By Petula Dvorak
It's not often that
sanitation worker Bernard Green gets to tell the mayor
that he's doing things all wrong.
But yesterday, as his
too-big paper suit bagged at the knees and his
protective face visor slanted askew, DC Mayor Anthony
A. Williams (D) looked to the strapping Green for help.
"You're too far
away," Green told the mayor as he reclaimed his
pressure-washer wand and showed Williams the right
technique for graffiti removal.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081601497.html
City
Officials to Rethink Plan for NW Park
By Allan Lengel
After 90 minutes of
forceful speeches, punctuated by occasional chants from
dozens of children in football uniforms, city officials
got the message: Neighborhood residents vehemently
oppose a plan to replace a popular playground on New
York Avenue NW with 98 townhouses.
"I think everyone
here decided it was not a good plan," Kimberley Flowers,
acting director of the DC Parks and Recreation
Department, said after last night's community meeting.
And she offered opponents some hope:
"It is not a done
deal."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/15/AR2005081501692.html
From
Blighted Block to Housing 'Miracle'
By Debbi Wilgoren
The six rowhouses on
tiny Farragut Place stood empty for a decade, trash
piling up in the yards and plywood boards nailed where
windows used to be. Neighbors called police when the
rats got too bad and when vagrants snuck inside.
Now each modest brick
structure has been gutted, rehabilitated and sold to a
buyer grateful to find an affordable home in the city. A
young Ethiopian woman working two jobs was the first to
move in, followed a few months later by a Navy hospital
corpsman and three others.
Yesterday, DC Mayor
Anthony A. Williams (D) helped the buyer of the sixth
house, Milagros Hernandez-Parada, cut a cluster of
ribbons on her freshly painted front porch. Developers
said the sale, for $250,000, will be finalized by the
end of the month.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/15/AR2005081501257.html
DC Seeks to Buy
Land for 'Ballpark District'
By David Nakamura
DC officials are
negotiating to purchase more than five acres of
additional land in Southeast Washington for a baseball
stadium complex, an aggressive move aimed at influencing
development that could maximize the return on the city's
investment in the ballpark.
The city has planned
since last fall to build the stadium by 2008 on a
20-acre plot near South Capitol Street and the Navy
Yard. Now officials want to expand their reach in order
to produce a "ballpark district" that would feature
restaurants, stores, commercial buildings and
residential units.
Officials described
their strategy as a way to ensure that the $535 million
investment generates revenue on more days than just the
81 times each year the Washington Nationals play at
home.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081102061.html
Glenborough Takes Capitol Place III for $70M
WASHINGTON,
DC-Glenborough Realty Trust has acquired the 212,600-sf
Capitol Place III, which sits on a half-acre and
features a two-level underground parking facility, from
Sheldon B. Kamins Trustees for $70 million. The 12-story
property is assessed at a current value of approximately
$44.4 million.
Capitol Place III was
developed two decades ago and is one of three office
buildings that comprise Capitol Place, a one-million-sf
mixed-use property that also features the 264-room
Washington Court Hotel. The site is located just a few
blocks from the US Capitol and is close to Union
Station.
Lease commitments by
a varied list of tenants have left the building fully
occupied. Among the businesses calling Capitol Place III
home are Roll Call newspaper, anti-hunger organization
Bread for the World and the National Business Group on
Health. Capitol Place's largest leaseholder is the
Association of American Railroads which, under a lease
that expires December 2010, has laid claim to 135,200 sf.
Approximately 75% of that space is presently subleased
to other businesses.
http://www.globest.com/news/351_351/washington/137414-1.html
Treasury Division Renews 323,000-SF Lease
WASHINGTON,
DC-Signing a lease renewal for a five-year term, the US
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has decided to
stay put in its current location at One Independence
Square, a 323,000-sf office property near the US
Capitol. A division of the US Department of the
Treasury, OCC occupies the entire building and has
called One Independence home since the class A office
property's completion in 1991.
Wells Real Estate
Investment Trust Inc. is the property owner, and relied
on the assistance of Wells Real Estate Funds senior vice
president George Wells as representation. The
Washington, DC office of Spaulding & Slye Colliers also
worked with Wells on crafting the lease agreement.
According to Spaulding's website, the asking rate for
space in the building--although completely occupied--is
$48 to $50 per sf.
http://www.globest.com/news/350_350/washington/137392-1.html
Silverman Takes Aim at Phantom Foe
Washington Post Staff
Writer
Council member Steven
A. Silverman (D-At Large) apparently has a crystal ball.
Silverman's campaign
has been leaving copies of a letter and bumper stickers
on the windshields of cars still displaying John Kerry
presidential campaign bumper stickers.
The letter mentions
Silverman's efforts on behalf of Kerry in last year's
election. It then asks Democrats to support him in his
race for county executive.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/18/AR2005081800637.html
A Road's Coming
Through
By Katherine Shaver
Eve Burton and Roger
Metcalf had planned to raise their family in the Derwood
home they've shared for 23 years. They've added on to
the house as new children arrived, and they love its
surroundings: an acre full of mature trees, blueberry
bushes and woodpeckers.
