Architect’s rendering of the proposed residential-retail complex at the southwest corner of 13th and U Streets NW. (Courtesy JBG Cos.)

From Tom Hay. Questions for Tom? Send him an email at Tom[AT]borderstan.com. You can follow him on Twitter @Tomonswann.

See list of related stories on JBG Cos. projects and development in the area at the bottom of this story.

Nearly 50 people turned out Tuesday evening for a community forum at Busboys & Poets on 14th Street to hear the latest plans for the development at the southwest corner of 13th and U Streets NW. The presentation was by the developer of the project, JBG Cos. and the architect, David M. Schwarz Architects.

Things heated up a few weeks ago when JBG announced at the March meeting of the U Street Neighborhood Association that they were indeed going forward with a plan — originally presented back in 2008 — for a boutique hotel at the site. About a week later information was circulated that suggested a hotel was off the drawing board and the building would instead be residential.

The hotel concept is indeed off the drawing board. JBG’s James Nozar explained that the proposed 250-room hotel would not be financially viable given the pressure from neighbors to reduce the size of the building. JBG is exploring other sites in the area for a hotel.

Not entirely surprising for JBG; the nimble developer has been known to react quickly to market demands. Late last year JBG announced that they were changing course on the 14th and S project and would market the units as luxury apartments rather than condominiums.

History of the Site

The site is a one-story commercial strip built about 20 years ago at the corner of 13th and U. The corner is anchored by the Rite Aid drugstore and sits opposite the Ellington Apartment building. The last storefront impacted on the western end of the site would be Al Crostino restaurant at 1324 U Street NW, which is about mid-block.

The back of the site faces the rear yards of the residential row of two-story townhouses on Wallach Place. James Nozar of JBG, and now a frequent fixture before Advisory Neighborhood Commissions and community groups, started things off with an update on their plans. The hotel concept is indeed off the drawing board. Nozar explained that the proposed 250-room hotel would not be financially viable given the pressure to reduce the size of the building. JBG is exploring other sites in the area for a hotel.

Plans for Residential Building

The residential design presented Tuesday night would have 138 units, 72 underground parking space and ground floor retail. Rite Aid would remain as the primary tenant at the corner. The floor plans would be a mix of 1- and 2-bedroom apartments with potential to combine units. No efficiency units are planned. The overall building height would be 90 feet with an 18-foot mechanical penthouse.

Many people inquired about the possibility of an office building for the site; given the need for more daytime foot traffic to support businesses. Apparently the lot dimensions would not allow a floor plan suitable for office suites.

The plan will allow for a 20-foot alley along the rear. David Schwarz, the architect, said the facade of the building will have the same spirit and character of the  earlier hotel design, with a few changes to the overall massing. Specifics on the material and color are still being developed. Schwarz explained that the building will have almost have three front facades given the site — U Street, 13th Street and the alley-facing facade, since it would be so visible as you head north on 13th Street.

Residents Wary of Project

Attendees asked pointed questions to the presenters — some barbs were even directed at other attendees. Only a few people asking questions identified where they live, but it was obvious residents from Wallach Place and the adjoining blocks of 13th Street were well represented. Questions were raised about the building’s alley access, planned retail tenants, roof deck and affordability.

Many people inquired about the possibility of an office building for the site; given the need for more daytime foot traffic to support businesses. Apparently the lot dimensions would not allow a floor plan suitable for office suites. There were grumbles of protest when Schwarz suggested that the new building is better than the current uninspired strip of retail with a row of dumpsters along residents rear yards. The new building will have an enclosed loading dock in the rear for deliveries, which only seemed to impress a few people.

Many inquiries concerned zoning variances that JBG will need to proceed, the presenters explained that they will pursue a Planned Unit Development (PUD). for the project. The DC Zoning Commission defines a PUD as “a planning tool which allows a developer greater flexibility in site planning and building design. This flexibility permits the developer to incorporate amenities in the project that exceed those that could have been achieved under the general provisions of the Zoning Regulations.”

