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City council approves new Avanti Holdings project

By | Alexandria, Commercial Real Estate, Condos, News, Old Town Alexandria, Press, Real Estate Development, VA | No Comments

Original article by Alexandria Times, Margo Wagner, July 16, 2020

City council approves new Avanti Holdings project

The new building will be between 40 and 50 feet tall with 94 units and ground-floor retail. (Courtesy photo)

Alexandria City Council voted to amend the Braddock Road Metro Station Neighborhood Plan and rezone to allow for the construction of a five-story, mixed-use building at its July 7 public hearing.

The site is on the corner of North Henry and Wythe streets, and the building will consist of 94 residential units, including seven affordable housing units. It will also include underground parking and ground-floor retail. Currently, the space is a surface parking lot and a warehouse for Alexandria Lighting Supply. Both planning commission and city staff recommended approval of the project.

The project’s applicant is Avanti Holdings Group, a local developer led by native Alexandrian Teddy Kim. The group owns several commercial properties in Alexandria’s Parker-Gray district and has been involved in several redevelopment projects designed to reinvigorate the area.

At the hearing, several speakers, including six neighbors, signed up for the public testimony period to express their concerns about the project.

Isabelle Zorro, who has lived next to the site since 1994, expressed concern about the noise and the height of the building.

Ronald Carter, another neighbor, said surrounding property owners were not adequately informed about the project. He also expressed concern about building a five-story building in a historic neighborhood.

“I am shocked, disappointed and concerned that no consideration was made to the aesthetics of our historic neighborhood,” Carter said.

The attorney for the applicant, Cathy Puskar, assured city council that her client notified the neighbors within the the required time and has been working with neighborhood groups. She also said that Kim is committed to keeping the community’s interests at heart.

Neighbor Jariel Rendell was supportive of the project but said the building did not include enough affordable housing.

“This is not an appropriate, sufficient affordable housing allocation given the times that we are in with the unprecedented unemployment,” Rendell said.

Councilor Mo Seifeldein agreed that affordable housing is a concern of his but ended up voting to amend the plan and allow the building.

Other concerns posed by the neighbors included traffic, privacy and construction vibrations damaging the foundations of historic houses.

Puskar answered the concerns by stating that the building is consistent with the Braddock Road Metro Station Neighborhood Plan and the building is in compliance with the city’s requirements for affordable housing.

“While I appreciate the neighbors saying they are not opposed to the development, requests to change the height and density of this building would render the project unviable,” Puskar said.

Additionally, Avanti Holdings plans to donate money to the Housing Trust Fund, the Braddock Community Amenities Fund, the Braddock Open Space Fund and the City’s Capital Bike Share Fund to address concerns about community benefit. Puskar also said that adjacent property owners can receive a pre-construction assessment of their home in case there is damage to the home cased by the vibrations from construction.

 After a lively discussion, city council voted unanimously to approve the measure.

“I really appreciate the input that was provided. I think it informed the final product and we really appreciate the thoughtful engagement that happened on this,” Mayor Justin Wilson said.

 

New Residential, Retail and Daycare Coming to Braddock Neighborhood

By | Alexandria, Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Old Town Alexandria, Press, Real Estate Development, VA | No Comments

Original article by Alexandria Living Magazine, June 22, 2020

A 7-story building will be replacing garages and warehouses at 1200 and 1230 N. Henry St.

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Garages and warehouse space now occupy the land at 1200-1230 N. Henry St.

A new daycare, retail and residential building will be going up on the north end of Old Town in the Braddock neighborhood.

City Council on Saturday approved a plan for a 7-story building that will include a daycare and playground, residential housing and retail at 1200 and 1230 N. Henry St. Saturday.

Right now, that property is primarily garage and warehouse space for a variety of auto and other businesses.

City staff, in their report to the City Council, said the property is “underused” and the site should become an “important gateway site into the Braddock neighborhood with a high-quality building.”

The new building will feature 11 dedicated affordable units as well as more than 100 other residences, a publicly accessible ground-level park/plaza and underground utilities. There will be two levels of below-grade parking.

In addition, according to the City staff report, “A signature gateway feature at the northern corner of the building marks the entrance to the plan area with a tower element. The base of the tower contains diagonal columns that form an abstraction of the letters “AV” to represent Alexandria, Virginia, welcoming those headed southbound on Route 1 to the Braddock neighborhood. These columns face onto a publicly accessible park/plaza. The northern tip of the park/plaza is a potential location for public art, drawing pedestrians into the space and offering respite to those heading south from Slater’s Lane and Route 1 to the nearby Braddock Metro.”

The location of the new development will be at the intersection of North Henry and Fayette streets.

