A July 31 Business article incorrectly stated that David C. Sobelsohn said rents at the Southwest Washington apartment complex where he lives have increased 12 percent in the past three years. Sobelsohn said rents have increased 12 percent a year since 2003.
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Competing Developers Share Waterfront Ideas
Loreta Williams, 63, who has lived in Southwest for 25 years, said she worried about more traffic and crime.
"I'm concerned that this is the second round of urban renewal we've gone through," Williams said. "One of the big attractions of Southwest is that it's really quiet. It's like living in the suburbs but you're in the city. I'm afraid that uniqueness might be lost."
  The Phillips Seafood restaurant is among the businesses that will be uprooted by redevelopment of the Southwest waterfront. The Anacostia Waterfront Corp. is considering proposals from five development teams. (By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
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Syndicate/SubscribeCarolyn G. Mitchell said the area could become as crowded as Dupont Circle or Adams Morgan.
"I'm worried about the parking and if they put luxury condos on the waterfront, as one developer was explaining, those people are going to demand that parts of the waterfront be private to protect their view," Mitchell said. "Now I can walk down to the waterfront because it's a public area."
Bruce Koedding, a project manager at IBM, said he was concerned about what would happen to the marina, where he and about 100 others dock their boats and where some people live full time.
"There aren't any people other than us living in the footprint of the plans," he said. "People don't realize you have a viable community there. I want to see if we're going to be evicted." None of the developers revealed specific plans for the marina.
David C. Sobelsohn, an advisory neighborhood commissioner for the area, took copious notes but said he couldn't decide which plan he liked best.
"They all have interesting features, but what's in it for people in my neighborhood?" he said. "I'm worried we'll be priced out of the market." In the past three years, he said, rents in the apartment building where he lives have gone up 12 percent. "We're going to be overwhelmed with people who don't live in the neighborhood and with attractions that don't benefit us."
CarrAmerica Holdings to Sell
Tishman Speyer Properties of New York is in talks to buy 26 office buildings in the District owned by CarrAmerica Realty Corp.
Publicly traded CarrAmerica of the District was recently sold in a $5.6 billion deal to an affiliate of privately held New York-based Blackstone Group LP. The office buildings in the District are expected to sell for about $2 billion and the deal is expected to close in the fall, said sources familiar with the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not closed.
Tishman Speyer and Blackstone had no comment.
Jemal Buys A.V. Ristorante Site
D.C. developer Douglas Jemal said he bought the land that A.V. Ristorante Italiano occupies and is working to buy the rest of the block at New York Avenue and Seventh Street NW. He said he would like to put offices and retail on the site, much as he did on the block of Seventh Street NW across from Verizon Center.
Jemal wouldn't say how much he paid for the restaurant, a neighborhood institution that was started in 1949 by Augusto Vasaio and remained in his family. "They don't have to worry about the price of pizza anymore," he said. "They can retire."
But not right away. The owners said the restaurant won't close until October 2007.
"I'm very sad, but what are you going to do," said August Vasaio, one of the owners. "This is my lifeblood. But it's progress. Every good thing comes to an end."
Dana Hedgpeth writes about commercial real estate and economic development. Her e-mail address ishedgpethd@washpost.com.
