In Arlington County, the November median sales price jumped to $466,500 from $445,000 in the same period last year. In Fairfax County, the median home price in November was $350,000, a 9.38 percent jump from last year, WBJ reported. They took their numbers from the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, which has D.C. numbers as well (and they are available to the public, not just people with real estate licenses and/or bylines).

Anyway, here are the November stats for the District. The first number is 2009, the second is 2008, and the last represents the percent change:

Total Volume: $ 293,218,155; $159,830,783;  83.46 %
Average Sold Price: $ 472,933; $ 510,641; -7.38 %
Median Sold Price: $ 364,000; $389,000; -6.43 %
Total Units Sold: 620; 313; 98.08 %
Average Days on Market: 72; 75; -4.00 %
Average List Price for Solds: $ 510,529; $ 553,601; -7.78 %

As you can see, the total number of units sold in Washington increased dramatically—the median sold price, on the other hand, went down—But that makes complete sense considering that last year homes in certain affluent D.C. areas were consistently selling well, and other neighborhoods were hit-or-miss.

This morning's WBJ does not report good news for the next pioneers though: Broadway Management Co. was the developer handling the Atlantic Towers project, and as with many of their other developments in D.C., things are not swimming along.

Broadway's the company behind Mount Vernon Triangle's disastrous Dumont project, which failed to attract enough buyers, stalling completion of the building and eventually leading early purchasers to demand refunds on their security deposits, as the Washington Post detailed last January. Broadway also developed Senate Square on Eye Street NE; A judge recently appointed a receiver to that project after Broadway stopped repaying its bank loans in April, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Now, Broadway is again in default (to Wells Fargo Bank, this time). An auction date had been set for October of this year, but then "on Sept. 22 — three weeks before the first scheduled foreclosure auction — a consultant produced a report indicating the presence of environmental contaminants in soil and groundwater samples from the property," according to the Washington Business Journal.

"The site’s industrial past may be one factor complicating a foreclosure sale. Lenders are often reluctant to take title to land burdened with environmental liabilities, according to legal experts," the article explains. The property still has not sold.

Looks like the 9:30 club will be holding onto some grungy credibility for a while longer.

*Well, here's a Zoning Commission transcript from 2006, there's not much recent news that I can find on the project.

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.

This particular coalition is part of a larger umbrella organization called ADAM: Alexandrians Delivering smart growth Around Metro stations, which has been around for a couple of years. According to the Washington Business Journal, the streetcar group formed in August. "[Northern Virginia Community College] is a sponsor of the group and obviously wants to be a stop along a future line. Other sponsors include The JBG Companies and architectural and engineering firm HDR Inc," the Business Journal writes.

Photo from District Department of Transportation Facebook page.

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.

But EastBanc has dealt with its fair share of hassles over the years, and always persevered. See, Exhibit A, how EastBanc fought Exxon to close an ugly gas station near one of its condo buildings, and ultimately came to compromise that both companies could stomach. Or, Exhibit B, how it turned a parcel of land right between a highway and a Pepco building into one of the most sought-after, expensive condo buildings in the city, 3303 Water Street.

There's only one other bidder vying for the property, luxury builder Toll Bros. I'll try to get more details on the proposals soon.

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.

Justin Ross, formerly of Austin Grill, is the owner, and he says he hopes to open in two months.

In addition, 55 M Street, SE—which hosted Artomatic this summer, introducing thousands of visitors to the neighborhood's gaping holes and empty spaces—signed its first tenant in late October. "Sayres, a government services contractor providing engineering, technical, acquisition and program management, business financial and IT, and security analysis support to DoD, DoT, Homeland Security and other federal agencies, will locate its 20,000 SF headquarters in the new building," according to a press release from Monument Realty.

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

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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.

• It's bigger than the Watergate complex, by a long shot: The Watergate complex is composed of 600 residential units and 250 hotel rooms, according to the Washington Business Journal. And it's located on only 10 acres of land.

• It's basically like adding 40 percent of Penn Quarter's housing stock to upper NE. (Within the whole of Penn Quarter—including apartments and condos–there are 2,350  residential units, according to Jo-Ann Neuhaus, with the Pennsylvania Quarter Neighborhood Association.)

• It's significantly bigger than another large development coming to Northeast. Jim Abdo's mixed use project in Brookland still won't be touching Art Place's housing numbers. It will hold between 725-825 residential units and will sit on nine acres of land.
  

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.

First the District Department of Transportation will be hosting community meetings on the streetcar plan in  all eight wards. As the WBJ reported: "DDOT will vet plans for not only the H Street and Anacostia lines but for future lines along corridors such as K Street and Georgia Avenue NW and 8th and M streets SE. 'We are now working to make it operational as soon as is practically possible,' he added.

Second, officials still haven't figured out how they're going to be powering the streetcars or where they will be stored and maintained. Apparently, overhead wires aren't allowed in certain areas of the city (as dictated by the L'Enfant plan), but Wells is planning to draft a bill overriding the current policy.

Image by David Paul Ohmer, Flickr Creative Commons

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."

Let your imaginations run wild:

What if some smart landlord decides to rent his office space to low-income artists, and turn a blind eye to those who spend the night? What if those tenants start appropriating the visual language of the office space (cubicles, carpets, fluorescent lighting) in ways that became, well, inhabitable?

That's nice—if not all too familiar sounding.  Art communities have already popped up in foreclosure heavy areas in Cleveland and Detroit, and the concept kind of reminds me of Artomatic.

And truth be told, while New Yorkers may be freaking out, their city's actually not doing too bad, relatively speaking.

According to a new report out today, New York possesses the third lowest vacancy rate in the nation, just behind Washington D.C.'s 10.9 percent vacancy rate, the Washington Business Journal reports.

Image by Knoxville Museum of Art, Flickr Creative Commons

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.

Barry has introduced legislation "that would give the mayor less control of the board — a bill the mayor could veto if it came to him."

Yesterday, New York City officials announced that Kelly would be heading up public housing in the five boroughs. The guy boasts an impressive resume (clearly, if New York wants him).

Here's some information from yesterday's press release:

Kelly has a 25-year history of experience in public housing management across the country.  He previously served as Executive Director of the Housing Authority of New Orleans from 1994 to 2000, with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1993 to 1994, and for ten years at the San Francisco Housing Authority from 1983 to 1993.

Image by Darrow Montgomery