450 Planned Residences Would Continue Pentagon City Transformation

• January 16th 2014

by Lark Turner

A developer is hoping to replace an empty office building in Pentagon City with a 20-story apartment and condominium complex.

The vacant office building at 400 Army Navy Drive (map) that developer LCOR hopes to transform is near two large projects by Vornado: PenPlace and Metropolitan 45, a residential development that will be anchored by a Whole Foods.

Harmar Thompson, an LCOR executive who’s overseeing the development, told UrbanTurf that the goal is for the new project to stand out from its neighbors and take advantage of the views of DC.

“You look at those buildings, and they’re nice, but they’re certainly pretty homogenous,” he said. “Our goal was to set ourselves apart and do a design that you typically don’t see in Crystal City and Pentagon City, a building that has a lot more glass, that has a lot of articulations in the facade.”

LCOR plans to build two towers on a three-story platform. The front tower would have 150 units, potentially condominiums, while the back tower would be rentals with 300 units, though Thompson stressed that the plans are preliminary.

LCOR submitted formal plans for approval about a month ago. If all goes well, the company would like to start construction in the first quarter of 2015, Thompson said. But the development may face some obstacles: A proposed maintenance building for the Crystal City streetcar is right next to the site, according to ARLNow. And this fall a planned residential component of the adjacent PenPlace site was nixed by the Arlington County Board, which said the area already had enough residential development in the works.

Thompson said there’s plenty of room for development on the formerly industrial space so close to DC.

“We think this area is really a needed connection between Pentagon City and Crystal City,” he said. “Its location and views are phenomenal, and the transit options are fantastic.”

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/developer_hopes_residences_on_army_navy_drive_will_bridge_crystal_pentagon_/8008.