Existing and Future Situation

The upper King Street area is currently the site of major development. The old Colonial parking lot is being replaced by a three building development called Metroplace. The first of these buildings, located on King St., is 66 ft. High and nearing completion. It is to be a law office building with first floor retail. The second, which is presently under construction and faces Cameron St., is to be a 82 ft. high 88 unit time-share. The third building which will front on Commonwealth Avenue is to be a 77 ft. high, 240 room Hilton hotel. All three buildings will share one central underground parking garage to meet their needs. Also under construction is an eight unit residential condo across from Crate and Barrel , called the Metropolitan. Soon construction will begin on a Hampton Inn that will replace Old Town Motors on King St. In the future, we can expect to see Table Talk, Crate and Barrel, Alexandria Floral, etc. be replaced by taller buildings, since they have the zoning to do so. In fact, the owners of the Table Talk property and the property at 1514 King St., which currently houses Alexandria Tanning, have brought proposals to Planning.

In the larger area surrounding the King St. Metro, construction continues on the extensive mixed-use Carlyle project across Duke Street. The second Carlyle Tower, a residential condo apartment building, is presently under construction. The Hoffman and Carlyle sites are both possible sites for the new Patent and Trade Office building. The decision regarding the location of the PTO is expected to be made by GSA this year. All these projects have an impact on the King Street Metro area.

Let us take a look at the number of net square feet of development that exists in the immediate area around the King Street Metro, the number that will be added in the near future, and what that number is likely to be if the area is redeveloped according to its 1992 Small Area Plan. An explanation of existing and future densities in terms of net square footage seems particularly illustrative at a time when many citizens have been schooled in this vocabulary by the Potomac Yards discussions.

We will examine the net square footages of the buildings within the area that starts at the corner of Cameron St. and Commonwealth Ave., proceeds down Cameron to Harvard, Harvard to King, King to South Peyton, South Peyton to Duke, Duke to Diagonal and Diagonal back to Cameron. It will not include the buildings across the street, for example, the buildings on the south side of Duke St. are not included.

The area in question roughly corresponds to the King St. Height District in the Small Area Plan.

MAP

In this area there is approximately 1.8 million net square feet of commercial

and residential development. In the next two to three years when Metroplace ( three buildings: office, time-share, hotel)

The Metropolitan (eight-unit residential condo on the corner of Prince &

Daingerfield)

Hampton Inn (on the site of Old Town Motors )

King Street Exchange Phase I (on the vacant lot next to Crestar Bank)

are completed, approximately another half million net sq.ft.will be added to the area.

Table Talk, Alexandria Tanning and the vacant lot at 1611 King St. are the next likely prospects for development since these already have submitted proposals to Planning. The property at 133 S Peyton is for sale. Depending on economic conditions the Hooff property, Crate and Barrel, Alexandria Floral would also be likely candidates for development. To a lesser degree, the smaller properties along King St., such as Owens which will be surrounded by Metroplace and the F & M Bank property are also candidates for “revitalization.” Together they could add about another 300,000 net sq.ft. of “by right” development. In all, this small area could conceivably contain, in the future, 2.6 million net sq.ft. of development.

Work could also start in the widening of the King St. overpass in 2001.

In addition, the Pedestrian Access Study is almost finished. The next step is to choose the options from the range of recommendations and form a strategy of implementation. This will take time. Often certain options that at first seem desirable prove to be flawed upon further examination. For example, there is an existing tunnel between the Metro station and Union Station. For many months it was thought to be a simple and inexpensive matter to open this tunnel for pedestrians. Upon further exploration, the tunnel was found to have a bend in it. Since a tunnel with a bend is not very secure this option has been abandoned.