Hey Developers, No More Closing Off Sidewalks for Construction

Yesterday the DDOT announced that developers, anywhere in the city, will no longer be allowed to close off the sidewalks for their construction sites. The new guidelines will require either covered walkways or protected open walkways at most sites.

This means you Metropolis Development, which happens to be completing their newest luxury development, the Metropole, located caddy-corner to my office.

Where's my money?

Scaffolding companies!

Curtis Chevrolet Closes to Make Room for New Development

This past Friday, Curtis Chevrolet, located at the intersection of Missouri Ave NW and Georgia Ave NW closed its doors to make room for an upcoming development.

According to the Washington Business Journal:
"Dudley Dworken, owner of the dealership, said details were still being worked out but that he would be a partner in the development." Foulger-Pratt has signed on to fill the position as development partner. The development is expected to house residential units above with street level retail along the scrutinzed Georgia Ave corridor. In upcoming years, Georgia Ave, a part of DC's "Great Streets" initiative, will be completely repaved, replanted and redesigned to create a more warm welcome into our city.

Foulger-Pratt is locally known for their roles at the Metropole, Madrigal Lofts, and 1010 Mass as Glen Construction filed bankruptcy earlier this year. Read more here.

According to the tax record, the lot is zoned c2a and is a quite sizable 145,000 square feet, thats over three acres. This might be a bit presumptuous but I have the feeling we'll be seeing a PUD application sometime in the VERY near future.

Only time will tell.

The Metropole: "Goodbye Glen, Hello Foulger-Pratt"

This morning while returned from my ever repetitive daily walk to the Starbucks Coffee on P St NW between 14th St NW & 15th St NW I passed a new sign on the site of the Metropole, a new condo building at the corner of 15th St NW and P St NW. The Glen Construction sign was gone and in its place stood a new sign reading "Foulger-Pratt We Build to Last." While this wouldn't usually be something I would write about I thought it would be something interesting given the press release two days ago by Glen Construction in the Washington Business Journal.

Apparently Glen Construction, a company who has been around for nearly half a century, is going to be "closing" its doors come winter and is now down to a workforce of 12 employees, from an estimated 300 in its heyday. Locally, Glen Construction can be best known for their projects known as Rainbow Lofts and Georgetown Heights, two projects which epitomize quality in the construction industry. Recently, however, it seems like they have made some very big mistakes on their three current projects; 1010 Mass sold by McWilliams Ballard, Madrigal Lofts sold in-house, and the Metropole sold by DCRealEstate.com. The two greatest contributing factors to their demise was the slowdown in the high-end condo market and no having subcontractors ready to begin construction upon signing contracts with the developers. The latter of the two cause them to become victims to rising construction costs and slower construction scheduling, delaying both payments and project completion.

At the current moment, 1010 Mass is near completion and the project has been taken over by Faison Construction, who is suing Glen Construction for breach of construction and damages. Glen was not insured on this project. Fortunately they were on the Metropole, nearly 50% complete, and Madrigal Lofts, nearly 85% complete. Foulger-Pratt has taken over both projects in Glen Construction's place determining that "it was best to have another contractor complete the work."

The results of such poor planning will only cause turmoil throughout the chain of parties involved. From the sales companies, to the clients, a catastrophe like this is sure to lose a few clients for the developers and sales companies.

VIDEO UPDATE

5/5/08 "The Market & The Metropole"

Sun-tsu: ''Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer'

With all of the developer based or developer catered companies on the market and with such strong exposure to the consumer population by some other companies, you might be asking yourself 'Why KTRE?' Despite a somewhat limited time in the industry, I have prided myself on my ability to learn and adapt as quickly as possible to current market conditions and competition on the market. This has allowed my to strive successfully in an ever more competitive market especially with all of the blossoming companies on the market.

The competitors:
DCRealEstate.com
Senate Realty
Urban Land Company
Urban Pace
Ken Taylor
McWilliams Ballard

My impressions based on client feedback and corporate interaction!