Other Nearby projects in Pipeline

Wallach Place residents and nearby community groups went through several rounds of negotiations with another developer over the appearance and size a planned residential building on the stretch of 14th Street between Wallach Place and T Streets NW. Plans were eventually downsized by about 10 units.

The effort and surrounding development in the area even prompted the creation of a new neighborhood blog, U Street Dirt. JBG is embarking on a building frenzy in the blocks surrounding 14th and U. At least five projects are either underway or in the development pipeline: The District apartments at 14th and S, The Louis at 14th and U NW, an unnamed project at 8th and Florida NW, the 13th and U project and another planned for the “Atlantic Plumbing” lots near the 9:30 Club.

The developer will continue to make the rounds of neighborhood meetings and DC agency reviews, and adjust plans to respond to the recommendations.

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Related Posts

• JBG Cos. Developing All Around U Street Corridor (Hotel or No Hotel?)
• Plans Unveiled for the Louis at 14th/U; Will Remake Famous Corner
• Feb. 2: ANC 1B Takes Closer Look at Florida Avenue Development
• Developer Changes Course: Rentals Not Condos at 14th & S NW
• U Street Dirt: “NOT Ballston” for 14th & U
• In Pictures: Development Projects Line the 14th Street Corridor

What will JBG Cos. build at the southwest corner of 13th and U Streets NW? (Luis Gomez Photos)

From Tom Hay. Questions for Tom? Send him an email at Tom[AT]borderstan.com. You can follow him on Twitter@Tomonswann.

Another one gone: Hunted House departs for H Street NE. (Luis Gomez Photos)

Hunted House Departs for H Street NE

Vintage furniture store Hunted House had their last weekend in the neighborhood after five years at 1830 14th Street, NW. Owner Mark Johnson reports that he will move the store to 510 H Street, NE and plans to open on or just before May 1.

Mimilah Pop-Up Leaving Space Above Miss Pixie’s

Mimilah also announced their last weekend. The pop-up shop was located on the second floor of Miss Pixie’s Collective at 1626 14th Street NW (former site of Mid City Caffe). Owner Lish says fans can like Mimilah on Facebook to keep up-to-date on where you can find her merchandise locally and for information on future pop-up shops. The space above Miss Pixie’s will be the future home of an expanded Body Smith gym.

April 10: JBG forum on 13th and U Project

A few weeks ago it was reported that the dormant plans for development at the southwest corner of 13th and U Streets NW were being revived. Originally slated to be a hotel, more recent information is suggesting rental apartments. Developer JBG Cos. will be hosting a community forum to discuss the “conceptual architectural character” of the building.

At recent neighborhood meetings discussing the project, numerous attendees had serious concerns about the height of the proposed building. JBG is the developer behind several other major projects in the area: The District apartments at 14th and S, The Louis at 14th and U, and an unnamed project at 8th and Florida. The meeting on the 13th and U plans will be held Tuesday, April 10 at 7 pm at Busboys & Poets at 14th and V Streets NW.

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Related Posts

• JBG Cos. Developing All Around U Street Corridor (Hotel or No Hotel?)
• Nov. 12: Mimilah Modern Vintage Opening in Former Mid City Caffe Space

Artist rendering of the Louis apartment-retail complex that is just getting underway on the southwest corner of 14th and U Streets NW. (courtesy JBG Cos.)

By Michelle Lancaster. You can follow her and let her know your news on Twitter @MichLancaster. Email her at michellel[AT]borderstan.com.

The real estate developer JBG Cos, has five large projects underway between 14th and S Streets and 7th and Florida Avenue NW. According to the Washington City Paper‘s Housing Complex Blog, all of them are in varying stages of development and approval by various councils and boards.

Among the stalled projects is the unnamed hotel at 13th and U Streets NW, which has been snarled by financing, Rite Aid’s long-term lease and neighborhood concern about the initial design, as well as the Louis project slated for 14th and U Streets NW ($1,500 studios that may come with a ‘limited service grocer’ and all kinds of amenities on the roof). You may have also read Alejandra Owens’ post about about Estadio owner Mark Kuller’s new Asian concept at 14th and S Streets NW.

