyed the roof the Market building in 2001, but architects and developers are confident the building will be restored to its original grandeur. Project architect Andrew Taylor says that they intend on avoiding a monolithic design theme, and that each building will have its own personality. "There is an effort...to create a composition of buildings surrounding and drawing attention to the Market, using modern elements that pick up on the more playful elements of the Market's Victorian architecture."


The project also includes the demolition of the current Giant grocery store, with plans for a much grander replacement. Roadside says of the planned Giant: "The new store will combine the charm of the 19th Century with 21st Century efficiency to create one of Washington's largest food stores and the East Coast's most unique and interesting shopping experiences." Stabilization of the O Street Market building for the purpose of preservation, and protection from subsequent ground excavation, is the first order of business, beginning this week. Demolition of the current Giant is next on the agenda, scheduled for later this winter, with the 24-month shot-clock commencing on January 15th, counting down the time developers have to deliver the new grocery store. The redevelopment won't be fully realized until sometime in 2013. Clark Construction is handling general contracting duties.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

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