Robert Devaney • February 12, 2015

“What makes me tick is my family,” says Boomer Foster. “They are why I get up in the morning.”

For Long & Foster’s Larry “Boomer” Foster, who was named president of its general brokerage business three months ago, these words ring true. His uncle is the legendary P. Wesley “Wes” Foster, Jr., who founded the 46-year-old real estate business. “I always wanted to be part of the family business,” says the younger Foster, who started as a real estate agent at the Ashburn office in Loudoun County in 2006. “Wes made me no promises.”

Centered around Washington, D.C. – its headquarters is a huge Chantilly, Va., office building near Route 28 and Dulles Airport – Long & Foster Real Estate is the largest independent residential real estate company in the country. It has more than 11,000 agents, with 180 offices from New Jersey to North Carolina.

Foster works in partnership with Long & Foster Real Estate’s President Gary Scott. “Appointing an additional president to our general brokerage business is about staying as close to our agents as possible, and that becomes even more critical as we continue to expand,” said Jeffrey Detwiler, president and COO of the Long & Foster Companies.

For Foster, it all began in Jonesboro, Ga., where his family lived for decades. While youngsters his age had sports heroes like Muhammad Ali, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, he says, “Growing up I had two heroes: my dad and my uncle. And my dream was to either practice law with my dad at his office in the suburbs of Atlanta or to go to Northern Virginia for the family business in real estate.”

Since he is a junior, Larry Allen Foster, Jr., has kept the nickname his mother gave him before he was born: “Boomer” (because he kicked around in her womb).

The name made perfect sense for Foster as a tight end on the University of South Carolina football team 20 years ago, when USC won its first bowl game ever. Then, as a trial lawyer in Columbia, S.C., “the judges knew me as Boomer,” says Foster, who was wearing cufflinks resembling USC’s Gamecock mascot the day we interviewed him in his office.

At Long & Foster, the affable 42-year-old president draws on his legal skills of negotiation and strategic thinking, but one can also see his football position as a metaphor for his current position. A tight end can play the role of offensive lineman and wide receiver: big enough to hold the territory, quick enough to expand upfield – just like Long & Foster.

Indeed, with the company’s larger presence in Philadelphia and New Jersey and new offices in Charlottesville and Delaware, it is on the move.

“Over the past couple of years, we’ve enjoyed significant growth along the beaches,” says Foster, explaining that the company has focused on connecting clients in metro areas with shore communities from New Jersey to North Carolina – for investment and vacation properties and rentals. As for Charlottesville, where he and his family live, “We opened three offices last fall in a matter of months . . . around 70 agents.”

“We’ve always grown conservatively,” he says, adding as an aside: “South Carolina is next.”

Like others in the Foster family, he sees the company’s agents as an extension of the family business. It is a business about relationships – caring about the clients and the agents. “It’s not something you can fake,” Foster says.

Whether it is “training, mentoring and coaching,” he adds, “Long & Foster makes sure our people are taken care of . . . When they need us, we’re there. You can call me . . . you can get Wes Foster on the phone this afternoon.”

Foster says the big competitors are franchises, which are predominantly “mom-and-pop shops that pay for the right to put an entity’s name on their door.” He sees Long & Foster as something more: “We’re invested in our people.” While he says he knows that may sound like a predictable answer, it also sounds authentic coming from Foster. “When somebody tells me, ‘You’re so not corporate,’” he says, “I take that as a compliment.”

To that end, Foster spends a lot of his time in the field – ideally, he says, 80 percent outside, checking firsthand, and 20 percent at headquarters. “Seek first to understand,” he likes to say. “If we try to run this company in a vacuum, we’re going to fail.”

With Scott directing the other offices – in New Jersey, Philly and the Virginia Tidewater area – Foster covers metro D.C., Montgomery County, Northern Virginia, West Virginia, southern Maryland, Charlottesville and Raleigh.

