Monday, June 13, 2011

300 L St NE Valor & Ellisdale developing 6 story mixed use bldg w/ 50 new condos

Here are details on the development plans for 300 L Street NE from last weekend's CHNNA Meeting, courtesy of Board member Tony Goodman.  Valor and Ellisdale are jointly developing a 6 story, mixed-use building with about 50 condos and over 5,000 SF of retail, breaking ground early next year to delivering in Spring 2013.  We're told this was very well received at the meeting and that neighbors welcomed it as a great addition to the neighborhood.


Property development at 300 L St. NE
* Valor and Ellisdale are jointly developing the site
* Will Lansing from Valor presented a rendering and the first floor plan
* Design by PGN Architects
* Project will break ground early 2012, with construction to take about 14 months
* Approx. 48k sq ft in 6 stories, 60 feet high
* Project will not need any variances - this complies with the by-right zoning
* Retail space on the 1st floor  - 5,700 sq ft
* Seeking at least one restaurant for the space, especially at the corner of 3rd and L
* All retail is accessed from L Street; the residential lobby is on 3rd; parking and loading is from Abbey
* All existing curb cuts around this property will be closed
* 49 condo units - all 1 and 2 bedroom
* All units have large balconies
* Approx. 3 units to be affordable at 80% AMI
* Price point approx. $400-450/sq ft

6 comments:

  1. "All retail is accessed from L Street; the residential lobby is on 3rd; parking and loading is from Abbey"

    Odd site layout. Abbey is a small one-way street. It would make more sense to have garage access located on L Street like Loree Grand and The Washington Center. Retail is more appropriate on 3rd Street especially given Douglas' plan to revitalize the Uline into a massive mall.

    Though what do I know? I'm just a developer.

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  2. So, we've got a lot of development coming up on this side of NE. 3rd and L, 3rd and H, 4th and I Sts are all slated to start construction on mixed use (residential and retail) buildings, bringing significant numbers of condos and apartments to the neighborhood.

    We also have some issues with Pepco in this area (ok, well, issues are region-wide, but I can think of several serious outages in this area during peak hot weather A/C usage over the last few years), which I can only imagine will be exacerbated when a few hundred people turn on their A/Cs. Does anyone know what Pepco or the developers are doing to improve the power infrastructure in this neighborhood (and not just the infrastructure running to the new buildings, but overall)?

    Sorry if this is a stupid question... I don't quite understand how the development issues in DC work, and haven't heard anyone discussing this issue.

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  3. @Rayful
    L Street is the longest side of the project... there isn't much room on 3rd. Plus, L is best for outdoor seating since there aren't any neighbors next door. There will still be a retail presence on 3rd, which I agree is very important.

    As for parking, it will use the existing alley off of Abbey. There won't be all that many cars... this is less than 50 units. Plus, Abbey is only 1 block long, so it doesn't get much traffic now, and it would really lessen the appeal of the retail if there was a big curb cut there on L.

    @7:09
    That's not a stupid question. All of the utility companies know that they need to upgrade all of the infrastructure through the neighborhood - adding bigger gas, water, sewer and electric lines. For the most part, they're dragging their feet. But once the upgrades are complete on First NE, for example, the city already has a plan (and funding) for a streetscape upgrade.

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  4. Honestly, I'm glad that the building's primary frontage is going to be on L. It was a puzzling decision for the Loree Grand and The Washington Center to choose to face K Street, when most of other new high-density development in the area (including the Metro station) would be happening to the north and the west. It's like the developers specifically did not intend for anybody to look at or enter the building from L Street.

    Will be interesting to see if they can actually fill out the retail. I live nearby, and am not terribly thrilled with this news, apart from the fact that the abandoned warehouse there will finally be going away. This and the Loree don't fit with the neighborhood. (For whatever reason, the Washington Center is a lot more innocuous)

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  5. Also, power and water in this area are not shared with the businesses on 1st St. I believe that the railroad (or thereabouts) is the cutoff.

    Power and water haven't been too bad, although not much development has happened yet on this side of the tracks.

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  6. @andrew

    Union Place has a couple more phases to go... There will be plenty facing L from that block.

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