What's Hot: New Model Debuts at Capitol Hill's Luxury, Elevator Townhomes | The Costs and Profits of a DC Condo Conversion, Revisited
DC’s Newest Condo Amenity: A Marijuana Grow Closet

The grow closet in the Kenyon Street condo.
In late February, a law legalizing many aspects of marijuana went into effect in DC. Specifically, the law made it legal to possess a maximum of two ounces of marijuana, transfer up to one ounce to another person without any money changing hands, and grow a maximum of six marijuana plants in a home.
Many industries are now looking for ways to capitalize on the new law, and that includes condo developers.
Eric Hirshfield recently finished two, four-level condos that sit side-by-side on the 500 block of Kenyon Street NW. The units have features that buyers would expect of a new condo, like a gourmet kitchen, oak flooring, and marble baths.
story continues below
loading...story continues above
However, in one of the units, Hirshfield added a feature that likely no other new condo in the city can boast: a grow closet for marijuana plants.
“The closet in the fifth bedroom was a little screwed up,” Hirshfield told UrbanTurf. “I thought ‘What can I do to make this a special closet?’”
Hirshfield had a plumber install drainage and a water supply, an HVAC system was put in to handle the exhaust, and an electrician installed a grow light. He staged it with tomato plants and herbs, but also included the Intitiaive 71 ballot, the measure that DC residents supported that resulted in the legal marijuana legislation.

While DC has changed their laws, marijuana is still illegal as far as the Federal government’s perspective, an issue that does not concern Hirshfield. “I don’t think the Feds are coming to bust this grow closet,” he said.
The unit is now under contract, but, alas, the new buyers will not be using the closet for its specific intended purpose. However, they will be using it to grow herbs.
“Between our love of cooking and having the outdoors indoors, plants always bring an added warmth,” one of the buyers told UrbanTurf. “Now we have a grow closet that we’ll use for winter gardening of culinary herbs and jump starting seedlings for our spring annuals.”
“It’s all good for fellow Washingtonians who use marijuana in their respective homes legally. We just can’t partake given our livelihoods.”
That won’t stop Hirshfield from working this unorthodox feature into his future projects.
“I plan to incorporate the grow closet into the design of most of my residential developments going forward.”
This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dcs_newest_condo_amenity_a_marijuana_grow_closet/10491
Most Popular... This Week • Last 30 Days • Ever

Following news that the retail outlet is replacing Best Buy in Tenleytown, UrbanTurf ... read »

Over 1.5 years since our last examination, both home prices and construction costs ha... read »

Nearly six months after a PUD was approved for two of the last remaining Waterfront S... read »

A bill was introduced in DC last month to increase the homestead deduction, but an an... read »