The property is now owned by CNA Financial Corp. and a number of individuals and entities that together formed North Henry Partnership, LLC.

See renderings of the new proposed development below.

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Read full article at: https://alexandrialivingmagazine.com/new-residential-retail-daycare-braddock-neighborhood-development-alexandria/

Alexandria to weigh new development for a Route 1 site that hasn’t changed since 1945

By | Alexandria, Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Multi-Unit, Real Estate Development, VA, Warehouse | No Comments

Original article by Bisnow, Michal Neibauer, August 31, 2018

A big change is coming to a triangular piece of land in Alexandria that hasn’t changed much at all in more than 70 years.

The 0.8-acre site at 1200 N. Henry St., less than a half mile north of the Braddock Road Metro station, was built up with one- and two-story industrial buildings in 1945, according to an Alexandria staff report. The proposal slated for review by the city’s Planning Commission on Tuesday would replace those uses with a 115-unit multifamily building — including 11 affordable units — a 10,000-square-foot day care center, ground-floor retail and 137 underground parking spaces.

The applicant, 1200 N. Henry Street LLC, is an entity of Avanti Holdings Group. Alexandria-based Avanti, led by principals Teddy Kim (he of The People’s Drug and Chop Shop Taco), Keinan Ashkenaziand Greg Salvaggio, has largely tackled smaller warehouse-to-office conversions and retail projects to this point. This will be its largest endeavor to date.

Designed by Davis Carter Scott Ltd., the seven-story building has a triangular footprint and rises to a maximum height of 85 feet along the western edge, where it is closest to the Braddock Gateway campus and a planned extension of North Fayette Street. A 20-foot high retail podium would front Route 1.

The site, where North Henry and North Patrick streets begin, is just south of the Route 1 bridge carrying traffic toward Potomac Yard. It is really the first thing drivers see as they come south toward Old Town. City planners, who recommend approval, say the proposed development offers “high-quality architectural design with a signature gateway element” at its northern entrance, a publicly accessible plaza, underground utilities and a $20,000 contribution to Alexandria’s Capital Bike Share Fund.

Cathy Puskar with Walsh Colucci Lubeley & Walsh PC is the LLC’s land use attorney.

Alexandria Warehouse Sells for More Than $6 Million

By | Alexandria, Condos, Multi-Unit, News, Office, Press, Real Estate Development, VA, Warehouse | No Comments

NAI KLNB brokers sales of 35,000 square foot warehouse building in Alexandria to Saxa Realty Group, LLC.

ALEXANDRIA, VA — NAI KLNB has brokered the sale of a two-story 35,000 square foot warehouse building on Calvert Avenue in Alexandria for $6.075 million.

Josh Simon, principal with NAI KLNB, represented the seller, Avanti Real Estate Group. The buyer, Saxa Realty Group, LLC was self-represented. The building was 100 percent leased and occupied by four tenants at the time of the sale.

Located at 410-420 Calvert Avenue (see map below), the building features 16.5-foot ceiling heights, four roll-up doors and two internal loading docks. The building is situated on Jefferson Davis Highway in the Potomac Yard area, and is approximately two miles from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and less than 10 miles from downtown Washington, D.C.

“When we acquired this asset approximately three years ago, our strategy consisted of a long-term hold in order to execute a development plan within the next seven to 10 years,” explained Teddy Kim, principal of Avanti Real Estate Group, in a news release announcing the deal. “These plans changed when we were presented with an offer representing a sub 6 percent capitalization rate, in an off-market scenario, and we made the decision to dispose the property.”

Avanti Real Estate Group, headquartered in Alexandria, is preparing to acquire two sites in the Old Town area, with additional projects expected to be added into the development pipeline this year. In addition to Kim, Avanti Real Estate Group was founded and is owned by Keinan Ashkenazi and Greg Salvaggio.

“We continue to seek viable opportunities, particularly those positioned within the Capital Beltway region and close to our home base in Alexandria, that match our specificm acquisition criteria,” Kim added. “Our group is extremely well-capitalized and, together with the guidance of NAI KLNB, we intend to remain aggressive in our search for suitable properties.”

“Saxa Realty Group was actively seeking a value-add opportunity to initiate a real estate program within the Washington, D.C. marketplace,” explained Josh Simon of NAI KLNB. “They were attracted, in part, by the neighboring development that is set to occur at the Oakville Industrial Park. Based on the existing tenancy of the building and the future development potential, this represented an excellent acquisition for the company.”

Originally published: Patch.com  |  August 24, 2016  |  by: 

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http://patch.com/virginia/delray/alexandria-warehouse-sells-more-6-million