U r b a n T r e k k e r

No Secondhand Smoke DC

Image by thomasbrandt via Flickr

Apparently in Japan, smoking is prohibited in some streets. But, Japanese smoke like crazy (most of them are). So that makes sense. Here, who's going to enforce the law?

Pretty 'interesting' bill coming in the pipeline from DC Council. This fall the Council is looking to expand the city's existing smoking ban to include a provision that allow property owners to ban smoking outside their buildings, including sidewalks. [h/t DCist]

"The proposed legislation, a major expansion of the District's smoke-free law, sets 18 as the legal age to purchase or possess tobacco products, requires retailers to post signs warning of the dangers of smoking, ramps up enforcement of sales to minors and authorizes smoking bans up to 25 feet from the wall of any private property -- residential or commercial."

[via Examiner]

BRAC Moves Extended

Some DOD (Dept. of Defense) offices will be allowed to stay at where they are now, beyond 2011.

The Landowners of Tysons

image: Fairfax County DPZ

For the fun of it, I digged info on "Who's Who" Tysons Corner's landlords. In this post, we're trekking the landlords of Tysons using the data that was prepared sometime in 2005 for Dulles metrorail. So it may contain info that is notcurrent as of this time of writing.

The landownership within Tysons Corner is divided into publicly owned and privately owned land.  The other day,Washington Post had a piece about West Group (link to post), the largest 'privately-owned' landowner, that is selling land holdings to another company. While West Group is the single largest property owner, Tysons Corner Property LLC owns the largest contiguous land mass in Tysons, according to Fairfax County record.

The landownership in Tysons is divided according to the proposed four rail stations slated for Dulles metrorail:

1. Tysons East
2. Tysons Central 123
3. Tysons Central 7
4. Tysons West

In Tysons East. Who knew? That with the exception to the large parcel of Gates of McLean condominium, north of this station is owned by the 'whats-in-your-wallet' Capital One (25 acres) and West Group (10 acres). On the south of the station, the land is owned by a 'few' large landowners (no further info). However, land ownership along Colshire and southeast Anderson Road that range from 10 to 20 acres is owned by a few companies that includes Mitre Corporation, West Group, Northrop Grumman, MR Commons and Safeway.

Move on to Tysons Central 123. This part of Tysons has large parcel of land over 20 acres. North of the station, the owners includes Tysons II Land Co LLC (30 ac.), Tysons II Mall. South of the station, which is the largest single land mass under one owner is owned by Tysons Corner Property Holdings LLC (Tysons I Mall) with over 80 acres.

Then to Tysons Central 7. On this part of the proposed station, land masses ranged from 5.5 acres to over 18 acres, is owned by a few companies, i.e. SAIC (18 ac.), Booz Allen Hamilton (13 ac.), Sherwood Tysons (Marshall Shopping) owns about 16 ac. Koons Auto Dealership owns about 14 acres. Pike 7 Plaza owns about 12.6 acres.

Last station is Tysons West. This part of the proposed station no biggie landowners per se, because ownership is divided among several car dealerships and Rosenthal that owns 12 ac. of land, which is  the largest piece over here.

Oh, there's more here. There you have it..

CROSSPOSTED at In Tysons Space

West Group Change Hands

Washington Post reports that the owner of West Group, the largest landowner of Tysons Corner cashing in his 142 acre of holdings to an investment group led by Robert Pence, a developer with local "Fairfax" root. The new owner will continue to focus on West Group's vision for redevelopment of Tysons Corner.

The WestGroup owns about 140 office and apartment buildings in Tysons. Its office properties have as much as 2 million square feet of space available, according to the company's Web site.

WestGroup developed two major pieces of Tysons Corner's current landscape: WestPark, outside the Capital Beltway, and WestGate, inside the Beltway. The company's buildings are home to major companies, including Freddie Mac, Mitre and Northrop Grumman.

Full story here and here..

