A Navy Yard apartment building that New York-based Ruben Cos. has been trying to get started for more than four years doesn't appear to be moving forward any time soon.

The developer is asking the D.C. Zoning Commission to extend its approval to build a 263-unit multifamily building just a block away from Nationals Park. The site is currently a parking lot. Ruben said in its request it failed to find a buyer, financing or a joint venture partner for the project, despite an extensive search process.

Developers across the country have had difficulty getting planned multifamily projects off the ground given inflated interest rates, construction costs, oversupply coming out of the pandemic and softening rents. 

The impact has been evident in D.C., which last year experienced the lowest level of construction starts since at least 2010.

In its request for an extension, Ruben Cos. said the project at 1100 South Capitol, which Berkadia marketed to 144 prospects this summer, received “no viable offers,” reflecting “the continued challenges facing multifamily development projects in the current market.” 

Berkadia and Ruben Cos. did not respond to Bisnow's requests for comment. 

Ruben argued that efforts to finance the project have been plagued by the barriers impacting multifamily development nationally — “elevated interest rates, persistent inflation, rising construction costs, and limited access to debt and equity capital,” which it said are also affecting D.C. projects. 

In a separate letter included with the application, Berkadia Senior Managing Director of Investment Sales Brian Crivella cited D.C.-specific challenges — including multifamily trading below replacement costs — that have reduced achievable land values for development sites, as well as federal employee and contractor losses and rent collection and eviction challenges. 

Crivella said that on July 6, Berkadia began identifying and soliciting “prospective buyers, developers, and institutional investors with a demonstrated history of multifamily land acquisition or development activity in the Washington, D.C. region” for the project. It solicited 144 groups in total and executed 19 confidentiality agreements, with 68 groups declining to pursue the opportunity “at all.”

More than 20 of those groups cited a “broader, industry-wide pause in new ground-up multifamily land acquisitions,” and at least 14 that were able to review the project said “current construction costs and achievable rents do not support a positive land value or an acceptable return in today’s environment," according to the letter.

Four that were able to underwrite it independently concluded that the project can't be "acquired or developed on economically viable terms," Crivella said.

“It is Berkadia’s assessment that the Project is unlikely to be sold, joint-ventured, or financed on terms that would support responsible development until these conditions improve, and that this outcome reflects prevailing capital markets conditions rather than any deficiency in the Project’s site, design, or entitlements,” Crivella wrote. 

This is the second extension Ruben has sought for the parcel at 1100 South Capitol St. SE. In 2025, it secured an extension until February 2028 after arguing that the impacts of post-Covid supply chains, inflation and interest rates made the project unstartable.

In its latest application submitted this week, the developer is now requesting that the deadline to start construction be extended to February 2030.

Multifamily wasn’t Ruben’s first idea for the site at 1100 South Capitol. The developer purchased the site in 2004 and 2006 and originally had plans for a 320K SF office before pivoting to multifamily in 2022. 

Ruben has already developed a pair of multifamily projects in the immediate area.

Just a block away from 1100 South Capitol, Ruben Cos. partnered with fellow New York developer Related Cos. to build the 380-unit One Hill South building at 28 K St. SE and the 305-unit 10K at Hill South at 10 K St. SE. Those projects were completed in 2016 and 2020, respectively.

The Navy Yard area's 26,000 multifamily units were 92.8% occupied as of the end of June, according to Newmark. Average rents in the submarket sat at $2,657.

CORRECTION, SEPT. 17, 4 P.M. ET: This story was updated to note that average rents in Navy Yard sat at $2,657.