With the D.C. area still
growing at a crazy pace and
traffic totally bonkers, it just makes sense that more and more people are choosing not to own cars. And with these five projects under construction, even more D.C. residents (and residents in suburbia) can go car-free.
While the following projects do include parking spaces, their proximity to transit means that fewer people will have to rely on cars as their primary mode of transportation.
Art Place at Fort Totten
Location: South Dakota Ave and Galloway Street NE
Nearest transit option: Fort Totten metro, one block away
Developer: Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation
Number of units: 520
Number of parking spaces: 601
Estimated cost: $116 million
In the works for years, the Cafritz Foundation has finally broken ground on Art Place at Fort Totten, a mixed-use development that David Uffelman, president of the project's general contractor Foulger-Pratt, says will "
transform" the neighborhood, which is just beginning to grow denser. In addition to the 500+ units (141 of which will be designated affordable, including 98 for seniors), Art Place has 170,000 square feet of cultural and art spaces, 305,000 square feet of retail, and a children's museum. There's a grocery store planned, too, though with nearby
Fort Totten Square's impending arrival (and with it a Walmart) we're watching to see how this shakes out.
The Apollo
Location: 616 H St NE
Nearest transit option: The streetcar (someday soon)
Developer: Insight Property Group
Number of units: 431
Number of parking spaces: 442
Estimated cost: $189 million
If DC's streetcar system ever opens, it'll stop directly in front of the Whole Foods-anchored Apollo, Insight Property Group's eight-story project on the 600 block of H St NE.
In addition to Whole Foods, the building boasts a green roof, a fitness center, and a swimming pool, plus an on-site Capital Bikeshare station.
Notch 8 Potomac Yard
Location: 2900 Main Line Boulevard, Alexandria
Nearest transit option: Well, none yet
Developer: JBG and MRP
Number of units: 253
Number of parking spaces: 480
The newest stop on WMATA's blue and yellow lines isn't even scheduled to open until 2018, but developers are already prepping for the transit-oriented boom that's expected to occur. As part of the massive (we're talking almost two million square feet) Exchange at Potomac Yard, JBG is putting together Notch 8--which apparently means "full speed ahead" in railroad terminology--a 250-unit LEED Silver building. The project will be anchored by a Giant, and nearby developments in the Exchange offer an additional 100,000 square feet of retail. Oh, and Notch 8 includes a "party room." Party on.
7770 Norfolk
Location: 7770 Norfolk Ave, Bethesda
Nearest transit option: Bethesda metro (red line)
Developer: JBG Companies, ROSS Development & Investment and the CIM Group
Number of units: 244
Number of parking spaces: 170
Before Metro, Bethesda was a sleepy suburb. Now it's just about unrecognizable to anyone who left Bethesda in the 80s or 90s. 7770 Norfolk is
just one of the properties poised to deliver in 2015 which will bring a total of 600 new units to downtown Bethesda. 7770 Norfolk will offer a mix of studios to two-bedrooms, the latter to appeal to
empty nesters who don't need as big of a house (and don't want to mow their lawns) anymore.
Tysons
Location: Basically all of it
Nearest transit option: The silver line
Developer: Is anyone not working on a Tysons project?
Number of units: Thousands
Call it development-oriented transit. As anyone who's been out to Tysons recently knows, the opening of the
first phase of Metro's Silver Line has absolutely transformed the area. We hear rumors that some residential projects aren't leasing up as quickly as the builders would like; then again, those closest in to the new metro stations are seeing
huge benefits.
Due to a reporting error, this article originally misstated the developer of Notch 8 at Potomac Yard. It has been updated. Elevation DC regrets the error.