WASHINGTON, DC-Steuart Investment Co. is breaking ground this week on a rare grocery-anchored mixed-use development in the H street corridor. Located at 360 H St., NE, the development will house a 42,000-square foot Giant grocery and 215 multifamily units. There will also be two levels of inside parking.

Development costs for the project, situated between 3rd and 4th streets, “are expected to reach well in excess of $50 million, not counting the cost of the land some of which we‘ve held since 1930,” principal Guy Steuart tells GlobeSt.com. However unlike some of the projects going up around the city now, the company--a long-standing DC real estate family that has invested in this and other business sectors for generations--is not reaching into its own pockets to finance construction.

The company secured last month a loan for PNC Bank, Steuart says. He declined to discuss pricing or the amount of the loan other than to say it was a competitive deal with many lenders angling for it. “It is a construction loan but it also has features that can convert to a mini-permanent financing for a seven year term,” he says. Steuart Investment began assembling other nearby lots for the project in 2005. Much of the project’s attractiveness to lenders, needless to say, is the multifamily element and the already secured anchor.

Steuart Investment owns three properties in the DC area, including 1301 McCormick Dr., near the Largo Town Center Metro Station, the Scuderi Building in Marlow Heights, MD and 4646 40th St., NW in the District. It also owns more than 400,000 square feet of land in Downtown DC that is primed for development. “We have made a big financial commitment to this city,” Steuart says.