In the past decade, several of Washington D.C.’s historically rich, yet, rundown industrial neighborhoods have been revitalized through large mixed-use developments. Our team has taken part in several projects throughout the city, including in portions of Downtown, the Southwest Waterfront, Buzzard Point, and NoMa neighborhoods. Mixed-use refers to developments that combine residential spaces with business office space and retail storefronts to create a thriving urban center and point of interest.

Bringing the Developments to Life

For many of the projects that are revitalizing the city’s neighborhoods, our firm has taken the role of civil consultants. We provide utility design, stormwater management design, landscape architecture design, and assist with construction and environmental permitting. We work closely with D.C. Water and the Department of Energy and Environment to secure and deliver jurisdictional approvals of these plans.

One of the many challenges that we encounter in the city is working with decades-old utility infrastructure. We work with the architect and the city to make sure that the project results in a safe and practical utility connection solutions to help provide the necessary services to the residents, retail outlets, and businesses that are part of these mixed-use projects. 

We also help the architects and mechanical engineers with the designs for the buildings’ water systems and rainfall management. Our landscape architects work and coordinate with the client to design innovative amenity spaces and streetscape elements that make sense for the project, while meeting jurisdictional code requirements. Our team also plays a crucial role in the surveying for these large projects by performing boundary and topographical surveys of the properties to create a base map of all existing site elements, which helps guide the process from design all the way through construction.

Honoring History While Promoting Functionality

One primary example of this revitalization in the NoMa neighborhood is the Uline Arena, which was formerly used as a venue for sports and music entertainment back in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. It’s probably best known for being the first location the Beatles played in their initial U.S. tour in 1964. In the 1970s and 1980s the facility became rundown, changed owners, and eventually was used primarily as a parking lot. Our client worked with the architect to create a space for the retail chain REI as well as two floors of additional office space for other businesses, while preserving the historic nature of the building.  As part of this site’s redevelopment, our team helped the project stand out in its green building approach. With the city’s recent push to incorporate green building techniques with a special focus placed on stormwater management, we designed green roofs on several levels of the building. We also designed the landscaping along the public street frontages, as well as on the outdoor roof terraces on the building.

On February 11, 1964, the Beatles' first U.S. concert took place at what was then known as Washington Coliseum and was attended by eight thousand fans.

Revitalizing the Neighborhood

Another project that is making a positive impact is the Hecht Warehouse District redevelopment located along New York Avenue in the northeast part of the city. The whole neighborhood has blossomed around the revitalization of the old warehouse building, whose structure is architecturally important because it is one of the city’s most significant art deco buildings. In the latter part of the twentieth century, the building fell into disrepair when its original owners, The Hecht Company, closed. The building’s location in an outdated, industrial, and “off the beaten path” part of the city made it not a desirable piece of real estate. However, its potential was recognized by our client and after acquiring the property, they decided to redevelop the building into nearly 75,000 square feet of condos, lofts, restaurants, and other retail space, which set the stage for a revitalization of the entire neighborhood.

The ground floor of the redeveloped building, along with the adjacent new construction that was built to reflect the architecture of the original, is now populated with restaurants and other retail that has attracted people from all parts of the city. In addition, the upper floors were converted to residential units, which required upgraded utilities both for increased residential water demand and to bring these utilities up to current code. We upgraded the utilities and stormwater management systems and provided the documentation for permitting and construction for that portion of the building design.

Originally designed by engineer Gilbert V. Steel of Abbott and Merkt for use by The Hecht Company department store, the Hecht warehouse in Northeast D.C.'s Ivy City had stood vacant since 2006. The updated building is now open with more than 300 apartments. Rendering courtesy of Antunovich Associates.

Sought-After Areas for Development

Other parts of the city that have seen similar growth include Buzzard Point in southwest Washington, where a new soccer stadium and other private redevelopment projects have made this one of the most sought-after areas for new development. We are currently part of the design team for one of these projects that is redeveloping an old government office building on the Anacostia into a new residential building. As we have done in the other projects previously mentioned, our role centered around providing survey support, designing the utility system upgrades serving the building, and bringing stormwater management systems up to the latest environmental codes.  This project will also include a section of the Anacostia River Trail that will link the southwest Waterfront, via Buzzard Point, to Nationals Park and the Navy Yard where we will work with the landscape architect to coordinate site work.

Not all mixed-use developments are refurbishments of older buildings, however. On South Capitol Street, in the area around Nationals Park, we are working on a high-profile, new construction mixed-use project for another prominent D.C. developer client.

Improving Quality of Life in the Community We Call Home

Having the ability to say my team and I have been able to play a role in the reinvigoration of our city is something that I wear as a badge of honor. Not only are we able to improve the quality of life for the residents and patrons of these buildings, we are helping to improve the community we call home.