So, where is the Washington area’s strongest sales neighborhood? “For 2014, D.C. proper fared better than the suburbs,” Foster says. Doing well were upper-bracket-priced properties in the city. The West End and Foggy Bottom stood out as top-performing, with a nearly 18-percent increase in average sale prices in 2014.

Last year, he says, “First-time home buyers were not a big part of our marketplace.”

Nevertheless, he expects that situation to improve for those 34 or younger, the so-called millennials, as mortgage-lending restrictions ease and more credit becomes available. Interest rates, now at such a low, are looking to go up, he adds. “The historically low rates we are enjoying undoubtedly benefit buyers and sellers in the near term.”

Foster is bullish on the company’s Logan Circle office and its environs: “I think there is a ton of opportunity there. Long & Foster can handle the upper-bracket and the condo markets, and everything in between.”

“Our business has changed so much,” he says. “The agent’s role has changed – going from being a keeper of information to becoming a skilled negotiator, market expert and trusted advisor.”

At the end of his workweek, Foster leaves his Leesburg townhome and goes home to Charlottesville to be with wife Kathryne, daughter Mattie and son Larry.

His wife was very supportive of the move from their comfortable life in South Carolina, he says. “We took a leap of faith.”
It looks like it’s turning out all right for his young family – and for the family business.

Robert Devaney • February 7, 2015

Developer Anthony Lanier, founder of EastBanc, and Joe Sternlieb, CEO of the Georgetown Business Improvement District, gave a presentation of Georgetown’s commercial present and future before members and guests of the Citizens Association of Georgetown Nov. 5 at Pinstripes, the Italian bistro and bowling alley on Wisconsin Avenue.

While there has been an influx of new retail shops and a few new restaurants, the trends may not be as positive as they seem, the two business leaders warned toward the end of their talk. For them, it is all about staying current and keeping the crucial upgrades coming — filling in retail spaces here and there — and keeping people coming to Georgetown.

Lanier began the slide show about his company’s properties and upcoming projects with Sternlieb providing statistics on the town’s retail profile and other details. Their presentations were jam-packed with information before the packed room at the restaurant, which is part of the reconstructed Georgetown Park, no longer a mall. (Lanier’s EastBanc is associated with Jamestown Corporation, which now owns Georgetown Park.)

EastBanc recently bought the “Four Seasons gas station,” as Lanier called it, with “the highest price paid for land in D.C.” He said a Portuguese architect is on board for the mixed-use condo design, for which he hoped people would have “an open mind.” That project is at the eastern entrance to Georgetown at 2715 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. Another condo project, its design already approved, is at another gas station — Key Bridge Exxon — 3601 M St., NW, at the western end of the neighborhood.

As for the nearly completed 1055 High residential project at Wisconsin Avenue and the C&O Canal, Lanier said, “Seven condos sold in nine days.”

Other EastBanc properties getting into the pipeline include the renovation of the former Fino’s and Mr. Smith’s. A townhouse at 3246 Prospect St., NW, backs into an alley from Potomac Street. Lanier hopes to re-do the alley between Prospect and M Streets. He also sees Blues Alley, NW, as a “future retail street.”

Joe Sternlieb of the Georgetown BID asked the audience how many had walked to the event, as he mentioned 13,000 persons work in Georgetown. Noting the success of Book Hill and the need for future growth, Sternlieb said that the Georgetown Exxon — at Wisconsin and Q — is under contract to Trammel Crow to become a condo complex.

He said the Marvelous Market property (the former Neam’s Market site, still owned by the Neam family) at Wisconsin and P is under contract and asked anyone with any more information to let him know about the buyers. He also said that the Georgetown Theater retail-condo project by Robert Bell would vastly improve the 1300 and 1400 blocks of Wisconsin Avenue, NW, where some of the nearby businesses like Prince & Princess at Wisconsin and O could become a restaurant if the financial numbers could work (which seems unlikely).

