The X2

Last week we looked at three new restaurants coming to H Street NE. There are other new businesses on the way outside of the food service type, so I'll be keeping up with those as well. First up is a reopening of sorts. The Pursuit Wine Bar is relocating to 1025 H Street NE after 5 years at 1421 H (now the home of Ella Grace). Pursuit was always a chill, relaxing place for a glass to me, based on the few times I visited. I haven't acquired the square footage counts, but the new space looks to be much larger and is a coveted corner spot. The renderings also indicate one of those big wall windows that would allow you to sit at the outside bar and order from the inside bartender. I love those. I have exclusively been a client of Freed Bodyworks pretty much since they opened and that won't change anytime soon. Super, high praise shout out to their staff, comfortable & inclusive setting, and yes, the therapeutic bodywork and other services. Amazing place and I'...

920 H Street NE Tear-down and constriction has recently enveloped the property at 920 H Street NE, the former site of Park's Hardware. The store closed four years ago and the property has remained vacant since. The new project will result in a 10 unit apartment building named Ashton Park . The units range from a 471 sq ft studio to a 1,220 sq ft 2BR. There will be 3,600 sq ft of retail on the ground and basement levels; apparently being designing to snag a top restaurant or bar. The owners also seem to be catering to a transient audience of renters, offering what they describe as "hotel-like" amenities, providing some fully furnished units, and offering leases as short as two-months in length. They even call the studio a "hotel suite." Interesting concept. Delivery unknown, but I'm guessing early 2020.

Dirt is being moved at the site of Flats at Atlas Phase II in Carver Langston; at least for utility works.  The original Flats at Atlas building opened in 2012 with 257 units and 3,450 square feet of retail. The new building, Phase II, is located at 1676 Maryland Ave NE, just east of the current site. There is an empty lot there at the moment. A joint venture with Kettler & Westbrook Partners acquired the current building and the adjacent lot for $95,000,000 almost exactly three years ago. Phase II is expected to add another 325 units and be 5 stories tall, with no new retail. This second building has always been planned to accompany the original building, so many of the amenities like on-site parking deck were built to accommodate the total number of apartments. They will also share the circular drive area on Maryland Ave.  I have yet to see renderings or a site plan for Phase II, but there was an ANC meeting about two years ago outlining the outer rim la...

Rendering courtesy of KGD Architecture . Delta Towers --located at the Starburst intersection of Florida Ave, H Street, Bladensburg Rd, and Benning Road, NE-- is gearing up for a major expansion. Fences are already up around the perimeter of the property, presaging a significant transformation and addition of residential units to the H Street corridor.  There are 179 new units slated for "Fortitude at Delta Towers" as part of a nearly $1 billion bond issue via DCHFA (PDF) All units in Fortitude will be for seniors and all units will be affordable as each will leased at a maximum of 30% AMI. From the DCHFA press release  (PDF): "The redevelopment of Delta Towers is $96 million project. Delta Towers is a 100 percent affordable senior community with all units leased at a maximum of 30 percent AMI. Thirty of the apartments will receive LRSP subsidy and 18 will be designated as permanent supportive housing with housing assistance payments via the DC Housing Autho...

Rendering courtesy of Bennett Frank McCarthy Architects . S2 Development is building an art deco(-ish) styled residential building at 21st and Benning Road NE. 633 21st Street NE is expected to have 31 units and is planned to deliver by late next year. Construction appears eminent.  The site is currently in the process of being cleared to prepare for the construction. Million Man Tires was the previous occupant of this site --then addressed as 2101 Benning Rd NE-- and they appear to have moved to 3401 Benning Rd NE. The project (unsure if there is a clever name awaiting) is currently planned as for sale condominiums. It would be 5 stories tall on the Benning Road side, although it is unclear to me if the developers won a variance to include a significantly set back penthouse level. The 31 total units would range from 0BR efficiencies to 2 BRs. The rendering reminds me a little bit of the Majestic  in Mount Pleasant or Highland Park in Columbia Heights. I will up...

Several multifamily residential buildings are being constructed on H Street NE and are in various stages of completion. Here's a mini-update on the build-out status of four of the more prominent projects. The Coda on H is a 112 unit apartment building located at 315 H Street NE. There are studios, 1BRs, and 2BRs. Sample rent: a 536 sq foot 1 BR on the 5th floor, facing H Street, is currently online for $2,122/month. The current range for available units is $1,800 to $4,345. The ground floor still needs work, but they are currently accepting leases. This building is walking distance to Union Station and also has an eastbound DC Streetcar stop at the front door. 7,000 square feet of ground floor retail is planned. Avec on H (and no, I'm not a fan of any of these names) is currently the largest residential building under construction on H St NE at 420 units. It spans two city blocks from 8th to 10th Streets. Just based on the eye test, it appears that they are a little o...

