New Five Story Building coming to 9th and U Street, NW next to Riide

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by Prince Of Petworth August 21, 2016 at 10:05 pm 5 Comments

1923 9th Street, NW just south of U Street

Thanks to a reader for sending:

Anonynon

sucks for all those people in the Shay who probably thought they would have a good view for a while
- GBinCH
  
  As someone who works from home, I’d be concerned about construction noise during the day as well.
  - P. Lecheval
    
    This might be the worst city in the western hemisphere to live in if you are concerned about construction noise.
Eric

This is a C-2-B / ARTS overlay which promotes greater density. This is in the Greater U Street Historic District, which requires review by the HPO and potentially the HPRB review board. So long as the board finds the design compatible, this project is operating within the zoning and historic regulations.

I’m perplexed by the NIMBY comments, as the majority of the existing buildings on that block are under developed. Given the width of the street (4 traffic lanes + 2 parking lanes), 2.5 story buildings are much too short for the width of that street. There is a Renaissance proportion to the layout of the DC grid, and the concept of an, “Urban Room,” is not realized on streets such as this. While the buildings on K Street leave much to be desired in terms of their design, the continuous height and cornices against the proportional street width achieve the urban room affect.

Also, given this site’s proximity to multiple metro stations, this area should absolutely densify in order to maximize the efficiency of infrastructure investments in the neighborhood. Cities are economic engines, and houses are machines for living.

I have a B.Arch and an M.Arch, and I’ve practiced architecture in DC for the last 8 years. 3 months ago, I decided to move to NYC, as I couldn’t take the community opposition to such minuscule projects. I would literally fight tooth and nail with the HPRB for a 3rd story on an existing 2 story building, and that’s just not what I signed up for when I moved to DC. I conducted my thesis on the gross underutilization of existing infrastructure in DC, and the main problems are the lack of density, the opposition to greater density and the separation of uses that creates 9-5 districts such as K Street.

Look at pictures from the late 1800s of Pennsylvania Ave NW, and you’ll see 3-4 story buildings running between the Capital and the White House. If city leaders back then shared the mindset of current day preservationists, DC would be a vastly different place. It would be more reminiscent of a sleepy southern town like Charleston or Savannah, rather than a city that bills itself as trying to complete with other global cities for business and growth.
BCT

This is much too short for the location. Should be 8-10 stories.

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