Union Station Air Rights
21 01 2008With the height restrictions here in DC, the buying and selling of air rights is not something you hear much about, especially compared to other major cities like New York. After all, since buildings are only 10 stories tall to begin with, there is not much room for air rights.
However, the large expanse of the Union Station rail yards is a prime candidate for air rights and has just sold those rights to developer Akridge. The exciting 3 million square foot project planned to be built over the rail yard is being called Burnham Place and will help bring together the area of H street and Union Station.
We see this as a great thing for the area because it will help connect a neighborhood that has always been divided by the rail yard. The only issue is that the Union Station terminal will now be completely subterranean and not open like it is now. We say that’s a small price to pay for reconnecting a neighborhood!
I can’t wait for this project to be completed. Curious though … I didn’t see any timeline on the project website. Is there a timeline yet?
ha! i doubt it will even start before 2012. it’s a real pain in the arse to get anything approved in dc, and if you do, imagine trying to complete a project on top of moving trains. it’s been done in other cities, but even then, it took many years.
i’m all for it, but i’m just saying. it’s gonna be a long, long time before this thing even starts to think about a potential timeline. and i live *right next* to the tracks, by senate square, so you know i want all the best possible karma to permeate this project.
let’s just hope this development proves to be the exception, rather than the norm…
Thanks for the info poo poo … since you live so close by, you may know this next one. What’s all the construction along Second Street NE … around where G intersects up to the H Street bridge? That’s not this over the rail thing is it?
no, that’s not the over the rails thing.
that’s … i forget the name, even though i walk by every day.
oh wait! it’s station place (i think).
it’s a continuation of the SEC office buildings next to it.
the company expects to finish sometime in 2009. when they do, they’re starting another project right across the street. they’ll be tearing down everything on that side of the block on second street, and building a big residential complex with ground floor retail (think of all the SEC folks that will be spending their (fairly) hard earned dollars there.
farther up 2nd street, by K street, the entire block is being built into residential/retail mix.
i could go on, but i won’t. there’s a ton of stuff going on around there, or planned to happen in the next two years.
poo poo — you freakin’ rock. thanks man.
[…] the big plans to use the air rights over Union Station rail yard to build three million square feet of mixed use buildings? Well the project being dubbed Burnham […]