The Story
--- Developers of the Grant condo in Logan Circle threw a glitzy party to boost sales. The party with a National player drew attention in the WaPo.
--- Why hold these sales parties? "We're in Washington. People love their events and their black tie and their kind of sassy parties," said Tracy Danneberg, special events coordinator for Metropolis Development. "You have to keep up with it and be different."
Bubble View:
--- Do these parties really sell units? Recently I saw a party for the Beauregard and thought to myself looking at all the cliched buff men dressed in black, this would be a turnoff if I were a buyer. (I think the park expensive cars out front and import beautiful people to enhance the look too.) I thought the first rule of effective sales is: make the client feel comfortable, not feel intimidated.
--- I wonder if the sales staff likes this marketing tool because they want to want to throw a party, not because it improves sales. I want to see the balance sheet not be feed sorbet cocktails. Then again, the second rule of marketing is: sell the sizzle, not the steak, especially when the steak is not the best cut.
--- Third rule: The flashier the party, the lousier the deal.
Link: WaPo
June 16, 2007
Condo Sales Hype
May 31, 2007
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.
May 30, 2007
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.
May 24, 2007
Chocolate Store Opening in Logan Circle
Joining the growing list of fun and upscale retail in Logan Circle is Artfully Chocolate, which will be housed at 1529 14th St. NW below the Matrix Condo, which still has a few units left for sale.
The store will feature chocolate drinks (hot chocolate with chipotle chiles), candies, truffles, and works of art crafted by co-owner Eric Nelson. Also "customers will be able to watch the chocolatiers through a window," reported the WashExam.
The Logan Circle locale is a second store for the owners, who also have an outlet in the Del Rey section of Alexandria. Sounds like they tried out the concept there, and now are rolling out this store in a more prominent locale. Years ago the second store would be in Bethesda or if in DC only Georgetown would have been considered, but with the retail revival so many more neighborhoods are becoming more livable and interesting.
14th St. is fast becoming a new version of Conn. Ave. in Dupont. More upscale than 17th, 14th has newer and larger buildings so it can draw away retailers like Universal Gear and attract new ones like Mitchell Gold, which in turn attract new restaurants like Viridian. There are positive spinoffs left and right on 14th.
May 19, 2007
O St. Market Development Creeps Along
After years of delays and bad luck, Roadside Development is getting ready to move ahead with a development at the 8th and O Market, reported WashBiz.
May 18, 2007
Trinity of Church-Owned Buildings Condemned
Shiloh Baptist Church owns numerous buildings along quickly revitalizing 9th St., in Logan Circle/Shaw. Which of course the church would want to leverage and help its congregation and community, right? Wrong.
Their properties are eyesores and breed crime. And many, many electrons have been spilled on the net describing how awful the situation is.
Finally, the city has done something by condemning three of the properties, reports WJLA. Alexander Padro, an ANC Commissioner, says he has been trying for years to get Shiloh to do something about the dozen or so vacant properties the church owns around the hood." It should be embarrassing but you can't even get them to talk to you face to face," he said.
Shiloh Baptist has been unhappy about some new development in the hood, so what do they want? As for the property, we're not sure what the next step is and have a feeling this will be part of a very long process knowing our lovable city.
The Wash Exam reports if Shiloh does not make the necessary improvements, DC will be authorized to do the work and then file a lien against the properties for the cost. In 2006, the
church paid more than $68,600 in real estate taxes, including penalties, on the condemned buildings, which together are valued at more than $2 million.
Update: Now the church says it will make repairs.
May 7, 2007
14th St. Steals Universal Gear From 17th St.
Owner David Franco said he is excited to move to 14th St., which he calls the "future of retail" in DC. "We feel very strongly about 14th Street as an up-and-coming vibrant retail area," Mr. Franco said. "We've watched it grow for many years -- the past decade."
May 19, 2006
SALES ARE SLOW AT THE RADIUS
Its been more than a month since we last checked in at the Radius. Back on March 25, there were 11 units for sale at this Logan Circle building at 1300 N St. NW.
Surprise, surprise. On May 19, there still are 11 units for sale, according to Zip Realty. Considering how fast inventory is growing in DC, this is a sure sign that the fall is going to get ugly for sellers.
Then again, this strip in Logan Circle is quite a nice neighborhood with bars, restaurants and tons of shopping just a few blocks away. Owners who have not overextended themselves can rent their apartments and wait out the glut, some would get positive cash flow and others not. Either way to our mind, if you have rentable property, the best strategy at this point is to rent, not to sell.
