Cocktails and Courtyards: Last Night’s Opening at Allegro Apartments

• April 23, 2009
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by Mark Wellborn

Last night, we joined about 500 other guests at the grand opening of Allegro to check out the Columbia Heights development’s luxury rental units and see who won the much talked-about cocktail competition.

We took a tour of a number of the units and were generally impressed with what we saw. Most of the apartments are spacious and feature the usual package of high-level finishes and amenities. The trophy units are those on the fourth floor that have loft spaces and sizable private roof decks that look out onto perhaps the best amenity that the development offers: a massive courtyard area.

Main courtyard

Looking up at apartments from the courtyard

The main courtyard (one of two at the complex) is built in the middle of the project. As we walked around it, we could not help but think of all the possibilities that this space offered: a party venue with 60-75 of your friends, a space for grilling out on a weekend afternoon or maybe just a place to sit outside and relax. After talking with a few Allegro representatives, it sounds like the only certain option at the moment is the latter. (Grilling will not be allowed in the main courtyard and they have not decided if they will allow large get-togethers.)

Living room of a two-bedroom unit that looks onto 14th St. and Meridian Place, NW

Private roof deck of one of the top-floor units

By Columbia Heights’ standards, Allegro is not an inexpensive place to live. The monthly rents for studios start at $1,525, one-bedrooms at $1,775 and two-bedrooms at $2,450. (The development is offering two months free rent and will waive a $500 fee if you move in prior to May 31st.) Needless to say, these rents are much more in line with a first-year law associate’s salary than that of a struggling artist.

The development was originally planned as condos but when the market turned the developers decided to make it rentals.

The evening, sponsored by Grey Goose Vodka and DC event magazine OnTap, also included a contest where it asked the general public to submit recipes for a signature cocktail called the Velvet Allegro. Last night the top three submissions went up against three from bartenders at participating restaurants. The professionals held their own and the winner was Busboys and Poets’ bartender Rebekah Jennings. The 14th and V Busboys will be serving the vodka-based cocktail for the next month.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/cocktails_and_courtyards_last_nights_opening_at_allegro_apartments/834

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