A familiar, long-running story is back in the news—and that’s definitely a bad thing.

For years, D.C. officials have wanted to build a hotel to support big groups hosting events at the Washington Convention Center. That project—despite the economic downturn—was rejuvenated this summer when Councilmembers Kwame Brown (At-large) and Jack Evans (Ward 2) decided it could wait no longer.*

And so we got our convention center hotel after a new financing deal was inked! Two thousand jobs were on the way! An August 2009 press release from the city stated that “the development team expects to break ground on the hotel project this fall and it is expected to be complete in 2013.”

Yet, fall has come and gone, and I recall no groundbreaking. Instead, D.C. was served with another roadblock, this time in the form of a lawsuit from a competing developer.  The Washington Post covers all the latest twists—”No construction bonds have been issued, and a D.C. Superior Court judge has twice refused to dismiss the case”—in a story published yesterday.

On its face, the lawsuit by Wardman Investor, a company controlled by Chevy Chase-based JBG Companies, is a protest against the bidding process. The city selected Bethesda-based Marriott several years ago to develop the hotel, but when financing grew scarce, increased the public subsidy before the deal was finalized last summer.

Read More “The Convention Center Hotel is Seriously Stalled–Again” »

The new year is upon us. December’s copious top ten roundups are beginning to dwindle. Now, it’s time to bring on the lists of hopes, dreams and expectations for 2010!

Benny L. Kass, a real estate columnist for the Washington Post, wrote his own piece entitled “What the new year and new decade will hold for housing market” this weekend. Among the highlights (if you could call them that…):

• More government paperwork: This year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Reserve are requiring new forms. “New rules that went into effect Jan. 1 require that within three business days of receiving a loan application, mortgage lenders provide potential borrowers a Good Faith Estimate that clearly discloses key loan terms and closing costs.”
  Read More “What to Expect From 2010’s Housing Market” »

So I actually published this blog post for the first time almost exactly a week ago.*  People clearly need the message again now: You must shovel your sidewalk.  You’re law-bound. But more importantly you’re bound by a hovering societal anxiety that, at any point, someone could slip on your snow-covered sidewalk and sue you.

Last week, the Washington Post’s Benny Kass addressed the question: Can I be held accountable if someone falls in front of my house?

The response—as often is the case with questions of law—is maybe.

*Or well, most of it. Significant chunks.

Read More “Is Your Icy Sidewalk a Lawsuit Waiting to Happen?” »

Personally, I would never sue someone if I slipped on ice in front of their home. I don’t know anyone that would do such a thing. Certainly, not my family members.  And my co-workers don’t appear to be very litigious people.

But as we’re all aware, some people out there don’t mind lawyering up at, say, the drop of an ass cheek on an icy patch of concrete.  And because of their threat, we must endure questions like the one the Washington Post’s Benny Kass answered this weekend: Can I be held accountable if someone falls in front of my house?

Read More “Is Your Icy Sidewalk a Lawsuit Waiting to Happen?” »

A little over a year ago, I wrote about Founding Farmers, a new downtown restaurant owned by the North Dakota Farmers Union.

The place billed itself as supporting local agriculture and using meat and seafood from producers that followed conscientious, sustainable practices.  Founding Farmers intrigued me because, at the time, it was striving to become the first LEED-certified restaurant. “We think it will arrive in one to two weeks,”  General Manager Christian Holmes told me at the time. “It was one of those things that was supposed to be here a month ago.”

Read More “First LEED-Certified D.C. Restaurant Under Attack in Washington Post” »

The Washington Post reports this morning that the city is going to begin distributing $7.5 million in stimulus money this week to needy families making a maximum income of $30,000. Couldn’t come at a better time as we settle into hypothermia season, which began in early November. Here are some more details on how the funds will be disseminated by the Department of Human Services:

“About $2.4 million will put people who lost their jobs and homes into housing. DHS has set aside more than $1.9 million for rental subsidies that can continue for nearly two years.

Read More “District Begins Distributing $7.5 Million to Homeless and Struggling Families” »

For the last two weeks, I’ve been receiving press releases from the American Community Properties Trust about its uber energy-efficient, humongous planned development that will completely revitalize  St. Charles Maryland—located “only 22 miles from the White House,” as one announcement stated.

What were they talking about exactly? “An international model of how to design and build an economically vibrant and environmentally sustainable community…When complete, the community will include nearly 25,000 homes and nine million square feet of industrial, commercial and retail space.”

Read More “Developer Plans “Model Green City” for Southern Maryland” »

In case you haven’t spotted the news over at City Desk (or every other outlet covering D.C.), I thought I should mention D.C.’s biggest, late-breaking news this afternoon: Abe Pollin, developer extraordinaire, sports team owner, and philanthropist, has passed away.

He suffered from  corticobasal degeneration, according to the Washington Post.

Among his many accomplishments, Pollin developed the Verizon Center “risk(ing) much of his fortune to build the arena in a neglected D.C. neighborhood, [which] has spearheaded a revitalization of downtown Washington since its opening in 1997,” as the Associated Press reports. Pollin also owned the Washington Wizards, now part of the holdings of his company Washington Sports and Entertainment, and he previously owned and sold the Washington Capitals and the Washington Mystics.

City Paper’s Mike DeBonis has collected numerous statements from councilmembers and others mourning his passing over here.

I’ve spent a lot of time blogging about the first-time homebuyer tax credit recently, and last week, even devoted an entire column to the subject. My feeling is, it’s out there—I might as well inform people how to take advantage. I don’t know if the posts came off sounding too cheerleader-ish. But, in case they did,  here’s the flip side of the credit: A lot of people consider it unnecessary, believing the recent drop in home values would have pushed many buyers back out into the market without the extra tax incentive. The credit, essentially, was an extra dollop of whipped cream on top of the cocoa. Lovely. But not necessary.

In Sunday’s Washington Post, professor Joseph Gyourko of University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, made another valuable point about the ill effects of the credit in his piece “5 myths about home sweet homeownership.” He argues that the credit is creating competition in areas where the market should still be settling—like here:

Read More “Is the Tax Credit Turning D.C. Into a Seller’s Market?” »

Council Chair Vincent Gray, and Council Members Mendelson and Evans

It doesn’t look like the Catholic Archdiocese is going to be winning this battle.

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the Catholic Archdiocese had issued an ultimatum to the D.C. Council:  If you require us to extend same-sex marriage benefits to gay couples, we’ll stop running city-contracted social service programs. These programs include many homeless shelters, in addition to adoption and health care support. (This entire issue is, of course, contingent on the District’s same-sex marriage bill passing, which it is expected to next month.)

In the last two days (day 1, day 2), the Post has gathered a number of reactions from D.C. Councilmembers suggesting they’re not ready to give in and allow city money to be used to discriminate against gay couples.

• Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham had originally hoped to reach a compromise with the church, but has since altered his stance after “reviewing same-sex marriage laws in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont,” where the Church has not abandoned social services.

Read More “Councilmembers Dig in Heels on Catholic Threat” »