Burton said she never
dreamed of leaving a place that is so full of memories,
including the planting of crape myrtle trees as a
Mother's Day gift 10 years ago.
Soon, however, their
piece of quiet country life may be paved over with six
lanes of asphalt. If it is built along the path
preferred by the Maryland State Highway Administration,
an intercounty connector would carry thousands of trucks
and cars through what is now Burton and Metcalf's living
room.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/17/AR2005081701208.html
Duncan
Excursion Fit for an Ambassador
By Nancy Trejos and
Krissah Williams
LA UNION, El Salvador
-- Armed police officers, military officials and local
government leaders waited in a field of overgrown grass
at the naval base here, wiping sweat from their
foreheads as the heat grew stronger. Parked around them
were a half-dozen SUVs, their drivers ready to whisk
Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan and his
entourage off as soon as their helicopter arrived from
San Salvador.
Delia Vescarra,
governor of this eastern state, didn't seem to mind that
Duncan already was a half-hour late on this Friday
morning. "He is a leader who has done a lot for
Hispanics in the United States," Vescarra said.
Soon, a military
helicopter appeared, whipping grass and debris into
Vescarra's face. She turned around, holding down her
prim white hat with its blue ribbon and matching floral
dress. Duncan emerged from the helicopter, photographers
from the country's two main newspapers snapping photos
rapidly as he walked toward Vescarra. He shook her hand
and struck a pose.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/14/AR2005081401210.html
Housing Starts Flatten in July
By Kirstin Downey
Housing starts
flattened in July but remained at near-record highs
nationwide, according to figures released yesterday by
the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, and builders remain optimistic about
the future, with building permits rising about 1.6
percent from June.
At this rate, more
than 2 million homes will be built in 2005, only
slightly below the 2004 figure.
"The numbers continue
to look great," said David Seiders, chief economist for
the National Association of Home Builders. "We're riding
at an incredibly high level here."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081601765.html
Push for Second Homes Transforms Once Remote Areas
By Tim Whitmire
MARBLE, N.C. -- On a
hillside at the remote western tip of North Carolina,
real estate agent Joey Reid is showing off the next big
thing in this area's booming market for vacation and
retirement homes.
With 10-foot
ceilings, stone fireplaces and screened decks with a
mountain view, homes at Black Rock Falls are expected to
fetch prices from $300,000 to $500,000. Owners will
share access to a natural waterfall, adjoining trails
and a clubhouse overlooking the falls.
"It's a baby boomer's
playground," said Reid as he walked a visitor through
the first house in the development, currently under
construction.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/12/AR2005081200733.html
Anything you can do,
they can do louder
Aug. 19, 2005
Gov. Bob Ehrlich has
squabbled with Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley over
Rumorgate, control of the city's schools, the city's
finances, slot machines and pretty much every other
issue that has been debated at the state level over the
past three years.
So when it came to
cracking down on sexual predators, the discussion
quickly became a fray.
The guv has been
telling folks for days that his MACo speech Saturday
would include his plans for strengthening state law to
monitor and punish sexual offenders.
http://www.gazette.net/200533/weekend/a_section/290441-1.html
Money matters key
by Thomas Dennison
OCEAN CITY -- For the
past three years, county leaders have gathered here for
the annual Maryland Association of Counties conference
under sunny skies, but with budget clouds looming large
on the horizon.
This year, more than
1,000 local and state government officials gathered at
the Roland Powell Convention Center with a sense of
optimism that the days of deep cuts could be over.
A booming real estate
market coupled with an infusion of corporate tax
collections has left the state flush with a $1 billion
surplus that county leaders are hoping will benefit
them.
http://www.gazette.net/200533/weekend/a_section/290440-1.html
Despite $1.5 Billion Incentive, Rivalries Hinder Metro
Plan
By Michael Laris
From an office two
blocks past the Capitol South Metro station, the
chairman of the House Government Reform Committee has
nudged back to life a conversation that has as much to
do with the future of local government as it does with
buying rail cars.
The bill that Rep.
Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) introduced last month offers
a $1.5 billion icebreaker to a region of winding
jurisdictional lines and often clashing interests. But
to win the money to finance a decade of improvements to
the aging Metro transit system, political leaders in the
Washington area's patchwork of cities, counties and
states must do something they are not always good at:
cooperate.
So far, the
conversation has been civil, even upbeat. There seems to
be an authentic hope among both Democratic and
Republican officials that Davis's plan might goad the
region's leaders to action on guaranteeing a dedicated
source of revenue to operate Metro, which is what the
bill demands of them in exchange for the $1.5 billion in
federal aid.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/12/AR2005081201615.html
High-Rise Plans Draw Complaints
By Jamie Stockwell
Residents near the
site where a developer wants to build a 23-story
apartment and retail complex in Ballston say the
building will tower over its neighbors and increase
congestion in the already dense Arlington neighborhood.
The complex, proposed
for the southeast corner of Fairfax Drive and North
Vermont Street, would be a tower of steel and glass amid
a cluster of brick buildings. Plans call for it to have
237 residential units and, on the ground level, about
9,200 square feet of retail space, officials said.