Corner of 7th and H Streets NE. One of the many ongoing active build sites along H Street NE is happening on one of the most heavily redeveloped blocks. The 600 block of H Street NE is already home to two large apartment buildings, the Apollo (430 units) and Anthology (307 units). The simply titled 7|H building looks to bring 23 more units to the block, likely in the form of condominiums.  Rock Creek Property Group has set in on the build out, which is basically a tear down of all but a symbolic facade of the previous two level structures that made up the corner. The new building will be six stories tall and include retail totaling 14,000+ sq ft on the lower, first, and second levels. Just based on the eye test I'd guess the building will deliver late, late 2018 or early 2019. The 23 units in 7|H units would bring the total number of housing units on this one block to 760. Not every block can be this dense, but we should try to bring more, larger, and affordable units ...

501 H Street NE is a new 6 storey apartment building nearing completion with 28 rental units. The building includes three levels of retail. And yes, retail is the real focus here, with a whopping 22,000 sq ft of it, including a two-level open atrium near the entrance. Hopefully the brokers get creative; I could see a whole host of diverse tenants working in that space. And not just bars & restaurants.  The retail space isn't *quite* ready for its close-up, but the apartment units are already leasing. I still can't accept the reality of apartment prices in DC, as the units here range from $1,991 per month for a 575 sq ft studio to a $3,344 per month 1,123 sq ft 2 BR unit. It's all very disappointing, but expected nowadays. How has the inventory crept up with no corresponding let down of rates for new buildings. I don't know. But the units appear to be nice and the location is great.  315 H Stree t just topped out at eight floors and the builders are movi...

315 H under construction a few weeks ago. MRP Realty is working to bring 115 new living units to 315 H Street NE. This 8 storey, 90,000 square foot structure is across the street from Giant grocery and only a few blocks downhill from Union Station. An eastbound DC Streetcar station (currently out of service) is located on the same block. Capital Bikeshare is less than a block away as well.  There will be ~6,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor, which MRP expects to attract, at least, one restaurant tenant. The residential units will be a mix of studio, JR 1BR, 1BR, and 2BR. Eight per cent of the residential gross floor area is dedicated to inclusionary units. In this case that will equate to 12 affordable units including 4 studios (337 sq ft!), 3 junior one bedroom units, 3 one bedroom units, and 2 two bedroom units. The  affordable units are dedicated to households with an annual income of 80%, 60%, and 50% of the area median income and will exist as lon...

The former R.L. Christian Library; 1300 H Street NE. The little R.L Christian library building --at 1300 H St NE-- hasn't operated as a library since 2009; and now its days of just existing are about to come to an end. A raze notice was recently posted to the site and a new mixed-use (residential & commercial) building will take its place. The "temporary" library kiosk was one of many set up by the District in the 1970s and 1980s to increase access to the library system  for neighborhoods without a dedicated, permanent library. The kiosks were thought to have an initial life span of about seven years. After shuttering the R.L Christian in '09 , the District  sold the property in 2014 . The site is 10,800 square feet and adjacent to a DC Streetcar stop. 1300 H St NE. Source: Maurice Walters Architect A trio of developers including Insight Property Group will convert the parcel into 55 foot tall, 4 story, 33 unit residential building with 5,900 sq...

Suburban style Hechinger Mall sits on a hill between Maryland Ave and Benning Rd NE. Concept developed by H Street Main Street. Maryland Ave NE is center, Benning RD is one the right. Late last week Bizsow reported on a new concept in for the Hechinger Mall area in the form of a pitch by city the business development program  H Street Main Street to the owners of the mall property. Important to consider: this is just a concept -- not a rendering of a planned building or anything binding. However, it is a harbinger for the future of the Starburst intersection, Benning Road NE, and H Street NE. But, wow is it a departure. The reporting is great and much more than I can elaborate on in a blog post, so: Read the full article here: H Street Group Pitches Major Hechinger Mall Development As Activity Moves Down Corridor  (Bizsow) A few tidbits: "The team has sketched a vision for the site that could include several buildings up to 11 stories tall with as many as ...

