In recent years, it seemed like every DC developer was busy converting an out-of-use historic schoolhouse into luxury condos. The Gage School turned into Parker Flats. Georgetown’s Wormley School became high-end Wormley Row. On Capitol Hill, the Edmonds, Pierce, and Lovejoy schoolhouses all were upcycled into chic apartments. And so on—at last count, there are at least ten of these transformations around town.
Perhaps they’ve run out of old schools, because we’ve moved into the next phase of repurposed real estate: Churches. Two weeks ago we showed you this old Howard County church that was rehabbed into the headquarters for an interior design firm. Last week this Georgetown Tudor, once a neighborhood chapel, hit the market in its new iteration as a multi-million-dollar residence. And then there are two new projects that are still in the works: In Capitol Hill, a former Art Deco church constructed in 1941 by the Salvation Army is part of a project dubbed Cambridge Row, which features petite condos—some as tiny as 264 square feet—outfitted with contemporary amenities such as wide-plank hardwoods, high-gloss cabinets, and quartz counters. Over in Georgetown is Alexander Hall, which will restore and convert the 1908 Alexander Memorial Baptist Church into a trio of über-luxe apartments set to deliver in the fall—and which will include such high-end detailing as open-tread staircases, whitewashed hardwood floors, top-of-the-line appliances, and Porcelanosa tiling. The three-bedroom condos start at $2.5 million. Still unknown is whether the developer will need divine intervention to snag those prices.
