Development Round-Up: 16th and U getting a makeover; Dupont Underground plans announced

Earlier in the year, we wrote about a City Paper piece that discussed forthcoming changes to the building located at 1610 U Street, which currently houses a Results Gym and Bang Salon, among others. Shortly (read: within the next week or two) building owner David von Storch expects to break ground on a radical redesign of the building which, when finished, will feature a 51,000+ sf VIDA Fitness, Bang Salon, Aura Spa and a Capitol City Brewing Co.

Altogether, von Storch is designing what he calls a "desirable urban lifestyle center." Or, as we prefer to call it, a Big Building With Stuff.

DCMud has all the details about the new development, including the big plans for the roof:

"...the new complex will be outfitted with a "rooftop club including a 60-foot pool, resort cabanas, communal fire pit, outdoor waterfall, sundeck and a membership lounge with full food and beverage service.""

Egads. I, for one, can't wait to observe the wild-eyed protests that a "communal rooftop fire pit" will engender.

For those wondering about the history of this development, I would encourage you to read the aformentioned City Paper article. Oh, the drama.

All of the approvals are in place, so at this point a few permits and 10 months are all that is standing in the way of you and this Desirable Urban Lifestyle Center.

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A little farther west and south, big plans were announced for the creepily abandoned Dupont Underground space. (Warning guys: your site is delivering a 404 error. As the error explains, "it's dark down there.")

For those who have been living in a cave, or perhaps an abandoned streetcar tunnel, the Dupont Underground project is the District's effort to redevelop a nearly eight block-long streetcar tunnel that runs underneath Dupont Circle. This has already been attempted once, during 1997, when a disastrously planned food court opened up and promptly shut down only months later.

This time the District is determined to get things right. As Borderstan reports, the winning proposal submitted in response to the District's RFP--in fact, the only proposal deemed legal--was submitted by an organization calling itself the Arts Coalition for Dupont Circle. Their proposals calls for them to transform the vacant and dilapidated space into an "important cultural institution" consisting of an art gallery showcasing local artists, a "top-tier" dining establishment (of course), and potentially a wine-themed operation (ditto).

The project, which must still be approved by the District Council following the completion of the public comment period in November, will be completed in two phases: an initial 40,000 sf phase that will include the gallery, restaurant and perhaps another operation and will deliver sometime in 2013, and a second 60,000 sf phase that will deliver two years later.

The Arts Coalition, which is comprised of a large team of architects, developers, artists and businesspeople, includes individuals and organizations involved in some of the District's most high profile projects in recent years, including the Spy Museum and GALA Hispanic theater at the Tivoli Theater.

Hopefully, with the amount of time and effort invested into this project, its shelf life will be a bit longer than the food court. Although I maintain that it would be nice to have a Sbarro nearby...

City Paper Looks at 1612 U Street; "Restaurant/Bakery" for 14th and Q?

This week's issue of the City Paper takes a look at the (recent) history of the building located at 1612 U Street NW. It's an interesting read about an interesting building (it used to house "E.B. Adams and Co.," a retailer of dining and cutlery items), and highlights how so much of the recent development in the 14th Street/U Street corridor revolves around the efforts of a handful of individuals.

Among them is David Von Storch, who purchased the building in 1995 with an eye towards creating a gay-oriented business center, including a gym. The story goes on to detail the (at times complex) relationship between Von Storch and Results gym owner Doug Jeffries, Universal Gear owner David Franco, and developer Jeff Blum.

Most interesting in the article are the tidbits of information gleamed about current--and forthcoming--developments in the neighborhood. Talks were held, but eventually fizzled, to bring a Results Gym into the ground floor of Blum and Franco's View 14 project at 14th Street and Florida Avenue. Results, it turns out, will likely be vacating their space at 1612 U when their lease expires in March 2011, clearing the way for Von Storch to redevelop the building. Among Von Storch's plans for the building include keeping the existing Bang Salon, making a home for the new flagship location of Penn Quarter-based Vida Fitness, a new restaurant, and a rooftop pool.

Jeffries for his part is currently scouting locations for his new venture "Stroga," which combines yoga with personal strength training. Von Storch is currently making the rounds at the neighborhood association meetings, seeking to obtain approval for the project.

It will be interesting to see what the next chapter brings for a building that has played a prominent role in U Street's renaissance.

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One other interesting nugget that came out of the aforementioned City paper article: David Von Storch has indicated that he has plans to convert the space at 14th and Q (former home of Candida's World of Books Shirt Laundry dry cleaners) into a "restaurant/bakery," and that lease negotiations for the project are underway. If these plans move forward, it would mean that the last available storefront on the east side of the 1500 block of 14th Street will have a tenant seems the space in question isn't Candida's old space, so that will remain vacant.