The View from View 14

November 19, 2009

Rendering of View 14

Last night, UrbanTurf attended the Urban Land Institute’s Young Leaders Group event at View 14, which included a first-look tour of the 184-unit luxury apartment building at the corner of 14th Street and Florida Avenue in the U Street Corridor (map). If you’ve driven north to Columbia Heights on 14th Street, you’ve no doubt noticed the building’s long glass facade that appears to curve slightly with the bend of the road.

Originally planned as condos, View 14 went rental as the market turned, and is now classified as Class A space, with studio units starting at $1,775 per month. Amenities include a fitness center, business center, parking, and two roof decks, one facing east and the other west (check out the views below). Also, most units have some sort of patio, balcony, or outdoor space.

Monument views from atop View 14.

Three blocks north of U Street, View 14 is the latest addition to the “U Street creep” northward that developers envision could one day enliven the blocks between U Street and Columbia Heights with more retail and density.

The View 14 “soft launch” was just two weeks ago and already 14 units are leased, according to co-developer Jeff Blum who gave the tour last night. Blum is hoping they lease about 20 units per month going into the winter.

Blum also noted that they are considering enforcing a “no smoking” policy for the entire building — including the units. Extreme as it may sound, Blum conducted an informal survey of the tour attendees as to whether they would choose not to rent in a building that had such a policy. Only one person in the tour group of 25 raised his hand, evidence that in fact a comprehensive no-smoking rule might not be so extreme after all.

4 Comments

Rob said at 12:13 am on Friday November 20, 2009:
The whole building no-smoking policy is a great idea. I’d be a lot MORE likely to rent in a building with that policy: no smoke drifting over from my neighbor’s apartment and no worries about having the building burn down (the last place I lived had two fires caused by smokers, though thankfully both were put out before causing any significant damage) sound pretty good to me. I don’t know why there aren’t more apartments in DC going totally smoke-free.

NoSmoke said at 9:27 am on Friday November 20, 2009:
Yes, I love the idea of a smoking ban. Too often I walk through the halls of my apartment building and it reeks with cigarette smoke. They shouldn’t have too much trouble getting approval on this.

Mark S. said at 11:34 am on Friday November 20, 2009:
What an exciting building with a solid street presence! Sorry it did not go condo. The clean seamless glass front of these loft style units must feature some incredible views from their lofty hill perch. While a smoke free RENTAL building sounds very attractive, I have NO problem with visiting houseguests smoking in my home. This would be a NO SALE for me as a condo purchaser. What’s next…no pizza delivery because of the smell of pepperoni!

Ben said at 1:24 pm on Friday November 20, 2009:
Yeah, second-hand pepperoni is so carcinogenic, even a whiff sends you into an asthmatic fit. And, the second hand pepperoni-ers doesn’t have the benefit of a filter, either. An apt analogy.