DC Metrocentric

Ever since we reported back in June that the long stalled O Street Market project (pictured) was finally back on, we have been excitedly waiting for work to get started… and as of today Roadside Development has broken ground on the CityMarket at O!

The city’s finest including the Council Members, the Mayor and Congresswomen Holmes Norton were out in full force today to welcome the one million sq-ft mixed-use development, which will include the City’s largest Giant Food supermarket, apartments, condominiums, affordable senior housing, a hotel and retail shops.

The developer won’t be wasting any time with work commencing immediate around the preservation and securing of the historic market structure.  This will be succeeded by the closing of the Giant Food store in January 2011 and the razing of the store and excavation beginning in February 2011.  The Giant will reopen twenty-four months after closing with hotel and housing opening a year later. Hooray for historic preservation!

Call it the curse of the PriceChecker, but another unit previously featured in our price guessing game has gone under the chopper. The almost 3000 sq-ft of luxury at the Watergate is now listed for only $3.5 million, which is exactly one MILLION dollars less than it was listed for this time last year (that’s six zeros)!

It’s a great looking unit with incredible views but we guess for only two bedrooms the unit wasn’t moving, what do you think of the new price? More reasonable?

Another great one from prolific area photo maven MV Jantzen who judging by his flickr account manages to be everywhere capturing shots from all over town each week.This great shot of the setting sun makes us want to go for a long walk along the Potomac… especially now that the new Georgetown Waterfront Park is complete.

[Photo: MV Jantzen]

For a little while there really was no where to go but up for area home prices, but it looks like there is still room to run with the latest Case Shiller survey showing 7.3% year over year growth in Washington Area home value. Not only are homes growing at a healthy pace, but we still continue to outpace most of the rest of the country.

Higher home values are of course a double edged sword, good for home owners who saw the value of their house decline for the last few years, and bad for home buyers who face an increasingly pricey market in most neighborhoods.

[Photo: Mr T in DC]

As of today, ground is officially broken in Silver Spring on the huge new Lukmire Partnership designed library. The interesting massive glass design is intended to in the words of the architect “glow like a lantern” and preserves a light rail station passing “under” the building.

In addition to multiple floors of library space there will also be meeting rooms and a community arts center. We have repeatedly been reassured that the orange creamsicle color scheme in all the renderings we have seen so far will not remain, but now that ground has broken, we’re not so sure we believe them anymore!

[Rendering: Lukmire Partnership]

The FTC is out looking for more space again (half a million sq-ft to be exact) as its workforce is expected to grow beyond its current space by 2014.  The Pennsylvania Ave HQ built back in 1938 by architect Edward H. Bennett has been the FTCs home for over 70 years, but as the agencies mission and role have changed, so have its space needs.

Historically agencies haven’t been forced out of locations, but given the FTC buildings proximity to the National Mall, the gallery of Art has had its eye on the building for years, with several unsuccessful attempts over the years to take over the building. This may be the reason the benefactors of the Gallery of Art has been looking for.

At the end of the day, it’s ultimately up to Congress so we will see what happens.

[Photo: MV Jantzen]

The iconic architecture of our metro system has set the scene for some very interesting photos over the years, but we don’t think we’ve ever seen such colorful lighting. The prominent green fading into blues and pinks is stunning! Great shot!

Metro Walkway, originally uploaded by rpiker101.

For the past few months we have been noticing the construction underway along 10th Street NW in the Penn Quarter and from the looks of it, the thin little ten story building is now getting completely gutted. The building looks old, and tearing down and rebuilding such a narrow and tall building probably didn’t make economic sense.

The work is being done by Davis Construction and given that the rest of the block is mostly three story buildings, the views must be great from all sides. Actually we wouldn’t mind moving in once work is complete!

More photos after the jump…

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When touting the merits of new construction office buildings we have heard a lot of things, but we don’t recall ever hearing anything about how great the color of the building was. Well times have changed because back when office construction was just getting started in Dupont Circle, this vintage post card for a new building was really playing up its blueness.

The caption reads “The Capital’s newest, largest, and finest BLUE building”. We can’t imagine there were that many other blue buildings to begin with so we guess that narrow of a field makes it fairly easy to be the biggest and best.

[Credit: Dan_DC]

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Best New Listings: End of August Edition

The end of August usually offers slim pickings in terms of new real estate hitting the market, but for this week’s edition of Best New Listings, we come across a large two-bedroom co-op at the intersection of Adams Morgan and Mount Pleasant and a five-bedroom row house in the U Street Corridor.

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Your chance to take a stab at real estate appraisal.

Well your guesses are in and counted, and the actual list price on the two bedroom 2,000 sq-ft Georgetown condo is $2,495,000.

We’re not too surprised, are you?

This week the Arlington Retail Task Force will be meeting with the County Board to make recommendation based on a two year study of the county. Apparently one major element of the recommendation centers around loosening the current requirements around zoning and site plans for street retail.

If adopted by the board, the change would have a major effect on an area that owes a lot of its success and responsible development to these very rules.  We understand that retail doesn’t work in all areas but the rule has allowed developers to be creative in their use of the first floor, and things like art galleries and public spaces have been successful too.

Clearly there is a happy medium between the right amount of retail and being flexible with the specifics of the location, but we will have to wait and see where the County Board falls on that divide. We will keep you posted!

[Photo: Smart Growth]

Now that the new owners of the project at 10th and G street NW are back to work, we’ve seen a lot of progress lately including the installation of the main site crane and now the concrete is officially flowing as they work on the foundation. What we are really interested to see though, is once the construction starts going vertical so we can judge how this monstrosity is going to actually look compared to the renderings!

[Photo: DCMetrocentric]

We have drooled over units in this Georgetown building before, and now fresh on the market is this two bedroom 2,000 sq-ft condo with some major views. Everything you would expect including the requisite SubZero appliances, hardwood floors and marble throughout.

SO leave your best guesses in the comments and we will crown a winner next Monday afternoon. Of course the building also has a rooftop pool, more photos and realtor spin after the jump…

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