WBJ Ponders: Will Projects in Shaw, the Southwest Waterfront and NoMa Stall?

WBJ Ponders: Will Projects in Shaw, the Southwest Waterfront and NoMa Stall? was originally published on Housing Complex on Jan. 02, 2009, at 5:47 pm

Today’s Washington Business Journal ponders the future of some big development projects in the area. Will they stall in 2009 due to lack of financing? Or move forward. Here are a few highlights and things to watch for in the coming months in D.C. proper:

• PN Hoffman Inc. and Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, the development team charged with completely reconstructing the Southwest Waterfront, finally got a land transfer deal approved last month. The group is required to give the council a financing plan for the $1.5 billion project by May.

• The Broadcast Center One is a mixed-use project, including Radio One Inc., which will sit right above the Howard University-Shaw Metro station at 7th and S Streets. The project will include 135 market rate units, 45 affordable rental units, 96,000 square feet of office space and 22,000 square feet of retail space, according to the D.C. government’s website, which also lists the development cost as $144 million. “The project has an anchor, albeit it one on shaky ground, and $23 million in public financing,” states the Business Journal. “But do the developers have the wherewithal — and guts — to break ground?”

• According to the Business Journal, StonebridgeCarras is the company building Constitution Square, a huge complex in NoMa. “Although the project’s partners started construction last spring after signing the DOJ lease, they still need financing for the portion that includes the DOJ, a Harris Teeter store and a Hilton Garden Inn. The development team is dipping into its own funds to finance that construction, though it was able to secure $67.65 million in construction financing for a speculative office portion. Go figure.”

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