After acquiring the nearly empty Mazza Gallerie shopping mall in Washington, D.C.’s Friendship Heights neighborhood in 2021, New York City-based real estate firm Tishman Speyer has secured $150 million in construction financing from Canadian investment bank RBC Capital Markets to redevelop the site, according to a press release shared with Multifamily Dive.
The mixed-use development plan calls for 320 apartment units and 90,000 square feet of retail. Demolition of the existing three-story structure is underway, to be replaced with a seven-story building designed by Danish architecture firm 3XN. The residential component and first phase of retail are expected to open in 2025.
The renovated building will incorporate an undulating masonry facade across the residential level, located over a glass-walled retail podium.
“Given its prominent location and expansive Wisconsin Avenue frontage, the redeveloped Mazza Gallerie will serve as a gateway to the Friendship Heights neighborhood as well as the District of Columbia as a whole,” said 3XN partner Jens Holm in the release. “[The façade will] create movement and visual interest along [Wisconsin] Avenue, while also incorporating terraces, courtyards and street-level retail that will offer opportunities for residents and the local community to meet, thrive and mingle.”
Units will range from studios to three bedrooms, with two-story townhouses and penthouses included in the floor plan mix. Forty of the units will be designated as affordable. Amenities will include a pool and sundeck, coworking space with a private conference area, a roof deck with an event space and demonstration kitchen, tenant lounges, a golf simulator and a health and wellness center.
Approximately 20,000 square feet of street-facing ground-floor retail will target boutique stores, premium neighborhood services and a mix of fast casual and full-service restaurants.
The development will maintain the existing below-grade retail concourse, including its entrance to the Friendship Heights Metro station, and four levels of existing underground parking. The concourse will cater to larger-format tenants, such as grocers, with TJ Maxx returning as an anchor. Its Mazza Gallerie location, which closed in December, was the mall’s last open store.
