District officials declared yesterday that construction of a baseball stadium near the Anacostia River in Southeast is moving expeditiously, even as city leaders and the Washington Nationals are running out of time to build parking garages.

"We're one day ahead of schedule," said Allen Y. Lew, chief executive of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, as he gave reporters a tour of the construction site near the Navy Yard and South Capitol Street.

A major steel order had been delivered, an important milestone, Lew said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101101621.html

15 People Fighting to Be Part Of Board's Uncertain Future
Candidates United on Need for Change as Fenty Weighs Takeover

By V. Dion Haynes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 8, 2006; Page C05

In 1968, District citizens for the first time elected a Board of Education -- a groundbreaking event that moved the city from total federal control and laid the foundation for voters to select the mayor and council members.

Next month, DC voters will elect a school board that could be part of history again. Democratic mayoral nominee Adrian M. Fenty is considering a plan to take charge of the school system, possibly converting the board into an appointed advisory panel.

Any revision of the board's composition would have to be approved by the DC Council, because voters adopted a charter change in 2000 giving the council broad authority over change. It is unclear whether the council would support a mayoral takeover, because Fenty has not provided many details on what he proposes to do if he is elected mayor in the general election.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/07/AR2006100700805.html

Street Cameras Are Likely to Stay
Some Groups Question Their Effectiveness

By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 12, 2006; Page DZ01

If you walk into a drugstore, chances are you'll be caught on a surveillance camera. If you happen by an ATM, you're probably in view of a lens. This summer, District officials added 48 troubled street corners to the list of places where you're likely to be recorded.

Now the DC Council seems poised to make permanent the temporary surveillance cameras installed this summer as part of crime emergency legislation.

The District joined the ranks of cities across the country when it installed the cameras to deter crime and catch criminals. The DC Council approved legislation in July during a spike in violence to allow the cameras to go up for several weeks. The measure expires next Thursday, but the council has indicated that it will make the cameras permanent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101100733.html

Cropp Pushes for Decision on Parking
Council to Consider Mayor's Proposal to Add $75 Million for Underground Lots

By Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 6, 2006; Page B02

The debate over parking for the new $611 million Washington Nationals baseball stadium has dragged on for months, and council Chairman Linda W. Cropp called on the mayor and council yesterday to make a decision.

"All you're doing is wasting time and shooting yourself in the foot," she said at a breakfast meeting of council members and Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D).

Cropp was defeated in last month's Democratic mayoral primary by Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4), who is widely expected to win the Nov. 7 general election. Fenty sat without speaking at one end of a conference table, eating fruit as council members shouted around him during some of the most heated debate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501538.html

'White Guy' Remark Explained

By Yolanda Woodlee and Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 12, 2006; Page DZ02

Philip E. Pannell, the outspoken president of the Ward 8 Democrats, said after the September Democratic primary that he couldn't believe he was defeated for shadow senator by "some white guy." When he said it, there was no question in his mind what he meant.

Even Michael D. Brown, the white Ward 3 resident who won the seat, didn't give it much thought. Not until a friend read the quote from Pannell and pointed it out.

"I think a lot of white people were offended by it," Brown said. "I wouldn't have made an issue out of it."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101100746.html

Akridge Moves Closer to $1B Project

WASHINGTON, DC-Akridge, a real estate services firm here, has closed on the air rights at Union Station--a $10-million transaction that is one of the necessary steps to realizing an ambitious $1-billion, three-million-sf mixed-use development project in the H Street Corridor. Called Burnham Place at Union Station, the development will be connected to the famed rail station and retail complex, built on a concrete platform 20 feet over the rail yard and straddling the H Street bridge in northeast Washington, DC.

The project is three to five years out from construction, Matt Klein, Akridge president, tells GlobeSt.com. "We are just now embarking on the process of getting through the entitlement process for the project and that will take some time." Once that is complete and an architect has been identified, "then I think we will be able to look at a more concrete construction schedule."

Akridge conceived the project some four years ago, he says, when it acquired the land from GSA. "We saw it as an incredible location next to one of the most remarkable landmarks in DC as well as its economic development potential." Basically right now, he says, the site is a cavern or hole in the ground with railroad tracks. Once complete the project will bridge two economically disparate parts of the city.

http://www.globest.com/news/750_750/washington/149627-1.html

Association Taps 35,000 SF in East End

WASHINGTON, DC-The American Pharmacists Association has signed a two-year lease for 35,000 sf in the East End until a renovation is completed on its West End headquarters along Constitutional Avenue.

