Standard Real Estate Investments LP has named a new chief for its local development work.
Terrance Williams will serve as principal and Mid-Atlantic business leader for Standard Real Estate Investments LP, which is taking on its first big job as lead of a $290 million redevelopment at the Congress Heights Metro station along with Trammell Crow Co. and NHT Communities.
Williams has been in the local development world for some time, starting off as a Housing and Urban Development-licensed underwriter for Capital One before moving to Trammell Crow Co., CBRE Group Inc.’s development subsidiary, where he spent years as a project manager. It was during this period that he worked with Standard Real Estate president Jerome Nichols, then a senior director with CBRE. Standard launched in 2020.
“We really just connected from day one, and both came up through some of the real estate finance circles,” Williams said of taking on the role.
Nichols praised Williams’ local relationships and experience in real estate investment, development and other skills. The relatively new firm has interests around the country and Williams’ skills would help address the complex challenges of development work, which must take into account the interests of the market, local neighbors, tenants and investors.
His appointment coincides with the first steps for the developer in Congress Heights, where Standard, Trammell Crow and NHT were chosen earlier this year to build 179 residential units and 240,000 square feet of office where older apartment buildings formerly owned by Sanford Capital now stand. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which has cemented a long-term plan calling for transit-oriented projects on vacant land or underdeveloped land at several of its stations, estimates the Congress Heights project could bring on another 244,679 riders a year.
Williams said the developer is preparing to file demolition permits in October. By the end of the year, the apartment buildings will be fully down. Meanwhile, financing is coming together, too. A few weeks ago, the D.C. allocated $37.7 million from its Housing Production Trust Fund for the residences, where 35% of the units will be targeted for those making 30% to 80% of the area median income and 10 will be set aside as permanent supportive housing.
Finding office tenants may prove a bigger challenge, but the area has a need for medical office given the new hospital coming to the adjacent St. Elizabeths East campus, and there will also be a push to draw federal or D.C. government tenants to the site. Standard has engaged Dennis Perkins, founder and managing principal of Civitas Commercial Real Estate Services, to help with the tenant hunt alongside Trammell Crow Co.
“To us, it’s a signal we’re open for business, and it’s a good sign for a property that had been blighted for a long time with no real idea how it would go,” Williams said. “It’s just a better story than what has been there over the past five years.”
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