April 6, 2007

Design Plans Set for Former D.C. Convention Center Site

By Prabha Natarajan
The Washington Business Journal, Staff Reporter
April 6-12, 2007; Page 29

The folks at Hines/Archstone-Smith have speed on their minds.

Representatives of the development team for D.C.'s old convention center site said they planned to submit the schematic design, which outlines the design and heights of the proposed buildings, to city officials in the first week of April.

They've stuck to the site's existing zoning and thus will avoid the lengthy process to receive zoning changes and variances.

The team plans to have its preliminary closing in May. At that point, it would have agreed on the financial structure of the deal with the city, including the price for some of the land and the rent on the rest. The developers will start paying half the rent in June.

They're rushing to be in a position to start construction on the $650 million project by next fall.

"We hope these plans will be approved by the city in as quick a time as possible," says Howard Riker, vice president of Hines, which is in a 50-50 joint venture with Archstone-Smith.

Thorny issues -- such as whether the city will put a library on the site -- have been sidestepped, and the developers are focusing only on the redevelopment of a park, the reintroduction of 10th and Eye streets NW through the site, and the land parcels the city has agreed to use for a mixed-use project.

The schematic design is a follow-up to the master plan approved last fall for the 10-acre parcel, which is touted as an economic boost to the area neighboring Mount Vernon and Chinatown.

A public presentation is scheduled for April 19, followed by meetings with stakeholder groups and an advisory committee.

Hines/Archstone-Smith wants to create a pedestrian-friendly, urban neighborhood complete with streets and park. The development will have 280,000 square feet of retail, 464 rental units, 222 condominium units and 450,000 square feet of office space.

The plan turns Eye Street NW into a retail walkway with small boutiques and restaurants. Nearly a third of the retail will consist of businesses with fewer than six stores nationwide. There is room for a big-box retailer, but it's unclear if it will be a grocery store or something else.

If all of this goes according to plan, residents and store owners can move in during the fall of 2011.

The city is still undecided on its plans for the 111,460-square-feet parcel fronting New York Avenue NW, which is where former Mayor Tony Williams wanted a city library. That baton is expected to be carried on by the current administration. About a third of this lot will be swapped with developer Kingdon Gould for land the city wants for a convention center hotel.

Gould's plans for the site are not known, though a Hines/Archstone-Smith model sees the possibility of a hotel and an office building.

E-mail: pnatarajan@bizjournals.com Phone: 703/258-0836