Originally uploaded to Flickr by Bill on Capitol Hill
Groundbreaking and completion of the Hine Site by Stanton Development Corp./Eastbanc has been pushed back, with demolition not occurring until Spring 2013 and completion not until April 2015, according to those who attended a meeting with Stanton Tuesday night. The originally published timeline, still on the developer’s website, called for groundbreaking in the summer of 2012 and completion in the fall of 2014.
Stanton-EastBanc was selected in a bid for proposals a little more than a year ago, in September 2009. The Term Sheet was signed Feb. 26th.
According to the new timeline, provided by Larry Janezich, the Historic Preservation Review Board will review the project, with opportunity for public input, in March 2011, with late 2012 for a PUD (the all-important planned unit development) hearing.
So what’s the hold up? No one knows for sure, but demolition cannot start until Stanton closes the deal with the city, which is now delayed until April 2013. Until then, the developers can’t take a wrecking ball to property that is not theirs yet; all financing needs to be in place before closing and all contingencies must be met.
Other news: The hotel, always a wobbly proposition, is out; we knew in July that the Tiger Woods Foundation was gone; and the Shakespeare Theater anchor is still holding on in this difficult economic climate. The original plan celebrated the Shakespeare relationship to the extent that a square was to be named after the “Bard.” The Shakespeare Theater Company, whose offices and rehearsal space are now housed at 516 8th Street SE, is having some economic issues with providing or committing financing, although Stanton-EastBanc is trying to work it, the developers said this summer.
“Financing, which has to be in place before closing, is being discussed with equity partners. It is uncertain what percent equity Stanton will retain in the project and unlikely, according to one Stanton principal, that this information will be made available,” Janezich wrote.
THIH is awaiting responses from Stanton and would love to get more information on the financing from them. However, according to sources, they have been willing to give progress reports to the community and sit and meet with them.
Retail is planned for the street level on both sides of the reopened C Street, the number of parking spaces in the underground parking lot is going to be reduced, according to the meeting summary from Janezich.
Finding the right mix of high rent and low rent in the complex, as is required here, will be tricky for any developer. According to Janezich, “Development is ‘over-subscribed’ for retail outlets for the project,” but Stanton is having trouble getting the right mix of retail (high end and low-end) for the project. Another thing that surprised some was that site architect Amy Weinstein was unable to provide exact heights for the 8th Street side of the building. Hmm. According to the old schedule, the architectural design phase was to begin this month.
NOTE: Kitty Kaupp just informed us the timeline has been updated on the Hine website, under community: http://hineschool.com/community
Hi Liz,
My take-away was that Shakespeare Theatre was a “maybe.” If it leaves, that will entail changes to the design–perhaps even lowering the height of the building, and that may account for the reluctance to specify something exact at this time.
Bad news about the hotel! Thanks for the update.
Very good work by Mr. Janezich to meet with the developer and provide this update! His report and THIH’s summary of it are a real service to neighbors who wanted information about what comes next at the Hine site.
For me, there was lots of good news from this meeting, which was between members of EMMCA — Eastern Market Metro Community Association –, neighbors from the 200 block of 8th Street, and Stanton Development.
Despite ANC6B’s decision in August to put off discussions about Hine until after the Nov. 2 elections, Stanton reached out to community groups to begin talking now. (I counted four candidates for ANC at the meeting, all of whom had interesting and constructive suggestions. I just don’t get why the incumbents are avoiding this major neighborhood issue.)
Stanton seems very open to input from residential neighbors and to further meetings like last night’s.
The more open this process is, the better for everyone. Kudos to Stanton for initiating this constructive exchange of ideas and concerns!
bsr
Wonder why they aren’t handling it like the SW waterfront – tearing everything down (despite the uncertainty of the plans and the 8-10 year projection) and planting grass and having events.
(just so you know, this was more a knock on the SW situation than Hine)
This is crazy. How does it take so long. I have been through the PUD process, My company is currently financing multiple projects of a scale much larger than this. It should not take this long to get the project done. The selection process should be reopened so we can get a developer in who can actually get financing or move the project forward. If we keep with this group we might see something done at Hines by the 2018. This is pathetic!
Classic bait and switch with the hotel and other tenants- pay attention and don’t be fooled. The developers who had money commitments in place would have certainly hit the ground running. My grandkids will love this when it opens!!
Let’s stop the B S from Stanton Development and re-open the bidding or go to the back up bid. Then we can find a developer that can deliver a great project and not empty promises, a vacant school for another 3 years. No hotel , maybe no Shakespeare Theatre, what’s next? This might be nice in 2020. Can this neighborhood wait this long for a maybe of a project?
I think that the old line Hill people steered this to thier friends. Good ol’ Stanton Development, now they can’t preform. Surpirsed? I am not. They will never reopen bidding, because thwere was too much behind the scenes dealings on this one. Thanks to everyone who made this possible. Yippie for Stanton! 2020 Hines school!
Agreed… the other competing project was much better and had cash in hand. This was brought up over and over… they had commitments from Kimpton Hotels, had cash reserves to complete etc.
Stanton likely greased the palms,got the “preservation committee” to back the most egregious design and continued their uninspired stranglehold on Capitol Hill.
Yep, we told you so. In this financial market the cash in hand, better thought out design was king. But Stanton got to Fenty and he overturned the lower level decisions that preferred the other project according to the scuttlebutt at the time.
Heck, even our ANC Commissioners were rendered gutless to select a preference.
A wasted opportunity now on the back burner due to poor performance and shoddy financial plans on the part of the winning bidder.