Posts Tagged ‘Washington Business Journal’
Streetcars Coming to Alexandria Too?
Coming to a D.C. street near you: Washington’s streetcars are on their way from the Czech Republic.
Everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon now. D.C.’s getting streetcar lines, as are Arlington and Fairfax, and now a group of Alexandria residents is hoping the idea will catch on there too.
Last night, an Alexandrian group promoting smart growth launched a new initiative called the Northern Virginia Streetcar Coalition. They envision the Arlington streetcar extending into Alexandria and would like the city to order a feasibility study.
“There are three possibilities for extending the streetcar line into Alexandria: just into Potomac Yard, both at Potomac Yard and into NOVA and Mark Center, or all of the above connecting east and west with an extension down Duke Street along the designated rapid transit lane. This last alternative would create a loop facilitating the operation of the streetcar line as the cars would not have to turn around,” the group writes on their website.
Two Proposals Offered for West End Library Site
The Washington Business Journal is reporting that two bidders have offered proposals to redevelop the West End library and a nearby fire station. One is EastBanc Inc., which set its sights on this piece of land a while ago.
As I wrote back in July, the development of the West End library is a storied project. Back in 2007, the library’s land was almost sold off to Eastbanc as part of emergency legislation. When the company’s president earnestly discussed his plans with neighborhood folks, they responded with “derisive laughter,” as we reported back then. The proposal, which included condos and retail, went nowhere.
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Capitol Riverfront Gets New Restaurant, Several New City Agencies
The view from Capitol Riverfront’s 55 M Street, which just signed its first tenant.
The Capitol Riverfront hastened its slow trickle of tenants and businesses during the last few weeks. On Friday, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced that the city would be taking over a building, located at 225 Virginia Ave. SE on the northern border of the neighborhood. In two years, Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA), Office of Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), and District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) will move into the newly renovated, 350,000-square-foot LEED Silver certified office building.
Yeah, city agencies! Just what a neighborhood needs to generate buzz and inch onto people’s radars! Thankfully, there have been other new signs of life: As I previously noted, Harris Teeter signed a letter of intent to open a new location in the Capitol Riverfront. More recently—as in last week—the Washington Business Journal reported that a new Italian pizza/salad/sandwich joint will move into the recently completed Velocity Capitol Riverfront condo building.
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Stevens Elementary—Officially the Most Contentious Development Deal of the Year?
Yeah—I think so!
That little downtown building up there is causing a lot of trouble.
Here is a brief history:
- When the legendary Stevens Elementary School closed down, nine companies from around the country bid to take over its West End campus. (That was the greatest number of offers generated from any other school redevelopment opportunity in recent history, except for Hine Junior High School.)
- Then the city selected a developer, but didn’t publicly announce its pick because the choice caused such an uproar.
- Then, locals started speaking out, even asking the chosen developer to abandon its plan, and just go away.
- Then—and here’s the big news of the day, courtesy of the Washington Business Journal—one thwarted developer, a finalist for the project, announced he was so fed up with the current Adrian Fenty-run administration, he may just run for mayor himself! That man is Don Peebles. Here’s some information on this potential challenger! (from the WBJ.)
A graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School who grew up in parts of Northwest and Southeast D.C., Peebles resides in Florida but has a home off of Massachusetts Avenue NW in Ward 3. Although he spent much of the real estate boom doing projects in the South, he has been more visible in D.C. in the last year or two. In town Oct. 17 for the annual gala of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, he said if he were to run for mayor he would not spend his time in Florida. “If I was going to run for mayor of Washington, D.C., that would not be a question,” he said.
Peebles has built a number of multimillion dollar luxury hotels and resorts in Miami Beach, as well as office properties such as 10 G St. NE, making him one of the country’s richest African-Americans.
Image by APK, Wikimedia Commons
And One More Note About Art Place@Ft. Totten
Ft. Totten’s new look (above) and its current state below.
And since we’re discussing the Art Place @ Ft. Totten, let me provide a few numbers, for comparison’s sake, on its enormity.
The Art Place@Ft. Totten—located next to the Fort Totten Metro Station—will include a children’s museum, a grocery store, tons of retail space and 929 residential units. The entire parcel of land is 17 acres.
Also, more pictures below the jump.
The Latest on Streetcars…
Wires galore power San Francisco’s streetcars–the overhead lines currently aren’t allowed in D.C.
A few tracks have already been laid down on H Street. And Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells says the first streetcar installed in the District will run there rather than in Anacostia, as previously thought.
Still: don’t plan on hopping on a streetcar to the Rock and Roll Hotel or Granville Moore’s anytime soon. There are a couple more major hurdles to get through, according to the Washington Business Journal.
Can You Just Throw an Artist at Every Problem?
Washington D.C. is beating New York City in at least one thing: Keeping our office buildings bustling.
In the past year, New York office rents have dived more than 18 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal, and vacancies are at 11.4 percent.
Figures like these prompted New York Magazine to recently envision reusing vacant city offices as transformed artist spaces, proclaiming the cubicle “the new loft.”
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Barry Pissed About the Departure of DC Housing Authority Director
Councilmember Marion Barry is angered by the departure of former D.C. Housing Authority head Michael Kelly. He’s got no problem with Kelly. Instead, he’s blaming a favorite target: The mayor.
The Washington Business Journal is reporting that Barry believes the board of the D.C. Housing Authority should have pushed harder to keep Kelly in his job in D.C. After nine years in Washington, Kelly resigned his post last month.
“I am greatly disappointed by the actions of this board…The board had the responsibility of providing a strong vote of confidence during the contract negotiations of Mr. Kelly,” Barry said in a statement.
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D.C. Housing Authority Director Takes New York City Job
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has just announced he’s grabbing one of the Washington’s own, Michael Kelly, to head up public housing in New York City.
In mid September, Kelly announced he was leaving his post as executive director of the D.C. Housing Authority, a job which he’d held since 2000.
In Washington, he oversaw 8,000 publicly owned units and 10,500 housing vouchers. In New York, he’ll manage 178,000 apartments and 640,000 New York City residents served by Section 8 housing vouchers, as the Washington Business Journal pointed out.
In other words: Yikes!
“[New York] is bigger than something like the next eight housing authorities put together,” says DCHA spokesperson Dena Michaelson.
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DC Council Kills General Vacant Property Tax Rate
Mid-summer, amidst many tax increases, the D.C. Council preliminarily approved a move to decrease the tax rate on vacant—often troublesome—properties. According to Councilmember Phil Mendelson, the higher rate was “actually mak[ing] it difficult for some property owners to sell or put their property back to use.”
Maybe so. But the decision wasn’t exactly a crowd-pleaser. At the time, Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser was already working on some special language that would specifically target the empty-rowhouses-turned-neighborhood-crack-dens many of us have become familiar with.
But today, the Washington Business Journal reports a twist. The special vacancy tax rate–previously “more than 10 times the residential rate of 85 cents”—is totally gone!
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