Douglas Development began construction yesterday on a new mixed-use building at 2221 14th Street NW, according to a press release from the developer. The 34,000 square-foot project will be a six-story, 30-unit “upscale” apartment building with 2,700 square feet of retail on the ground floor.
"It’s a nice small boutique building for those who don’t want to live in an overwhelmingly large building or pay for amnenties like a rooftop pool," says Tom Schneck, marketing director at Douglas Development. "This is a very quaint bulding on a quieter section...it's very complimentary to the neighborhood."
The "Latino Auto Sale" car lot was razed and work on the new building is set to begin this week. Sasha Rosen of R2L Architects designed the brick and and terra cotta-clad building with projecting bays of metal and glass. The new building will have one-bedroom and studio loft-style apartments with high ceilings. Five of the one-bedrooms will have balconies and 10 underground parking spaces are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Pre-lease has not started on the apartments yet as a property management group has still not been decided upon, says Schneck. Pricing on the units are too early to pinpoint as a result.
There will be rooftop access, but otherwise there are not many amenities to speak of so far.
The retail level will have projecting retail bays to match those bay windows of the apartments above and the primary retail entrance will be on 14th Street. The residents will enter on Florida Avenue.
Douglas Development Corporation also announced in the same press release that it will welcome the first residents to its Citadel Apartments in Adams Morgan on May 4. The Citadel apartments are located above the Harris Teeter on Kalorama Road. The entire building is the former Kalorama roller rink.
Currently, Douglas Development owns and manages more than 8 million square feet of real estate and has more than 4 million square feet of developable property in the pipeline, according to the release. One of the company's latest projects Elevation DC reported on was its upcoming project on
915 F Street.
The U Street corridor is quickly changing. On the same block as the new Douglas Development project, at 2200 to 2202 14th Street NW, Community Three Development has a 22,500 square-feet mixed-use building under design with 18 condominium units and 2,225 square feet of retail. Around the corner at 1400 U Street is JBG’s nine-story, 267-unit apartment building currently under construction.