However, yesterday local blog U Street Dirt had a post yesterday about JBG’s plans for a hotel: “Hotel at 13th and U? Naah. How About Rentals?” The post asked whether JBG is changing its mind about its plans for the spot. Emails to JBG and their spokespersons late yesterday afternoon were not returned. This morning Washington City Paper‘s Housing Complex blog had a piece on the possible switch to rentals from a hotel, with a comment from JGB’s Matthew Blocher that they are essentially still exploring mixed uses for the site. Apparently more info is to come on April 10 at JBG presentation at Busboys & Poets.

Basically, if you’re already concerned about parking in the area, things could very well get much busier in a hurry… or in a bit of time, if we know the local approval processes involved for several of the bigger deliveries. But then again, it also seems that many of the new residents in the area do not own cars. Am I right?

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Related Posts

• Bistro Work, U Street Hotel News, National Non-Stops to SF, LA
• Plans Unveiled for the Louis at 14th/U; Will Remake Famous Corner
• Estadio, Proof Owner Bringing Southeast Asian Cuisine to 14th Street
• Feb. 2: ANC 1B Takes Closer Look at Florida Avenue Development
• Developer Changes Course: Rentals Not Condos at 14th & S NW
• In Pictures: Development Projects Line the 14th Street Corridor

Workmen were on site at the northeast corner of 14th and Q Streets NW this morning. (Kevan Marvasti)

Happy Friday, Borderstanis. Here’s a quick update on some items of interest.

Work starts on French Bistro at 14th and Q NW: Workmen are on site this morning at the former laundry location at the northeast corner of 14th and Q Streets NW. A liquor license application was filed in early January by Parc Deux Restaurant Partners, LLC — owners of the popular spot by the same name on Philadelpia’s Rittenhouse Square. However, the name of the new place is still to be determined, according to owner Stephen Starr in a November article in the Washington Business Journal.

U Street Hotel Update: Lydia DePillis at the City Paper‘s Housing Complex blog is brimming with local development news this morning after attending last night’s U Street Neighborhood Association meeting. The big news is that the planned hotel at 13th and U Streets NW (another JBG Cos. project) appears to be finally moving forward, and that an agreement has been reached with the Rite Aid on a temporary location for that store while work is underway.

However, neighbors in the area, particularly on Wallach Place NW (the street just south of that block of U)  have raised objections regarding the height of the planned structure — so there is probably a ways to go before a final plan is developed. Check out a 2009 illustration of the planned hotel development on the U Street Neighborhood website.

Nonstop flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco from Washington National: The Washington Business Journal brings us the good news that you will soon be able to fly nonstop from Washington Reagan National Airport to San Francisco (on United) and Los Angeles (on American). You presently have to schlep to either Dulles or BWI to get a nonstop to either city. Of course, the prices will probably match the convenience of flying out National. Oh, yes, Delta is adding a nonstop from National to Salt Lake City, too. (And thanks to the reader who contacted us noting that Alaska Airlines already has a nonstop to LA from National.)

Abdo Development  has withdrawn its zoning application for the last piece of vacant land on the 1400 block of Rhode Island Avenue NW. (Luis Gomez Photos).

From Tom Hay. Questions for Tom? Email him at tom@borderstan.com and follow him on Twitter @Tomonswann.

There is never a lack of development news on 14th Street NW. In the past week, we’ve learned that one project is not moving forward and another announced their timeline for completion.The Housing Complex blog (Lydia DePillis) at Washington City Paper reports that local developer Jim Abdo has withdrawn his zoning application for a planned residential building on the last piece of vacant land on the 1400 block of Rhode Island Avenue NW. The lot is just around the corner from Abdo’s office on 14th Street NW.

Abdo Development announced plans to construct a 70-unit residential building on vacant land at 1427 Rhode Island Avenue NW back in August. Development of the plot would have completed the transformation of the block that began a decade ago. The 1400 block of Rhode Island NW is now a very desirable stretch in the neighborhood — long-time Borderstanis remember when that was definitely not the case.