The association's temporary office will be located at 1100 15 St. in the heart of the East End, a large submarket with a healthy vacancy rate of 7%. Terry Amling and Chris Bynum with Jones Lang LaSalle represented the association and Wilbur Pace of local firm, Akridge, represented the building owner. A spokeswoman for Akridge tells GlobeSt.com that the association required few changes to the space, which was one reason why it wasn't pushing for a longer term lease.

The association's owned headquarters at 2215 Constitutional Avenue is located in the West End. Tonya Ginter, research director for GVA Advantis, says it's understandable why the organization chose to relocate temporarily to the other side of town--the West End market is very small and space is very tight. She says the West End has roughly 17 buildings, with leasing predominately renewals by longstanding tenants in the submarket. Unlike much of DC, there has not been much new development in the submarket, a contributing factor for the low vacancy rate, she adds.

http://www.globest.com/news/752_752/washington/149678-1.html

Report Assesses Private Sector's Readiness

WASHINGTON, DC-In a report to the US Congress, the "President's Working Group on Financial Markets" validates GAO findings about long-term availability and affordability of terrorism insurance. Congress and the real estate and insurance industries have been waiting for the report as part of the due diligence for crafting a permanent solution to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, extended for two years in December 2005.

But if these stakeholders were hoping for a definitive answer, the report does not deliver. It notes, for instance, that the insurance sector has improved the methods to support terrorism risk modeling and has made great strides in measuring and managing risk accumulations. The report goes on to lend credence to insurers' concerns--namely that the modeling strategies are based relies largely on analysis of terrorist behavior. "Given the uncertainty of terrorism in general and, in particular, the uncertainty associated with these modeling efforts, insurers appear to have limited confidence in these models for evaluating their risk exposures," the report said.

http://www.globest.com/news/753_753/washington/149682-1.html

413,000-SF DC Trophy Earns $200M Plus

WASHINGTON, DC-Fidelity Investments has closed on 1201 and 1225 New York Ave., a 413,000-sf duo that has been redeveloped into one landmark property since 2000.

The Boston-based buyer got the buildings from Strategic Real Estate Advisors, a London-based firm, which acquired 1201 New York Ave. in 1999 on behalf of a private client and 1225 New York Ave. the following year. Strategic Real Estate Advisors did not reveal the buyer, but GlobeSt.com has confirmed from two market sources that that it is Fidelity Investments. Strategic Real Estate Advisors didn't return a telephone call for comment by deadline.

In a press release, StratREAL chairman and CEO Pierre Rolin says a capital improvement program has made the building more competitive, thus allowing the firm to retain several key tenants as well as attract a 15,000-sf high-end restaurant, just four blocks from the White House. "With these new leases in place we created a trophy asset with long-term stable income that was reflected in the aggressive pricing achieved," he said, citing a 97% occupancy.

http://www.globest.com/news/754_754/washington/149719-1.html

REGIONAL NEWS

Around DC, a Cheaper House May Cost You
Longer Commutes Outweigh Savings of Living in Outer Suburbs, Study Shows

By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 12, 2006; Page A01

One of the lures of the outer suburbs is more house -- maybe even one with a big yard -- for less money. But a new study shows that the savings are illusory: The costs of longer commutes are so high that they can outweigh the cheaper mortgage payments.

A study of Washington and 27 other metropolitan areas by the Center for Housing Policy found that the costs of one-way commutes of as little as 12 to 15 miles -- roughly the distance between Gaithersburg and Bethesda -- cancel any savings on lower-priced outer-suburban homes.

"If you save $40,000 to $50,000 by not buying that house in Montgomery County but expand your commute by an extra 30 miles a day, you can certainly see how that new house could not end up being the deal you thought it was, especially if gas is at $3 a gallon," said Lon Anderson, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. "But because of the exorbitant cost of housing closer in to [the District], they don't have a choice if they want to live with their families in a home they can afford."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101101883.html

DC Area Homes Stay on the Market Longer

By Bill Brubaker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 10, 2006; 6:18 PM

It's taking longer and longer to sell homes in the Washington area--and even longer in the outer suburbs, a new survey reports.

Single-family homes and condominiums stayed on the market for an average of 109 days before selling in Loudoun County last month, for example. That compares with a 33-day turnaround a year earlier, according to data from Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc., which tracks real estate trends in the region.

