Developer Changes Course: Rentals Not Condos at 14th & S NW

See In Pictures: Development Projects Line the 14th Street Corridor (August 11, 2011).

From Tom Hay. Questions for Tom? Send him an email. You can follow him on Twitter @Tomonswann.

In a press release issued this afternoon JBG Companies and Grosvenor announced that the much heralded condominium project at the corner of 14th and S Streets NW would be developed instead as a “boutique apartment building.” When delivered in fall 2012 the seven-story building will have 125 apartments.

Kai Reynolds, a principal with JBG, said “We received a substantial amount of interest in the condominium project, but the strong fundamentals of the rental market and our confidence in the opportunity to deliver an exceptional boutique apartment building ultimately swayed our decision to deliver the project as an apartment.”

The condo project was unveiled last fall at an event attended by Councilmembers Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) and Jack Evans (D-Ward 2). The project was to be called District Condos. The site includes the historic building at the northwest corner of 14th and S that once housed the Whitman Walker Clinic, and the now-demolished one-story properties north to Swann Street. Graham had once served as director of the Whitman Walker Clinic (now Whitman Walker Health)  from 1984 until election to the City Council in 1998.

Whitman Walker bought the building for $1.25 million in 1986. When the District Condos project broke ground, James Nozar of JBG said the condo prices would likely start in the low $300,000 range, with a bulk of the units priced under $600,000 and a few running up more than $1 million.

Projects Underway on 14th & U Corridor

Numerous residential projects line 14th Street from Thomas Circle north toward Columbia Heights. Some of them include –

• Two condominium projects are underway a block south of the JBG / Grosvenor project — one in a former Verizon building the other on a former Zipcar lot next to AYT Auto Service (which is departing at the end of the year).
• At 14th and Wallach NW,  Level 2 Development is also readying plans for an apartment building.
• Across the street at the southweset corner of 14th and U, work will begin shortly on a large 200-plus unit project that JBG is a partner in as well.
• South of P Street, a small condominium project is in the works for 1328 14th Street, just south of the 7-11.
• Around the corner on the south side of Rhode Island Avenue developer ABDO  has plans for a building on the last bit of vacant land on that block.

Previous Stories On The Project

• In Pictures: Development Projects Line the 14th Street Corridor
• Construction to Begin this Month at 14th and S NW
• 14th & S Project to Be Named “District Condos”