CROSSPOSTED at In Tysons Space

Weekly Roundup

Best Old House Neighborhoods 2009

Unique, tight-knit neighborhoods are precisely what we looked for in selecting the winners of our second annual Best Old House Neighborhoods contest—places that might not be on your radar but deserve to be. Like last year, we relied on our good friends at PreservationDirectory.com to help us contact thousands of neighborhood groups, real estate agents, and preservation societies to get their takes on the best places to track down, fix up, and fall head of heels for older homes.

Trump Park Avenue Penthouse Duplex Falls from $51M to $31M

This week's Observer checked in on last year's most lush listings: Of the 10 New York properties that were asking over $45 million in late 2008, only one has sold, and half have fallen off the market without a sale. "The timing was not good, so I didn't get any offers," said Victoria Shtainer, who listed the $51 million duplex penthouse atTrump Park Avenue until it was taken off the market late last month.

The 15 most sustainable U.S. cities

Seattle is the most sustainable big city in the nation, according to a list compiled by Smarter Cities, an NRDC project that looks at the progress American cities are making toward going green. Not surprisingly, San Francisco and Portland are the runners-up.

Prepay mortgage principal, not interest

Dear Dr. Don,

I have a 15-year mortgage which I pay every two weeks. I want to make a lump-sum payment of $10,000 on my loan. Should I apply it to interest or principal?

Efficient showerheads and toilets can save you water

The average U.S. home sees peek water consumption during the summer, as Americans turn on the taps and spigots more frequently to do things like water their lawns and flower beds and fill their swimming pools.

Home Prices and Behavioral Psychology 

In economic text books, assets are always priced perfectly by the cool, rational work of markets. In the real world, human behavior has a huge influence on what things sell for, particularly homes.

Who Cares About Future House Prices?

James Kwak wonders about the housing market, and price-to-rent ratios:

The fact is that most people buying houses aren’t going to be renting them out, and what they care about is the price at which they will be able to sell that house in 10 years.

Does jump-in housing starts signal a turnaround?

This week's news of a jump in housing starts prompted some to wonder if the housing market has turned a corner. The Commerce Department reported on Friday that new construction of homes and apartments in June picked up to the fastest pace in seven months, led by starts of single-family homes.

Home Ownership Was Never a Road to Riches

My wife and I have sold all of our four previous homes for more than we paid for them—sometimes a lot more. We’ve been pretty lucky. We’ve never overpaid much for a house, we’ve always bought in good school districts and decent neighborhoods, we’ve lived in neighborhoods where prices soared during the real-estate bubble, and we’ve been hurt but not decimated by the bursting of that bubble.

.. links from around DC region:

• 10 States With Housing Jobs on the Way [Smart Money] 
• What's 'affordable'? [Real Estate Wonk]
• Largest Tysons Landowner to Sell Holdings [Washington Post]
• Metro ridership remain high [WMATA]
• ART Bus Service Gets High Mark from Riders [Sun Gazette]
• Developers Allowed to Swap Homes for Offices [Fairfax Gazette]
• Go Green with Virginia and Telework on August 3rd [Commuter Page]
• Defense wave brings flow of developers [Fairfax Times]
• The District Calls for Hurt Home Developers [Washington Business Journal]
• DC Foreclosures Jump Nearly 40 Percent from May to June [Housing Complex]
• Tashica Morgan: From the Streets of Southeast DC to the Screens of HGTV [Washington Spaces]

Virginia Lines up for Stimulus Fund's High-Speed Rail Projects

According to Governor Kaine, Virginia has submitted pre-applications for more than $2 billion funding for high-speed rail projects under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's or Stimulus funds for high speed rail.

Virginia has two types of projects lined up. The ready-to-go projects, or Track 1, is focused on I-95 corridor connecting Washington DC and Richmond, which is the state's most congested travel corridors. Strategically, it will also connect Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (see map on right) and the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor (below), in which the state has invested some $197 million to this corridor - to date.

The projects, via Gov. Kaine office.