In Prince William County, the houses that sold last month had been on the market for 90 days, compared to 30 in September 2005.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101000840.html

'The Super Bowl of Real Estate'
Super-Luxury Houses -- Including One Owned by Trump -- Top $100 Million

By Jessica Gresko
Associated Press
Saturday, October 7, 2006; Page F30

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Donald Trump's property for sale here has all the big-time extras one might expect. Pricey marble and 24-karat gold fixtures decorate bathrooms. There's a gargantuan fountain in the driveway and 475 feet of oceanfront out back.

Perhaps the biggest thing about the home, however, is its price tag: $125 million. And (sorry, Donald) that price has already been trumped. A home in Aspen, Colo., is listed at $135 million. Another home in Lake Tahoe, Nev., was recently listed at a flat $100 million.

The listings represent a monetary milestone in American real estate: the first time U.S. homes have broken into a whopping nine figures, according to real estate experts, and they've done so in quick succession. A May survey of the nation's most expensive homes by Forbes.com put Trump's home at the most expensive and the first to break the $100 million mark. At the time, the next highest listing was a $75 million estate in Bridgehampton, N.Y.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100502045.html

Despite GOP's latest troubles, Steele is determined to prevail

Friday, Oct. 6, 2006

ANNAPOLIS -- As the race to succeed U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes enters its final weeks, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele continues to face formidable hurdles in his quest to become Maryland's first Republican senator in two decades.

Many of Steele's challenges are well-documented and reflect the obstacles that Republicans face around the country and, particularly, in heavily Democratic Maryland.

Steele said he entered the race "knowing that the political climate in the country was not good and has not gotten better since," he told The Gazette editorial board on Thursday. "This is an uphill climb," he said. "I'm a black Republican running for the United States Senate in the bluest state in the country."

http://www.gazette.net/stories/100606/polia%20s194933_31973.shtml

Gambling Advocates Hedging Their Bets
Pro-Slots Donors Giving to O'Malley As Well as Ehrlich

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 12, 2006; Page B01

Maryland supporters of legalizing slot machines have had an outspoken champion in Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., but some key gambling enthusiasts are now putting their money behind his Democratic opponent in the race for governor.

Campaign records show that donations have started going to Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, who has pledged to support a limited gambling plan that would allow slot machines at Maryland racetracks. Slot supporters say O'Malley might have better luck persuading gambling opponents in the Democrat-controlled House of Delegates to ease their resistance.

"It's my view that, from a political standpoint, anyone in the governor's office that's a Democrat may have a better chance to deliver on slots," said Tom Bowman, a veterinarian and horse breeder who served as president of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association during the years when Ehrlich pushed hardest to expand legalized gambling.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101101810.html

Democrats Put on Show of Unity

By Rosalind S. Helderman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 12, 2006; Page T02

Pretty much everyone who was anyone in Maryland Democratic politics made their way to Camelot of Upper Marlboro for the county party's unity breakfast Monday.

Among those who addressed the several hundred loyalists: U.S. Senate candidate and Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin; gubernatorial nominee and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley; lieutenant governor nominee and Del. Anthony G. Brown; Rep. Steny H. Hoyer; {scheck} Rep. Albert R. Wynn; and County Executive Jack B. Johnson.

Among others in the audience: just about every delegate, senator and member of the County Council along with those who want to be delegates, senators or County Council members. This same event was canceled shortly after the primary election because of the lack of, well, unity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/11/AR2006101100941.html

Lawlah's in, out and in again for Prince George's board

Friday, Oct. 6, 2006

Sen. Gloria G. Lawlah has returned to the race for one of four at-large seats on the Prince George's County school board.

Lawlah (D-Dist. 26) of Hillcrest Heights won the third-largest number of votes among at-large candidates in the Sept. 12 primary although she dropped out of the race this summer.

Her apparent popularity prompted Lawlah to reconsider her options. "I am running for school board," she said Monday. "I guess I'll have to go to all the forums and do what candidates do. I'll be at those forums."

http://www.gazette.net/stories/100606/polia%20s194938_31974.shtml

Ehrlich, O'Malley to tape debate for Baltimore TV
No word on format or whether the rest of the state can tune in

Friday, Oct. 6, 2006

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley have decided to go to the videotape for a televised debate.