Meanwhile, a few blocks north on the southwest corner of 14th and U Streets, developer JGB released a timeline for the construction of a mixed-use project. Work will get underway this month, and is expected to be completed December 2013. The development will include 268 luxury apartments and 40,000 square feet of ground floor retail.

New construction aside, the historic facades of businesses , and the businesses themselves — DC Noodles, Stem, Coppi’s and Utopia Bar & Grill — are to remain.

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Related Posts

• SYMHM: Demolition Begins, Liquor License Retained, Deli Coming
• Development: A Construction Tower, The Last Lot, Demolition

Florida Avenue between 7th and 9th Streets NW is poised for development. (Luis Gomez Photos).

From Maggie Barron. You can reach her at maggie@borderstan.com or on Twitter @maggiebarron.

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 1B holds its monthly meeting tonight, February 2, and the planned development on Florida Avenue NW between 7th and 9t Streets NW will be at the center of the agenda.  The plans for consideration come from JBG, the influential development group with “more control over the future of U Street than any other property holder,” according to The Washington Post.

JBG has already presented its residential/retail concept  to the various ANC design committees, and now the firm seeks ANC approval on issues before the Historic Preservation Board. These issues will most likely have to do with the fates of historic facades currently on the properties.

The design, covering two buildings on three parcels, comes from the Seattle firm Miller Hull Architects. JBG principal Kai Reynolds told Washington City Paper that their aesthetic will be aimed at “transforming the warehouse vernacular into housing.” In short this means lots of metal, lots of glass and perhaps an affinity for exposed staircases. (Slides from the ANC1B design committee presentation in December are available here.)

JBG bought the three parcels from Metro last summer after they had been on the market for nearly a decade. Though the lots appear vacant, they are home to a lively and at times controversial weekend flea market. (Some neighbors have complained of vendors selling stolen goods.) Michael Sussman, who runs the flea market, had a lease with Metro due to run to October 2012. When JBG purchased the property, the company made overtures to end the lease early, by the end of January.

At the last ANC 1B meeting on January 5 (which I attended), approximately 25 vendors showed up to protest the end of the lease. Sussman told the commissioners that 40 vendors and their families earn a living at the flea market, and requested that the ANC ask JBG to continue the lease.

In an email message to several neighborhood groups sent on January 13, ANC 1B Chair Myla Moss (ANC 1B-01) said that an agreement had been reached between JBG and Sussman. JBG will continue offering a month-to-month lease until October, as long as the flea market accepts a list of terms meant to eliminate traffic, trash and the sale of stolen goods.

It will be interesting to see if this issue arises again at Thursday’s meeting. I will be there and will post an update on any developments.

Northwest corner of 14th and S Streets NW: District Condos project switches to rentals. (Luis Gomez Photos)

See In Pictures: Development Projects Line the 14th Street Corridor (August 11, 2011).

From Tom Hay. Questions for Tom? Send him an email. You can follow him on Twitter @Tomonswann.

In a press release issued this afternoon JBG Companies and Grosvenor announced that the much heralded condominium project at the corner of 14th and S Streets NW would be developed instead as a “boutique apartment building.” When delivered in fall 2012 the seven-story building will have 125 apartments.

Kai Reynolds, a principal with JBG, said “We received a substantial amount of interest in the condominium project, but the strong fundamentals of the rental market and our confidence in the opportunity to deliver an exceptional boutique apartment building ultimately swayed our decision to deliver the project as an apartment.”

The condo project was unveiled last fall at an event attended by Councilmembers Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) and Jack Evans (D-Ward 2). The project was to be called District Condos. The site includes the historic building at the northwest corner of 14th and S that once housed the Whitman Walker Clinic, and the now-demolished one-story properties north to Swann Street. Graham had once served as director of the Whitman Walker Clinic (now Whitman Walker Health)  from 1984 until election to the City Council in 1998.