DCRealEstate.com:
Strengths: Great company, wonderful brokers and the right core branding strategy with extremely aggressive exposure for clients as well as a website that has been brilliantly set up to make consumers feel like DCRealEstate.com has many more clients than they actually do, driving up inquiries by potential buyers for greater business leads for in-house staff. DCRealEstate.com seems to always be the first mover in the development arena. (at this point you are probably asking yourself 'whats wrong with them then?) Well heres where it seems like DCRealEstate.com faults...on my two interactions with them on different projects and with different members (one of which was with the broker) I was given a very poor service. Let me explain....on one of their projects, Bascilicalofts.com by Macy Development, I was the selling agent on one of their units. At first everything was wonderful, they did a great job marketing the building and staging a unit. My clients were ecstatic the moment they walked in the model and immediately after our first day showing property, were ready to write an offer. Alright...so far so good. After days of painstaking negotiations with their agent over a measley $2000 we came to terms and ratified. They used a mortgage lender, Leila Search, from First Madison Mortgage, whom I recommended & is a personal favorite of mine. Everything was perfect. Three weeks later we went to settlement and my clients were ecstatic.

A week goes by and my client moves in only to find out that Macy Dev had destroyed a Verizon router box on the property and my client was unable to get service because Verizon claimed that they wouldnt service the entire block until Macy paid for the box and Macy's claim was that there was no box. To this day I dont have proof either way but what killed me was the agents reaction to the situation..."its not my problem now that we've settled, contact the developer." What happened to commitment to service?!?!?!?!

On another development, the Metropole, a wonderful building caddy-corner to my building with incredible finishes and wonderful craftsmanship, I was working with a client interested in several of their units. Thats right, several! My clients needs are 3000+ sq ft, two car parking, outdoor living space etc. I thought I had found it. The Metropole has three units, 612, 613, and 614, priced between 650k and 750k, that my clients had the interest in combining and turning into one spectacular unit according to their needs. Well one afternoon they had the afternoon off and decide to stop in the sales office to get some information about the building. That afternoon we spoke and to my surprise they told me that DCRealEstate.com didnt seem like they were willing to accomodate any requests of my clients whatsoever regarding information about the three units. So I figured maybe they were asking the wrong questions and decide to go in for myself. Well, they were spot-on. I requested architects plans for the three units and was told I would receive them in a timely bases. A week goes by. Nothing. I call and ask. Another week goes by. I stop by and ask. Nothing. Two more weeks go by and still nothing. I go in and leave a note. SIX weeks after my first approach and my sixth time in the sales office did someone FINALLY go in and get the plans for me. What kills me even more is that my clients may have been willing to do all of the work themselves out of pocket and all we wanted were the plans.
Enough complaining....its not for me!

Urban Land Company.
A great little company with a very niche market stemming from work in the Ledroit Park & Eckington area. An area that my associate Melanie Moses happens to specialize in as well. Well the company is headed by a gentleman by the name Girard who, from my impression, has his company well under wraps and has done quite a job exposing himself to the market. My issue is that it seems to be the Girard show and their commitment towards developers is much less catered than I am hoping to offer my clients allowing them to keep me as hands-on & as hands-off as they need me to be. So where's the room for the aspiring agent? I dont know if there is any.

Senate Realty:
Great company, solid reputation, great exposure. A little bit more into the lower priced developments than I would like to be.

McWilliams Ballard:
Great company, wonderful reputation. I think they may be a little pompous for me though. I havent spoken with them much but my impression is that they are already too big to offer the catered services to their clients & I dont know how influential the agents are at this point to their developers. There seems to be a disconnect between the agents and their broker.

Urban Pace:
Wonderful company, solid foundation and wonderful reputation. I dont know what else there is to say. They are very well established, work with very high-end clientele but where is the room for growth. They may have maxed out their ability for dynamicity at this point.

KTRE:
YAY!!!! Ken's reputation is solid, they have a wonderful reputation in the industry and his track record is impeccable. The company, partially directed by Vice President of the company, Tomas Guirola, has started its treck towards stardom. Ken is the brainchild (or should I say brainman) with 25 years experience, he is always available and has a very similar core set of values that I know I bring to the industry. Tomas is aggressive and HUNGRY, just like I am. They have their foot in the door with developers but nobody directing the show. This is where I come in! There seemed to be a position open in the company for developer liason, working on the day-to-day activities with the developers themselves that Tomas had been handling previously. Well, here I am today, and I couldnt be more confident of my choice. Ken and Tomas have been wonderfully supportive and we are already on our way to three new developments including the potential for two-nine million dollar projects in DC and an additional one in Maryland. Its on!