Sternlieb showed the slideshow from the BID’s 2028 presentation, as he spoke about the upcoming Latham apartments at 3000 M St., NW, future retail at 3220 Prospect St., NW, in the parking lot space and the Four Seasons condos in the reconstructed West Heating Plant on 29th Street, NW. He even mentioned that PNC Bank had pondered developing part of its bank parking lot at Wisconsin and M.

The residents of Georgetown cannot support the total retail sales for the commercial space that makes up the town, Sternlieb said. In statistical terms: the U.S. has 53 square feet of retail per capita; D.C., 34; Georgetown, 227. “You guys have to spend a lot more money,” he said. Lanier interjected that Georgetown residents do not frequent enough businesses.

While the population of Washington, D.C., has rebounded, the amount of D.C. neighborhoods that have added retail, such as restaurants and clothing stores, has likewise increased — something on the scale of six or seven in the 1990s to today’s 20 neighborhoods with a significant commercial section.

The new mix of residents, commuters and tourists puts pressure on Georgetown to keep the sales registers humming. “We need a new crowd every day,” Sternlieb said. One point of good news for Georgetown was that it has the lowest office vacancy in D.C.

Sternlieb also cited the low percentages for Georgetown on restaurants and liquor licenses as compared to other D.C. neighborhoods. In Adams Morgan, for example, businesses with liquor licenses are 60 percent of those in the neighborhood, while in Georgetown that same percentile is 14. Of the two stars given by the Washington Post to D.C. restaurants, Georgetown has the lowest percentile of all other neighborhoods: 12 percent of its restaurants got two stars from the Post. This low percentage of liquor licenses to overall businesses was seen by the two speakers as a threat to the retail district.

“We are losing our restaurant community,” Sternlieb said. “Georgetown used to be date night.”

Sternlieb brought up several highly publicized ideas to stay competitive: more liquor licenses should be issued; temporary sidewalk widening of M Street on the weekends; a street car along K Street from Union Station to Georgetown University; a gondola aerial lift above the Potomac from Rosslyn to Georgetown; a large bookstore (if the residents could help with some kind of loan-lease agreement), such as Politics & Prose; maintenance of the C&O Canal and a new canal boat; lastly — and literally lastly — one or two Metrorail stations, which are part of the Metro 2040 Plan (a more or less $3-billion price tag for the aging system).

Lanier noted that foreign investment plays a large role in Georgetown. “We must be commercially viable before we become extinct,” he said.
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Robert Devaney • February 5, 2015

Showing off new makes and models from more than 42 manufacturers at the Washington Convention Center, the Washington Auto Show begins Jan. 23 with ten days of exhibits, entertainment, celebrity sightings and contests.

The auto show has doubled the length of its stay in D.C. from the previous five days and touts itself as “Washington, D.C.’s largest public show” as well as — and many auto enthusiasts agree — “new-car heaven.”

Sponsored by the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association, the show will run Jan. 23 through Feb. 1.

During the show’s preview day on Thursday, Johan de Nysschen, president of Cadillac, gave the industry keynote speech, while in the afternoon Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz gave the government keynote.

The two-story convention center will be “fully stocked” with an automotive showcase that not only will display new cars but will be “showcasing the latest innovations in sustainable technologies and drawing the most influential leaders in the industry.

The car brands run from Acura, Audi, BMW and Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford to Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln and onto Mini, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Volvo — and more, like electric and concept cars.

Beside the cars, part of the fun at the convention center is going with friends or family and meeting such notables as Brooks Laich of the Washington Capitals, Randy Orton of WWE, along with Redskins legends Dave Butz, Mark Moseley and Charley Taylor. Add to that list: Ximena Cordoba of Univision and Géraldine Bazán Ortíz and Sadie Robertson of “Duck Dynasty,” including characters from “The Lego Man,” Red Bird from “Angry Birds,” SpongeBob and Crash Test Dummies, Vince and Larry.