May 9, 2006
Ol' Easy Going Historic Preservation Board Gets Feisty
Another DC condo project has been stopped dead in its tracks at the last hour by the DC Historic Preservation Review Board, reports the Northwest Current. Castle Deveopment, which was planning to raze a Logan Circle building, to hoped to begin construction soon on condos. The Braxton Hotel, circa 1912, was set to become a 49-unit building.
Hold everything. A last-minute landmark application for the structure was approved late in April, though a demolition permit had been pending for 22 months. Quick action on one application, not so quick on the other. The unhappy developer claims the last minute change could cost him $2.5 million. Instead of building a 90 foot tower, the developer will have to save the structure and set back a smaller building on top.
Ok so what? Developer Joe Kisha loses a few of his top-shelf condos at the expense of the saving an historic structure. But, as our mom used to say, its not what the preservation board said, but how it said it. And when it said it.
Why the 11th hour dramatics? Reminds of what happened with Il Pallazo.
NOT EVERYONE CAN AFFORD TO LIVE WHERE THEY WANT TO, observes the WaPo. A beautiful little girl can't afford to live in Columbia Heights. Alas, we can't afford Kalorama. Life is so unfair.
April 3, 2006
Aids Clinic To Score Big on Real Estate Boom
The Whitman-Walker Clinic is planning to sell three properties in Logan Circle and Anacostia in a bid to update and expand its services, the clinic announced. "“We believe, based on the consultants (Jair Lynch) that weÂ’re working with, that we should be able to generate enough capital to do what we want to," Steve Owen, the clinic's finance director, told the Blade.
The three sites that are for sale are:
Administrative Offices: 1407 S St., NW and 1802-1816 14th St. NW
Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center: 1701-1711 14th St. NW
Max Robinson Center: 2301-2303 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE
This is an example of how gentrificationcation and a housing boom can help many different groups. True one of the unfortunate aspects of gentrification is that the poor and disenfranchised get displaced. But more than rarely a not-for-profit group finds itself on the winning side on the equation too. Whitman-Walker, which provides care for AIDs patients, suddenly finds sitting on a bundle and now can cash-out to further its mission of serving people with this dreaded disease.
Maybe its not so bad that a bunch of tax attorney suddenly want to live on 14th St?
EFFORT TO REMAKE TYSONS CORNER AT RISK. Fairfax officials are concerned that if the Dulles airport authority gets control over the project, they will focus on building a line to the airport and not so much on remaking Tysons Corner into vibrant downtown, said the WaPo. However the rail line is built, remaking car-based Tysons into a vibrant community will be a long shot, even if part of the line is underground.
March 31, 2006
Parched in Shaw
PARCHED IN SHAW
As development continues to push eastward in DC, friction between older established residents (mostly African American) in Shaw and newer affluent residents (many white, some gay) continue to erupt. Parking is one source of disagreement in Shaw and nearby Logan Circle, but so are liquor license requests.
For starters, Vegetate at 1414 9th Street NW in Shaw has been trying to get a liquor license for some time. Shiloh Baptist Church at 1500 9th protested the request, noting the vegetarian restaurant is within 400 feet of Seaton elementary. Under DC law an establishment serving alcohol cannot be within 400 feet of a school. Case closed? Not really.
As Vegetate tells it, "the city investigator did a measurement that -- we assert is ridiculous -- from the corner of the garage behind our building, which we don't use, to the corner of the school's baseball field and it was 334 feet." A door-to-door measurement is more like 900 feet says Vegetate. Here's what the WaPo has to say.
Similarly, the Queen of Sheba, Ethiopian restaurant (above), is in a similar tussle with Shiloh Baptist over its request to sell booze at its location at 1509 9th St. NW. Thirdyly, Be Bar at 1318 9th St. also has run into difficulties. ANC 2c voted against granting it a liquor license after the pastor from the Scripture Cathedral, a nearby church, provided the commission with allegedly false information about the bar's planned operations, according to the Northwest Current and the Blade. (Thanks for the tip from the alert reader.)
Shesh. Can't a guy get a drink around here?
pix by DC Rob
January 8, 2006
As Far As We Can See
DOUBLE PARKING FOR JESUS: Double-parked cars along Vermont Ave. between R & S streets toady June 8. The neighborhood has been up in arms about the danger, inconvenience and lack of a level enforcement playing-field in the application of parking laws. Meanwhile the parishioners say where were you complaining two decades ago when we first resorted to creative parking. The ANC chairman asks for tolerance, and the DC Bubble says there must be some middle ground.
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