Want a good glimpse of where your construction jobs will be coming?  The February 27th Regional Developers Panel was the place to be.  Held at the classy Mayflower Renaissance Hotel downtown Washington, a savvy developer panel sparkled with their insights that went lights years beyond “location, location, location”.  Regional Development Committee Chair Chuck Claar moderated this panel of five develop luminaries: Bill May of Miller & Smith; Fred Rothmeijer of MidAtlantic Realty Partners; Bob Elliott of Washington Realty Investment Trust, Rick Hausler of Insight Property Group, and Donna Shafer of Cityline Partners.  No way was this your father’s developer panel.  Yes, each panelist discussed the importance of place in terms of investing.  But, you would be safe saying the comparison stopped there.  Terms such as “looking to transform the shabby”, “creating great places”, “mixed-use”, “transit access”, “and walkability” flowed so freely that one might understandably have mistaken this WBC panel for a Smarter Growth Coalition workshop.  Oh, but there was no mistaking the real estate investment success of our panels as the explained their investment strategies, market analysis, and project successes.

Bill May of Miller & Smith kicked-off the panel painting an enticing picture of One Loudon north of Dulles a 358 acre planned community with a comprehensive array of uses including 3 million sf of office, 700 thousand sf of retail, over 1,000 residential housing units, 759-key hotel and a wide array of public amenities in neo-traditional setting.   Don’t expect entitlements to be a cake walk.  Bill made clear of the realities of the entitlement process and the proffers involved.  Miller and Smith began the entitlement process in 2004 and just started construction last year.

Fred Rothmeijer, co-founder of MidAtlantic Realty Partners, LLC (MRP Realty), explained how his company focuses on value-add investment and property management in high barrier-to-entry and high growth markets.  Since its founding, MRP has developed 2 million sf of mixed-use real estate, acquired $1 billion of real estate properties, manages 5 million sf of real estate, and is seeking 7.5 million sf through entitlements.  Bill touched on several of MRP’s current projects including: Washington Gateway, 900 G Street, Potomac Yards Town Center, Bethesda Air Rights, River Front Phase I.  Many of these projects involved joint ventures with other developers such as JBG and the leveraging of financing.

Bob Elliott of Washington Realty Investment Trust (WRIT) shared similar investment profile with MRP of high value added development strategic investment.  WRIT founded in 1960 benefits from its long history of strategic investments, meaning that in many projects they often look at basis point investments most of us fantasize about.  According to Bob, WRIT has 71 projects in its portfolio.   Bob provided enticing examples of in-fill, mixed-use development in WRIT vast portfolio: 650 North Glebe Road, Ballston; Braddock Gateway, Alexandria (joint venture with Trammell Crow); 7900 West Park, Tysons; and The Ashby, McLean.

Rick Hausler of Insight Property Group is principally a multifamily housing developer, having developed or acquired some 15,000 apartments, condominiums, in well-located sites, focusing on mixed-use intensity to create and sustainable communities full range of the urban experience, the live-shop-work-play mix.  Rich pronounced that Insight isn’t overly concerned about a potentially weakening residential market, saying if you focus on the fundamentals of neighborhoods rather than short-term real estate cycles, you’ll be positioning your development well, “the devil is in the submarket, look for the shabbiness and the potential relating to such factors as Metro and Beltway access.”   Rick surveyed several of Insight’s current projects in relationship to this principle: Grayson Flats, Arlington; Huntington Metro, in Alexandria, Fenwick Station in Silver Spring; and the Apollo on H Street in the District.

Wrapping up the panel was Donna Shafer of Cityline Partners LLC.  Donna is one of Cityline’s founding partners and she is charged with company strategic planning. Cityline is a subsidiary of DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, which was formed in 2010.  The company manages and develops transit-oriented real estate holdings in Tysons and is growing DLJ’s footprint throughout the D.C. Metropolitan Region.  Currently, Cityline has zoning applications pending or approved for over 10 million square feet of new development in Tysons Corner, making Cityline the largest real estate owner/developer in Tysons.  Specifically, Donna discuss the process and concepts for the 2.5 million sf Arbor Row project approved by Fairfax County in November 2012 and the just submitted 8.5 million sf Scoots Run Station application.  These projects provide quality mixed-use and high amenities that are in line with the Tyson’s market demographics.

Following the panel presentation, Committee Chair Chuck Claar drew panelist out further regarding such topics as the role of government.   Perhaps, Bob Elliott summed up the panelist sentiment best in stating that Washington area is great play.  Developers get what a great wants and we can provide it.  We’re not going back to the suburban model.  Government should get out of the way.

Below is the presentation:

Part 1 – Bill May, Miller & Smith (12MB)
Part 2 – Fred Rothmeijer, MRP Realty (5.5MB)
Part 3 – Bob Elliott, Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (4.7MB)
Part 4 – Rick Hausler, Insight Property Group (8.1MB)
Part 5 – Donna Shafer, Cityline Partners (10MB)

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The Regional Development Committee, as part of its ongoing efforts to track regional development, recently visited the Washington offices of the Capital Riverfront Business Improvement District (BID).  The BID advocates for the development and up keep of the area roughly bounded by 395 on the North, South Capitol Street and Fort McNair to the west and the Anacostia River.  More specifically it is home to Nationals Park, the Navy Yard and the headquarters of Federal Department of Transportation.

Michael Stevens the Executive Director lead the presentation off with a review of a large scale model of the BID and the surrounding area of the District followed up with a power point featuring the history of the area, where it is today and what is in store for the future.  The Riverfront area was heavily industrial dating back as far as 150 years and home to the Navy Yard since 1799.  Overtime and with the evolution of the nation and the city the area deteriorated greatly and was known for its alternative entertainment venues and high crime.