This year, it’s the Hyundai Hands On Contest — where whoever is the last one touching the car gets it; restrictions and rules apply.
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Robert Devaney •

At the George Town Club for a Georgetown Business Association networking reception Jan. 21, new GBA President Charles Camp welcomed guests and got right to the point: the group is here to “help businesses make money.” Another mission for GBA, Camp said, was the fact that “You’ve got to know who your neighbors are.

The new officers greeted members and new members in the Wisconsin Avenue club which has regained its popularity throughout town for meetings, whether business or social.

Camp said he seeks to get GBA more involved with a listserv and a renamed website, such as “GeorgetownBusiness.org.” He also wants the group to work more closely with the Citizens Association of Georgetown and the Georgetown Business Improvement District.

“We each have our own niche,” Camp said of the Georgetown groups. “We can work together.”

Robert Devaney •

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E will hold its February meeting, 6:30 p.m., Feb. 2, at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, 35th Street and Volta Place, NW, in the Little Odeon Room on the third floor of the main building. The following is tonight’s meeting agenda, as provided by ANC 2E.

Approval of the Agenda

• Approval of February 2, 2015, ANC 2E Public Meeting Agenda Administrative

• Approval of January 5, 2015, Meeting Minutes

• Public Safety and Police Report

• Transportation Report – DDOT update on construction planned for the Pennsylvania Avenue bridge over Rock Creek

• Financial Report

Community Comment

New Business

• 2015 Marine Corps Marathon

Old Georgetown Board

Private Projects

1. SMD 02, 3324 Dent Place, NW, OG 15-032 (HPA 13-236), Residence, new construction, Concept

2. SMD 02, 1544 33rd Street, NW, OG 15-057 (HPA 15-085), Residence, One-story rear addition, alterations, Concept (for the Historic Preservation Review Board)

3. SMD 05, 3150 M Street, NW, OG 15-092 (HPA 15-180), Commercial, Alterations, interior demolition, roof deck and HVAC)

4. SMD 06, 2709-2715 N Street, NW, OG 15-086, 15-176, 15-098, 15-097 (HPA 15-174, 15-176, 15-186, 15-185), Alexander Memorial Baptist Church, Additions and alterations, Permit

5. SMD 07, 1609 31st St, NW, OG 15-101, (HPA 15-198), Residence, Alterations, roof, dormer, windows, door, stair, brickwork, Concept

No Review At This Time by ANC 2E: The following additional projects, which are on the upcoming February 5, 2015, agenda of the Old Georgetown Board, have not been added to the ANC meeting agenda for OGB-related design review and we do not propose to adopt a solution on them at this time.

1. SMD 02, 3240 Q Street, NW, OG 15-104 (HPA 15-192), Residence, 2- story rear addition with basement – alternate material, Permit

2. SMD 02, 3203 R Street, NW, OG 15-099 (HPA 15-187), Residence, Remove pergola at rear, site work, Permit

3. SMD 02, 3252 S Street, NW, OG 15-105, 15-079) (HPA 15-193, 15-123), Residence, site alterations, rear addition of dormer, Permit and revised concept

4. SMD 02, 3408 Reservoir Road, NW, OG 15-087 (HPA 15-175) Residence, New window opening (for the Historic Preservation Review Board)

5. SMD 03, 3219 O Street, NW, Hyde-Addison Elementary School, Alterations for skylight and rooftop mechanical louvers at Hyde School

6. SMD 03, 1312 31st Street, NW, OOG 15-103 (HPA 15-191), Residence, Replacement security window grilles, Permit

7. SMD 03, 3206 N Street, NW, OG 15-012 (HPA 15-025), Commercial, Additional, alterations, replacement curtain wall, stairs, signs, Concept – revised

8. SMD 03, 1357 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 15-093 (HPA 15-181), 1357 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Commercial, Two-story rooftop addition, one- story rear addition, Permit

9. SMD 03, 1519 35th Street, NW, OG 15-102 (HPA 15-190), Residence, Garden wall, Permit

10. SMD 03, 1525 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 15-096 (HPA 15-184), Commercial, Alterations, canopy, signs – Via Umbria, Permit

