One of the few true industrial buildings in DC, the Wonder Bread building in Shaw has long captured would-be architects' and developers' interest. After the attractive but decrepit building sat vacant for years, Douglas Development put the structure through a nomination to be included in the D.C. Inventory of Historic Sites in August of last year.
With that out of the way, work began on the refurbishing the building in June, and work crews have now gutted the interior, lowering the floor, and making way for more than 50,000 s.f. of space, with 24,000 of retail on 2 levels. Designed by R2L:Architects, the building's revival is part of Shaw's commercial rebirth, ironically just as the building's namesake declares bankruptcy. Despite the raw look of the shell, Douglas expects to turn the building over to the first tenant in January.
Washington D.C. real estate development news
12 comments:
few industrial buildings in DC? This sounds like someone who has never visited the Navy Yard [ naval gun factory- the world's largest cannon manufacturer was here in DC] or the numerous printing factories in DC- which was- and still is- one the main printing cities in the USA. There is a notion among some that DC was never "industrial"- this is baloney
As a developer, I can tell you there's a very real lack of industrial buildings to work with. They are perfect for development in many ways that relate to our modern living ideals, its finding them that is the difficult task.
It dosen't seem to hard to build that aesthetic if these pictures are any indicatoin. Built some brick piers and tack on a cool cornice and presto!
that is because the developers before you [ in the 50's & 60's ] tore them all down- much of this heritage has already been lost
That's not refurbishment, that's new construction.
Its called Façodomy
Call it whatever you want, it won't make a dime's difference when it's done and it'll be better than most new buildings by a mile.
Wippee!!!
Love it. I understand this building is going to be the new home for WorkSpaces LLC in DC! Looking forward to seeing what this creative firm will do in terms of their new workplace . . . hope DCMud will report that story as well.
Ken: I think it's a fair call from the first anonymous commenter (god I wish people would use pseudonyms, at least - it's so lazy not to) to question your call that there are few "true" industrial buildings in DC. There are dozens in Ward 5 at least. Did you mean "industrial" to mean something akin to "factory" or "place where things are/were made/built"?
My reference to DC's industrial heritage has to be compared to other cities. Yes, DC does have some, but not a great many, and compared to many cities that predated DC and were manufacturing centers (never DC's mainstay), DC has relatively few.
DC WAS a manufacturing center- but it was transformed before most of the people on this website arrived here. The Naval Gun Factory was the worlds largest steel casting weapons factory- and there were numerous facilities nearby this massive collection of factories. Few are aware of this heritage other than native Washingtonians. So much of our heritage has been wiped clean from visibility. The NGF was the city's largest single employer for about 75 years- and to claim that DC "never" or was somehow not a manufacturing center is completely absurd and reflects the perceptions of newcomers w/o a grounding or true knowledge of this city and our history.
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