Office-to-Residential Conversion Will Deliver 222 Units in Thomas Circle

• March 6, 2020

by Nena Perry-Brown

The public heard of a planned office-to-residential conversion off Thomas Circle a couple of weeks ago. Now, that plan is being set in motion.

A partnership between Lincoln Property Co. and Cadillac Fairview has applied for a special exception to enable conversion of the 1980s-era office building at 1313 L Street NW (map) into a 222-unit residential building.

Because the D-4-R zone allows for unlimited residential density, the application also seeks to partially demolish the 89-foot building and build to the maximum allowable height of 110 feet. The building would include 61 below-grade parking spaces and 74 bicycle spaces.

Because the southeast corner of the building abuts a particularly glass-heavy New York University academic building, a small courtyard would be carved into that side fronting L Street to preserve the academic building's windows and comply with distance requirements. Hickok Cole Architects is the designer.

This project could serve as a particularly interesting case study following a discouraging report by the city regarding the potential to incentivize these kinds of conversions downtown. A zoning hearing has not yet been scheduled. 

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/an-office-to-residential-conversion-in-thomas-circle/16561