11. SMD 03, 1236 33rd Street, NW, OG 15-041 (HPA 15-157), Residence, Alterations to garage door, replacement fence, Concept

12. SMD 03, 1411 33rd Street, NW, OG 14-370 (HPA 15-177), Residence, Replacement windows, Permit

13. SMD 05, C&O Canal at 34th Street, NW, New dock, Permit 14. SMD 05, 1312 31st Street, NW, OG 15-103 (HPA 15-191), Residence,
Replacement security window grilles, Permit

15. SMD 05, 1028 33rd Street, NW, OG 15-041 (HPA 15-157), Commercial, Sign – Thomas Moser, Permit – revised

16. SMD 05, 3256 M Street, NW, OG 15-084 (HPA 15-144), Commercial, Rooftop antennas for Verizon Wireless, Permit

17. SMD 05, 3336 M Street, NW, OG 15-043 (HPA 15-071), Commercial, Sign, banner on alley – Rent the Runway, Permit – revised

18. SMD 05, 3614 Prospect Street, NW, OG 15-100 (HPA 15-188), Residence, Partial demolition, 2-story rear/rooftop addition, alterations to front, replacement windows

19. SMD 05, 1065 Thomas Jefferson Street, NW, OG 14-346 (HPA 14- 679), Residence, Additions and alterations, Concept – revised

20. SMD 05, 1238 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 15-082 (HPA 15-141), Commercial, Mechanical equipment mounted to rear façade, Concept

21. SMD 06, 1334 29th Street, NW, OG 15-107 (HPA 15-195, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, Roof vents and ductwork, Permit

22. SMD 06, 1521 29th Street, NW, OG 15-090 (HPA 15-178), Residence, Expansion of rear terrace at lower level, Permit – revised

23. SMD 06, 1319 30th Street, NW, OG 15-091 (HPA 15-179, Residence, Alterations, Permit

24. SMD 06, 2804 N Street, NW, OG-15-083 (HPA 15-142), Residence, Addition of exterior elevator, Permit

25. SMD 06, 2924 N Street, NW, OG 15-085 (HPA 15-145), Residence, Replacement siding, fence, alterations to rear, roof top equipment and solar panels, Permit

26. SMD 06, 3023 P Street, NW, OG 15-106 (HPA 15-025), Residence, Demolition, 2-story plus basement rear addition, paving, Permit

27. SMD 07, 1633 31st Street, NW, OG 15-094 (HPA 15-182), Residence,
Two-story rear addition, Concept

28. SMD 07, 1502 27th Street, NW, OG 15-063 (HPA 15-103), Residence, Front porch, alterations, wall and fence, Concept

Government of the District of Columbia: Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E — 3265 S St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20007 — 202-724-7098 — anc2e@dc.gov — www.anc2e.com

Robert Devaney • January 29, 2015

As Vincent Gray ends his time as Mayor of Washington, D.C., he has been on a kind of farewell tour of the city which he served for four years as chief executive and earlier as District Council Chairman.

Moving from Georgetown to Shaw and beyond, whether at evening receptions, radio talk shows or ribbon-cutting ceremonies, Gray is saying good-bye with a hearty handshake to friends and acknowledging his achievements — and the bittersweet tug that he would have liked to serve four more years.

Gray was seen at the Dec. 19 Duke Ellington School groundbreaking, even though construction work on the school has been underway for some time. On hand, of course, were notables, including D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Ellington School co-founder Peggy Cafritz.

On Dec. 22, Gray was given a high-spirited tribute by the entire D.C. Hospitality Alliance at Tony and Joe’s Seafood Place. The heavy-hitter group is composed of Events D.C., Destination D.C., Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington and the Hotel Association of Washington, D.C., and hosted the event at the 25-year-old restaurant on the Georgetown waterfront.

