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Morning Roundup: Second Helpings Edition
Fire at 17th and L NW Forces Evacuations
If you work anywhere near the intersection of Connecticut Ave. and K Street NW, you've been following the spectacular demolition of the two buildings formerly located at 1701 and 1725 K Street NW earlier this year. Now that the corner is a big, gaping hole in a prime downtown location, we've been eagerly awaiting the word on when construction would begin on the new 12-story office complex that is planned to replace it. But this morning, the Post broke some bad news: the parcel's developer wants to turn the whole thing into a parking lot, at least for a year or two.
The developer demolished two office buildings at the intersection's northwest corner this year after winning D.C. approval to replace them with a 12-story office complex designed by the architecture firm founded by I.M. Pei.The reason construction of the new building has been delayed is because the main tenant secured for space, the law firm of Arent Fox, can't move in until 2013. The buildings were knocked down early because the original plan was for another firm to move in in 2010, but that deal fell through.But in a letter to D.C. officials last month, the developer sought to alter the project to generate cash while the lot sits fallow until construction begins, perhaps at the end of 2009 or in early 2010.
There's a glimmer of hope toward the end of the Post's story, which indicates the developer might be open to some alternative temporary uses for the land if he and the city can come to an agreement. Harriet Tregoning, director of the city's Office of Planning, mentioned an outdoor food market as one possibility. Got any other ideas for what could be done on this spot for a year or two? Anything is better than a parking lot. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Photo by Dan_DC
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Well, It would be nice if they planted some trees, but that's clearly not going to happen. I like the idea of an outdoor food market... maybe Eastern market-style. It's hard to find fresh food to eat for lunch in this area.
The developer could charge vendors to set up shop, and people would enjoy the new option. Everyone wins.
Ugh. A parking lot would be terrible. Although, perhaps a deal could be struck where they build a parking lot on part of the land and turn the rest of it into a temporary park. If they hid the parking lot behind some hedges or knolls (grassy or not) then it wouldn't be so bad.
Better still, require that it be a zipcar lot.
The city already has a lot of green space built in. I prefer a well-designed building, even if a gi-normous evil law firm will be its main occupant.
As for parking lots, the fewer, the better. Less cars = less traffic!
I think it's pretty standard practice, in cases where there's a construction delay, to turn the space into temporary parking. They're doing that at the old Convention Center site, right? Same deal with the teardowns that are coming online in SE near the Navy Yard. You certainly can't build anything semi permanent, sice it would be torn down anyway inside of two years. While a park would be nice, those don't generate revenue, and just look at how much the temporary Easter Market site costs. A park isn't going to make anyone any money. Unless it's some kind of water park with slides and the slides are filled with horny teens in teeshirts and you replace the water with barbecue sauce, in which case I'd just give them my paycheck and never leave.
Did they pave paradise first?
reid: great idea! if it's going to be cars, let's at least make it something that isn't inducing a bunch of driving demand.
or, charge typical lease rates for each parking spot. what is office space on k street worth, $100/square foot? more? if some laywer/lobbyist wants to park there, charge them up the wazoo for it. and make sure all that money goes towards housing for the homeless. the city could at least make this work to fund initiatives that need the $$$.
it is funny that, when the last of the downtown parking lots are finally disappearing, we could be seeing new ones coming back.
Nice, because what the intersection of Conn and K needs is more congestion and traffic confusion.
I would *love* to see an outdoor food market there. With the exception of Trader Joe's (which is way over by Foggy Bottom), there is no place to grab groceries in the Farragut area. Someplace right next to the metro where we could grab a gallon of milk on the way home, or some fresh fruit at lunch, would be actually be pretty great.
"While a park would be nice, those don't generate revenue, and just look at how much the temporary Easter Market site costs."
Well, for what it's worth, I'm sure that developer's tax bill will plummet for the time that it's empty land. I wonder whether they took that into account when they were considering the risks of knocking down the building.
Actually fewer cars = less traffic, but now I sound like my Mom.
I think we need to build some sort of square for public execution. Or possibly a playground.
Parking lots are a common placeholder because they make the developer money between developments. Alternatives never make nearly as much money. So what do you do. A food market may make back some money but it'll have to be subsidized.
