A Return Engagement at City Hall

By David Nakamura and V. Dion Haynes
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 16, 2006; Page DZ02

The new deputy mayor looks a lot like the old deputy mayor.

Neil O. Albert, once a deputy to Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), will return to DC government after a year in the private sector to head up mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty's economic development effort.

Fenty and Dan Tangherlini, who will be city administrator in the Fenty administration, introduced Albert -- or "reintroduced" him, as Fenty put it -- to reporters Monday at the Frank D. Reeves Municipal Center.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111500633.html

 

Fenty Scores Early Legislative Victory As Stadium Parking Plan Is Approved

By David Nakamura
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; Page A01

The DC Council approved a plan yesterday to build parking garages next to the new baseball stadium in Southeast, resolving a months-long deadlock with the Washington Nationals and putting the ballpark on track to open in 2008.

The council's action represents the first legislative victory for Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4), who, over the past several weeks, had convinced his colleagues that moving the stadium parking project forward is critical to its success.

But the victory came with a price. Council members voted 10 to 3 to override a ruling in July by the DC Zoning Commission that banned the city from building free-standing garages on the basis that such structures could hamper economic development.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111400948.html

 

Fenty to Name Ally To Lead Turnaround

By David Nakamura and V. Dion Haynes
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 16, 2006; Page B04

DC Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty plans to appoint Board of Education member Victor Reinoso today as his deputy mayor for education, a key post in Fenty's potential bid for control of the struggling 58,000-student school system.

Under the school governance model he is considering, Fenty (D) would make the school board an advisory panel and create a Department of Education overseen by Reinoso. The school superintendent would report to Reinoso, who, in turn, would report to Fenty.

Fenty is leaning toward retaining Superintendent Clifford B. Janey under this scenario, said an authoritative source on the transition team, speaking on condition of anonymity because the plans were still being formulated. A mayoral takeover would require approval by the DC Council as well as Congress and President Bush.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501054.html

 

Lines Form to Fill Fenty, Gray Seats
Potential Candidates Test Political Waters

By Elissa Silverman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; Page B04

A dozen people equipped with BlackBerries, clipboards and green-and-white stickers descended on the streets of Riggs Park on Saturday. They knocked on doors, handed out glossy literature and promised to return with yard signs.

Residents in the Ward 4 neighborhood were puzzled. Hadn't local elections ended less than a week earlier?

Not everywhere in the District. Special balloting in the spring will fill council positions to be vacated by Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4) and council Chairman-elect Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111400995.html

 

Votes Postponed on Raises for Mayor, Chairman

By Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; Page B04

The DC Council postponed voting on whether to give $48,000 raises to the mayor-elect and council chairman-elect, and a proposal to boost the pay of council members by almost the same amount was withdrawn yesterday.

The lame duck council has at least one more chance to enact pay increases when it returns for its next meeting Dec. 5. A new council and mayor-elect will take office Jan. 2.

Under the original proposal, a council member's salary would have jumped more than 51 percent, from $92,530 to $140,000. The mayor's salary would go to $200,000 and the chairman's salary to $190,000.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111401062.html

 

DC's Office Pipeline Leads the Nation

WASHINGTON, DC-Washington, DC is at the top of a list of cities with office properties under construction in a Colliers International ranking. According to the firm, there is more than 12 million sf under construction here, including the near suburbs. In the District alone there is some 5.3 million sf under construction. Construction activity in the northern Virginia suburbs is even more robust at 6,684,429 sf.

Similar high levels are reported in other markets ranging from New York to Phoenix to Chicago to Orange Count. One projection posited in the report is that nationwide this new construction, at least in certain markets, is expected to overtake demand next year, possibly realigning market fundamentals.

Washington, DC, though, has little worry about. Ross Moore, senior vice president and director of market and economic research at Colliers International, tells GlobeSt.com that while current construction will introduce an additional 5% of supply into existing inventory "our research director in that market has assured me that it will be all leased up with barely a hiccup. If there is any market that can handle an additional five million, it is DC."

http://www.globest.com/news/781_781/washington/150596-1.html

 

BPG Plans $200M Hotel Pipeline for 2007

WASHINGTON, DC-The Buccini/Pollin Group may have more than six million sf of office, industrial and retail space under its control but the Washington, DC-based developer is concentrating particularly on hotels these days. Dave Pollin, BPG president, tells GlobeSt.com that it has between $125 million to $200 million of projects in its pipeline. The final number is still uncertain as two pending projects in the District are not yet finalized.

