Who says you need millions of dollars and a high profile building to open up a museum in this town? The German American Museum is set to open its door this weekend in their new building on 6th street in Penn Quarter. The opening is a long time coming after almost three years of renovations on the historic building.
The building was originally built in 1888 by German immigrant John Hockemeyer who was a successful merchant. The exterior was completely restored (picture above from during renovation) and the brick work was painted over. The interiors got a nice treatment of light woods to make for a bright and open space.
It’s official, the District has selected the proposal from EastBanc for the redevelopment of the Police station and library in the West End (pictured). The design had mixed reviews when we looked at the proposals back in January, but now we know what we are going to get.
The main criticism of both the winning proposal and the one from Toll Brothers centered on the scale of the building with the surrounding properties, so it will be interesting to see if there are any revisions to the design or increases to the set back. Also the question still remains on what will occupy the the first floor, other than the library of course.
Another update of more planned activity along MLK Blvd in SE, this time it’s on the Matthews Memorial Terrace and a community services building on the 2600th block. According to the District’s website, proposals were turned in at the end of last month and they are “supposed” to be breaking ground this month.
There has been a bit of debate though over which designs will end up actually being built. The one pictured is from the original submission last year, but there are also some other elevations that look different. Either way it will be great to see some more mixed residential development which is targeting those that need to relocate from the Barry Farm public housing, as well as seniors, and families. Having a mixed demographic as well as co-locating community facilities is smart growth, so we like how this is shaping up. Hopefully they will break ground soon.
The little project going up at 2345 MLK ave has been getting a lot of attention now that construction is underway. There has been a lot of speculation of how the exterior is going to look, but now the banner up at the site (pictured) can put all that speculation to rest. Not as interesting as the original more ambitious plans, but still modern and different…
More photos of the construction progress after the jump…
All the proposals are in for the redevelopment of the old Justice Park located at 1427 Euclid Street NW and this month one of the four bids is going to be chosen so we thought we would take a look at our options. The proposals are fairly similar and are split between condos or apartments all with around 40 units.
The development is going to be on the site of the old Justice Park, with the new park just across the street. The teams include Argos Group and Potomac Investment Properties, Euclid Partners (pictured above), Mosaic Urban Partners and Bogdan Builders, and the Neighborhood Development Company.
You can find all the details here (PDF), but we are just going to let the renderings speak for themselves, check out the rest after the jump… what do you think? Which is the winning proposal?
Looks like the folks behind the new mega skyscraper development in Rosslyn have put together a nice little promotional video. It includes the new reconfigured plaza we talked about last week as well as some of the amazing views the new building will have of the surrounding area.
We can’t wait to take pictures from that observation deck!
The project included over 100,000 sq-ft of office, residential, and a 200 spot parking garage. There was a package worth almost $30 million in subsidies put together to make this project happen, but at least in the immediate future, even that ended up not being enough.
The announced closure of the downtown DC location of the West Elm in the beautiful old Woodward & Lorthrop building has rightly been getting a lot of attention this week across the area. The news was surprising considering all the financial incentives the District provided to lure the store to the location on G Street…
We were worried about having another huge block long empty store front, but are happy to have gotten official confirmation that there is already a new tenant lined up for the space. Joining the fray of low cost high fashion retailers in that area will be a massive Forever 21 store. What do you think, improvement or regression?
The Dupont ANC just this week approved plans from architects FORMDesign to develop a mixed use project right in the heart of Dupont. The project at 1737 Connecticut Avenue will include adding an additional story to the building, adding residential space and expanding the retail space in a building which originally dates back to the 1950s.
Looks for work to start in the summer and finish up in 2011, the real question is what type of restaurant will occuppy the two story redesigned space.
With the coming redevelopment of the core center of Rosslyn, it makes sense to take the opportunity to reconfigure how people access the metro station. Currently the area is a confusing mess of overhead walkways but as you can see, the reconfiguration of the metro entrance will allow for the creation of great looking pedestrian plaza which will be surrounded by all the new skyscrapers.
Best part of the reconfiguration? It is being paid for by JBG as part of their construction of the adjacent 31 story Rosslyn Central Place development.
The first phases of Constitution Square is right on track for delivery later this year and we have just gotten word that in addition to the new 50,000 square foot Harris Teeter the developer has just signed on five more new retail leases.
The new retail includes a Bank, a Potbelly Sandwich restaurant, Tynan Coffee & Tea café, Constitution Café restaurant, and a drycleaner. Constitution Square’s 80,000 square feet of street-level retail space is now 84 percent pre-leased to Harris Teeter and the five new retail tenants.
This development is really becoming a catalyst for the neighborhood and now there are going to be even more of the services residents need (other than the rooftop pool of course).
Looks like while the site of the new development the Arts at 5th and Eye (pictured below) is waiting for construction to start, the owners are going to use the property as a big parking lot. We are hearing from community members that they are not that happy about this idea and we got a press release from ANC 6C commissioner Keith Silver about the possibility of picketing. What do you think, is a temporary parking lot so bad?
It has been over a year since we first reported on plans to bring a Bloomingdale’s department store to Georgetown along M Street, and now we know what the development is going to look like. The plans include 82,000 sq ft in the Shops at Georgetown Park as well as residential units above the western side of the mall.
Interestingly the design replaces the current facade where Intermix currently resides with a more modern looking brick and glass design. Not sure how well this will be received by the Historic Preservation Board, we all know how picky they can be. Also it looks like there is a rooftop pool! Another rendering with a better view of the new street front facade is after the jump…
Remember the big plans to use the air rights over Union Station rail yard to build three million square feet of mixed use buildings? Well the project being dubbed Burnham Place was back before the ANC 6C Planning, Zoning, and the Environment committee to discuss changes to the zoning request related to the special air rights zone.
The main idea is to create a new stand-alone zone called Union Station North which would establish its own Zoning Commission design review and approval process as well as increasing the height restrictions. No update on the time fame though.
