Trevelyan House: Setting the Bar Higher

• August 2, 2010
• 8 Comments

by Mark Wellborn

Trevelyan House

When Madison Investments was developing Trevelyan House, a new nine-unit condo a few blocks from the DCUSA shopping center in Columbia Heights, it decided to survey the buyers in one of its recently-built projects, Colvin House, to find out what they liked and didn’t like about their new homes. The developer then took all the feedback and incorporated it into its plans for Trevelyan House, further refining what Madison Investments intends to be its signature on this and future projects: attention to detail, high-end finishes, and mid-market pricing.

“The bulk of our efforts go to making sure we get the details right,” Barry Madani, principal of Madison Investments, told UrbanTurf. “Selection of the tiling, the cabinetry, the flooring — that’s really where we fight and fuss to distinguish our product.”

They also made a point of keeping the units quiet at Trevelyan House. Double-layered floors were built with acoustic sound matting so that the classical-music lover would not hear the guitar riff from the music of an upstairs neighbor. To cater to the tech-savvy home buyer, Trevelyan House has a wireless router for the whole building that provides each unit with free internet.

Such enhancements have begun to attract condo buyers aching for more quality inventory in a market with tight supply: two one-bedroom units have already been reserved.

Living and dining area of two-bedroom unit.

• Location – 1436 Ogden Street NW (map)

• Living Space – After a tour of Trevelyan House, the attention paid to the quality and detail of the units becomes clear. Madani told UrbanTurf that an interior design firm was brought on to help conceive the layout of the condos and common spaces. There are six one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units, ranging in size from 567 to 1,226 square feet. The largest condo in the project is also the model unit, a two-bedroom duplex with an open living and dining area, a private rear patio and two good-sized bedrooms. The kitchens in all the units have high-end appliances and unique touches like slow-closing cabinets and custom built-in dividers for cutlery. Every condo also has an in-unit washer/dryer, a feature that UrbanTurf readers say is rivaling outdoor space as the most sought-after amenity for potential buyers.

For more information about Trevelyan House, click here. Here are a few photos of the development:

Kitchen in two-bedroom unit

Bedroom

Patio area of two-bedroom unit

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/trevelyan_house_setting_the_bar_higher/2328

8 Comments

1. Sarah said at 2:44 pm on Monday August 2, 2010:

   The model unit looks like a great price per SF.

1. Jason said at 6:58 pm on Monday August 2, 2010:

   “To cater to the tech-savvy home buyer, Trevelyan House has a wireless router for the whole building that provides each unit with free internet.” - I’m not quite this should be considered a real feature considering how many people do this already, albeit unwittingly.

   A quick word of caution to people who use other people’s networks: it’s really not safe… really.

1. maria said at 7:53 am on Tuesday August 3, 2010:

   Is parking offered with any of the units? I guess that would be the icing on the cake.

1. swimfan said at 6:32 pm on Wednesday August 4, 2010:

   Saw this place last week. The pictures above were really carefully cropped to exclude the neighborhood context. It’s useful to walk around the block (approaching from 16th St. to Center) to get a more comprehensive feel for the area.

1. Victor said at 3:05 pm on Thursday August 5, 2010:

   I live about a block away, and swimfan (creepy name) makes an important point. This development is off the main street and quite out of place between some cute row houses and ugly sterile 50’s-70’s low-rent apartment buildings.

1. Lars said at 9:04 pm on Thursday August 5, 2010:

   Went by on Sunday. Stunning finishes, location not bad, no parking, better than most of the stuff out there. They wont have any trouble selling these quickly. The emotional attachment is pretty high.

1. highroller said at 1:43 pm on Saturday January 8, 2011:

   This bldg is such an over kill for the neighborhood.  Developer has no idea what he has built is very much out of touch with the buyer whom wants those finishes and the depressed neighborhood.  Pricing, way too high.  I guess that’s why they still haven’t come close to selling out yet.  Touring of the bldg is not as impressive as the web site pictures suggested.  Another developer acting bigger and cooler than his product really is.

1. marshmallow said at 6:12 pm on Monday January 24, 2011:

   Saw this 2 weeks ago and have to say it was absolutely gorgeus. The broker there also mentioned the developer had been misled by their previous broker on pricing and the new prices About $399K/ 2bed and $300/ 1bed were what they had initially wanted and have priced. Also it seems there are only 2 units remaining. Shame it did not have parking but as far as quality and finish go I dont think i have seen anything like it even in Dupont. They have another building coming up on 11th and Monroe so it will be interesting to see how that one turns out given the better location

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