In 2007 BPG plans to develop three hotels in suburban Maryland, including a double-decker structure in Hanover that will contain two hotels, and two hotels in Dulles, VA, The double-decker project, for which BPG is the final stages of the permitting process, incorporates a 150-key Hilton Garden Inn and a 100-key Homewood Suites by Hilton in one building.

http://www.globest.com/news/780_780/washington/150551-1.html

 

Elections Force Industry to Size Up Agenda

WASHINGTON, DC-With Democrats now controlling the House, and possibly the Senate, a change is in the air for commercial real estate. Industry leaders are taking stock of upcoming changes and new legislative initiatives expected to be introduced and possibly passed in the months to come.

"Regardless of which party you supported this week, the fact is that Congress is going to be divided pretty evenly, and the American people want Congress to work together," Leo Wells, president of Wells Real Estate Funds, tells GlobeSt.com. "Both parties understand that commercial real estate is one of the building blocks of a strong economy, and it's in the interest of both parties to keep the economy on a strong trajectory."

Jeffrey DeBoer, president and CEO, of the Real Estate Roundtable, outlined what he saw as the real estate issues legislators will face this term. Topping the list was terrorism insurance, and Homeland Security One is terrorism insurance--an issue some see as only partly resolved with the latest extension of TRIA (the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.) DeBoer reports that new House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), working with Republicans on the committee, is expected to hold hearings early in 2007 regarding the terrorism insurance issue. At present, he says, "we expect the House Financial Services Committee, and possibly the full House, to approve bi-partisan legislation to continue TRIA in some fashion by mid-year 2007." Action is expected to be much more deliberative in the Senate Banking Committee where, depending on the final vote count in Virginia, either Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) or Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) will be chairman.

http://www.globest.com/news/779_779/washington/150517-1.html

REGIONAL NEWS

In a Downswing, Looking Up
Once Locked Out by High Prices, Aspiring Buyers Now Find Reason for Hope

By Kirstin Downey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; Page D01

Kristy LaLonde, who rents an apartment in Crystal City, spent the past four years "freaking out" as home prices here climbed relentlessly. She feared she would never be able to own the kind of place she had been raised to expect.

Now, she's feeling better.

A dramatically slowed housing market has disappointed home sellers and left real estate agents waiting for the phone to ring. But it has brought relief to would-be homeowners such as LaLonde, 29, a federal policy analyst, and her fiance, Gregory Daphnis, 35, a project manager for a health insurance plan.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111401253.html

 

Realtors See 'Perfect Alignment' Of Low Interest Rates, Ample Listings

By Sharon L. Crenson
Bloomberg News
Saturday, November 11, 2006; Page F27

There's a bright side to the decline in the U.S. housing market, says the National Association of Realtors: plenty of choice.

"Right now may actually be one of the best times to buy a home," the association said in the first full-page ads in its 98-year history. With "interest rates near record lows," the "large inventory won't last."

The largest U.S. real estate trade association is spending $1.3 million on a two-week campaign that's running in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post. The ads are designed to entice home buyers as sales have slid, inventories have risen and builders are offering incentives.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/10/AR2006111000727.html

 

O'Malley Faces a Run Of Budget Shortfalls
Debate on Spending Cuts, Taxes or Slots May Reignite

By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006; Page A01

Maryland Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley (D) is inheriting a shortfall of more than $400 million in the first budget he must present on taking office in January and faces future deficits four times larger.

The projections, released yesterday by nonpartisan legislative analysts, suggest that despite achieving temporary surpluses during the final years of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s term, state leaders have done little to address longer-term fiscal problems. It also suggests that lawmakers could soon see a reprise of a debate over whether they should cut spending, raise taxes or legalize slot-machine gambling.

Plans to legalize slots, which could generate hundreds of millions in new revenue, dominated the first three legislative sessions under Ehrlich, ending in stalemates. The Democratic-controlled legislature and the Republican governor were unable to agree on other efforts to pass large-scale revenue packages, including a $1 billion tax package pushed by House leaders in 2004.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501594.html

 

Senate Titan Sets Exit, and Maneuvering Begins
2-Decade Reign To End in 2010

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006; Page B02

For much of the past three decades, Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. has been the state's most visible wheeler-dealer, money raiser, kingmaker, gavel smasher and irrepressible political force.

Now, after an unprecedented 20-year reign as Senate president, Miller, 63, says he has decided to make his coming four-year term his last.

