In a 1931 building on C Street NE, workers are converting the old American Society for Interior Designers (ASID) headquarters into student housing.
Based in Athens, Georgia, the university has had a thriving Washington Semester program for years, notes Bill Young, a trustee of the
University of Georgia Foundation, which has purchased 611 C St. NE.
Until now, the University has leased living space for its juniors and seniors working in Congress or at think tanks and non-profits all over D.C. Not all of them are majoring in political science, for the record.
“It is a very, very difficult program to get into,” Young says.
The move to buy the building was in part spurred by UGA’s properties in Costa Rica, Oxford, England, and Cortona, Italy. Studens studying abroad in these programs enjoy university-provided housing. “We realized it would make a lot of sense to buy a facility that would be a permanent place for our students” now and in the semesters to come.
Students participating in UGA’s fall, spring and summer programs are slated to live in the residence, which in the 20s and 30s housed the Merrick Boys Club, which provided education and enrichment activities to boys of limited means. It was named for Mary Virginia Merrick, who founded more than a century ago the National Christ Child Society, a philanthropic organization headquartered in Rockville.
The new residence will accommodate up to 28 students, Young says. The 20,000 square-foot building is under renovation now by
MCN Build, which also built the flagship SweetGreen in Georgetown and is the contractor of record for the soon-to-be-renovated Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, DCPL’s central location.
The first students are expected to take occupancy come January 2015. Young says the Foundation is planning a February 2015 open house for the community.
ASID, for its part, has relocated to 718 7
th Street NW.