CarrAmerica, Jemal Team Up in East End
Nightclubs, retail would give way to new office building
by Tim Mazzucca,
Staff Report

People won't be dancing at downtown nightclub Polly Esther's in Washington next year if plans move forward to demolish the building to make way for a new office tower.

A partnership between CarrAmerica Realty and Douglas Development is planning its second East End project, a 185,000-square-foot building at 1199 F St. NW.

The current building houses not only Polly Esther's but also dance club Tequila Beach and retailers Kemp Music, Radio Shack and Martial Arts World.

"We're really excited about ... new construction anchoring the corner of 12th and F streets," says John Donovan, area managing director of D.C.-based CarrAmerica.

Construction on the project, across the street from two Metro Center entrances, probably would begin around October, and the development team is considering moving forward with no major tenants lined up.

"It's a jewel," says Douglas Jemal, president of D.C.-based Douglas Development.

Jemal has owned the site for nearly 20 years and brought on CarrAmerica to help develop it now because "the market is good," he says.

CarrAmerica (www.carramerica.com) and Douglas (www.douglasdevelopment.com) first collaborated on the Atlantic Building, which is going up at 950 F St. NW. It is 80 percent leased to two tenants, law firm Alston & Bird (www.alstonbird.com) and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (www.phrma.org).

Across the street, Akridge owns Carroll Square, a 165,000-square-foot project that may start construction after lease negotiations are completed with law firm Dewey Ballantine for 87,000 square feet. Dewey Ballantine (www.deweyballantine.com) now calls 1775 Pennsylvania Ave. NW home, meaning one more law firm is making the jump from the central business district to the East End.

Three of Washington's four largest law firms -- Hogan & Hartson, Arnold & Porter and Covington & Burling -- are within two blocks of CarrAmerica's and Jemal's 1199 F St. property, which likely will lure tenants similar to those at the Atlantic Building.

"The segregation of the central business district and the East End is going away more each year," says Ed Gilpin, vice president with Lincoln Property (www.lpc.com).

The East End had a vacancy rate of 8.6 percent in the third quarter, according to data compiled by real estate firm Cassidy & Pinkard (www.cassidypinkard.com). However, the area has had the highest net absorption of any District submarket this year, thanks in part to another Jemal property, the historic Woodies Building at 1025 F St. NW. The nearly 500,000-square-foot building, which almost envelops the block, has been used by real estate brokers to gauge interest in that part of town. Most recently, the Recording Industry Association of America (www.riaa.org) agreed to take its top floor, according to sources.

Now, 1199 F St. becomes an East End site that will help connect the business side in the west with the "fun" side in the restaurant-and-bar-heavy east toward the International Spy Museum and MCI Center.

"It's the last block in the East End," says Bob Schwartz, senior vice president with real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle (www.jll.com). "Buildings like One Metro Center and Woodies benefit the community and the buildings that came ahead of them."

Developers are still in early stages of planning the exact look of the 1199 F St. building, taking into consideration the surrounding historic structures.

Problems also could arise in the building's design phase. For example, the Douglas and Carr America property extends to, but doesn't include, the Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, which is part of a five-story historic building developers would like to include in the new building.