Best Additions of 2010: Capital Bikeshare, The Return of Housing Complex and the $5K Tax Credit

• December 21st 2010

by UrbanTurf Staff

UrbanTurf is taking a week-long look back at the best that DC’s residential real estate market had to offer in 2010. From the best deals to the best renovations to, of course, the best listings, we believe we have sussed out the cream of the crop.

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2010 was a year when DC saw at least one great new addition to the city’s transit scene and the welcome return of a blog and a homebuyer provision that had been gone for a few months.

Capital Bikeshare

In 1994, Portland, Oregon started the Yellow Bike Project in which donated bicycles were painted yellow and deployed around the city to be used for free by residents and visitors. Sixteen years later, DC is following suit (sort of) with the launch of Capital Bikeshare. The bicycle sharing system consists of 114 stations and 1,100 bicycles for public use across DC and Arlington. The first 30 minutes of the ride are free (with a $75 annual subscription) and then riders are charged for every additional 30-minute increment of usage thereafter. In September, the month that Capital Bikeshare launched, 37,000 bicycle trips were recorded, and The Post’s Dr. Gridlock reported last week (on a day when the low temperature was just 26 degrees) that ridership had increased 100 percent over a much nicer day in October.

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The Return of Housing Complex

For a couple months earlier this year, The Washington City Paper’s Housing Complex blog sat dormant following the departure of writer Ruth Samuelson. Then in April, the blog was revived as Lydia DePillis took the reigns and started producing content at a Sewell Chan-like pace for the city’s weekly alternative paper. The daily output was slow at first as DePillis learned the ins and outs of her new beat, but she quickly started covering everything from streetcars to high rents. Now it is not surprising to see a 10:45pm tweet from DePillis as she sits at a local ANC meeting covering hotel zoning issues followed seven hours later by a comprehensive morning real estate links post that is time-stamped 6:00am. Such dogged shoe-leather journalism has remade Housing Complex as one of UrbanTurf’s daily must-reads.

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The Return of the $5K Tax Credit

While better categorized as a re-addition rather than a new addition, many DC homebuyers were happy to learn last week that the $5,000 tax credit for homebuyers in the District is back in effect. Tucked away in the massive tax bill that President Obama signed last Friday was an extension of the $5,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers in DC that expired at the end of 2009. The extension was renewed for 2010 and 2011, which means that qualified buyers who purchased this year are eligible to receive it. For more information on the credit, click here.

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Previous Best Of 2010 entries:

• Best Real Estate Question of the Year: Is The Rent Too Damn High?
• Best Renovation By A Local Firm: Studio 27 Capitol Hill Row House
• Best Real Estate Idea That Could Fail Miserably: The Dupont Underground
• The Best Listing of the Year (For Mere Mortals)
• Best Real Estate Resurrection of 2010: 425 Mass
• The Best Listing of the Year (For Well-Paid Lobbyists)
• Best Use of a Magic 8-Ball: The Neighborhoods of 2015
• Best Real Estate Mistake of the Year: The White House is For Sale
• Best Re-Use of a Restaurant as a Home: Tilden Gardens
• Deal of the Year: The Architect’s Three-Bedroom

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/best_additions_capital_bikeshare_the_return_of_housing_complex/2786.