• Arkendale to Powell’s Creek: $72 million in rail infrastructure improvements between Fredericksburg and Prince William County, including 11 miles of third track; proposed for Round 1 funding under Track 1 as a “ready to go” project. This project could advance independently of the Washington, DC to Petersburg corridor program defined below.
• Washington, DC to Petersburg: $1.57 billion in rail infrastructure improvements such as additional tracks and signal, station and rail yard improvements; proposed for Round 1 funding under Track 2 as a corridor development program. This project includes Arkendale to Powell’s Creek as described above, in the event that FRA elects to fund the project as part of a corridor development program.

Southeast high speed rail corridor, via sehsr.org.

High speed rail in the southeast will mean top speeds of 110 mph and average speeds between 85-87 mph. Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia have joined together with the business communities in each state to form a four-state coalition to plan, develop and implement high speed rail in the Southeast. The system will be developed incrementally, upgrading existing rail rights-of-way.

Read more about the corridor, here and here.

Looking at both maps, based on location alone, Virginia is on strategic located to take advantage of the Stimulus funding for high speed rail that connect tracks up and down East Coast.

Next in line, track 2, is: Richmond to Hampton Roads corridor. 

Richmond/Hampton Roads: $330-$844 million in rail infrastructure improvements to support the introduction of high speed rail service between Richmond and Hampton Roads; proposed for Round 2 funding under Track 2. This project is proposed for Round 2 since a federal Environmental Impact Statement is currently underway to select the high speed route, and should be completed prior to Round 2 grant awards. The cost is expressed in a range since the exact route has not yet been determined.

The timeline for these projects: Round 1 is in Fall 2009 and round 2 in Spring 2010. This high speed rail project is for the next Governor of Virginia to complete... (Kaine's term is up this year).

I can see more TODs sprouting up here and there along DC-Richmond corridor..

image: Treehugger

Tysons Corner, the "New" Downtown

Fairfax County EDA boss is very confident that with Dulles Metrorail coming in to Tysons, it will make Tysons Corner the new downtown.

 The new Metro line to Tysons "will make the area explode,” Fairfax County Economic Development Authority CEO Jerry Gordon tells us. That’s saying something considering Fairfax already has more jobs than DC. Jerry politely turns the knife a bit more: “We’re the new downtown.” You can make statements like that with less than 5% unemployment (up from 1% in good times) and companies such as VW and Hilton moving their HQs to your community. Speaking of which, Jerry says FCEDA is in talks with a couple other companies “that are either household names or could be in 20 years.”

[via Washington BisNow]

Just fact checking Gordon's statement on jobs.

(click on image for larger view)

So, that's true Fairfax has more jobs than DC. (DC unemployment is twice of Fairfax).

image: Google

Dulles Metrorail TOD Projects (update)

Real Estate Bisnow Washington reports that Comstock Partners planned to build two TOD projects, Reston Station and Loudoun station, both slated along Dulles metrorail corridor. Comstock plan to build Reston Station on top of the 2,300 parking garage over at Wiehle Ave. stop. They've received the development rights but still have to secure rezoning and get site plan approval sometime in 2011. 

The second project, Loudoun Station is a-50 acre mixed-use project at the Silver line last stop, at route 722, connecting Dulles airport and Loudoun county. This one has been rezoned and approved for 3.5M SF that will have 1,500 apartments, 320,000 SF retails, entertainment, a hotel and offices.

[via Real Estate Bisnow DC]

images: Loudoun Station

Bromptons to Finish or County will Demolish..

 Finally. Blighted Bromptons saga finally coming to an end: it's either Ed Peete, developer/owner,  finish the project and bring it up to Code or Arlington County will demolish it. The Bromptons is located in Cherrydale neighborhood off Lee Highway, Arlington county (across from Safeway).

Pictures I took a while back.

 

After so many years of hanging,  County  Court got its message word. Finish it or demolish. That's the tone coming from the County. And builder agrees with the timeline. 

Here is the background of this project, via Arlington County.

The County Board approved the Bromptons at Cherrydale site plan project in July 2002.  The single family homes and townhouses that were part of the project were completed.  Work began on the mixed use building but ran into design and construction problems when it was nearly halfway built.

