The Affordable Addison Square
25 01 2010The area North of the new convention center has generally been past over by the recent development boom, however there are plans in the works by the folks at Metropolitan Development to bring a mixed use high rise apartment complex to the neighborhood. Given the character of this area, it is good to hear that at least 20% of the units will affordable low income set asides.
In addition to the 256 units, there will also be 15,000 sq-ft of retail. What do you think of the Lessard Group’s facade design? We think it’s decent enough, if not a little bit boring.
[Credit: Lessard Group]
It looks great! If you think this looks boring, I wonder what you think of Georgetown, or Old-Town with those flat federal style facades. I love that we are moving beyond the hackneyed arguments about style and trying to build buildings that will add to the streetscape rather than screem for attention with their one-liner “modern” gimic designs.
There have been a number of proposed start dates. This is a nice posting for MetroCentric BUT is there a new start date or confirmation as to when the community will see this as reality? My thanks for any concrete insights.
Renderings like this suggest an honest classic architecture, but the truth is in the details that only are revealed as construction progresses. Cast stone accents can be crude and disappointing, for example, as can be plastic interior window mullions. Obviously, we don’t know if that will be the case here, but any DC architecture lover who digs details knows what I’m talking about.
@Thayer-D: I agree. I’ll take this over a glass box or starchitecture any day.
I just want them to get this project off the ground. Facade looks good.
The side buildings are fine, but the center building is a lethal mix of boring and pompous.
Actually, Thayer, other than vague stylistic similarity, what do these buildings share with Georgetown?
I actually like it. They do a good job with the different facades and it should blend well enough considering the size. It reminds me more of Columbia Heights than Georgetown though.
Agree on the the Columbia Heights similarity,
On a different note, isn’t this area right now a bunch of two and three story buildings… this seems drastically out of scale with the rest of the neighborhood.
Can’t start this project fast enough…when oh when will the Kelsey Gardens vacant building disappear???
Alexa — in the full elevations on the developer’s site, it’s apparent that they tried to “taper” the northern edge of the project down to a more reasonable height, so the transition would be less jarring. No such luck for the south edge, where a nine-story building will stand adjacent to two and three story townhouses.
I hope this project gets of the ground. I seems like it has been in the works for ever.
It may look a little out of scale at first, but there are a few taller apartment buildings in the area. Plus, with the O Street Marketplace and Broadcast One planned it will eventually look right at home.
CG, isn’t the south edge adjacent to the O St. Market, though, as well? I believe that the location (~2 blocks from Metro and adjacent future mixed-use grocery-anchored development) provides for this type of massing and is completely appropriate.