Whitman Walker bought the building for $1.25 million in 1986. When the District Condos project broke ground, James Nozar of JBG said the condo prices would likely start in the low $300,000 range, with a bulk of the units priced under $600,000 and a few running up more than $1 million.

Projects Underway on 14th & U Corridor

Numerous residential projects line 14th Street from Thomas Circle north toward Columbia Heights. Some of them include –

• Two condominium projects are underway a block south of the JBG / Grosvenor project — one in a former Verizon building the other on a former Zipcar lot next to AYT Auto Service (which is departing at the end of the year).
• At 14th and Wallach NW,  Level 2 Development is also readying plans for an apartment building.
• Across the street at the southwese\t corner of 14th and U, work will begin shortly on a large 200-plus unit project that JBG is a partner in as well.
• South of P Street, a small condominium project is in the works for 1328 14th Street, just south of the 7-11.
• Around the corner on the south side of Rhode Island Avenue developer ABDO  has plans for a building on the last bit of vacant land on that block.

Previous Stories On The Project

• In Pictures: Development Projects Line the 14th Street Corridor
• Construction to Begin this Month at 14th and S NW
• 14th & S Project to Be Named “District Condos”

The west side of 14th Street NW between S and Swann will become 125 condos with ground-floor retail. Digging at the site has been temporarily halted due to underground fumes affecting the residential building in the background at right. (Luis Gomez Photos)

From Tom Hay. Questions for Tom? Send him an email. You can follow him on Twitter @Tomonswann.

Just two months after the groundbreaking of the District Condos project at 14th and S Streets NW in Logan Circle, developer JBG/Grosvenor has ceased site excavation work along the western edge of the project.

The action was in response to an incident on May 8 in which fumes penetrated the two ground floor units of a neighboring residential condominium in the 1400 block of Swann Street NW. The project is on the west side of the block that runs from S Street north to Swann Street.

In a May 21 email to neighbors of the project, James Nozar, Development Manager for JBG Companies, said:

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Construction is scheduled to begin by the end of March on the residential-retail complex on the west side of 14th Street from S to Swann Streets NW. (Luis Gomez Photos).

From Tom Hay. Questions for Tom? Send him an email. You can follow him on Twitter @TomOnSwann

Construction is expected to begin within two weeks on the District Condos project on 14th Street NW between Swann and S Streets, according to the developer. The project is the first large-scale condominium to begin in the neighborhood since the recession.

Condo prices will likely start in the low $300,000 range, with a bulk of the units priced under $600,000 and a few running up over $1 million… square footage from 425 to 2,000.

Demolition and clearing of the site was completed a few weeks ago. The lone building remaining on S Street is the original Whitman-Walker Clinic building, which will be preserved and incorporated into the mixed-use project.

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The residential and retail development will span the S to Swann Street block on the west side of 14th Street NW. Shown above is the old Whitman-Walker Building at 14th and S Streets NW. (Luis Gomez Photos).

From Tom Hay

In a confluence of interest, developers, real estate agents, politicians, local business owners and residents gathered at Garden District, 14th and S Streets NW, on Wednesday. The occasion was the the naming announcement of the condo and retail development planned for the northwest corner of the intersection.

Demolition of the current buildings, except for the Whitman-Walker facade, should begin soon.

The site includes the historic building that housed the Whitman Walker Clinic and the properties north to Swann Street. Early in the presentation, the banner on the former Clinic building was released: the name of the luxury project will be District Condos. JBG is working with the international developer Grosvenor on the project.

Mark Darley, a Senior VP of Grosvenor, commented in his remarks that “the market has returned.”

Councilmembers Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) attended the event. Evans acknowledged that although the project was in his ward, Graham’s ward was just across the street, to the east.

Graham has strong ties to the building and the neighborhood. He served as director of the Whitman Walker Clinic from 1984 until election to the City Council in 1998. Graham recounted the successes of the clinic in its early days, and commented that the building now slated to be part of the development was purchased for $1.25 million in 1986.

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