Adams Morgan's Champlain Street Slated for a Residential Uprising

Just east of the main night life drag - 18th Street in Adams Morgan - in Reed-Cook is Champlain Street, pegged as a prime area for residential development, despite the street's struggle to overcome a crime-ridden reputation thanks to a dead end that brought cops staked out in squad cars over the past few years. Now, three projects, that will bring a combined 90 residential units to the street, look to be making moves in the next one-to-six months, the first of which will be one that was sidelined in 2009, D.B. Lee Development's boutique "Eden" condo.

Bill Bonstra designed it several years ago, the market softened, but that area of the city has seen a lot of interest, like the Brass Knob project.  "Eden - hence the name - is really about the outdoors, sustainability, and is actually designed to take advantage of the maximum sun angles of the property." "Most outdoor space for as many of the units as possible." combo of masonry and "metal panels that slice through the building almost like a knife." Fits into the neighborhood context by maintaining the street wall. 18 units, very spacious. 4 story, wood-frame on podium, parking along the back. "is really expressive of its name."

The condominium designed by Bonstra | Haresign will replace two 3-story brick rowhouses at 2358 and 2360 Champlain St; permits to level these and make way for the second coming of "the promised land" are pending. A building permit, approved two years ago, was reinstated at the end of August and an assistant with D.B. Lee confirmed that the project aims to be underway soon, with financing secured this summer.

Since 2009, the number of condo units to be tucked into the Eden has doubled, as verified by a Champlain Street neighbor, "I believe the developer is adjusting to market conditions and reducing the square footage and increasing the number of units [from 9] to 18."

The Eden will be built directly across the street from D.B. Lee's last boutique (11-unit) condo project The Erie at 2351 Champlain, completed in 2009. The Erie property is saddled up to an infill site at 2337 that was purchased in July and will be turned into a 40-unit, PGN Architects-designed condo by Federal Capital Partners and Altus Realty Partners. Construction is in the design phase and is expected to be underway in late spring/early summer of 2012.

On the other side of FCP's property, still an apple's throw away from the Eden, is the 1950s-era auto dealership and plating shop at 2329/2335 approved as a 31-unit residential project currently listed for sale with CBRE. The broker asserts there has been promising interest of late.

At the top of Champlain, only 200' north of the Eden and the Erie, developers continue to wrangle with the design for the reinvention of the 100-year-old First Church of Christ Scientist at 1700 Euclid Street NW. With a substantial footprint, the project will also extend down Champlain and overtake the headquarters of the Washington City Paper. The plan is to create a 227-room luxury hotel by the boutique-hotel mastermind Ian Schrager, with ongoing community debate over the potential effect it could have on Adams Morgan, and wide eyes regarding the $46 million tax break from the District.

It remains to be seen whether new residential in the middle of Champlain will significantly impact the street, and if the luxury-hotel-created ritz at Euclid Street will trickle all the way down Champlain to the historically rough end at Kalorama Road, recently improved with a new, flashy mural.

Washington D.C. real estate development news