A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
The View From Parker
8 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I think that thing is an electric relay station for the railroad. I live on Parker, and hear the train all the time. It's actually quite soothing in the evenings.
Funny that there are two stopsigns on both sides of a one way street.
there are two things going on. second street is being redone from mass to florida. they may be replacing brick on the sidewalks with concrete - which no one wants.
the other thing is that someone bought up several adjacent houses on parker, wrapping around with several more on second street. they've filed a pud to build ... something.
i hope it won't change the character of our little street. already the air rights over the tracks that are going to be turned into a hotel/mall extend from union station past the little relay station you see in the picture.
Phalanx has most of the details right--though I don't think a PUD application has been filed.
The owner of the properties has filed raze permits for the properties they own, but there are some stumbling blocks to any plans they have. I've worked with DCRA, and they agree that four of the permit applications are invalid.
Four of their properties share common walls with neighboring rowhouses, meaning that the neighboring owners must consent to the building being knocked down, and the owner has to file a plan demonstrating how the structure will be razed without damaging the common wall.
The properties the developer has bought up include the first 2 houses East of 2nd Street on both Parker and K Street NE. They also own all but one house on 2nd Street between Parker & K Street. The remaining house on 2nd Street is in the middle of two of the developer's rowhouses, and is owner-occupied.
The extent to which a development on just the West end of the block would change the character depends a lot on what the developer does--residential or office, height, etc. Under matter of right, they could build to 65', which is more than double the height of the existing 2-story rowhouses.
I like the idea of building above the electric relay station.I remeber the post did an article on what the project would look like it was an all glass and steele project .
8 comments:
I think that thing is an electric relay station for the railroad. I live on Parker, and hear the train all the time. It's actually quite soothing in the evenings.
Funny that there are two stopsigns on both sides of a one way street.
Parker residents:
I heard that there is some growing pressure to redevelop the street. Is this so?
I forgot to mention, nice picture!
I'll let Alan respond Kenny's question. He should be back in town today.
Basically, the answer is "kinda, sorta".
What have you heard?
there are two things going on.
second street is being redone from mass to florida. they may be replacing brick on the sidewalks with concrete - which no one wants.
the other thing is that someone bought up several adjacent houses on parker, wrapping around with several more on second street. they've filed a pud to build ... something.
i hope it won't change the character of our little street. already the air rights over the tracks that are going to be turned into a hotel/mall extend from union station past the little relay station you see in the picture.
Phalanx has most of the details right--though I don't think a PUD application has been filed.
The owner of the properties has filed raze permits for the properties they own, but there are some stumbling blocks to any plans they have. I've worked with DCRA, and they agree that four of the permit applications are invalid.
Four of their properties share common walls with neighboring rowhouses, meaning that the neighboring owners must consent to the building being knocked down, and the owner has to file a plan demonstrating how the structure will be razed without damaging the common wall.
The properties the developer has bought up include the first 2 houses East of 2nd Street on both Parker and K Street NE. They also own all but one house on 2nd Street between Parker & K Street. The remaining house on 2nd Street is in the middle of two of the developer's rowhouses, and is owner-occupied.
The extent to which a development on just the West end of the block would change the character depends a lot on what the developer does--residential or office, height, etc. Under matter of right, they could build to 65', which is more than double the height of the existing 2-story rowhouses.
Best,
Alan Kimber
ANC Commissioner, 6C05
Why would someone want to raze perfectly good buildings, without having some kind of subsequent plan?
Don't you need some kind of reason to tear down a building?
I like the idea of building above the electric relay station.I remeber the post did an article on what the project would look like it was an all glass and steele project .
maybe they want to raze all the surrounding homes so that the last house will feel compelled to sell to the developer?
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