Judging New Condos – Jackson Place Flats

by Prince Of Petworth July 5, 2016 at 3:00 pm 21 Comments

3221 12th Street, NE

I really like how these turned out across the street from Brookland’s Finest at 12th and Jackson. You guys?

FireworkFreddy

Very nicely done. I think they did a great job. Had to get this comment in before all the commenters with no idea about investing start wishing that the developers had taken more design risk without any consideration of cost and profit.
Josh

I say this as someone that likes the modern wood paneling look, but…

How dated will all that wood paneling look in ten years?
- JohnH
  
  Seriously – modern buildings should have bigger windows with small accents, not big accents with little windows. This reminds me of a modern Heritage Station at Shaw or whatever apartments – the windows. Ah, ugly.
neighbor

These don’t look great in the photos, but we live nearby and I actually think they look great in person. The square footage per unit looks really small for the neighborhood though.
ClevelandDave

I wonder how the raw wood will age… both in terms of style and how they’ll weather. I also wonder from a structural standpoint if the wood/brick/metal flex at the same rate or if they’ll have difficulty with fittings, etc when it gets hot/cold. I suppose they could be painted…
- Jack Underhill
  
  If the development has a HOA, couldn’t it pay for regular (every few years) staining of the wood?
  - textdoc
    
    Perhaps, but it might necessitate increasing the condo fees and/or doing an assessment.
anon36

I’m a frequent hater on DC architecture but I don’t mind these. Certainly better than the houses/apartment buildings that are meant to look like they are made of brick (but it’s generally very obvious that they are made of wood with hung brick panels on the outside).
jumpingjack

I looked at one of these a month or so ago. It seemed quite nice inside, though the living room level didn’t leave any space for a dining table.
- anon
  
  This is common in new construction, and I just hate it. It is as if builders think the need for dining tables has gone away. And yet every one thinks you need a breakfast bar (don’t know if these have one – commenting on new construction/renovation in general.)
JoDa

I don’t live terribly far away and know a few people who looked into this development, and one poor soul who bought one. Warning signs came when the developer started pushing pre-sales with only two units (one vertical section) mostly complete. It was fairly clear he was short of cash, and construction went nowhere for months. At this time, a few people I know looked at it and were not impressed with the value or the developer’s operations. But once they got mostly done, things looked a lot better, and someone I know (did not ask me about it before and did not live in neighborhood to see what was going on) bought one. We’re no longer allowed to ask him how it’s going, since he was supposed to move in a couple months ago…
.
They look pretty nice from the outside, but are fairly small and I have *serious* concerns about the construction quality. We’ll see how many months delivery is ultimately delayed.
- Formerly ParkViewRes
  
  I thought pre-construction sales with condo buildings were the norm? It is up here (in Toronto). People buy condos before the shovel is even in the dirt.
  - Anon Spock
    
    I thought so too, but construction almost never stalls in those situations.
  - JoDa
    
    It depends. Brooks Row down the street started pre-sales when they were maybe half done with construction, and construction continued uninterrupted once started (excepting things like extreme weather, which is expected). These guys built 2/24 (I think) units, stopped construction to do sales, and then started building again. It was the way it went down that was troubling. Those who looked into it at the time expressed concern that the developer was short on cash and that things might stall out again or even never actually complete. Those fears don’t appear to be coming to fruition, but we are looking at a delay in delivery of, I believe, about 65 days right now, so it still didn’t work out smoothly.
    - jumpingjack
      
      This reminds me of the one thing that surprised/alarmed me when I looked at the unit. The saleswoman pointed out the final building under construction, across the parking lot. At the time it was just four steel beams stuck into the foundation, nothing more. She said it would be complete in a less than a month (I think she said 2-3 weeks). Either she was lying or they build disturbingly quickly.
- SilverSpringGal
  
  Pre-sales are the norm…
  
  My building in Logan started selling 9 months before settlement and before the building floors had even been completed.
  - JoDa
    
    Read the whole comment. It wasn’t just that they were doing pre-sales. It appeared that they needed to have some pre-sales to get financing to finish construction. And by finish I mean “do,” since they stopped construction for a long period of time after completing only 2 units. That’s not normal. I doubt the developer’s chops based on that, and they’ve shown some cause for continuing concern by substantially delaying delivery to those who purchased pre-completion.
    .
    FWIW, I also don’t find them to be a good deal. They are listed at 10-15% more per ft2 than Brooks Row at Franklin and as much as 30% more per ft2 than another 2-2 condo project a block from the Brookland Metro (don’t know what the name is or if it has one). Jackson Place’s units are smaller than both of those developments’ by a substantial margin and the lower units are further below ground. Many of the Brooks Row units were comparable on a $$ basis, meaning that it’s likely people who could afford $525K for one of these could afford $540K for something at Brooks Row (though I will grant that the ones near the Metro are $600K+, so that might be a problem). Coupled with my concerns about the abilities of the developer, I don’t believe they’re worth so much more in comparison with similar nearby projects.
    - textdoc
      
      Not exactly the same situation, but this scenario vaguely reminds me of the reader post from not long ago about a developer having apparently bailed partway through constructing affordable-housing townhouses:
      .
      https://www.popville.com/2016/06/it-appears-that-no-one-will-suffer-consequences-for-this-failed-project-except-the-homeowners/
      - JoDa
        
        These will finish, but how well and how fast is yet to be determined. I mean, I doubt it will be later than fall, but that’s still 6+ months after my acquaintance expected to move into his new home.
- John
  
  I personally know someone who bought one of these units and has dealt directly with the developer. When she asked about the delays she said they didn’t seem to have a cash flow problem, but rather when they ran into the developer at one of the open houses he was really adamant about making sure the project was built to specifications and some of the cedar siding was taken down because he wasn’t happy with it. In fact, he hired a whole new supplier because he didn’t like the quality of the wood he has been given or the installation. If things didn’t look nice they would get changed, and I think that definitely effected their schedule. Also, my friend bought a unit after the blizzard and said that it took that much longer for the city to get everything in order with inspections and Pepco or what not.
Rich

It looks like a new take of the kind of building that went up all over DC between the late 40s and early 60s. the wood adds some interest (rather than the blond brick that was used in the old days for this style). But the effect of all these together is a bit monotonous and the cinderblock-ish charcoal brick makes it seem unfinished.

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