Jair Lynch Pulls Plug on Plans For 48-Unit H Street Project

• February 27, 2013
• 8 Comments

by Shilpi Paul

An early rendering for 501 H Street NE.

501 H Street NE (map) is back up for sale as developer Jair Lynch has decided not to move forward with previous plans for the building. ANC 6C Commissioner Tony Goodman tweeted the news on Wednesday morning and confirmed to UrbanTurf that H Street Development Corporation, which owns the building, is re-listing the property for sale.

In December, UrbanTurf reported that Jair Lynch was planning on creating a 48-unit residential project with ground floor retail at the site. A call to the developer looking into the reason for the change in plans was not immediately returned.

The property is located between two sizable projects. One block to the west is 360˚ H Street, a 215-unit apartment building with a long-awaited Giant Supermarket, that recently started leasing. And a 240-unit apartment project on the 600 block of H Street, also from Jair Lynch, is expected to start construction this year.

Similar Posts:

• The (Many) Residential Developments on Tap For H Street
• 240-Unit H Street Apartment Building to Start Construction in 2013
• 360˚ H Street To Begin Leasing This Month, Giant Open By May

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/jair_lynch_pulls_plug_on_plans_for_48_unit_h_street_project/6719

8 Comments

1. Seth Rogers said at 9:33 pm on Wednesday February 27, 2013:
   The reason....too many units delivering! Smart move.

1. tiffany said at 10:29 pm on Wednesday February 27, 2013:
   right! are the buildings down there (senate, etc) fully leased? atlas lofts? too many units, not enough people. the church they just razed at 13th and maryland is another large project as well as 13th and h street slated to another one... very smart move.

1. EmptyNester said at 10:31 pm on Wednesday February 27, 2013:
   Too many units as in A. the rents will be so low that we won't make money or B. The rents will dip and then come up later, so it makes more sense to sit on this another year or two or C. We are building something down the block, so lets not cannibalize it ??

1. Emptynester said at 10:34 pm on Wednesday February 27, 2013:
   we visited the AVA building a few weeks ago, and they were already partially leased, and the rents they were looking for were high (by our lights - around $2600 for a well designed but not huge 2br/2ba with parking extra, and I think an activities fee) and they didn't mention any move in specials (maybe they would have had we indicated more serious interest) There are units, but they seem to be moving.

1. adrian said at 3:08 pm on Thursday February 28, 2013:
   Finally! Have been wondering why all the developers have been insisting on working towards creating a glut of apartments for which there will not be sufficient demand. One already sees plenty of vacancies. I think smaller, unique, buildings in good locations will continue to do well, but too many larger buildings going up.

1. anon_1 said at 5:35 pm on Thursday February 28, 2013:
   There's no glut -- there's latent demand and depressed inventory since the economic downturn made financing more difficult. Whether that translates into instant full occupancy is another matter -- I imagine it will take some time for these places to become fully leased. I agree with @emptynester. They don't want to compete with themselves, especially given the other competitors coming on line. It's a lot of units coming on line in a short time period. It's a shame. I'd rather see more developments of this scale than some of the larger ones. H St. is going to become a lot like U St both good and bad, but largely unrecognizable with its previous incarnation.

1. Caleb said at 6:27 pm on Thursday February 28, 2013:
   @emptynester and @Anon_1 are probably right. There is plenty of space to build cheaply in this town with interest rates so low. The developer prob. ran the the numbers and realized its best to sit on land for a few years and rake in as much rent as they can until population numbers continue to rise and demand rises too...I was always good with Sim City.

1. Tom A. said at 2:02 pm on Friday March 1, 2013:
   I wish some developer would create more moderately priced rentals. (a max of 1k per bedroom) They would be at a zero % vacancy within a week. The Atlas Flats are quite overpriced for the location, which is why people aren't living there. They may also realize that their rent is about 2x what a mortgage would be in the same neighborhood.