CAPITOL HILL MEANS ANACOSTIA
No longer does Capitol Hill mean easily walkable to the House or Senate offices for LCs or LAs. Developers are percieving demand further and further out for the kind of properities that previously were only seen in Northwest. Its only a matter of time before the jump is made across the Anacostia River.
Look at what Macy Development has in the works. At the corner of 13th and Constitution NE are four units in 800K to 900K range. Huge units (1650 to 2040 SF). High ceilings. Granite. Stainless. Fireplaces. All the bell-and-whistle cliches. One unit already has sold.
No bubble bursting here.
Next up the area is the Gaslight, an eight unit condominium project with parking for five cars. Groundbreaking will occur this spring, and condominiums should be completed by the middle of 2007. "This is a unique project because it is a corner site, so we tried to utilize as much glass as possible yet try to fit into the scale and character of the Victorian style houses surrounding the site, particularly the brick bays and sloped roofs," said Local architect Dennis Conner of Synergy Design
Also on deck is the Venetian, which also will be completed in the middle of 2007. Conner said "to capture the architectural flavor of the block, we broke The Venetian up into horizontal and vertical pieces – vertically to match the adjacent apartment building and horizontally to match the neighboring townhouses."
The third property that is being redeveloped in that area is home to the maligned New Dragon take-out restaurant, which has attracted an unsavory crowd to the neighborhood some residents complain. The site will be redeveloped as a boutique building, including four loft-style condos, each with a private roof terrace and ground floor retail.
March 6, 2006
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4 comments:
Whoa. The units look gorgeous. Might just have to drop by the open house and check it out.
On a larger note, there has been much talk of a housing bubble, and much of that talk is warranted. Still, it seems to me that the value of real estate in large swaths of DC has been artificially depressed for years due to high crime rates, poor schools, racial tension, urban decay, corrupt/incompentent public officials ("B**ch set me up!"), etc, etc. The result was an artificial situation where thousands of highly compensated professionals worked in the city but endured long commutes to live in the suburbs. Meanwhile, houses were selling for $100,000, or were simply boarded up, half a mile from the Capitol Building. Crazy situation. With the reduction in crime, improved administration and economic properity money has poured into places like the capitol hill neighborhood and I hope (and believe) that barring something unforseen there is no going back. The value of this real estate that is so close to the centers of power and wealth has finally been unlocked. I suspect that even if the real estate boom falters, neighborhoods like capital hill will continue to gentrify over the coming years.
Generally we agree Mose. There was a paradym shift and people working in Washington decided to live, to a greater extent, in DC.
That said, prices got bid up in DC by the feeding frenzy. Buyers are more cautious so prices wont be bid up. In fact prices are off their peaks particuarly in less established neighborhoods.
My observation is that DC doubly benefited from it both having been way undervalued to begin with (because of crime, etc.) AND from a general shift throughout the country by the GenXers and GenYers toward an appreciation of culture, entertainment, and the synergistic energy that can only be found in urban environments. These aren't the young Americans of our parents' generation content with watching television at home after at day at work and a long commute.
I think you're reading way too much into the motivations of my generation. I see it more a result of extended single living and ungodly housing prices forcing people to make more risky decisions.
It's not like suburban prices haven't doubled at the same time.
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