Sections
  • Design & Home
  • Editors’ Picks
  • Events Calendar
  • Food
  • Health
  • News
  • Longreads
  • Our Events
  • Parenting
  • Real Estate
  • Shopping
  • Things to Do
  • Travel
  • Weddings
Reader Favorites
  • 100 Best Restaurants
  • Top Doctors
  • Neighborhoods
  • Cutest Dog Contest
  • Wedding Showcase: Unveiled
Washington’s Best
  • Apartment Rentals
  • DC Travel Guide
  • Dentists
  • Doctors
  • Financial Advisers
  • Health Experts
  • Home Improvement Experts
  • Industry Leaders
  • Lawyers
  • Mortgage Professionals
  • Pet Care
  • Private Schools
  • Real Estate Agents
  • Restaurants
  • Retirement Communities
  • Wedding Vendors
More
  • Subscribe
  • Manage My Subscription
  • Digital Edition
  • iPad App
  • Shop
  • Contests
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
© 2019 Washingtonian Media Inc.
Privacy Policy
All Rights Reserved
 Rss
Skip to content
Washingtonian.com
  • Search
  • Subscribe
  • Menu
  • News
  • Things to Do
  • Food
  • Health
  • Shopping
  • Design & Home
  • Real Estate
  • Weddings

  • 100 Best Restaurants
  • Top Doctors
  • Neighborhoods
  • Cutest Dog Contest
  • Wedding Showcase: Unveiled
Real Estate

Here are DC’s 6 Most Exciting Residential Developments of 2017

New condos and apartments rose all over town, but these projects stood out.

Written by Marisa M. Kashino
| Published on December 26, 2017
Here are DC’s 6 Most Exciting Residential Developments of 2017
Inside the Buchanan School. Photo courtesy of Ditto.
Tweet Share

6. Hine School

After nearly a decade of planning and building, the redevelopment of Capitol Hill’s Hine Junior High School across from the Eastern Market Metro wrapped up in the fall. Built by EastBanc and Stanton, the site includes a Trader Joe’s and other retail such as Jrink Juicery and Trickling Springs Creamery, The Yard co-working space, and a building with 34 affordable apartments. Its two market-rate apartment buildings, called the Residences at Eastern Market, include 128 units notable for their generous size compared to most new rental buildings. One-bedrooms exceed 1,000 square feet, and three-bedrooms top 2,000 square feet. The robust space helps explain the equally robust rents, which reach $10,000 a month.

A view of the whole Hine School redevelopment site. Rendering and photos courtesy of EastBanc and Stanton.
Inside an apartment at the Residences at Eastern Market.

5. Square 50

This EastBanc project in the West End is unlike any other. It boasts a stylish new fire station, a $12 million squash facility called Squash on Fire (get it?), plus 55 units of affordable, workforce housing (though most of the firefighters make too much to live in them). Nonetheless, in one of the District’s wealthiest areas, such housing is sorely needed. And the ultra-modern building fits right in with its much pricier neighbors.

The exterior of Square 50. The white box atop the squash gym houses the affordable apartments. Photos by Evy Mages
Inside Squash on Fire.

4. Buchanan Park and Buchanan School

This city-block-sized development in Hill East on the site of the former Buchanan School has two parts. The first includes 32, three- and four-bedroom townhouses, averaging about $1.3 million, built from the ground up by Federal Capital Partners and Insight Property Group. They opened in June. Their brick façades were designed to blend with the neighborhood’s original Federal-style housing stock, but their high-end interiors include modern luxuries such as Bosch appliances and entire walls of windows.

Buchanan Park townhouses. Rendering  courtesy of Federal Capital Partners and Insight Property Group.
Kitchen inside one of the townhouses, designed by Akseizer Design Group. Photo by Laura Metzler.

The development’s second part, however, is the real showstopper. Ditto is converting the historic Buchanan School itself—which operated from 1895 to 1993—into 41 condos, featuring original details, such as exposed brick walls and arched windows. The units range from under $400,000 to more than $1 million. Construction is just finishing up, and the building is nearly 75 percent sold out.

The historic Buchanan School. Rendering and photos courtesy of Ditto.
Inside one of the condos.

3. The Edison

A number of residential developments are slated to arrive in the coming months and years around Union Market, one of the fastest growing pockets in the city. The Edison, though, is the very first one to open. The 187-unit building from LCOR is brand new, but it’s designed to resemble the industrial warehouses that surround it. Amenities include fire pits and an outdoor kitchen. But the best perk is its private high-speed internet network, which means residents don’t have to deal with Comcast. A Trader Joe’s is opening on the ground floor in 2018. Rents range from $1,820 for a one-bedroom to more than $3,000 for some two-bedrooms.

