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Dear PoP – Sale of Vacant Lot next to the Floridian

“Dear PoP,

Looks like JBG just recently bought the neighboring lot to my building (The Floridian) for $10m! And looks like they are temporarily at least naming it after the existing building on the lot:

Address: 945 FLORIDA AV
SSL: 2873 0799
Neighborhood: COLUMBIA HEIGHTS
Land Area: 37,402
Triennial Group: 1
Owner and Sales Information
Owner Name: ATLANTIC RESIDENTIAL C LLC THE JBG COMPANIES
Mailing Address: 4445 WILLARD AVE STE 400; CHEVY CHASE MD20815-4641
Sale Price: $8,977,000
Recordation Date: 12/23/2010
Tax Year 2012 Preliminary Assessment Roll
Current Value (2011)
Land: $8,976,480
Improvements: $100
Total Value: $8,976,580
Taxable Assessment: * $8,976,580

Holy cow this could be huge. This is a really prime location. And JBG is a serious group. From their Web site:

JBG has vast experience in developing office, residential (both multi-family rental and for-sale condominiums), grocery anchored and urban retail, and hotels. In many cases, JBG develops these product types as mixed-use assets in very high barrier-to-entry markets which gives it a distinct competitive advantage.

JBG has developed, owned or managed over 30 million square feet of office space, 5.5 million square feet of retail space, 15,000 residential units and 15 hotel properties totaling over 4,500 rooms. It is currently responsible for development/redevelopment opportunities of approximately 8.5 million square feet of office space, 2.2 million square feet of retail space, 13,200 multi-family residential units and 2,500 hotel rooms throughout the Washington Metropolitan area.

I think at one point there were plans for condos and if I were a betting man I’d say that’s likely what we’ll see. I’ll be sure to update when more info becomes available.


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Category: Buildings, Development, U Street

By: | 10 March 2011 11:30 AM | 36 Comments

  • Sandra

    If they were smart, they’d build a parking garage. The neighborhood needs one. BAD.

    • Anonymous

      I live right around there, and while parking is an issue on weekend evenings, the rest of the time I really don’t find it a problem.

      That said – if they do condos I am sure they will have a parking garage.

  • Anonymous

    Hallelujah that that dump of a church and car wash will be going away. Now that the Floridian is almost completely sold out and there are new businesses sprouting up every few months in the immediate vicinity, there should be a pretty decent market for these.

  • PetworthRes

    I remember when that “lot” was Atlantic Plumbing Supply – I bought all the bath fixtures there when I renovated my first condo (bought in 2001). I wonder if they owned the land/building…probably worth way more than their actual business! I’m not sure if they moved or just closed.

  • Marks

    they’ll probably want to build on the prior owner’s plans for the lots, which Broadway Developers lots to forecolsure (http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/12/14/story6.html)

  • Anonymous

    This is one of those corridors that has sat vacant for so long that I kind of just got used to it, but now hearing about this development it totally makes sense. Talk about a developer’s dream – a large lot of underutilized space two blocks off U St, two blocks from the metro that fronts a major street. Also, only 1 block from Sherman Ave, which should be looking much nicer by the time this project actually gets finished.

  • MC

    This is great news! And I am grateful (again) for the folks on PoP who have been around long enough to tell me what this lot used to be. I always appreciate the knowledge.

  • Steve

    How the F@#$ is that Columbia Heights? It is neither Columbia nor high.

    • Timothy

      True. This is Shaw.

      • Anonymous

        nope. not shaw. florida avenue is the border of shaw/ columbia heights. high or not.

        • Timothy

          I live on the west side of florida/9th (which is one thing through there) and my tax documents say Shaw, which is what I was going off of. I suppose that could be irrelevant.

          • Anonymous

            it is irrelevant. tax records in dc are all whacked out.

            you want to call it shaw? fine with me. but technically shaw was an urban renewal area from the 50′s or 60′s ( it wasn’t called shaw before that). that area only included land from the l’enfant planned portion of the city, which ended at florida ( formerly boundary street).

          • dc20001

            Settle down francis…

    • Anonymous

      It’s Columbia Heights for tax purposes or whatever. Kind of like Adams Morgan shows up at Mt Pleasant and other parts of the city show up as Old City 1 or Old City 2.

    • Anonymous

      This is the U Street Corridor.

      • Eric in Ledroit

        …which is shaw

        • Anonymous

          Right, but if you buy a place here, the deed will say “Columbia Heights”.

          • Anonymous

            but if I was going to visit someone here and they described it as being in “shaw” or “columbia heights” I would be confused. I know the “U Street Corridor” is just as unofficial of a title as the “H Street Corridor”, but it is was people use and it is where I would consider this property to be.

  • Frenchie

    That’s great news! I live in the Floridian, so I’ll be hoping for a mixed use retail/condo building, but I’m sure that whatever they build will a massive improvement to the area! Now they just need to develop the old pipe factory behind it and I’ll be a happy camper.

  • Timothy

    New Results the Gym please! With all the gays (of which I am one) in the Floridian and the Rhapsody, and the loss of the Dupont Circle location, this would be perfect. A bodega would be nice too.

  • SG

    JBG is THE premier developer in the DC area. Certainly the most comptent and well-capitalized. Pretty forward-thinking too. They have a number of major projects in the offing (inclduing the District Condos project at 14th and S, the hotel project at 13th and U (RiteAid), Woodley Park condos, multiple huge buildings in Rosslyn, etc).

    • Anonymous

      Is JBG the developer who bid on those empty WMATA parcels on Florida between 9th & 7th? If so, they will be able to develop in conjuction and probably rake it in as this area booms.

  • Anon

    With the Howard U Town Center scheduled to go in on the SE section of that parking lot/warehouse area (I have no idea what the progress is on that, though) this could be a real development magnet.

  • dc20001

    This is great news. The lot (along with several others in the immediate area) was bought 4 years ago by a company called Broadway Development who had plans to build a large Condo building with some retail on street level. Just as they got final approval for the plans the economy went in the tank, they lost their financing and went bankrupt. They also way overpaid even when the economy was doing well they paid $20 Million for that same lot (includes car wash, atlantic plumbing and church).

  • Jen A.

    YEA! Be glad to look at something other than ruined church.

  • RH

    Dear JBG, Trader Joe’s please!

  • sp

    This is great news! Condos, retail, gym, please! Especially with the renovation of Sherman Ave, things are looking up in this neighborhood.



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