Industrial lofts leasing in Alexandria

Published in The Washington Post. By Michele Lerner.

View fullsize

Like other industrial chic apartments cropping up in the Washington area, The Mill at 515 in Old Town Alexandria has an interesting history.

The Mount Vernon Cotton Factory, built in 1847, functioned as a cotton factory until it was commandeered in 1863 and became the Cotton Factory Prison, also known as the Washington Street Military Prison for Confederate soldiers. After the war, the factory sat unused until 1903, when Robert Portner Brewing converted it into a bottling house. It was later a storage facility and a spark plug factory until 1935 when it was converted for use as apartments. Since 1981 the building has been used as office space.

Now developer Cas Riegler, architect Cooper Carry, and interior designer Akseizer Design Group have re-adapted the building at 515 N. Washington St. into 25 apartments. The approval process for the new apartments required collaboration with the Upper Old Town Design Advisory Committee, the Alexandria Board of Architectural Review, and both the Historic Preservation and Washington Street Design Guidelines arms of the National Parks Service.

The pet-friendly building has its own park with seating, parking and a top-floor event and party room with a kitchen and outdoor space overlooking Old Town Alexandria and the Potomac River. Residents can walk to Metro, waterfront parks and trails, restaurants and shops, including a Harris Teeter grocery store directly across the street.

Inside, the loft-style units have 12-foot-high ceilings with the original wood, iron and steel prominently visible, hardwood flooring and high-end kitchen cabinets and appliances. Preleasing has begun on the apartments, which range from 450 square feet for a studio to 2,000 square feet for a two-bedroom residence. Rents range from $2,100 to $4,600.

For more information, visit www.themill515.com.

See the original article here.

Taking luxury condos to another level

Published in The Washington Post. By Michele Lerner.

View fullsize

Kenneth Greenberg eagerly anticipates moving late this year into his condominium unit at Quarry Springs, a gated community in Bethesda, Md., that will feature large homes, terraced rock retaining walls, extensive gardens and a level of luxury well beyond the norm for the Washington area.

Greenberg, whose family has been in the construction and development business since the 1930s, says he studied the plans for Quarry Springs and was impressed by what he saw. “I think Bill Rickman is a genius to have put together this project,” says Greenberg, one of the first people to place a deposit on a home there.

William Rickman, a commercial builder and racetrack owner who died in 2005, came up with the idea for an upscale condo community on the site of the former Stoneyhurst Quarry. He hired architect Robert M. Swedroe to design the 13-acre development.

Swedroe, known for high-end condos in Miami, designed Quarry Springs with a direct-access elevator for each unit, leading from the garage into the unit’s private foyer. In addition, the units feature sightlines that will allow residents and guests to see from the foyer to the opposite end of the unit for sunrise and sunset views.

“The construction of these condos is excellent, with cinder-block walls and 10-foot-high ceilings so you won’t ever hear the neighbors,” Greenberg says. “I also like the pie-shaped design of my home so it isn’t just a boring box.”

Waterfall sounds: Greenberg’s home-to-be has a terrace overlooking River Road and the trees across the road. A second terrace, on the opposite side, will overlook a garden, a waterfall and a swimming pool.

The waterfallwill provide a gentle sound of rushing water audible in every unit in the community, says Christine Basso, a real estate agent with TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.

John Fitzgerald, managing director for development with 1788 Holdings, the company that bought the property from William Rickman’s son, says some elements of the design were changed.

Fitzgerald says the redesign added 50 percent more closet space to each home, including walk-in closets in every bedroom and large linen closets.

Jeff Akseizer, owner of Akseizer Design Group, consulted on the interior design of the units, each of which has a grand vestibule to separate the master wing from guest bedroom suites and to provide gallery space for displaying art.

Akseizer picked the light fixtures, the Waterworks plumbing fixtures in the kitchen and baths, the Carrera marble counters and the transitional-style white kitchen cabinets. The kitchens include a Wolf gas range, a Sub-Zero refrigerator and a wine preservation unit. All the bathrooms have Carrera marble sinks, tub and shower surrounds and floors.

“We expected our buyers to come mostly from people in Potomac who wanted to downsize, and while most of our buyers are empty nesters so far, we’ve found some of them coming from downtown D.C. and Bethesda looking for more living space than the usual condo,” Fitzgerald says.

The units have from 2,235 to 4,455 square feet and come with 200 to 2,172 square feet of outdoor living space.

Click here to read full article.