Exterior of the Edison. All photos courtesy of LCOR.
Inside an apartment at the Edison.
The building’s lobby.

2. One Hill South

Residents of these 383 apartments in Navy Yard get exclusive access to their very own Equinox gym which includes a full sized indoor basketball court. The building—developed by Related Companies and Ruben Companies—was designed by prominent New York architect Morris Adjmi, and also features two rooftop hot tubs and a swimming pool with views of the Capitol dome and Washington monument. Open since April, rents range from around $2,000 a month for a studio to more than $7,000 for a three-bedroom.

View from the rooftop pool. All photos by Scott Frances, courtesy of One Hill South.
An Equinox gym exclusively for residents.
Inside an apartment.

1. The Channel

And finally, our pick for the most exciting residential development of 2017 is the Channel at the Wharf. Of the four residential buildings (two of them condos, two apartments) to open in the new $2.5 billion neighborhood on the Southwest waterfront, this one is by far the most tricked out. Its pièce de résistance is the infinity pool overlooking the Washington Channel. A series of glass panels on the pool’s bottom look down into the lobby of the Anthem, the 6,000-person concert hall from 9:30 Club’s Seth Hurwitz. Residents get the cool factor of living above the city’s flashy new music venue, without the sleep deprivation—developer Hoffman-Madison Waterfront spent around $3 million on soundproofing alone. The building also has a rooftop dog park, a two-story gym, and come pool season, a full-service cabana bar. Nearly a third of the 501 apartments are micro-units; rents range from $1,970 to $5,025.

Rendering of the infinity pool overlooking the Washington Channel. All images courtesy of the Wharf.
View from the pool.
Inside one of the micro-units.
A larger unit.

Looking to Buy? Get Our Real Estate Newsletter

Looking to buy? Get a weekly list of the DC area’s best houses on the market.

Or, see all of our newsletters. By signing up, you agree to our terms.
More: Buchanan ParkDitto DevelopmentEastBancEastern MarketEDENSEdisonEquinoxHill EastHine SchoolHoffman-Madison WaterfrontInsight Property GroupLCORMonty HoffmanNavy YardOne Hill SouthSouthwest WaterfrontThe ChannelThe WharfUnion MarketWest EndYear in Review 2017
Join the conversation!
Share Tweet
Marisa M. Kashino
Senior Editor

Marisa M. Kashino joined Washingtonian in 2009 as a staff writer, and became a senior editor in 2014. She was previously a reporter for Legal Times and the National Law Journal. She recently wrote “A Murder on the Rappahannock,” a two-part investigation into the troubling, decades-old slaying of a young mother in rural Virginia. Kashino lives in Northeast DC with her husband, two dogs, and two cats.

Related

Laoban Is Opening a Dumpling and Noodle Shop in Union Market

Maketto Chef Erik Bruner-Yang’s Asian-Italian Noodle Shop Opens Today in Navy Yard

This New “Retail Co-Op” Near Union Market Isn’t Just Another Home Goods Store

baby-friendly restaurants

Where a Food Editor Eats Out With a Baby in DC

More from Real Estate

You’ll Never Believe Some of the Factories That Used to Be in DC—and What’s There Now

The 7 Most Notable Homes Sold This Month—and Who Bought Them

Photos: The Most Expensive Homes Sold in Washington in November

The Best-Looking Open Houses This Weekend (12/7-12/8)

This $3 Million Condo Now Comes With a Brand-New Tesla

The Best-Looking Open Houses This Weekend (11/30-12/1)

What’s It Like to Live in America’s Biggest Re-Urbanization Project While It’s Still Being Built?

The Best-Looking Open Houses This Weekend (11/23-11/24)

Most Popular

Food

These Are the 27 Best Dishes in Washington Right Now

Food

These Are Washingtonian Readers’ Favorite Restaurants in 2019

News

The Impeachment Loophole No One’s Talking About

News

A New Program at Dulles Aims to Make Air Travel Easier for Parents

News

All the DC-Area Stuff We’ve Identified in the “Wonder Woman 1984” Trailer (So Far)

© 2019 Washingtonian Media Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Washingtonian is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Privacy Policy and Opt-Out
 Rss
Get the best news, delivered weekly.
By signing up, you agree to our terms.
  • Subscribe
  • Manage My Subscription
  • Digital Edition
  • iPad App
  • Shop
  • Contests
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs