Duel: U Street v. H Street

June 11, 2008
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Duels

by Mark Wellborn

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U Street Rowhouses by Kate Mereand at flickr

The H Street Corridor could be seen as the similarly-monikered U Street Corridor’s little brother: It’s a few years behind in terms of growth, but its striving to one day emulate its older sibling. Despite the fact that U Street’s transformation is already in full swing and H Street is just trying to catch up, UrbanTurf wanted to see where things stood right now. So we decided to stage a battle between the two areas. Okay, brothers, duke it out!

Round One: Real Estate Prices

U Street has become the destination in the District for successful young professionals. Translation: Here come the yuppies. While H Street may be just about five years from that demographic influx, it is not there yet. That could be considered a good thing, especially when it comes to real estate prices that are noticeably lower across the board. If H Street is the next U Street, then the area is rich with investment potential right now. Some developers are realizing that as well. Abdo Development just cut the ribbon on Landmark Lofts on H Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets.

	U Street	H Street
Price Per Square Foot	$474	$357
Average Listing Price	$639,005	$426,666
Median Sales Price	$452,500	$441,450

* Source: Trulia

WINNER — H Street

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Looking Down H Street by Kate Mereand at flickr

Round Two: Transportation and Parking

Access to Public Transportation

H Street: Not great. Although there is a shuttle bus that occasionally runs from the neighborhood to the Union Station Red Line, its regularity is anything but. With the station about 15 blocks away from the commercial heart of the corridor, walking would be a hike.

U Street: Very good. Public transit options include the U Street/Cardoza Green Line smack in the middle of everything, or the Dupont Circle Red Line which is walking distance from most places in the neighborhood.

How Walkable Are The Areas?

H Street: Iffy. H Street’s makeover is still in its early stages, so it is not the safest place to walk around once the sun goes down, if only because the streets become pretty desolate. That said, H Street’s retail and nightlife is confined to a few blocks, making most of those destinations within just a few-minute walk of one another.

U Street: U Street is a very walkable area as it is in the twilight of its transition. Most areas are safe at day and night. The main commercial corridor buzzes, day and night. It’s a slightly larger neighborhood, though, so walking distances on the whole would be a little longer than those around H Street.

Parking

While there isn’t going to be a space with your name on it in either area, it is much easier to find street parking in the H Street area. U Street’s recent popularity means that finding a spot can be a time-consuming task.

WINNER — U Street

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Ben's Chili Bowl by Rachael Voorhees at flickr

Round Three: Convenience

The convenience of U Street is hard to match. It is centrally located, and professionals in virtually every industry could call it home and have a relatively simple commute to work. The same cannot be said for H Street. While it may be a convenient bike ride to work for Capitol Hill staffers, others will find that, without a car, their commute is a pain.

The pace of development in the U Street area correlates to a wealth of options when it comes to your basic needs. Coffee, brunch, and dry cleaning are all within walking distance. The neighborhood is also not too far away from the crown jewel of grocery stores, Whole Foods on 14th and P Streets, an establishment that seems to magnetically attract shoppers.

DC’s Great Streets program plans to pump approximately $30 million over the next few years into H Street’s retail landscape, but currently the options are pretty sparse.

WINNER — U Street

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H Street Martini Lounge by Kate Mereand at flickr

Round Four: Quality of Life/Things To Do

H Street continues to be an extremely transitional area, and we would be remiss if we did not mention that it stills hold on to some of the unsavory characteristics from its past. The crime rate in the area is still very high when compared to the rest of the city and that includes the U Street Corridor.

That said, for a quieter lifestyle, H Street comes out on top. U Street’s popularity has resulted in increasing noise, one of the cons of becoming the next “It” neighborhood.

U Street has a pretty significant leg up when it comes to night recreation. While the streets in the U Street Corridor hum with new restaurants and bars, H Street’s blocks are still peppered with boarded up, abandoned buildings.

As a result, when it comes to restaurants and nightlife, U Street generally wins out. It has the better upscale restaurant option in the Southern-inspired Crème Café and Lounge, the better bar with the laidback Saint Ex, and the better lounge with Marvin, the latest offering from the owners of the 18th Street Lounge. However, H Street does trump U Street when it comes to live music venues (Rock and Roll Hotel) and neighborhood bistro with Dr. Granville Moore’s, a brewpub where mussels are the order of the day.

For more casual encounters, U Street comes away the victor again. The widely lauded Busboys and Poets is the ideal coffee shop/bookstore for virtually any activity that involves sitting on a couch, and Twins Jazz is a great live music alternative for anyone that does not want their eardrums decimated.

WINNER — U Street

Conclusion

Development and convenience go along way in a person’s decision about where to live, and the U Street area ranks high in both those categories. That being said, H Street is a neighborhood where an investment in residential real estate will likely pay off in a few years when the area catches up with its “older brother.”

OVERALL WINNER — U Street...for now