Voters will be able to see the gubernatorial candidates square off on WJZ TV, the CBS affiliate in Baltimore, in an hour-long debate that will be taped at noon Oct. 14 but will not air until 7 p.m. Oct. 16.

"It's live-to-tape," said Liz Chuday, a spokeswoman for the station. "There will be no editing."

http://www.gazette.net/stories/100606/polia%20s193339_31961.shtml

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Taxes Take Center Stage
Allen Claims That Foe in Senate Race Wants Increases; Webb Counters That the Charge Is a Misrepresentation

By Michael D. Shear and Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, October 11, 2006; Page B01

RICHMOND, Oct. 10 -- Taxes have moved to the forefront of Virginia's Senate race, with Republican Sen. George Allen accusing Democrat James Webb of plotting to raise taxes on millions of Virginians.

Allen made the allegations at the candidates' final debate Monday and is repeating them in a statewide television commercial. But the accusations are based almost entirely on Webb's support from national Democratic leaders and on two vague statements by Webb questioning whether Congress should make federal tax cuts permanent.

Webb, who has never run for public office or cast a vote on taxes, has angrily denied the charge and on Tuesday began airing a commercial defending his views. The Democrat's ad also examines Allen's voting history to accuse him of raising taxes on retirement savings, increasing the cost of tuition and giving tax breaks to oil companies. Webb also told reporters which tax cuts he would keep and what tax loopholes he would consider closing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001334.html

GMU Refinances Arlington Property With Rare Terms

ARLINGTON, VA-George Mason University Foundation recently closed on a $68.5-million, fixed-rate, non-recourse permanent loan through Chicago-based LaSalle Bank for a mixed-use asset on 3434 Washington Blvd. The refinancing was unusual in that it covered 100% of costs, says Roger Edwards, managing director of Columbia National Real Estate Finance, LLC in Washington, DC. "The foundation's primary goals were to get maximum proceeds out of the refinancing and take out the building's floating rate construction loan," he says.

It was a 10-year term, with a two-year IO period and 30-year amortization, divided into a senior note of $64 million and subordinated note of $4.5 million. Edwards would not give the precise interest rate but did say it was not below 6%. The LTV was 85%.

Edwards says it's atypical for lenders to offer 100% of costs even in the strong Washington, DC area market. "Typically they want to have some equity in the transaction." That said, he adds, if certain elements align properly, such terms can be had. "There has to be a strong sponsor such as the George Mason University Foundation, a class A location and assets and a strong tenant."

http://www.globest.com/news/756_756/washington/149750-1.html

Hampshire Cos. Acquires Virginia Office Asset

VIENNA, VA-The Hampshire Cos., a private real estate investment fund manager in Hartford, has acquired an office asset at 1041 Electric Ave., Vienna, in northern Virginia. According to a market source, the building traded for $13.68 million at a cap rate of 8.96%. The seller was Vienna Technology Park Associates. The acquisition was made on behalf of Hampshire Partners Fund VI, Hampshire's $235 million institutional investment fund.

Richard W. Davidson and Michael Paukstitus of Coldwell Banker Commercial Capitol Realty in Vienna represented Hampshire in the transaction. Vienna Technology Park Associates Limited Partnership was represented by Brian Ball, executive director of GVA Advantis' Tysons Corner office.

The property, which is fully leased by an US government agency, is located close to the intersection of the Capitol Beltway and I-66. A new Metro rail station is planned within walking distance of the building.

http://www.globest.com/news/755_755/washington/149736-1.html

Hersha, Pinnacle Seal $35M Off-Market Deal

ALEXANDRIA, VA-Philadelphia-based Hersha Hospitality Trust has acquired the 203-room Courtyard by Marriott for $35 million. The trust's sixth acquisition in the Washington, DC area was bought off-market from Pinnacle Hospitality Group of Rockville, MD.

Hersha used a combination of cash and $25 million in fixed-rate, first-mortgage financing with an interest rate of 6.25%. Hersha CEO Jay H. Shah says the deal is structured at an 8.3% forward cap rate. Marriott will continue to manage the property at 4641 Kenmore Ave.

"We look forward to growing our management relationship with Marriott over time," Shah also says in the press release. "With the addition of the Courtyard Alexandria, we have increased our leverage to the upscale segment of the hotel industry to more than half of the total rooms in our total portfolio."

http://www.globest.com/news/746_746/washington/149573-1.html