Logan Circle Developer Hasn’t Closed on Contract Due to Proposed Pop-Up Rule

• August 4, 2014

by Lark Turner

1310 Q Street NW

Update: Please see an update on this story here. The Office of Planning says permits will continue to be issued until the rule is finalized.

A potential change to the zoning code has put at least one sale on hold as a developer waits to hear whether the Zoning Commission will make changes that would more tightly control additions in residential districts zoned R-4 in DC.

The developer who is under contract to buy 1310 Q Street NW (map) and turn it into a six-unit development reportedly told a member of ANC 2F that they were postponing closing on the property because the Office of Zoning won’t issue a permit for the project until they know what will happen with the proposed code revision, according to notes from the ANC 2F’s Community Development Committee meeting in late July.

The change proposed by the Office of Planning is meant to target so-called “pop-ups,” additions to rowhouses that rise above the building’s facade — and often incongruously above the homes of neighbors. But it’s been criticized by some proponents of urban development for hewing to the status quo instead of allowing needed density to develop in the District’s most sought-after neighborhoods. The addition at 1310 is not a pop-up.

1310 Q Street NW was listed for $4.4 million in November 2013. The price was lowered to $4.1 million in February, and went under contract in April. The property, called the Shipman House, was slated for a modest four-unit addition, which the ANC supported in May. With the home itself plus its basement unit, the project would have six units. The concept and design of the addition were also approved by the Historic Preservation Review Board in May.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/developer_of_logan_circle_rowhouse_puts_purchase_on_hold_thanks_to_proposed/8820