Co-ops in DC? Welcome to Capitol Hill Tower

• May 28th 2009

by Mark Wellborn

Before there were really any residential developments in the Capitol Riverfront, there was Capitol Hill Tower. The 344-unit development started selling a few years ago, and is one of the only new construction co-op buildings that you will find in the city. With 80 percent of the homes sold, the building is proving to be one of the popular residential developments in DC’s newest neighborhood.

The development is located about a block from the Navy Yard Metro, and we headed down to the area earlier this week to take a tour.

We were impressed. Capitol Hill Tower offers a lot of space, services and amenities at very low prices. One-bedrooms start at $267,000 and two-bedrooms at $390,000, so even without a pool, fitness center or courtyard, those would be competitive prices in the city. However, Capitol Hill Tower has all those amenities, as well as billiard and party rooms and a 24-hour front desk and concierge services. Underground parking is also available, but not included in a unit’s list price.

However, the main draw of the development for many prospective buyers is that the units are co-ops, not condos. There are a number of advantages to owning a co-op rather than a condo in DC:

1. You do not have to pay transfer tax at closing, meaning lower closing costs.
2. Real estate taxes are included in the monthly building fees.
3. You actually finance considerably less than the purchase price. There is an underlying mortgage on most co-op buildings, including Capitol Hill Towers. That means that a portion of the purchase price for your unit is your home’s share of the overall building loan. This underlying mortgage is paid down through your monthly fees, and translates to you financing considerably less than the purchase price and putting down less equity when buying. For example, if you are buying a $300,000 unit, and $130,000 of the price is the underlying mortgage then the down payment you make would be a percentage of the remaining amount of the purchase price to finance. So, in this case that would be $170,000 meaning that you would only need to pony up $17,000 if you were putting up 10 percent.

That was somewhat long-winded, so to show you with numbers, here are the financing figures for a 700 square-foot co-op that we saw which was listed for $267,400.

Price: $267,400
Underlying Mortgage: $118,863
Net Price: $148,357
10% Down Payment: $14,835
Amount to Finance: $133,521
Estimated monthly payments (including property taxes, monthly building fees, and underlying mortgage): Approx. $1,800

Unlike most co-ops, Capitol Hill Tower does not require co-op board approval to buy, sell or rent your home.

If you would like more info about the Capitol Riverfront development, click here.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/coops_in_dc_welcome_to_capitol_hill_tower/959.