Silver Spring apartment project gets green thumbs-up

By Suzanne White
Washington Business Journal
April 12, 2002

The Tower Cos. recently broke ground on The Blair Towns, a 78-unit certified "green" apartment complex. The 80,000-square-foot, $17 million project is part of The Blairs, an urban center with seven buildings on 27 acres that includes 1,300 apartments and future retailers such as Giant and CVS.

The development is across the street from the Silver Spring Metro station and will offer Flexcar (http://www.flexcar.com), which makes a limited number of cars available for residents 24 hours a day, seven days a week, starting this month.

The Blair Towns, due to deliver in March 2003, reinforces the environmentally responsible development that has permeated Tower Cos.' residential and office projects.

Tower's recently delivered green projects are The Millennium Building at 1909 K St. (http://www.1909kstreet.com) and the Tower Building (http://www.towerbuilding. com) in Rockville.

The Blair Towns is the first apartment project to be built in Silver Spring in more than 12 years, and it's the first LEED-certified apartment project in the D.C. area, according to the Tower Cos. (http://www.towercompanies.com).

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) represents the standards for "green" building, as set by the U.S. Green Building Council, and includes requirements for site selection, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation in design.

The apartments also will offer two-story units, built-in garages, 9-foot ceilings, fireplaces, open kitchens, lofts, walk-in closets and high-speed Internet capability.

... Harkins Builders was selected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build new housing quarters at Fort Meade in Maryland. The project will provide housing for 576 Army personnel in eight buildings, replacing old barracks quarters. A community building is also part of the contract.

Marriottsville-based Harkins (http://www.harkinsbuilders.com)expects to start construction this month.

... A recent report from the National Association of Home Builders shows that the affordability of housing rose strongly in the fourth quarter of 2001 due to low interest rates.

Although millions of people are still priced out of home ownership, especially in major markets like D.C., the report says 64 percent of all new and existing homes sold across the country during October, November and December of last year were affordable to households earning the median family income of $52,500.

The average rate on adjustable and fixed-rate mortgages fell for a fifth straight quarter to 6.71 percent.

The nation's most affordable housing market in last year's fourth quarter was Rockford, Ill., with a median sales price of $90,000. San Francisco is at the bottom of the affordability chart with just 8 percent of homes sold to those making the area's median family income of $80,100. The median price of San Francisco homes sold was $520,000.

The report (http://www.nahb.com/news/ hoitables.xls) shows that the Midwest was once again the most consistently affordable region for housing, with Syracuse, N.Y., the cheapest in the Northeast.

... D.C.-based Forrester Construction (http://www.forresterconstruction.com) was awarded the design-build contract for the new $8.5 million, 60-unit Bachelor Enlisted Quarters project at the Naval Air Facility at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Md.

The 50,000-square-foot project includes the demolition of an existing bachelor quarters. Construction is set to start in June 2002 and is expected to take about 12 months to complete.

The architect is D.C.-based OPX, and the engineering team includes Henry Adams, Holbert & Apple, and Macris, Hendricks & Glascock, P.A.

... Freddie Mac selected EYP Mission Critical Facilities to provide design and commissioning services for its new 100,000-square-foot data center in Herndon, the former Exodus-Global Center. EYP will provide the engineering and architectural services in connection with the data center's mechanical and electrical infrastructure.

EYP (http://www.eypmissioncritical.com), which designed the existing building for Exodus-Global Center, also will design interior improvements and commission all the systems for Freddie Mac (http://www.freddiemac.com).

... German Marshall Fund purchased 1744 R St. NW, a 15,000-square-foot office building owned by Trans Africa Forum. German Marshall Fund bought the building, which is north of Dupont Circle, for $5.3 million, or $353 a square foot.

The buyer was represented by West, Lane & Schlager Realty Advisors. Trans Africa Forum was represented by Pardoe Real Estate.

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