Property Group Partners acquires the fee interest for Capitol Crossing

Property Group Partners has acquired the fee interest for three blocks of the recessed portion of I-395. Preliminary work on the 2.2 million s/f, mixed-use development known as Capitol Crossing is cleared to begin, with the development of the platform and the first office building to commence this year. Designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification, Capitol Crossing will be built on one of the largest contiguous, undeveloped sites remaining in the downtown area. Spanning from Massachusetts Avenue on the north to E Street on the south, the platform will cover the expressway between 2nd and 3rd Streets NW and create seven acres of property when completed. The development also will reconnect the Capitol Hill and East End districts that were cut off from each other by the construction of I-395 in the late 1960s. The specific financial terms of this landmark transaction remain confidential. "As a development firm that has constructed iconic buildings throughout the world, this is by far the most creative project that we have ever tackled. Thanks to our partners and scores of District and Federal officials who helped us reach this point, we can now move forward to make this long-awaited dream a reality," says Jeffrey Sussman, president of Property Group Partners. A team of local CBE partners led by The Jarvis Companies will participate in the project. Current plans call for five major buildings to be built on the site, one 150-unit residential building and four office buildings of between 300,000 s/f and 685,000 s/f. All of these buildings will be built to 130 feet and will have stunning views of the Capitol and the Washington Monument. The office buildings will achieve LEED Platinum ratings. The residential building will be at 600 2nd St. and will contain 180,000 s/f of space, while the four office buildings will be addressed as 200 Massachusetts Avenue, containing 407,000 s/fof space; 250 Massachusetts Ave., offering 546,000 s/f of space; 200 F St., with 685,000 s/f of space; and 201 F Street, containing 297,000 s/f. Each high-rise building will feature exclusive ground-floor retail space designed for a mixture of restaurants, boutiques and service-oriented merchants. The site is located three blocks from Union Station, offering immediate connections to AMTRAK and the MARC and VRE rail lines. The Judiciary Square station of the Washington METRO system is located one block west of Capitol Crossing, The project is in close proximity to entertainment and hospitality amenities such as Verizon Center, the Washington Convention Center, cultural institutions and a large number of retailers and restaurants. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the master plan for the project, and Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates are design architects for the north and south block office buildings, respectively.