DC has a couple strings to pull on this, but they don't have any power if this is a by-right development.
DC is missing a grade A strip club. i say build the 12 story building and pack it to the gills with strippers and alcohol. this gives new meaning to the phrase, "if you build it, they will come." and by "they", i mean all of the hotties who live in NoVa because they can't afford to live in DC.
Put an outdoor beer garden there!
Where's the closest drive-in movie theater to DC? Throw up a 12-story screen and you'd have a kickass drive-in. And put some roller skates and booty shorts on the sexy water park teens and they could deliver your concession stand snacks. Finally, you hire the homeless to clean up the mess: the car people get their parking lot, the retro fetishists have something to do Friday night, you're helping the homeless, and those teens can work off those ridiculously out-of-control booties.
Convince DHS and Coast Guard to move in and preserve St. E's..
Put helipads on the roof for their helicopters.
At least we can give St. E's a chance this way..
This space could be retasked as the "Corner of Justice" where those convicted of crimes that were especially heinous (embezzlement to fund a tacky lifestyle, being Repubican, etc) would be locked into the various sets of stocks there (we'd have kid's sizes too, especially for the "wolf packs"). Leftover spoiled fruits and veggies from the weekend farmers markets would be dropped off there, for use as projectiles by outraged citizens.
outdoor food market, yeah!
I believe that the city should decline the developer's request, no question. Or at the very least rescind all approvals for the building. And charge taxes based upon the full occupancy of the originally planned building.
In my mind, it is absolutely not acceptable for the developer to knock down a building and then not proceed immediately with the plans it had proposed and gotten approved. I suspect the District may not have approved the demolition had it known the property would lie empty.
It is the developer's problem that that they can't find a tenant, yet it is the city that suffers.
it seems to me that this law firm ought to be able to find a way to break their lease at their old place in order to let them move into the new building sooner. landlords can always be convinced to break a lease with the right incentives.
I can think of a lot stinkier things to throw at embezzlers and AIG corporate heads.
I think as taxpayers, $700 billion should buy them some quality time with sweet lady draw-and-quarter. And really, when's the last time you've seen someone dismembered and their bowels torn out and burned in front of them while they're still alive and then their head stuck on a pike? And just think of how much cash we could recoup by selling the reality tv syndication rights for "Blue Chip Impalement Parking Lot" to SnuffTV? This is gold, Jerry.
Completely tongue in cheek and understanding there are much larger issues in order to complete the project: This land is just adjacent to Farragut North Metro station. I say we all convince Metro that this would be an excellent opportunity to build that tunnel from FN to Metro Center they've been promising for years. I bet it'd be alot easier on them if they had a wide open access point where they could easily get large equipment underground.
I say give it to the homeless. They're the ones that need it the most!
Since when do the homeless need a parking lot? If they had a car, they wouldn't be "homeless."
hmarshall: Do you mean Farragut North and Farragut West?
Getting to Metro Center by tunnel would be a bit of a hike.
That land's too valuable for an outdoor farmers' market. While it's a nice idea, it doesn't address the reality of downtown property values and the need to maximize land use. You'd have to charge tenants extremely high rental rates to set up food stands just to keep up.
Arent Fox attorneys get free parking ---
http://www.vault.com/companies/company_main.jsp?co_page=1&product_id=8084
looks like that site is destined to be a parking lot one way or the other!
and they get pet medical coverage. What the heck!?
Maybe this developer can fight the fucking retarded, outdated and utterly redundant height law and build something other than yet-another-god-damned-12-story-box.
Jesus fucking christ. This city has the world's worst metropolitan skyline and it just won't change until we dismiss the law that came into play because god-fearing NIMBY's back in 1912 thought the Cairo's height (and its size in comparison to local churches) was an insult to their god.
some of yall's understanding of private development is sad.
what option is both temporary (1-2yrs) and can draw any profit?
-parking
-outdoor market
-find an alternate office tenant and build on schedule
any other options?
They should put a Starbucks there!
Let's just give it a few more weeks. It'll gradually turn into a tent city, which is needed anyway.
I vote for the 12-story vibrating pink anvil that says "WHORE" on the side.
