14-Unit Condo Conversion Planned in Southeast

• September 3, 2014

by Lark Turner

816 Potomac Avenue SE

A building just off the Southeast Freeway, vacant for more than a decade, is slated for a renovation.

Novo Development and architect Eric Colbert plan to turn the long-vacant 16-unit building at 816 Potomac Avenue SE (map) into a 14-unit condo building.

The building sits on an approximately one-block stretch of Potomac Avenue just a couple of blocks south of the Washington Auto Club, where there are plans to construct 49 luxury condos. The ANC 6B Planning and Zoning Committee gave both plans the go-ahead on Tuesday night.

Once the units at the 14-condo project are sold, Colbert told the committee, Novo will seek to build another, new-construction building near the renovated one. But the plan includes no additions to the existing condo building. Though it needs cursory approval from the Historic Preservation Office, the plan will almost certainly move forward.

Members of the committee praised the developers for investing in a part of the neighborhood that’s long been a residential void.

“When we did the Lower 8th plan a couple years ago, one of the things we talked about was the need to get more residents down there,” Commissioner Kristen Oldenburg said. “This is very exciting. Other things will happen because of this.”

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/novo_development_plans_14-condo_conversion_in_southeast/8924