Old Rental to Condo to Rental Trick

Two years ago when part of McClean Gardens was being converted into a condo called Vaughan Place there was a brouhaha over how the conversion was done. Well nevermind. The unsold units are reverting to rentals, according to DCMud. Less than half of the units were reported sold as condos.

One reason DC is missing the worst of the exploding real estate bubble is that strong rental market that exists here. Can't sell you condo; rent it.

The long lines one used to see for sales open houses now are for rental open houses. In fact, the owner of the Vaughan have the rental portion of the building on the market too, says WashBiz.

The Mystery of the Thirteen Lockboxes

Above are the lockboxes outside of Quincy Court at 1117 10th St NW. Not quite Logan, not quite NOMA. Near the convention center and loads of other condo/lofts. Walkable to downtown. (A transitional 'hood going from abandoned to "upscale," somewhere on the road from dangerous to no man's land.)

The 13 lockboxes look dramatic and suggest the condo bubble is bursting because there are soooo..... many unsold units. So how come the MLS only has six units listed accordning to ZipRealty?

Upon closer inspection two of the six units are list by JP Real Estate Group and another two by condo marketer McWilliams/Ballard Inc. The JP Group website lists yet another unit as well, so seven total. Sounds fishy. What's going on here? How many units are there? Have the realtors forgotten to remove thier lockboxes after a unit sold? Unlikely.

My dear Watson, units being mothballed by the developer!!! Indubitably. Or maybe not. Prices have begun to creep up, but that could be artificially created by developers holding on to units. If I had deep enough pockets that what I would be doing too.

It's Not Just Shiloh

Shaw, NOMA and Logan Circle are plauged by more than 100 vacant, dilapidated properties the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association complained to DC, the WashExam reported.

MVSNA wants the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs to devote more resources to fix the problem, to ensure vacant properties are assessed at the appropriate real estate tax rate — five times the standard levy — and to better maintain government-owned properties.

No word on whether Shiloh Baptist owns any of these properties. The church is in the habit of letting the buildings it owns in the area rot. MVSNA identified 71 were vacant buildings and 29 were empty lots. The area the group focused on is the area bounded by New York Ave. NW to the south and N St. to the north, between 1st and 7th St.

Why do landlords sit on these buildings when the city is reviving? Can you say condos? Too bad much of the property is probably in the hands of DC, which is in the habit of letting property it owns go underutilized.

Square 54: One Step Closer

The D.C. Zoning Commission unanimously approved the University's plan to develop Square 54 at its May monthly meeting, the GW Hatchet reported. The National Capital Planning Commission recommended that the Zoning Commission approve the plans in April.

The $250 million Square 54 project will feature approximately 336 "luxury" residential units (non-university housing), with over 80,000 sf of retail space (including a 27,000-sf supermarket and outdoor café space) and 440,000 sf of office space overlooking Washington Circle. Boston Properties and KSI Services are the developers.

Considering how complex the project is, it took GWU and the developers a reasonable amount of time to win approval of this project.

Oh wait. There is a 35-day appeal period before GWU can move forward with its construction plans. The Foggy Bottom Association threatened this spring to appeal the Square 54 decision, so it is possible that such an organization might seek further legal action during this appeal period, the Hatchet said. (Sounds eerily like the Onion.)

DC Holds 75 Meetings with Retailers

The city held 75-plus meetings with retailers at the International Council of Shopping Centers' annual convention last week, the WashTimes said. Retailers and restaurateurs cited the trifecta of high education levels, high income and high growth as the reason they wanted to be in the District.

For instance, DC is in talks with Nordstrom about opening in G-Town. That would be a coup.

Jair Lynch Gets a Bad Rap

The DC program to benefit local, small, disadvantaged business enterprises (LSDBE) is flawed, argues Jonetta Rose Barras in the WashExam. DC set aside millions of dollars for such LSDBE firms yet they often do shoddy work and are not rotated out of the program when and if they grow in size.

Developer Jair Lynch Cos., Rose contends remains LSDBE certified despite "despite repeated questions about the quality of its work." Jair Lynch has been active in Columbia Heights and Logan Circle.

Gettin' Ready for the First Pitch

The plan is to get The Yards' streetlights and sidewalks ready for baseball's opening day next spring, said the WaPo. Ultimately Forest City Washington and its partners will build or rehabilitate more than 25 buildings and fill them with 1.8 million square feet of office space, stores, businesses, restaurants, and residences.

"You really can create a neighborhood, and that's exactly what we're doing," says Deborah Ratner Salzberg, 54, president of Forest City Washington. "We are building . . . an active waterfront that will transform an entire section of this city."

DC is going to be a very different place in 2020. But without the baseball stadium this part of town would have been forlorn and forgotten.

DC Schools Should Be Reading from the YMCA's Grammer Book

In exchange for a portion of its land, Perseus Realty will rebuild the YMCA's Anthony Bowen facility at 1325 W St. NW and help the institution upgrade its facilities. "We are going to grow from a little tiny Y to a big facility with a huge swimming pool," said Pam Curran, vice president of operations of the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington in the WashExam.

Perseus will own the 200 apartments and retail portions of the development (12,000 sf) and the YMCA will own its 45,000-square-foot facility. The apartments will be market-rate housing for the most part, with a percentage set aside as affordable units under D.C.'s inclusionary zoning law.

Message to other institutions in the city: To stay relevant sometimes you must make a deal because there are no white knights out there to write you a check. Grow, change or die.

Along the same lines, the Tenleytown libray is looking to do a parntership revitalize itself, and and various public schools have been exporing thier options as well.

Don't Investment $$$ Follow Nightclubs

Remember when there was nude dancing on 9th St? Now there are offices and million dollar condos. Remember when there were similar clubs in Southeast? Now there is a baseball stadium.

So what's wrong with moving nightclubs to the New York Ave. corridor in Ivy City and Trinidad? Won't invest dollars follow? Residents complain the clubs will be too close together. Fair enough.

Even Councilman Harry Thomas Jr., in the Wash Exam, said "the fiber of that neighborhood has been waiting for a lot of change." Many club owners already have bought property in the area, the WaPost reports.

Maybe people complaining the loudest, don't own property and fear they will be forced out. Don't nudie bars need workers? Hello . . . jobs.

RAISE THE ROOF!!! Again!!!

Reiterating his argument that the height limit is bad for DC, UMD Prof.Roger Lewis in the the WaPo argued that with relaxed height limits:

"there would be places where taller, more iconic edifices could serve as landmarks. A bit more variation in building heights, and slightly more height for buildings framing key intersections, could enhance the look of many streetscapes. "

In effect, with downtown street widths rarely exceeding 90 feet to 110 feet, D.C. buildings can rise no more than 110 feet or 130 feet, except on Pennsylvania Avenue, where 160 feet is allowed.

Does the hight limit really matter when they are building 30 stories in Arlington? Brookings' Christopher Leinberger argued DC must grow up to grow.