Wednesday, April 06, 2011

14th Street Verizon Building Bought by PN Hoffman for Condo Conversion


Last week, PN Hoffman purchased 1700 14th Street, sealing the rumor that the Verizon building would likely become a condominium project with ground floor retail. In a development environment that's only recently become feasible to build after the recession dried up financial resources, that the building is slated for condos as opposed to apartments speaks to the desirability of the 14th street corridor.

Eric Colbert & Associates has been selected for the design. "We haven't gotten very far yet," Trevor Costa, associate for the firm said. "We submitted something preliminary a while ago, but we're currently reworking aspects of the design now." Eric Colbert & Associates is the firm behind The Lofts at Adams Morgan, The Floridian, and The Regent, among others.

"It's a small but very unique building," said Shawn Seaman, Vice President of PN Hoffman. "Given its size, we are projecting it will have 30 to 40 units by the time we finish." Seaman said the company is hoping to push the permits through as quickly as possible for a 2012 delivery.

As far as the ground floor retail, Seaman said the 1,000 s.f. space will house a single tenant. "We are talking to our historical consultants about restoring the ground floor in particular by opening up the bays to R Street and 14th Streets. Right now, it's very heavy."

The PN Hoffman condos will become one of several within blocks of each other, the others of which include the seven-story, 30,000 s.f. building at 14th and R, a project by developer Habte Sequar that has long been planned but has yet to get off the ground. Also on the 14th Street corridor in the former Whitman-Walker site is JBG and Grosvenor's 125-unit District Condos that is scheduled for completion in 2012. The project also has yet to start construction, but is expected to do so soon. The original picture in this story was from Borderstan's coverage of this project.

Washington, D.C. real estate development news

15 comments:

Erin said...

With Utopia and District condo, this will be a great street, and the crappy retail just below U has reason to change. Now the city needs to do its part and beautify the street. Looks the same as it did in its bad crack days.

Anonymous said...

The JBG project has started construction already. Check out the local blog: http://14thandyou.blogspot.com/2011/04/development-palooza-its-2007-all-over.html

Thayer-D on Apr 7, 2011, 3:31:00 AM said...

Wow, That's some cool news! When inserting retail on the corner, please look at how they weave it in older neo-classical buildings in Italy, which this building has very similar lines too.

Ken on Apr 7, 2011, 11:12:00 AM said...

No, it hasn't started yet. Check out our last post on the matter, saying construction was about to begin. They leveled the site, true enough, but they have not started construction yet.

Bloomie Res said...

Ken, I'm fairly certain they started driving piles at the District Condos site.

Anonymous said...

The photo on the 14th and You blog clearly shows a pile driver, which indicates that the excavation process has begun. Do you consider the beginning of excavation to be the start of construction? I believe most people do.

Anonymous said...

Not to be negative (obviously this is an upgrade from Verizon) but this is a conversion so I assume it will not include any parking. The conversion will add quite a few residents (and retail) to a densely populated area and no underground parking. I know people think, ‘14th street no need for cars.’ Some new residents will have cars. Couples may not bring two cars but they will have one.

I think Hoffman should expect some (gentle) push back from neighbors especially from area row house owners. It will get done likely w/ fewer larger units and that is probably a good thing.

Unknown on Apr 7, 2011, 5:19:00 PM said...

Ken, The District Condos has indeed begun construction and is still on track to deliver in Summer 2012. We are currently drilling piles and preparing the site for mass excavation (which will start in 2 weeks).

Anonymous said...

So what happens to the equipment in the building? It's my understanding that at least part of the building is still actively used for operating Verizon's network.

Anonymous said...

In addition to this building, EastBanc is building on the Verizon lot on Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown.

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/eastbancs_georgetown_projects_to_be_built_within_six_months/3076

Hopefully there are plans to convert the Verizon building south of Tenley on Wisconsin Avenue to residential as well.

Anonymous said...

Verizon did "or does" own a small parking lot across "R" street. Hopfully it will convey and be kept for parking

Anonymous said...

"I think Hoffman should expect some (gentle) push back from neighbors especially from area row house owners."

Row house owners in the neighborhood (I am one) have zero right to complain about new residents and the resulting demand on public parking spaces.

1. If you own your row house, 99% of them have space in the rear for private parking.
2. The public spaces in front of your house aren't your spaces. They are p-u-b-l-i-c parking, up for grabs by visitors, residents, whomever.
3. If you converted your private space to garden or other use, that was your own decision, live with the results. We all understood this area would boom.
4. Go visit NYC. How many historic large apartment buildings have underground parking, or their own lots nearby? Zip.

The boom has brought huge equity to we owners. If you're sitting on 300% increases in equity, dramatic neighborhood improvements, and space you could use for parking two cars, what's there to complain about?

Anonymous said...

anon 3:18,


look at Venice, virtually no cars at all.
space stations? zip also.

Anonymous said...

@Apr 9, 2011 3:18:00 PM
No one said the complaints would be justified. As neighborhood density increases residents will inevitably reach a point where they will want to slow the pace and limit the scale of development (some have reached that point now). You may be rational all people are not. People will move next door to a firehouse and complain about siren noise. The pushback of development is not even necessarily a bad thing. Neighbors push back raising the cost of development, developers then consider other areas for development so the next Logan, U Street, H street Columbia Heights can happen
As on any blog the inevitable DC vs. NYC (Manhattan) comparison surfaces...I have lived in both places DC has far fewer Metro stops (some of the nicest area are not served by the Metro), limited metro hours and it is more of a car culture. I don’t know about you but MY DC neighbors get pretty attached to the spaces in front of their homes.

Anonymous said...

@Anon 4:28 Nice job in completely avoiding the point about row house owners ALREADY having one or two parking spaces behind their homes. And if they decide to use that space for a garden, or consume it with an expansion of their home, that was their bad gamble in a neighborhood we all knew was taking off like a rocket.

People who already have space for private parking, often for TWO vehicles, have zero credibility in any "development pushback" you find to be a not-so-bad thing.

They want to control an entire neighborhood's economic revival, sparked by a crimp in their superfluous invasion of public parking in front of their row house? Gimme a break.

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