A blog about real estate, interior design, and the home in the Washington, DC area.
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By
Rebecca Shillenn
This architectural rendering shows the church and proposed apartments.
Despite neighborhood opposition, a church-apartment building development in Arlington is still in the works.
The Church at Clarendon got approval from the Arlington County Board to build The Views at Clarendon, a 116-apartment building, in 2004. This won’t be the only condo-church combination in the area—The First Congressional Church of Christ in Gallery Place is planning a mixed-use project. But The Views at Clarendon plans have met much more resistance.
Neighborhood residents complained that the nearly 97-foot-tall building would overshadow their houses and the community; the church argued that it planned to incorporate affordable condos into the building, leave the steeple in place, and set aside the first two floors for church business.
The conflict pushed the issue to the Virginia Supreme Court last fall. The court ruled that the Arlington County board approved the building in violation of a zoning ordinance.
In response, the board amended the ordinance and rezoned the area, which means the Church at Clarendon can continue with its original plans.
The neighborhood’s still up in arms. Here’s a map from The Post showing the crush of development in Clarendon that concerns residents. If The Views at Clarendon are completed, here’s what they’ll offer:
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Here’s where our newly elected public servants—some rookies, some veterans—get away from the office
Jim Moran
The nine-term congressman’s house is nothing special—a three-bedroom, 1950s contemporary with an assessed value of only $400,000. But it sits on a couple of very valuable acres off Chain Bridge Road with good views of the Potomac River. Moran’s third wife, businesswoman LuAnn Bennett, owns the property.
North Arlington
Cost (2004): $5.25 million
Assessed value: $6.61 million
Worth: $6.6 million
Doug Gansler
Weeks after winning his first statewide election, the new Maryland attorney general sold his Chevy Chase home for $1.2 million and bought this five-bedroom Colonial near Burning Tree Country Club and Holton-Arms School. It sits on a half acre and has a swimming pool and marble foyer.
Bethesda
Cost (2006): $1.26 million
Assessed value: $1.32 million
Worth: $1.3 million
Adrian Fenty
During his campaign for DC mayor, Fenty didn’t hesitate to show off his much-renovated, 50-year-old split-level—with sunken living room and twin-island kitchen. It’s worth six times what he paid for it ten years ago.
Crestwood, DC
Cost (1997): $215,000
Assessed value: $1.13 million
Worth: $1.2 million
Jim Webb
After ousting George Allen from the Senate, Webb bought this four-bedroom townhouse near Chain Bridge with a wet bar, whirlpool tub, and master-bedroom suite. He got a deal—it sold for $250,000 below list price.
North Arlington
Cost (2006): $1.15 million
Assessed value: $1.36 million
Worth: $1.4 million More houses after the jump.
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By
Mary Clare Fleury
Ninety-six homes sold for more than $800,000 in the region—54 were in Virginia, 33 in Maryland, and 9 in the District. Here’s the roundup of the ten most expensive, as reported by American City Business Leads.
$2,830,000— 14846 Persistance Drive, Woodbridge
$2,120,000— 9201 Belmart Road, Potomac
$2,109,596— 7515 Marbury Road, Bethesda
$1,995,000— 13312 Manor Stone Drive, Germantown
$1,899,000— 36727 Leith Lane, Middleburg
$1,875,000— 2706 44th Street, NW, Wesley Heights
$1,700,000— 5615 Namakagan Road, Bethesda
$1,650,000— 277 S. Saint Paul Street, Hamilton, Va.
$1,646,350— 211 McHenry Street, Vienna
$1,549,181— 40828 Grenata Preserve Place, Leesburg
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By
Mary Clare Fleury
Krillion makes finding and buying kitchen appliances easier.
The days of spending hours on store Web sites looking for appliances may be over.
According to a press release from Krillion, a new search engine, “75 percent of those who buy big-ticket items do all their research online and make over 90 percent of their purchases offline.” Launched last month, Krillion hopes to make it easier to find national brands in local stores.
How does it work? Let’s say you have done the research and decided to buy a Whirlpool refrigerator. You know the model, size, and color you want. Instead of visiting the sites of—or worse calling—Sears, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and other appliance outlets to find the best deal, you can use Krillion. Enter your zip code and the appliance name and model in the search engine, then Krillion produces a list of stores that sell that model, plus prices. If you are unsure of the model you want, you can search by broader terms like “White GE Refrigerators.”
The site focuses on large appliances—refrigerators, ovens, ranges, washers and dryers, and dishwashers—but plans to expand its reach to other products like consumer electronics and lawn and garden equipment soon.
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By
Mary Clare Fleury
If you want to hold your own in a conversation about Washington-area development, condo construction, transportation woes, or the new baseball stadium, bookmark these real-estate blogs and Web sites:
Started in January 2003 by a self-described “computer geek” named Jacqueline Dupree, Near Southeast DC Redevelopment tracks the changing landscape of the Southeast waterfront through photographs. She also scours newspaper articles, Web sites, and government reports for news tidbits about the neighborhood.
Beyond DC is run by a recent University of Colorado Boulder graduate with a degree in city planning. It focuses on new construction and transportation—you’ll see lots of posts about the planned Metro extension out to Dulles. Thumbnail photo galleries of area neighborhoods are a cool feature.
Weichert realtor Dewita Soeharjono is behind Urban Trekker Blog, a good place to find area real-estate news and trends. Regular “Real Estate News Roundups” compile links to interesting pieces.
The tagline for DCMUD (DC Metro Urban Diary) reads “Washington DC is a flaming hotbed of property development, speculation, and good old-fashioned gossip. Let’s fan those flames!” The daily posts cover everything from construction projects to city council hearings.
DC Under Construction posts photos of ongoing construction projects, both commercial and residential. If there’s a massive construction pit in your neighborhood, this site can tell you what will eventually go there. And it’s also cool to watch the progress of construction sites across the city.
Did I miss your favorite blog? Leave a comment to let me know about it.
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