REAL ESTATE ROUNDUP!

Ubiquitous DC Mayor Adrian Fenty on Thursday afternoon joined JPI in breaking ground on the third building of its half-billion-dollar Capitol Yardsdevelopment just blocks from both Congress and the new ballpark—so if you're a Hill staffer you are equidistant from going to work or playing hooky in the grandstands. Above, JPI's regional head Greg Lamb , far left, with colleague Aaron Liebert and Ward 6 Council Member Tommy Wells. The first of the 1300 high end high rise units deliver next summer.

Over 45 local employees of developer Forest City participated in the firm's recent 4th annual national Community Day. Area employees pitched in at DC's Bowen Elementary School. Activities included landscaping, painting, tutoring and parking lot paving. Forest City is currently developing two projects within blocks of Bowen Elementary School--Waterfront in SW and The Yards in SE.

This was even better than a free lunch—guests got not only great food butSirius satellite radios! ING Clarion and CBRE put out quite a spread last week to show off the soon-to-be new and improved McPherson Building on 15th Street. ING's Marc DeLuca, above left, and Craig Tagen hosted the event with CBRE's Bruce Pascal, center, for close to 150 downtown brokers. Renovations will be complete in the first quarter of 2008.

One of the region's heavyweight real estate practices is expanding further. After many breakfast discussions at the Mayflower hotel and Marvelous Market, Arent Fox has announced that the eight-attorney real estate practice of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi will join its DC real estate group, led by Mark Katz, on July 1st. The addition of partners Robert Falb, Barbara Wachter Needle, and Keith Styles, above, will add azoning capacity and expand Arent Fox's work in the area of real estate, tax and federal properties.

Partner Richard Nettler, right, and the group's four associatesround-out the team making the move. Nettler's practice centers on complex land use andzoning matters, historic preservation and conservation easements, and the disposition and redevelopment of federal properties nationally and locally. He'll join Arent Fox after a Parisvacation.