DC Metrocentric

Near Logan Circle, the Citta 50 on Church St NW is the small new condo building going up in the shadow of the larger 90 unit Metropole.  It’s being built by the small time developers DC Hampton LLC who’s only other project is the Hampton in Dupont Circle (it’s so cute when developers name themselves after their first project).

The Citta 50 will have 27 condos when complete and is situated in a restored 3 story old commercial building. They started selling the units at the beginning of the year, and like everywhere else, things are not going that well, but then again the building isn’t done yet and may well be coming to the market completed in a better real estate atmosphere then we are in right now.

The building was scheduled to be complete by the end of 2008, but we suspect it may end up being more like 2009 before people start moving in. 

 Anacostia - Is there any specific reason to carpet exterior stairs, or is it just for looks? (trying not to judge…).  Just be happy they chose green, we’ve seen those outdoor carpets in other colors too. Believe us, red carpets only look good in Hollywood! [AnacostiaNow]

Bloomingdale - Rowhomes on North Captitol Street and Hanover Place NW are slated to be demolished.  These buildings don’t appear to be in any worse shape than a lot of other vacant row-houses in the city… unfortunately when it gets to this stage, there isn’t much that can be done. [BloomingdaleForNow]

H Street - Sticky Rice opening soon on H street. Who would have thought that mixing All American tater tots with a full sushi bar… would work?  Well the nice looking outdoor seating sure won’t hurt!  [FrozenTropics]

Now that the district has narrowed down the proposals for the development at 5th and I Street to just four groups, the developers are doing anything they can to get an edge. The group lead by Donohoe has a new website up, and it even has a blog! The project is being called “The Arts at 5th and I” which we guess isn’t the worst name ever.

The proposal centers around the Shalom Baranes Architects designed building (pictured) for a new ME by Melia boutique hotel as well as a Jazz club. The building will have balconies, a roof terrace that will serve as a “Green Roof”, and of course the rooftop pool that seems to be part of every new building design in the District these days. Compared to some of the other proposals for the lot, this one looks fairly well thought out and until we see some more from the other developers, this one is in the lead in our minds.

 Looking Past the Capital City - The recent opening of the Washington Nationals’ baseball stadium culminated a decade of panoramic change in the District, one in which downtown and an array of long-forlorn neighborhoods blossomed.  Despite all this growth, the WPost seems to want to move on and find the next big area. Don’t you think there is still a lot of work to be done on the areas that are still going through change, we don’t want to spread our resources to thin do we? [WPost]

Purhapse 20 years ago the French Embassy’s architecture could have given Italy’s a run for its money, but in 2008 the buildings look dated. The French Embassy is located on Reservoir road Northwest behind Georgetown Hospital and is more of a compound than a single building like many of the other Embassies.

As you can see the exterior of the buildings are covered in a white marble. The compound has four major structures all similar in design and there is significant entertainment space for parties and receptions. The building was designed by Architect André Remondet who studied in France but also earned a degree from George Washington University so there’s a nice connection to the District.

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Rosslyn has a lot of changes planed over the next few years that are going to drastically change the look and feel of the downtown area (or perhaps transform it into a downtown, depending on your opinion).

One of the biggest new planned projects is 1812 Moore Street right next to the metro station. The new office tower (pictured) being built by Monday Properties will rise approximately 470- ft. above sea level and include 11,020 sq. feet of retail at the ground level, accessible from both N. Lynn and N. Ft. Myer Streets. The building will also feature a public pedestrian walk-through lobby between the two streets which will go a long way toward making that area of Rosslyn more open and accessible.

Interestingly, in exchange for some concessions from Arlington, the developers have given the county use of the old Newseum space rent free for 10 years. The building is also one of only a handful of buildings in the country striving for LEED Platinum status. Though the design is a little glassy, it’s not so bad, and will be a defining building of the new ever changing Rosslyn Skyline!

The hands down best Embassy we visited last weekend had to be England! And no we’re not just saying that because of all the freebies they handed out, but we’ll get to that in a moment. It was the people who worked at the British Embassy who were so nice and excited to show us all around that made us like our mini visit to the UK the best out of all the embassy tours.

The building itself is really not that much to look at architecturally (though the ambassadors residence next door built in 1928 in the Queen Anne Style is much nicer) the embassy is clearly designed for business, and the majority is taken up by offices. The main reception area was a tall glass cylindrical room where a bunch of booths were set up to great the visitors.

But on to the good stuff… the swag bag (pictured). All the visitors to the British Embassy received a very nice environmentally friendly bag to hold all our goodies, a tin of mints, scotch and whiskey samples, an assortment of Trident gum (which is apparently made in England but it said “made in NJ” on the package), an ink pen, flag pin, and some very nice flip flops.

In addition the embassy staff was nice enough to hand out bottles of Deer Park water to those waiting in the security line. Comparing this to how our experience at the French Embassy went… the French may have a nicer building architecturally, but the British win for hospitality. But we won’t get ahead of ourselves, the full run down on our tour of the French Embassy tomorrow.

 Survey Time - In an effort to get to know our ever growing audience a bit better, we would like to know a little bit about you fine reader.  Let us know what you like, what you don’t like, and what you want to see more of. To show our graditute for taking the survey, we will award one reader at random with a $30 gift card to Borders.

Now that we’ve had the opportunity to see a few games from different seats in the new Nationals Park, we were surprised that the incredible view of the Capitol is basically only visible from a few spots in the stadium. As for the rest of the seats, you have 20 M Street Southeast to thank for your Non-Capitol views!

The ironic thing is that the view killing building was built by Lerner Enterprises when there was no ballpark planed yet. Don’t get us wrong, the higher density buildings will help this area become more than just a place to go during games, but those original renderings showed great unobstructed views, which would have been nice! [Flickr Photo: wfyurasko]

 New Grocery Coming to DC USA?  Richmond-based grocery store Ellwood Thompson is looking into opening a location in the DC USA shopping center in Columbia Heights.  Though it doesn’t seem to be a done deal, the local produce and organic focused store would be a welcome addition to the neighborhood! [New Columbia Heights]

Who are the most powerful people in Washington DC’s commercial real estate scene? According to BisNow, the number one slot goes to the fine folks who brought baseball back to our city…  the Lerners. The Peterson’s, Boston Properties, Charles E Smith, and JBG rounds out the top five.

It’s amazing that this handful of people have such power to shape the future of our city! We have to say that they aren’t doing that bad a job either… especially the baseball part!

“Signs Signs Everywhere are Signs” but for some reason we always have the opposite problem. It’s always a little to late once we have to swerve to avoid that steel plate, or crossed to a closed sidewalk.  However enough signage doesn’t seem to be a problem on Wisconsin Ave in Georgetown.  It would be hard to miss that work was going here, well done DDOT, well done!

There are actually 7 orange signs in the shot! [Flickr Photo: adamjschrader]

 Boutique Hotels for Mt Vernon Triangle? A handful of hip new hotels want to open up in Mount Vernon Triangle, near the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, and D.C. will be choosing which it likes best. The land at the corner of Fifth and Eye streets NW had many options presented but the one we liked the best was the House of Blues! How come we still don’t have one, and Cleveland does! [WashingtonBizJournal]