240-Unit H Street Apartment Building to Start Construction in 2013

• September 6th 2012

by Shilpi Paul

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On Wednesday night, developers stopped by ANC 6C’s Planning, Zoning and Environment committee meeting to brief them on a couple big plans for the 600 block of H Street NE (map).

Kevin Roberts, representing developer Jair Lynch, presented new plans for the south side of the block. The company acquired a series of properties spanning from 601 to 645 H Street NE for $51.1 million last year. Currently, two five-story brick buildings sandwich a one-story former grocery store along this stretch.

The new renderings reveal a 240-unit apartment building that rises up nine stories. Dark brick, glass and other darker materials dominate the facade. The back of the building, which faces into an alley, will rise up four stories and match the rhythm of the townhouses it looks out onto. Jair Lynch plans to start construction on the project next spring.

The bulk of the conversation at the committee meeting surrounded the retail components. Jair Lynch is hoping to fill the currently “under-activated” block with a restaurant, a coffee shop such as San Francisco’s Blue Bottle — allegedly interested in expanding to DC — and a market such as Marvelous Market or YES! Organic. A CVS will anchor the corner at 645 H Street NE.

The Jair Lynch project is not the only big development on the boards for that block. Across the street, Insight Property Group has big designs for the land currently occupied by Murry’s market and a storage facility, though the firm currently only owns the Murry’s lot and Murry’s lease is set to expire in 2017. Representatives from Insight also stopped by the meeting in advance of submitting a PUD for the project, so the timeline is still quite far out. Ideally, they hope to build an eight-story apartment building and fill the ground-floor retail space with one large tenant, such as a health club or a specialty grocer.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/240_unit_h_street_apartment_building_to_start_construction_in_2013/5990.