"At that point in my life, I can step down and turn the gavel over to the next generation," Miller said in a telephone interview yesterday. "I intend to work with them, serve out the four-year term and step aside."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501393.html

 

From Voters' Doorsteps to a Coveted Seat
For Long-Politicking Leopold, Fiscal Issues Are Priority

By William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006; Page AA01

For the past three years, John R. Leopold has knocked on voters' doors to talk about their problems and what he could do if he were Anne Arundel's county executive. Now, after years of eyeing the job, Leopold finally will get his chance, and he vows to make the most of it.

The veteran Republican legislator won the office after a nail-biter of a race that came down to a two-day count of absentee ballots, which gave him a 3,920-vote margin over Sheriff George F. Johnson IV (D). The victory, combined with losses by several GOP candidates across the state, makes Leopold one of Maryland's most prominent Republican leaders.

The political career that brought him to Anne Arundel's highest office spans the country.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111500444.html

 

O'Malley Confidant Gets Key Assignment
Michael Enright to Be Governor's Chief of Staff

By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 17, 2006; Page B01

Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley yesterday tapped a longtime friend and trusted adviser as his chief of staff and turned to a diverse group of 42 Marylanders to help guide his transition to office.

O'Malley (D), Baltimore's mayor, announced that Michael R. Enright, one of his top aides at City Hall, would move to Annapolis with him in January, taking on the role of his gubernatorial chief of staff.

Enright, a friend of O'Malley's since their days together at Gonzaga College High School in the District, has served as first deputy mayor since O'Malley was inaugurated in Baltimore in 1999 and worked previously for other prominent Maryland Democrats.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/16/AR2006111600594.html

 

The New Legislature: Left, Right or Center?
There Will Be More D's, Fewer R's

By Ann E. Marimow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006; Page T04

The freshman class ushered into the General Assembly by last week's election will reflect a subtle change in complexion fueled more by personality, experience and demographics than by any drastic shift in ideology.

Voters from the Washington suburbs elected to the state Senate an aggressive team of newcomers accomplished in their respective fields, including a religious leader from Prince George's County who could take oratory in the chamber to new heights, a former Howard County police chief and the outgoing county executive, and experts in constitutional law and state finances from Montgomery County.

The makeover of the 47-member Senate resulted in the loss of four of 15 women, including an outspoken advocate for domestic violence victims and reproductive health, and the sponsor of legislation to make most of Maryland's public places and restaurants smoke-free.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111500432.html

 

New legislature still cool to slots
O'Malley could face resistance if he makes the gambling machines a priority

Friday, Nov. 17, 2006

ANNAPOLIS -- If Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley follows through and supports legislation legalizing slot machines at racetracks, he runs the risk of fracturing the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and alienating a slew of new members.

Legalizing slot machines was not a cornerstone of O'Malley's campaign, but his pro-slots position has commanded a lot of attention since he defeated pro-slots Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), who failed for the past four years to get his signature initiative through the House of Delegates.

O'Malley is already getting pressure from slots champion Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. to push the issue in the coming legislative session -- while the new governor is still in his "honeymoon" period. That pressure -- combined with new budget projections that show long-term deficits -- brings the prospects for slot machines more into focus.

http://www.gazette.net/stories/111706/polia%20s193338_31951.shtml

 

Hoyer wins No. 2 post

Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006

Rebuffing the wishes of incoming Speaker Nancy S. Pelosi, House Democrats elected U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer to majority leader Thursday, giving Maryland an influential voice in national policy decisions.

Hoyer defeated Rep. John P. "Jack" Murtha with plenty of room to spare, garnering 149 votes to 86 for Murtha, a close ally of Pelosi's who gained notoriety earlier this year when he called for an end to U.S. military operations in Iraq.

The bitter competition divided Democrats just one week after they won control of both chambers of Congress in a landslide election. But the newly elected leaders emerged unified from the morning vote.

http://www.gazette.net/stories/111606/polia%20s151011_31942.shtml

 

Democrats' margins on upswing in Prince George's
Late push to shore up GOP support in the county had little impact

Friday, Nov. 17, 2006

Prince George's County not only confirmed its stature as the strongest of Maryland's Democratic strongholds in last week's general election, but continued to make great leaps forward in the margins of victory it gave the Democrats.

Some disgruntled party leaders flirted with the GOP days before the election, but the vote count suggests the move had little impact.

"I see a tremendous increase," said Terry Speigner, chairman of the county's Democratic Central Committee. "They're [margins] the biggest in the state. That's why we're the bedrock of the Democratic Party."

http://www.gazette.net/stories/111706/polia%20s192441_31944.shtml

 

Will Giammo leave Rockville for O'Malley?
Mayor, others say it is too soon to discuss possible appointments

Friday, Nov. 17, 2006

Speculation has intensified since last week's general election about whether Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo, a key supporter of Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley, will land a spot in the new administration.