Redevelopment efforts began with the first BRAC and the consolidation of the Naval Sea Systems Command, into five new office buildings at the Navy Yard in the mid-1990’s, relocation of the U.S. Department of Transportation Headquarters, and the District’s Housing Authority receiving a federal grant to redevelop public housing into a higher density mixed-income community.  Currently there is 7.25 million square feet of office space, 223,000 square feet of retail, 2,760 residential units with nearly 4,000 residents.  Planned future development will include more than 8.0 million square feet of office, 564,000 square feet of retail, 1,051 hotel rooms and 6,176 residential units.  The area has four parks including the three block long and highly sustainable, Canal Park which has a seasonal skating rink and the Riverwalk Trail which is over 1 mile long and provides connectivity to the parks, which host public events as well as providing for general recreation.

Recently completed projects of note include the Foundry Lofts—apartments—The Boilermaker Shops(Retail) and The Lumber Shed which is office over first floor retail.

A partial list of major players in the redevelopment, with projects in progress or in development include: Monument Realty, Florida Rock in partnership with MRP, Forest City, William C. Smith, Akridge, Toll Brothers and Skanska.

The Committee would like to thank the Capital Riverfront BID for hosting and Steve Kenton for arranging this highly informative session which presented many future business opportunities for the WBC membership.

It is with great pleasure that we announce the 2013 WBC Craftsmanship Awards winners!

On March 22 we will be recognizing the craftmen who have shown their work to be truly outstanding among the 262 nominations received for this honored award.

Please visit the winners page for a complete list.

Washington, DC – Over 700 people attended the WBC Holiday Party last Tuesday, December 11 at the Congressional Country Club.  Thanks again to everyone who donated books to “Turning the Page.”

This year 553 books were collected.

Just click on the flickr icon below to see all the photos.

On November 19th, members of the Regional Development Committee recently visited City Center DC, a joint venture of Hines and Archstone on a tour lead by members of the Clark/Smoot JV construction team. 

The site visit kicked off with a presentation of the project scope with includes two office buildings, two apartment buildings and two condominium building, along with a future hotel, all of which are placed over a below grade, 1500 space, 1.0 million SF, multi-level parking garage and loading dock for back of house operations for the buildings .  The completed project will include 185,000 SF of retail in the base levels of the buildings, 515,000 SF of office space and 674 residential units.  The 10-acre site is designed to be pedestrian friendly with a park in the Northwest corner and a centrally located plaza with landscaping and fountains which will play host to concerts and other community activities.

The tour provided access to the entire site located on the grounds of the former DC Convention Center between 9th and 11th streets, New York Avenue and H Street, including the garage area which covers the majority of the site.  The six buildings are each at different stages of construction, from top out to nearly completed facades too framing and rough-in of the residential interiors.  We viewed the structural systems for the soon to be in place sky bridges, that will connect the office buildings on the odd numbered floors, the ceramic architectural terra cotta veneer facade panels and the enormous steel box beams required for the large clear span in the underground loading dock.

The $420 million project, a series of four contracts, commenced in 2011 with completion scheduled for 2014.  Construction activities occur around the clock with over 1200 tradesmen on site daily and 138 subcontracts in place.  The developer is committed  providing opportunities to small businesses through the CBE program along with providing job opportunities to District residents with the First Source Employment agreement.

The committee would like to thank Barbara Smith of Barbara J. Architectural Sales for arranging the tour and Jared Oldroyd, Sarah Diesze and Mike O’Neil from Clark Construction Group for leading the tour.

TOUR PHOTOS

WBC members and guests were treated to an informative evening of industry insights on November 1 as our distinguished panel discussed current and emerging development activity in Montgomery County. 

Presenters included Rob Klein with the Montgomery County Office of Planning & Development, Francine Waters with Lerner Enterprises, and David McDonough with Johns Hopkins Real Estate.

Below is the presentation:

Part 1 – Montgomery County Dept. of General Services (5MB)
Part 2 – Lerner Enterprises (17MB)
Part 3 – Johns Hopkins Real Estate (14MB)

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The WBC Nominating Committee has met and the slate of candidates listed below has been recommended for a vote of the membership at the annual business meeting on September 27, 2012.  The election will be held during the Fall Kickoff Bull & Oyster Party.

Chairman of the Board
Jim Klein
The JBG Companies

Chairman-Elect
Joel Zingeser
Grunley Construction Company

Vice Chairman
John Barron
Foulger-Pratt Contracting

Vice Chairman
Tamara McNulty
Fox Rothschild LLP

Vice Chairman
Joe Schall
PEPCO

Treasurer
Carl Hirrlinger
James G. Davis Construction

Secretary
Dan Buckley
Flippo Construction Company

Immediate Past Chairman
Paul Mella
Dynalectric Company

Directors 
(Term expires 2015)
Paul Elias – The JBG Companies
Brett Snyder – JBG Rosenfeld Retail
Lynne Coville – Boston Properties

(Term expires 2013)
Katie Garrett – David M. Schwarz Architects

The following directors will continue to serve on the board and complete their terms as listed below:

Directors  (Term expires 2013)  
  Nicolas Pasanella – Insight Property Group
  Anne Marie Tombros – Vango Construction Consulting

Directors  (Term expires 2014)  
  Mike Baruccheri – Tishman Construction
  Mike Leavitt – John Moriarty and Associates
  Allen Slaughter – Dynalectric Company

Respectfully submitted by the WBC Nominating Committee
  Chuck Asmar, Chairman

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