Welles: I just needed to share that every time I walk by the Cairo I think, "Dang, that building is tall. Is that an optical illusion?" I never knew until this moment that it a)actually IS taller than the height limit and b)is in fact the reason for said limit. Thanks for the edumacashun!
"what option is both temporary (1-2yrs) and can draw any profit?"
Why does it need to be profitable? There's no right to have profitable zoning regulations. The simple fact is that the developer took a risk, and it backfired. We are under no obligation to mitigate the damage done by their own risk taking.
A bureaucratic snafu laid waste to an entire block in Chicago's Loop in the 1980s. A replacement development was not approved until the new millennium.
During the decade plus that the land was undeveloped. The city turned the space into open air student arts center, gallery and performance area during the warmer months and an ice skating rink during winter.
Geez, people. You can't MAKE the developer do anything. If you don't give them permission to build a parking lot, they could just let the land sit there until they start construction.
I stand corrected after having confused my undelivered Metro promises. I did indeed mean a tunnel from Farragut North to Farragut West. Of course, even more useful (and not relevant to this conversation) would be the tunnel from Metro Center to Chinatown.
There's no right to have profitable zoning regulations.
One would assume a parking lot is generating tax revenue for the city. A park with trees isn't generating anything but oxygen and feces, canine and otherwise.
Or the city could just use eminent domain. I think there's no better example of blight than a parking lot next to a subway station.
Maybe the Lerners could build another baseball stadium, a truly compact stadium for the "Little Nats" peewee stickball league.
Barring that, Corner of Justice sounds promising.
I say build a coliseum that will replace the Franklin School shelter and also allow the homeless folks to engage in old-fashioned gladiator competition.
Putt-putt! Or a bowling alley.
Water park for the homeless? Throw some soap in and you'd take care of that whole stank problem before the American Gladiators-style deathmatches. Who doesn't want to see hobos in spandex duke it out with tennisball guns and kayaks?
welles isn't giving the correct story about height limits. the law was passed in 1899, not 1912, and didn't have anything directly to do with churches.
here i go again... this should be fun.
vacant, unimproved commercial property is taxed at a rate nearly 3 times higher than "improved" property. a building constitutes improved. a vacant lot of dirt in a chain link fence does not. so let's assume, the devloper will do all they can to find a use for the land.
reference: http://cfo.dc.gov/cfo/cwp/view,a,1324,q,612006.asp
reference: https://www.taxpayerservicecenter.com/RP_Detail.jsp?ssl=0163%20%20%20%200847
do the math on your own if you want. but it all points to the fact that the developer wants a tenant for that space. and yes, a parking lot counts as a tenant.
but to some other possibilities... a farmers market, park, or even some kind of roving art installation/gallery are all possibilities. they would all require significant tax breaks from the city, though, in order for the developer to be on board. not outside the realm of possibility though.
finally, some sort of retail component, in a trailer like that CVS at the Waterfront metro in SE. temporary, low cost, etc etc.
my bet... it either sits completely vacant or becomes a parking lot until they start construction in 2-3 years.
I'm with swifty79. Conjugal trailer visits FTW!
sumergocognito hit on the perfect plan to never attract people to do business with the District again. Well played.
Bob Novak's Demolition Derby.
How about a sideshow and some carnies? I could certainly go for some skeeball and funnel cakes after work!
I suppose if some of y'all don't want a parking lot, you can gather together and chain yourselves to it like demonstrators before loggers. And sell fruits and vegetables.
parking lot-demolition derby-farmers market
three great tastes that go great together!
"sumergocognito hit on the perfect plan to never attract people to do business with the District again. Well played."
While I don't support the idea that we should use eminent domain on the property, I do not believe it would cause too much of a ripple in the real estate development market. The fact is that developers have convinced the city that we have no upper-hand and that we have to give away the farm to attract them here. That's bull sh*t. The District of Columbia is one the hottest commercial real estate markets in the country. As the rest of the country goes to crap and we continue to suckle on the federal teet, our position will only increase. We should throw our weight around more. No more giving tax abatements such that we are almost gauranteed not to see any return.
In the present case, there should be ramifications for a developer that leaves a huge hole in the middle of downtown for three years. If they don't want to comply with the city's preferences, well then I don't see why we can't simply rezone that block as a single family residence (it wasn't that long ago when it still was that way).