Neighbors say the
development will add to the daily traffic headaches of
the 1,000 residents of the small block, which is already
home to five residential and office buildings, said
Glenn Elliott, president of the Ballston Smart Growth
Alliance, a group that represents the residents.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/17/AR2005081700728.html
Kaine Campaigns on
Kilgore's Turf
By Michael D. Shear
STUART, Va., Aug. 13
-- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Timothy M. Kaine
campaigned across southwest and Southside Virginia
Saturday, looking for votes at sizzling summertime
festivals in his Republican opponent's home territory.
The hunt for support
began at the Pioneer Restaurant in Marion, where about
50 people gathered for Kaine's town-hall style of
campaigning. Using a PowerPoint presentation and
sounding at times like a budget analyst, Kaine promised
to follow in the footsteps of Gov. Mark R. Warner (D).
Less than two hours
later, the former Richmond mayor found himself at
Patrick County's Virginia Peach Festival, taking refuge
from the heat at The Coffee Break diner in downtown
Stuart. He once again embraced Warner's popularity.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081301236.html
Companies Take 30,000 SF at the Hartford
CLARENDON, VA-A new
lease and a lease expansion have left the Hartford, a
212,000-sf office and retail building, 85% occupied.
Defense contractor By-Light Professional IT Services
Inc. signed a new lease for 5,000 sf for its
headquarters, which is presently located at 1110 N.
Glebe Rd. in Arlington and architectural firm DMJM H&N
doubled its 38,500-sf space to 63,000 sf.
The deals account for
an aggregate 29,500 sf of newly leased space.
Transwestern Commercial Services' Peter Prominski
represented By-Light, while Studley's Adam Singer and
Cushman & Wakefield's Ness D. Hamaoui represented DMJM.
Specifics of the leases are unavailable; but Akridge,
which developed the office building with Multi-Employer
Property Trust and the accompanying 70-unit condominium
building with the Holladay Corp., markets the office
space for $32 to $35 per-sf, according to real estate
data source Black's Guide.
http://www.globest.com/news/349_349/washington/137343-1.html
CarrAmerica Buys Park
Place for $62M
ARLINGTON, VA-CarrAmerica
has acquired the 22-year-old Park Place, a 168,700-sf
office building in the Rosslyn submarket, for $61.7
million. Walton Street Capital had purchased the
property in a joint venture with Lerner Enterprises for
approximately $32.6 million in 2002. Today the property
has an assessed value of $33.5 million.
Located at 1655 North
Fort Myer Dr., Park Place sits off Interstate 66, and
near Jefferson Davis Highway. A 13-story, freestanding
tower, the site also features a three-level underground
parking facility. At the time of the transaction, the
property was fully occupied by a variety of tenants
including American Entrepreneurs for Economic Growth,
Energy and Environmental Analysis Inc. and the US
headquarters of software solutions provider Comptel
Communications Inc.
http://www.globest.com/news/349_349/washington/137347-1.html
Government Contractor Signs 19,300-SF Lease
TRIANGLE, VA-IT
solutions provider Stanley Associates has inked a
five-year deal for a 19,300-sf at the 39,500-sf office
building currently in the construction phase at 18300
Quantico Gateway Dr. The four-story facility on target
for completion later this summer.
With the assistance
of Transwestern Commercial Services' P. Dennis Flynn,
property developer Triangle Office Building LLC secured
the lease agreement with the government contractor.
Stanley was represented by Westy Kent of Kent Commercial
Inc.
http://www.globest.com/news/351_351/washington/137436-1.html
In
a DC Alley, a Response From the Top
Williams Celebrates Call Center's Milestone by Trying to
Do the Job Himself
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 17, 2005; Page B03
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 16, 2005; Page B04
Six Dilapidated DC Residences Rehabbed, Added to Tax
Rolls, on Farragut Place
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 16, 2005; Page B03
Revenue From Mixed-Use Zone Would Improve Return on
Stadium Investment, Officials Say
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 12, 2005; Page B01
By
Barbra Murray
August 18, 2005
By
Barbra Murray
August 17, 2005
Thursday, August 18, 2005; Page GZ02
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 18, 2005; Page GZ14
Salvadorans Embrace Montgomery Leader
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, August 15, 2005; Page B01
Builders, Analysts Optimistic as Permits Rise 1.6
Percent
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 17, 2005; Page D03
Buyers' Plans for Retirement, Vacations Drive Market
Boom
Associated Press
Saturday, August 13, 2005; Page F22
Big surplus no cure for local officials' wariness
Staff Writer
Aug. 19, 2005
U.S. Transit Aid Requires Area Unity on New Funding
Source
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 13, 2005; Page B01
Ballston Residents Worry About Overcrowding
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 18, 2005; Page VA03
Democrat Hopes to Carve Out a Place in Southern Va.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 14, 2005; Page C01
By
Barbra Murray
August 16, 2005
By
Barbra Murray
August 16, 2005
By
Barbra Murray
August 18, 2005
