W.B. Hopke Announces New Wet Utilities Project Award – Modera H Street, DC Apartment Building

Modera H Street is the new site for a luxury apartment community located at 801 17th Street Northeast, Washington, DC. Featuring 325 contemporary apartment homes, Modera H Street is within convenient walking distance to several shopping centers, close to dining and nightlife and is situated within an arts-infused neighborhood. The project is scheduled for completion in early 2025.

Modera H Street is built to LEED Silver standards and offers studio apartments, one, two and three-bedroom homes within the building. Amenities include a rooftop deck, outdoor swimming pool, fire pit, grilling area, landscaped courtyards, resident clubhouse, coffee bar, and a club-quality fitness center. The pet-friendly community includes access to garage parking, dedicated bike storage and EV-charging stations. The community is located one block from a stop for the new DC Streetcar, which is an initiative to connect throughout DC without the need for a vehicle.

Dillon McCoy, lead estimator for W.B. Hopke, provided some unique details about the Modera H Street Project Award in DC. Dillon stated, “The project is in the beginning phases. The demolition work to remove an existing building has been completed and in order to get to the wet utilities work, we are just waiting for the approvals required from DC Water and Washington Gas. There are numerous gas lines at the site which bundle in a variety of directions, and we need to get those nailed down before we can begin digging trenches.”

The project was awarded to Hopke on June 2023 for the sanitary, storm and water installation. Hopke is the subcontractor to general contractor Mill Creek. Hopke and Mill Creek have worked on numerous tricky projects together, so it will be familiar work for both companies. “The challenging thing about this project is that the gas lines split off in several different directions, about 10 directions to be more precise, so coordinating and working with Washington Gas is imperative,” McCoy said.

The scope of work includes connecting to existing manhole structures with 12″ PVC lines approximately 40 linear feet and also installing 2 new manholes for the sanitary. For the storm, there will be two lateral connections to existing storm drains and about 40′ of 12″ PVC storm drains and the installation of one new manhole. For water, there will be two lateral lines, an 8″ fire line and a 4″ domestic line with a 4′ water meter vault.

“We will be working in the street at some point, so we may have to shut down a lane while we work. This should not be an issue as this will be done during non-rush hour timeframes, generally between 9am and 3pm. We try to do it while traffic is at a minimum,” McCoy indicated.

The work for Hopke is expected to take about 2 months to complete and should wrap up in the Fall of 2024. Decisions on superintendents, foreman and crews will be decided later after the approval process is completed with DC Water and Washington Gas.

We would like to thank Dillon McCoy for his hard work, time and effort estimating this project and being instrumental in helping W.B. Hopke win another award with Mill Creek in DC.

W.B. Hopke is a fourth generation, family-run construction business focused on building high quality utility infrastructure and lifelong careers. Hopke is located in Alexandria, VA and works throughout DC, Maryland, and Virginia. With almost 70 years of experience, Hopke prides itself on repeat customers across all kinds of market segments – schools, churches, data centers, distribution facilities, multi-family, mixed use, residential subdivisions, senior living, self storage, heavy highway, retail, commercial office, automotive, stream restoration, and parks.

Contact W.B. Hopke about a career in utility installation and site work at 703-971-0404 or info@wbhopke.com.

References

“Modera H Street,” Mill Creek, https://millcreekplaces.com/community/modera-h-street/, accessed January 16, 2024.

“Mill Creek Announces Groundbreaking of Modera H Street,” PR Newswire, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mill-creek-announces-groundbreaking-of-modera-h-street-301770755.html, accessed January 16, 2024.

Images: Concept renderings of Modera H Street (courtesy Mill Creek).