An Arlington neighborhood considers renaming; Google quietly makes Amazon moves; and ... read »
DC Real Estate Guides
Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market
We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Visit guides.urbanturf.com or start browsing below!
First-Timer Primers
Intro guides for first-time home buyers
Northern Virginia
Profiles of 14 neighborhoods across Northern Virginia
Ballston
Looking to Give People A Reason to Stay Past 6pm
|
Clarendon
Happily Straddling the Line Between City and Suburb
|
Columbia Pike
Arlington’s Neglected Stepchild is Getting a Makeover
|
Crystal City
Turning Lemons into Lemonade
|
Lyon Village
Developing An Air of Exclusivity?
|
Rosslyn
Hitting Its Growth Spurt
|
Shirlington
An Urban Village Hitting Its Stride
|
Del Ray
Virginia’s Small Town Near the Big City
|
Eisenhower Avenue
The Vibrancy Might Take a Few Years
|
Huntington
The Quiet Neighborhood By the Beltway
|
Old Town
Mayberry By The Potomac
|
Parkfairfax
132 Commerical-Free Acres
|
Downtown Falls Church
Staying the Same in the Midst of Change
|
Tysons Corner
Radical Change Could Be On The Way
|
Maryland
Profiles of 14 neighborhoods in suburban Maryland
Annapolis
Small-Town Living in the State Capital
|
Bethesda
Bedroom Community Gets Buzzing Cache
|
Cabin John
In With The New While Maintaining the Old
|
Chevy Chase
Affluence, Green Lawns and Pricey Homes
|
Downtown Silver Spring
Experiencing a Resurgence After a Bumpy History
|
Potomac
A Suburb on Steroids
|
Rockville Town Square
Despite the Dynamism, Still Somewhat Generic
|
Takoma Park
More Than a Little Bit Quirky
|
Wheaton
A Foodie Magnet on the Verge of Change
|
Capitol Heights
Kudzu, Front Porches and Crime
|
Hyattsville
Glass Half Full or Half Empty?
|
Mount Rainier
Artists, Affordable Homes and A Silo Full of Corn
|
National Harbor
A Development Rises Next to the Potomac
|
Riverdale Park
A Town Looking For Its Identity
|
Northwest DC
30+ neighborhood profiles for the city's biggest quadrant
16th Street Heights
DC's Sleeper Neighborhood
|
Bloomingdale
Where (Almost) Everyone Knows Your Name
|
AU Park
One of DC’s Last Frontiers Before the Suburbs
|
Brightwood
DC’s Northern Neighborhood on the Cusp
|
Burleith
DC’s 535 House Neighborhood
|
Cathedral Heights
Do You Know Where That Is?
|
Chevy Chase DC
Not to Be Confused With the Other Chevy Chase
|
Cleveland Park
Coming Back After A Rough Year
|
Columbia Heights
DC’s Most Diverse Neighborhood, But For How Long?
|
Crestwood
An Island of Serenity East of the Park
|
Dupont Circle
The Best of DC (For a Price)
|
Foggy Bottom & West End
Where the Institutional Meets the International
|
Forest Hills
Ambassadors and Adventurous Architecture
|
Foxhall Village
350 Homes Just West of Georgetown
|
Friendship Heights
A Shopping Mecca With a Few Places to Live
|
Georgetown
History, Hoyas and H&M
|
Glover Park
One of DC’s Preppier and More Family-Friendly Neighborhoods
|
Kalorama
A Posh View From Embassy Row
|
LeDroit Park
A Quiet Enclave in the Middle of the City
|
Logan Circle
Trendy Now, But Not By Accident
|
Mount Pleasant
Sought-After Homes Surround Main Street in Transition
|
Mount Vernon Triangle
From Seedy to Sought-After
|
Palisades
The Long, Skinny Neighborhood at the City’s Northwest Edge
|
Park View
It’s Not Petworth
|
Penn Quarter/Chinatown
DC’s Go-Go-Go Neighborhood
|
Petworth
Getting a Vibrancy of Its Own
|
Shaw
The Duke’s Former Stomping Ground
|
Shepherd Park
DC’s Garden of Diversity
|
Spring Valley
A Suburb With a DC Zip Code
|
Takoma
Not To Be Confused With Takoma Park
|
Tenleytown
Not Quite Like Its Neighbors
|
U Street Corridor
The Difference a Decade Makes
|
Woodley Park
Deceptively Residential
|
Adams Morgan
No Longer DC’s Hippest Neighborhood, But Still Loved by Residents
|
Southwest DC
The little quadrant that could
Southwest Waterfront
A Neighborhood Where A Change Is Gonna Come
|
Northeast DC
Profiles of 10 neighborhoods in NE
Brookland
New Development Could Shake Up Pastoral Peace
|
Deanwood
A Little Bit of Country Just Inside the District’s Borders
|
Eckington
Not to Be Confused With Bloomingdale
|
Fort Totten
Five Years Could Make a Big Difference
|
H Street
A Place To Party, and To Settle Down
|
Langdon
The Northeast Neighborhood That Few Know About
|
Michigan Park
A Newsletter-On-Your-Doorstep Community
|
NoMa
Evolving from a Brand to a Neighborhood
|
Rosedale
Ripe for Investment Right About Now
|
Trinidad
The Difference 5 Years Makes
|
Woodridge
Big Houses, A Dusty Commercial Strip and Potential
|
Southeast DC
6 neighborhoods from Capitol Hill to East of the River
Capitol Riverfront
Still Growing
|
Hill East
Capitol Hill’s Lesser Known Neighbor
|
Congress Heights
Gradually Rising
|
Hillcrest
Notable for Its Neighborliness
|
Historic Anacostia
Future Promise Breeds Cautious Optimism
|
Eastern Market
A More European Way of Living
|
Off the Beaten Turf
Overlooked parks, shops, cafes, and miscellany throughout DC
Unique Spaces
Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro
3 Comments