"Washington has a growing class of professionals consisting of small businesses, lobbyists, realtors, attorneys, etc. They have not been able to find appropriate places to live near where they work," he says. Flexible live/work quarters would allow someone to set up a home office or small business in their own condo or apartment.
Retail condos are another new concept the developers are incorporating in Solea. "Retail gentrification, I believe, will be the next big policy discussion."
Solea encompasses a 60,700-sf area known as Parcel 34, at the northwest corner of 14th Street and Florida Avenue, gateway to the Columbia Heights neighborhood.
The project will feature 52 residential condominiums, at least seven live/work units and three retail condominiums. Plans call for 21 of the residential units to be set aside for affordable and work force housing, and two of the retail condominiums as affordable retail space for local businesses. Committed tenants include Zawadi and Trade Secrets.
The JLC-led development team includes Sorg & Associates as the architect and a joint venture between Hamel Builders and Gilford Corp. as the general contractor.
NCRC has contributed land to the partnership in exchange for a share in the profits, which will be reinvested in the city's underserved communities, as reported by GlobeSt.com. MacFarlane Partners is the institutional equity investor and Wachovia is the construction lender for the project.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
