"We just recently broke ground," says Juan Powell, Principal at NDC. "Well, I shouldn't say break ground - we're doing a comprehensive renovation of the existing structure. Gutting it, redoing everything. We started renovations last month and we expect to be done by September or October."
NDC won the rights to redevelop the building at 1225 Fairmont through a competitive solicitation process overseen by the District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The property had previously been under the control of the Development Corporation of Columbia Heights (DCCH), which, in conjunction with five tenant households, made a winning bid of $427,000 for the property at a 2001 HUD auction. But by 2010, the building had fallen vacant, and the District was soliciting bids for a new development.
Columbia Courts will feature a large interior landscaped courtyard, balcony units, and below-grade parking. And while all the units will be designated "affordable," they will all include finishes such as "wood floors, hard surface countertops, and stainless steel appliances."
NDC Builders, an affiliate of The Neighborhood Development Company, is the general contractor on the project, and PGN Architects spearheaded the redesign.
Washington D.C. real estate development news
9 comments:
damn...whenever we advance as a profession, along comes another freshmen firm with bad renderings to set us back again...bored with this town...
How is the replacement building any better than the existing building? It sure looks about as a crappy as the original. Thanks NDC!
Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
God forbid they do the obvious and add windows.
if we're asking for things, can I has some decoration?
How is the replacement building any better than the existing building? It sure looks about as a crappy as the original. Thanks NDC!
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Ouch, this really is bad. I have worked on affordable developments before (as architect). The essence of the job is to get up to zero, i.e. to the point that it isn't OBVIOUSLY affordable/subsidized/cheap in appearance and there's no glaring problems with the floor plans.
Occasionally, even that isn't possible because of the myriad of forces which work against such projects. On the flip side, occasionally one can get above zero--a true triumph!
As emphathetic as I am to the architect's near-impossible job, however, this design just isn't cutting it. I wouldn't know that it's the "after" and not the "before"! I hope the units are exceptionally well laid out and generous. Maybe that could offset these awful elevations, if not for the public then at least for NDC's affordable-needs customers.
I found a typo "boutique" was supposed to be "bunker".
I hope this is not the same NDC - Neighborhood Development Company previous ran by Adrian Washington, which renovated 150 Rhode Island Ave NW - The Seaton. That building since the day it opened has problems from the plumbing to the roof and everything in between.
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