Kalorama Condos, Uline Arena Receive Unaminous HPRB Approval

• April 26, 2013

by Shilpi Paul

Courtesy of Lock 7.

A proposed 16-unit condo project at 2012-2014 Kalorama Road NW received unanimous support from the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) on Thursday.

We previously wrote about this project from Lock 7 Development after they faced a tough crowd at an ANC 1C meeting last week. Several neighbors at the meeting felt that Kalorama was becoming overdeveloped, and they worried that this project would set the wrong precedent.

The same residents who spoke out in opposition at the ANC 1C meeting showed up to the HPRB hearing to voice their (occasionally emphatic) complaints. The complainants went so far as to question the standards used by the board.

However, as each HPRB member voiced their opinion, it was clear that they were all supportive and found the concept to be fitting with the surrounding area. The board did ask the developers to consider adjusting the top floor to make it less bulky, perhaps making it more of a “penthouse” than a full floor, and to rework some of the exterior to make it less commercial and more residential looking.

In other news from the meeting, Douglas Development’s plan to redevelop the Uline Arena into The Coliseum also received unanimous approval. The HPRB members did encourage Douglas to find ways to incorporate the impressive scale and volume of the building into their interior design, and Douglas Development’s Paul Millstein dropped some interesting news: apparently, the developer has been in talks with a rock climbing company to potentially add a climbing wall to the plans.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/disputed_kalorama_project_gets_unaminous_hprb_approval/6987