While Giammo and members of the O'Malley camp say it is premature to discuss possible appointments, local supporters and opponents of the mayor are not shying away from the topic.

"You'd have to be an idiot not to at least think it's possible somebody that talented, who extended himself for the campaign, would not be identified for an important position," Giammo supporter and former Rockville City Councilman John F. Hall Jr. said.

http://www.gazette.net/stories/111706/polia%20s192453_31946.shtml

Fairfax Companies Busy Buying and Growing

By Kim Hart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006; Page VA10

Several Fairfax County companies have grown this week by acquiring smaller companies all over the country, highlighting the robust merger and acquisition market in Northern Virginia.

Three of the county's largest employers are among the buyers. Northrop Grumman Corp. announced it had signed an agreement to pay approximately $580 million for Maryland's Essex Corp., a Columbia-based provider of signal processing services and imaging for intelligence and defense agencies.

Science Applications International Corp. agreed to acquire Applied Marine Technology Inc., a Virginia Beach systems integrator for the intelligence and military communities. SAIC will gain 500 employees through the deal.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111500599.html

 

Proposed Rule Aims to Tame Irregular Housing Lots

By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; Page B05

Faced with rising numbers of house lots with contorted shapes, Fairfax County is about to require that they have more regular configurations -- despite protests from builders who say the restrictions would encourage sprawl.

For years, builders have used highly creative subdivision designs to carve out as many lots as possible while still complying with rules for access to roads and septic systems, among other regulations. The tricks, reminiscent of gerrymandered political districts, include running skinny legs of one lot across another to give a landlocked home a slice of road frontage, or placing a family's septic field in what would otherwise be the back yard of its neighbor in order to take advantage of good soils.

Now the county is on the verge of putting a stop to the most egregious variations using a complex formula adopted by many New England towns but almost nowhere else. County officials say action is needed because highly irregular lots are resulting in ever more confusion and friction among neighbors over boundaries and property maintenance and limiting residents' ability to make full use of their land.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111401154.html

 

Cuts in Spending, Increases in Taxes Considered to Offset Revenue Drop-Offs

By Annie Gowen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 14, 2006; Page B01

Local governments across the region are considering cutting spending or raising taxes in the coming year because of a decline in revenue growth caused by the housing downturn.

Officials in Arlington and Prince William counties and Alexandria said yesterday that they are projecting budget shortfalls. The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to be briefed next week on the extent of that county's budget gap.

Maryland governments are less squeezed because properties there are assessed every three years instead of yearly, as Virginia does. Maryland and DC real estate assessments also are capped each year. Still, Maryland officials said they are seeing sharp declines in recordation and other tax revenue connected to the housing market.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/13/AR2006111301242.html

 

For Now, Loudoun Curbs Dulles Growth

By Amy Gardner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 12, 2006; Page C05

In a single, dramatic day in January 2004, a freshly minted Republican majority on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors reversed eight years of slow-growth policy.

Supervisors opened a vast territory west of Dulles International Airport to water and sewers, and they ordered an about-face on the county's support for a series of slow-growth legislative initiatives in Richmond.

It was the latest yaw on a punishing voyage toward suburbanization in Loudoun, a semirural county between the airport and the Blue Ridge buffeted by successive boards' pro- and slow-growth policies over the past 20 years. Now, supervisors have turned again: On Wednesday, they rejected a proposal to allow as many as 33,800 houses in southeastern Loudoun.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/11/AR2006111100978.html

 

Stafford Place Building Trades for $197M

ARLINGTON, VA-Transwestern Commercial Services has brokered the sale of 4201 Wilson Blvd., a fully leased class A building in the Ballston submarket of Arlington. The building traded for $197.2 million, or $358.66 per sf.

According to comps, DC real estate investor and developer Ralph Dweck acquired the 555,707-sf building from Carr Real Estate. It is one of two buildings that make up the Stafford Place complex.

The building is fully leased by the National Science Foundation, which also has leased an additional 60,000 sf in the adjacent building located at 4121 Wilson Blvd. Tonya Ginter, director of research at GVA Advantis, notes the building fits Dweck's investment profile--namely class A fully leased buildings. He also owns the adjacent building--which is a much smaller structure at 175, 058 sf, which he acquired last May for $73.5 million, or $419.86 per sf.

http://www.globest.com/news/783_783/washington/150679-1.html