Steaurt Development breaks ground on 360º H Street w/ Giant & 215 residential units coming early 2013

Steuart Development broke ground on 360º H Street which will house a Giant grocery store, two levels of below grade parking, and 215 residential units yesterday morning.  Guy Steuart III, Mayor Vince Gray, and Councilmember Tommy Wells were on hand to participate in the occassion.  Steuart lined up several neighborhood businesses Sidamo, Tru Orleans, Taste of Jamaica, Inspire BBQ, Dangerously Delicious Pies, and the Argonaut to cater the event.  Nouveau Fleur provided flowers. 

“I am very excited about this project,” Councilmember Tommy Wells said. “It will become an anchor of the west end of the corridor bringing new residents, new amenities, and creating jobs in the neighborhood.”  Mayor Gray was similarly bullish on the project and also spoke with enthusiasm about streetcars, noting how successful the system in Portland had been. 

 360° H Street includes five levels of apartments and two floors of underground parking. The apartment kitchens will feature center islands with seating, random length and width character floors, large windows, 8’8” ceilings and excellent views of Washington. Apartments will vary in size from studios to two bedrooms with dens. Residents will enjoy a rooftop terrace, an elevated, lushly landscaped courtyard and 22-foot wide sidewalks.  Leasing is expected to begin in early 2013. 

 Well-regarded Torti Gallas is the architecht.  SR/A Interior Design is doing the apartment lobby, community room and fitness center.  Parker Rodriguez Architects will create the rooftop terrace and second-floor courtyard. The building will be LEED certified, and they are aiming for a Silver designation. There is an additional 1,500-square-foot retail bay on H Street at the corner of 4th Street which is available and is reported to have 22 foot ceilings. The development is expected to open in early spring 2013.

The 42,000-square-foot Giant Food will feature full-service departments, a wide variety of natural and organic items.  The store will be not quite as large as the recently opened Harris Teeter in NoMa, but will be much larger than many older grocery stores in the city.  It is expected to open in late spring 2013.
Total costs for the project are expected to reach exceed $50 million, not counting the cost of the land some of which has been under the Steuart families control since 1930.

UrbanTurf has written about the “explosive effect” that the opening of a grocery store can have on a neighborhood and has noted examples throughout the city, including the “urban lifestyle” Safeway on the ground floor of CityVista at 5th and L Street NW and the Whole Foods on P Street NW.  We expect the  360º H Street will have a great impact on the H Street Corridor and surrounding neighborhood and will post separately explaining why soon. 

More photos after the jump

Steuart Development, Giant, Mayor & CM Wells break ground

Crane is already on site to begin construction. 
Clark construction starts with the digging out for two levels of underground parking.