Where to Buy: DC Neighborhoods with the Best Investment Potential

• September 12, 2008
• 3 Comments

by Mark Wellborn

Spielberg Pocket Park in Hill East

It is no secret that a handful of DC neighborhoods have undergone gentrification in the last ten to fifteen years.  With that gentrification came major real estate appreciation, leaving many to say to themselves, “If I had only bought in that neighborhood a few years ago…” Logan Circle, Columbia Heights, and the U Street Corridor are perhaps the best examples. UrbanTurf decided to talk with a few real estate professionals to see what neighborhoods are ripe with the same type of investment potential that Columbia Heights and Logan Circle had in the 1990s. The list that we have compiled does not include places like Dupont Circle and Georgetown where properties are destined to appreciate predictably and steadily over time, but rather zip codes that offer great value and a pleasant quality of life and where properties could pay off big as a result of the public and private investments that are being made in the neighborhood.

While the name sounds like it was created in order to sell homes (and probably was), Capitol Hill East is a neighborhood with potential. There are no official boundaries, but generally it runs from 14th Street SE to the Anacostia River, and from C Street NE to the I-295 Expressway (see map here). For between $400,000 and $600,000, you can get a home that would go for upwards of $1 million in Capitol Hill proper. This is largely due to the fact that as the DC housing boom has helped Capitol Hill property values catch up to other areas in town, Hill East has sort of been left behind. However, things are looking up. “With the plan for redevelopment of the old DC General Hospital campus into the Hill East Waterfront and an anchor of retail, restaurant, and green space likely coming online in the next five to seven years, these 40 square blocks will be positioned at the center of a thriving new neighborhood,” neighborhood broker Joel Nelson told UrbanTurf.

LeDroit Park by NCinDC

“LeDroit Park is a sleeping bear which has been steadily waking from its slumber,” Paul Cizek of McEnearney Associates told UrbanTurf. “Over the past few years, we have seen investors and end users buying and restoring this neighborhood to its grandeur of yesteryear.” This is an apt description of LeDroit Park, a neighborhood located just southeast of Howard University (see map here). While renovated Victorians can still fetch over $1 million, you can also find a Queen Anne row house in need of some fixing up in the $200,000 to $300,000 range. The neighborhood does not have much in terms of restaurants and nightlife, but there is easy access to public transportation (Shaw/Howard University Metro), and its suburban feel translates into easy parking and a comfortable living environment. “You get the feeling that there is community, and the prospect of a good future [in LeDroit Park],” the City Paper’s Arin Greenwood wrote recently. “Even if there isn’t anywhere to get a cocktail.”

Brookland is not the place that you move to in DC if you want to go out five nights a week. Brookland is the place that families go when they grow tired of their condo or row house, and want an affordable detached home with a yard in a quiet suburban-like neighborhood. And it is perhaps the most feasible place to do that within the DC borders. There are four-bedroom homes currently on the market for $425,000 and two-bedrooms for $250,000. While the area’s sparse population has made it difficult for the retail district on 12th Street to really get going, the addition of a Yes! Organic Market and a new coffee shop indicate signs of life. And earlier this month, the city’s Office of Planning released the final draft of their plan to revitalize the area around the Brookland Metro station. The plan calls for the addition of 200-250 new residential units, 30,000-35,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and approximately 250 parking spaces to the blocks around the Metro over the coming years. Monroe Street, which connects the east and west sides of Brookland, would also be given a serious makeover.

Brookland

Does it seem like we are plugging Petworth a little too much here at UrbanTurf? Well, if it does, please bear with us. The area is filled with well-designed homes and prices are about 10 to 15 percent less than in the Hill East neighborhood. The main reason for this is the lack of amenities within walking distance of many properties in Petworth, but with the resurgence of Columbia Heights and redevelopment of the area around the Petworth/Georgia Avenue Metro, that is changing. “As the eight-block stretch of Georgia Avenue on the western side develops, it will serve as a renewed spine for the area like it did 50 years ago,” Joel Nelson said recently. And while the constant complaints about public transportation in the area continue, it is not hard to find a home in the $300,000 to $450,000 range within about a 15-minute walk of the green and yellow Metro lines. There are also slightly pricier but still relatively affordable beauties, like this $469,900 five-bedroom renovated row house we featured last week.

3 Comments

1. DG-rad said at 2:15 pm on Monday November 3, 2008:

   what about Anacostia? I think it probably deserves a spot on this list.

1. Jim said at 3:07 pm on Monday November 3, 2008:

   Southwest/Waterfront, anyone?  (You know, the area with all the tall cranes)

1. Anonymousgirlinthecity said at 5:58 pm on Friday February 13, 2009:

   What still concerns me about this and other articles or discussions about particular areas is: gentrification, safety and convenience.  Is gentrification a good or bad thing?  Do I feel safe walking to the metro (especially an observant person who doesn’t just assume that they are always safe)?  Am I able to get to a clean grocery store or am I basically entering a corner store or bodega?

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