Officials, politicians and well-wishers applauded Gray for his years of service, as they focused on his support of projects that built up downtown and benefitted neighborhoods, increasing residents, visitors and the tax base.

With jokes and friendly banter all around, Gray, a happy warrior for his city, took the microphone at Tony and Joe’s. He mentioned his official farewell speech on Dec. 17 on Dunbar High School. “I got carried away,” he said. “It was the longest speech I’ve ever given.” The mayor went on to say that D.C. was the hottest commodity in the nation, and those in the convention, hotel and restaurant business agreed.

On his third to last day, Gray was seen in Shaw for a round of 17 ribbon cuttings — some for new businesses, others for renovated storefronts. His last full day as mayor is on New Year’s Day.

Muriel Bowser becomes D.C.’s seventh popularly elected mayor Jan. 2. [gallery ids="101961,135757,135734,135761,135754,135740,135744,135748" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

Georgetown University’s 13th annual Let Freedom Ring Celebration Jan. 19 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and — with Natalie Cole as the shining star — brought the full house to its feet, singing “Oh Happy Day.”

At the event, Georgetown presented the John Thompson, Jr., Legacy of a Dream Award to George Jones, chief executive officer of Bread for the City, which assists residents with food, clothing, medical care and legal and social services.

Music director Nolan Williams, Jr., led the Let Freedom Ring Choir, made up mostly Georgetown University students, in introducing his original piece for this Martin Luther King, Jr., Day: “I’ve Got a Right (to Vote).” The song included quotations from actors as historical figures, such as Frederick Douglas, President Lyndon Johnson and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Greeting the guests in the concert hall, the Kennedy Center’s new president Deborah Rutter noted how Washington, D.C., President John Kennedy and King come today on MLK Day with this “living memorial to a fallen president” that hosts the tribute each year. She also said she had just met Georgetown University President John DeGioia for the first time.

In his salute to awardee George Jones of Break for the City, DeGioia looked up to retired basketball coach John Thompson, Jr., and Jones in their box seats and spoke of his friendship with Thompson and Jones’s “spirit of love” that was “fueled by King.”
With that, Cole took the stage — with red roses on the piano — and never let go. Her songs included “Mr. Melody,” “Inseparable,” “What a Difference a Day Makes,” the still moving “Unforgettable” (with video clips of her and her father Nat King Cole) and “Miss You Like Crazy,” a tribute to “those we lost and the legacy of King.” Finishing up, Cole said, “Everyone knows this one,” and belted out “Everlasting Love.”

As an encore, it was hard to top Cole’s and the celebration’s version of “Oh Happy Day.” Suddenly, dancers dressed in white rushed back and forth along the aisles to the startled delight of everyone. “When Jesus washed . . . my sins away, yeah . . . He taught me how to watch . . . fight and pray, fight and pray . . . and living rejoicing every, everyday.” Yeah, pretty hard to top that this day. I think I saw Martin smiling. [gallery ids="101972,135617,135614,135610,135601,135606" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

A good neighbor, classic Georgetown gentleman and friend of The Georgetowner, Philip Mayhew died of cancer Jan. 9.

Born in San Francisco Dec. 1, 1934, Mayhew lived around the world: in the Philippines as a boy, Washington state, Pennsylvania and, then, as a foreign service officer with the State Department, in Laos, Congo, Jordan, Vietnam and Thailand.

A 1956 graduate of Princeton University, Mayhew served in the military and worked for the Washington Post briefly. He also worked with the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the Defense Department. The King of Thailand presented Mayhew with the Order of the White Elephant for his diplomatic service.

After faithfully representing the U.S., Mayhew returned to his Georgetown townhouse on 35th Street hill. He is one of the last of a generation of neighbors that included Emerson Duncan and Paul Hartstall. There, Mayhew personified the lesson of Voltaire’s “Candide”: after all your adventures, tend your own garden.

Neighbors on 35th Street and Prospect Street are planning a celebration of Mayhew’s life; time to be determined. Call The Georgetowner for details at 202-338-4833.