The County’s Building Official issued the stop work order in 2006 after County building inspectors found serious building code violations. The Building Official followed that action in November 2007 with an unsafe structure notice and order to demolish or repair the building within 60 days.  Peete appealed the order, and received an extension of the demolition deadline by the local building code appeals board until late July 2008.  No action was taken by Peete to demolish the building however.

In September, 2008, the County authorized the County Attorney to take legal action against the Bromptons at Cherrydale LLC to compel the owner to comply with the Building Official’s order to demolish or repair the building or, alternatively, to sell the property and use the sale proceeds to demolish the building.  A suit was filed shortly thereafter and the case is scheduled for trial next week in the Arlington Circuit Court.  The settlement agreement makes trial unnecessary.  Instead, the settlement agreement will be incorporated into a court order enforceable by the Court.

Weekly Real Estate News Roundup

Commercial Real Estate Defaults: You Ain't See Nothing Yet

We proved yesterday that the internet is obsessed with commercial real estate, as everyone's just waiting for that market to collapse.

Not-So-Tricky Split: The Home Buyer Tax Credit

THE NEW-AND-IMPROVED version of the First-Time Homebuyer Credit offers rookie home buyers (or those who simply haven't owned a home in the past three years) a chance to get a federal income tax credit of up to $8,000. Thanks to this year’s Stimulus Act, you don't have to repay the credit like you did with last year’s version.

Dirt-cheap loans on new homes

Would you buy a brand-new home if you could lock in an interest rate of, say, 3.63 percent on a 30-year mortgage? Homebuilders who've offered to "buy down" buyers' interest rates hope your answer will be yes.

Refinance If You Can

Refinance your mortgage now and you may capture the lowest interest rate of your lifetime. But unlike a couple of years ago, when it seemed all you needed was a pay stub (if that) and an eager mortgage broker, today's process can be tedious.

 House Price Puzzle: Mid-to-High End

I've linked to a few pieces of the puzzle below.

Bank of America's Lewis Drops Vacation-Home Price

 The housing slump has come home for Bank of America chief executive Kenneth D. Lewis. The South Carolina vacation house his family shares with a restaurant executive remains unsold more than two years after its first listing, and Mr. Lewis has just cut the price 13%, to $3.3 million

 Green Patios, Walkways & Driveways of Porous Pavements and Pervious Concrete

Although concrete lasts a long time — creating durable patios, driveways and roads, plus foundations for houses — the production of concrete takes a lot of energy. And that’s not the only problem with concrete: Whenever the ground is covered with it, rain doesn’t seep into the soil. As the rain accumulates and water starts flowing off the concrete, it can create problems. But materials are now available to provide a solid base and still allow water to seep through.

Save This Old House, Yours for $1

From the popular back page of TOH magazine, these low-cost beauties are still available for the homeowner who's willing to save them.

Even to Save Cash, Don't Try This Stuff at Home

When the toilet in Carol Taddei’s master bathroom began to break down a few months ago, she decided it would be cheaper to buy a new one than pay for repairs. Ever frugal in this dismal economy, Ms. Taddei, a retired paralegal, then took her economizing a step further, figuring she could save even more by installing the new toilet herself.

ADDITIONAL NEWS FROM AROUND THE WASHINGTON DC REGION:

• Program Offer Housing Help, but Who's Buying? [Washington Post]
• Ten Ways to Play in St. Mary's County [Chesapeake Life]
  
• Moran Puts $2.35 Million for F.C. in Fed Budget Proposal [FCNP]
  
• Springfield town center in sight [Fairfax Times]
  
• Fenty issues inclusionary zoning regulations [Washington Biz Journal]
  
• City: Bunkerlike DC church can be demolished [WTOP]
  
• Planning board debates future of Columbia's downtown [Baltimore Sun]
• Area commuter train services becoming more bike-friendly [Examiner]
  
• New and expanded ART service coming in June [Commuter Page]
  
• Eastern Market Set to Reopen June 26 [DCist]