Monday, June 12, 2006

Whither the 600 block of H?

Here's the Biz Journal article (referenced in the comments last week) on the sale of the giant government buildings in the 600 block (southside) of H Street. The new plan is supposed to offer mixed use housing/commercial/office space. Sure to be controvesial is the fact that the proposed plans call for the new buildings to stand a full nine stories hight at some points (I beleive the current buildings are five stories at their highest.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't this where the farmers market is? Anyone have an idea where it could relocate?

Anonymous said...

Any on Hst?

inked said...

I think this is probably not a project that would happen any time soon. It's not the greatest time to be building condos & those buildings remain occupied.

Anonymous said...

Yes, they are occupied now, but the city government offices are scheduled to move to Minnosota Ave. at the beginning of 2007. Does this mean more vacant real estate on H St.?

Anonymous said...

The soon-to-be-constructed Starburst Plaza (H, 15th, Benning, Bladensburg, Md) might be a nice venue for a farmer's market after the planned improvements.

See http://www.starburstplaza.org/

Anonymous said...

The article does say "residential units" rather than condos so it could be rental apartments. Remember that several of the condo buildings on Mass Ave. NW (e.g. 400 Mass and 555 Mass) were built first as apartment before converting to condos. I expect projects will now shift in the other direction. (Note that the Steuert HT project is supposed to be rentals and not condos.) Anything that puts some housing on H itself strikes me as a good thing and there clearly is space on the site to fill it out more.

Anonymous said...

For the record, 400 Mass Ave was always condos. But your point is well taken.

Anonymous said...

I have to disagree with you about the condo market. It is a shitty time to be selling an old condo unit. However, developers profit margins are such that the can severely undercut that competition

Jim Cronenberg said...

I believe the project you're discussing is the 700 block of H, not 600. It's the block-long government building.

inked said...

I'm talking about the District Department of Employment Services building:
DC Department of Employment Services
609 H Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 724-7000
TDD: (202) 698-4817