901 H St NE The " Avec on H ," a new multifamily residential building on H Street NE, just hit a major milestone. DC can sometimes seem like a city of cranes. Well, now the Avec (I... I... just can't call it that. I'm calling it 901 H St) has a crane of its own. The excavation isn't quite done, but most major digging is over and some of the concrete basin and lower floors are already starting to take shape. We now have some of the final numbers for the project: 419 apartment units for rent 44,300 square feet of residential space 430 parking spaces 901 H makes three 300+ unit residential buildings between 6th & 10th Streets NE. Anthology (625 H St NE) has 307 rental units and the Apollo (600 H St NE) has a whopping 430 rental units. Further away, 501 H St NE will have 28 rental units and the Constellation on H (1402 H St NE; formerly identified as 1401 Florida) will also come in with 28 condo units. 501 H St NE "Constellation o...

A new pop up space is coming to H Street NE and it's launching this week. Femme Fatale DC is a local community building collective of and for women artists, creatives, other workers, and business owners. Here's their description from the website :  FFDC is the District's womyn-only collective of local womyn creatives & small business owners. We highlight different entrepreneurs & creatives at each of our parties, with a giant networking party held every other month. Our goal is to foster and sustain our local community of womyn who support one another's creative & business endeavors. We build meaningful friendships & business relationships, and appreciate one another's gifts. Be real, genuine, & ALWAYS have fun, so drop the prejudice and competitiveness at the door & come ready to party! The pop up looks to occupy two storefronts that make up 1371-1375 H Street NE that have been on the market for a while as retail locations and were...

Foreground: Site of new Flats at Atlas addition. Background: Existing building. Kettler, a Virginia-based real estate development and property management company,  recently purchased the Flats at Atlas apartment building located at 1600 Maryland Ave NE. The Flats development was always planned to have two phases. The first was built and currently has 257 rental units, an interior parking garage, and a small retail component on the Bladensburg Rd side. Now Kettler is starting the process of adding a second, adjoined building. All we know so far is that the new building will have five floors and 325 units, amenities similar to those of the first building, and will share a common driveway roundabout and parking deck with the existing building (it was originally built for the combined capacity). The new building will fill out the block bound by K Street, 17th St, Maryland Ave, Neal St, and Bladensburg Rd. The lot where the new structure will exist is currently occupied by t...

Rendering of 1625 Benning c/o Valor Development. Valor Development is looking to construct a 303 unit apartment building across from Hechinger Mall on Benning Road NE. PGN Architects are the architects for the project. A. Morton Thomas and Associates are acting landscape architects and civil engineers. Bozzuto will ultimately mange the property. The "Valvaere" would be located at 1625 Benning Rd NE, consolidating nine parcels including what is now Trinidad Baptist Church and attached surface parking lot. The Valvaere will actually be comprised of two buildings; a nine story, 90 foot tall building facing Benning Road, and a 3 story, 38 foot tall building facing 16th St NE. About 7,000 sq ft of ground floor retail is incorporated into the plans. 100+ on-site parking spaces would be provided in a below grade parking lot. There will be over 100 bike storage spaces as well, protected, inside the building. Bird's eye view of Benning Rd. Rendered with Google Earth©...

We won't have this view for long. Wondering if the tree will survive. The triangular shaped parcel at 1401 Florida Ave NE has been an active construction zone for several months now. Work has finally reached ground level and is set to rise 70+ feet above H Street and Florida Ave NE very soon. The new building will be six stories tall and mixed-use. There will be 28 residential units above one level of retail, likely including at least one restaurant. The building will contain a mix of one and two bedroom units. The big zoning issue for this structure was the fact that there will be zero parking spaces on site despite the number of planned residential units and presence of retail. The architecture is very indicative of the new multi-family buildings on or near H Street; prefab facades using earth tones and black, including glass, without many architectural nods to older surrounding buildings. The mostly cleared site from April 2016. Rendering of H Street facade....

Walking by 501 H Street NE, I always peek into the construction pit to check on the progress -- and wonder why it's so deep. The plans from the developer, Douglas Development, call for 28 residential units, including studios, one BRs, one BRs + den, and two BRs. But, why so deep for a building with just 28 units?  Parking? Nope. There will only be 5-6 on-site parking spaces for the building, all of which will be on the ground floor. Subterranean apartment rental units? Hopefully not. Storage? Not this time.  The real reason: retail. There will be three floors of retail in the building, totaling 22,000+ square feet, impressive for a lot that is just 9,800 square feet. Almost a third of that retail square footage will below grade. The below-grade level of retail will have 15 foot ceilings, hence the deep dig. The first floor will have 16 foot ceilings, and second floor will have 15'6" ceilings, still plenty tall. Floors 3-6 will be comprised of residential units....