1628 11th Street: 33 New Residential Units, 21 Parking Spaces

The current home of the offices of the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees (NAPFE) at 1628 11th Street NW (between Q and R Streets) will be future location of 33 apartments and 21 parking spaces. It will also require a handful of zoning reliefs. This is according to information presented to the Community Development Committee of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle at its September 25 meeting.

1628 11th Street is a quarter-acre parcel

The 28,000-square-foot building was reportedly purchased this summer from NAPFE by Fortis, a DC-based real estate investment company, for $5.5 million.

Representatives of Holland and Knight appeared before ANC2F to make a presentation and request ANC support for an application for zoning relief before DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA).

They also detailed how the structure will be renovated and enlarged to change it from office space to living space.

How many, how much, how big

Two additional floors of apartments will be added on the top of the building, the presenters said, bringing the total number of planned apartments to 33. This is a decrease from a previously-reported plan for "35 to 40 multi-family units".

During a period of questions from committee members, the presenters said it was not yet decided if the units would be rental or condo. Soon after, in response to a follow-up question from Commissioner John Fanning (district 04), the presenters said that the units would "cost $400,000 to start".

The units are planned to be 600 to 1700 square feet in size.

Car elevator: going down?

One unusual feature is a planned car elevator which residents will have to use to access the 21 parking spaces. Car elevators are found much less frequently in DC than in other major American cities, presenters and commissioners agreed.
This is because DC zoning normally requires cars to be accessible at all times. However, presenters said, they were requesting an exception because a ramp down from street level to the underground parking would "adversely impact housing".

Members of the committee asked about the possibility that a car elevator would make an excessive amount of noise and would require a human operator. Although the presenters did not have information about the amount of noise a newly-manufactured car elevator might make, they reassured the committee "this is not going to be an old lift". The current models use hydraulic lifts, they said, and are operated with a key fob, so there will be no need for a human attendant.

A relief will also be sought for setback requirements for two roof structures that will contact mechanical equipment. The structures will be 18 feet 6 inches tall, but according to currently zoning regulations only 13 feet would be allowed. The resulting structure would be visible from 11th Street, the presenters said, but "you'd have to be on the playground [across the street] to see it."

Although the roof structure does not comply with the setback requirement, the entire renovated building as planned will not require zoning relief for height.

No members of the community raised objections or asked any questions of the developers at the meeting.

The committee voted unanimously to recommend the full ANC support all the zoning variances requested. The request may be considered by the full ANC at its next meeting, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, October 2, at 6:30pm at the Washington Plaza Hotel (10 Thomas Circle).