Dupont Office Building Could Be Converted Into 80 Apartments

• January 15, 2015

by Lark Turner

1255 22nd Street NW

A vacant office building in Dupont Circle may be converted to 80 rental apartments, if a proposal floated at Wednesday night’s ANC 2B meeting is successful.

The building at 1255 22nd Street NW (map) has been mostly unoccupied for the last two years, though there is a post office onsite. That office will be retained in the building’s extensive planned renovation, which would dramatically change the facade.

“The proportions of the building just aren’t optimized for current Class A or even A- tenants,” said Michael Foster of MTFA Architecture. “But the proportions of the grid, the structure, the concrete are ideal for apartments, so what we’ve done is look at a design proposal to a multifamily building that would cut in balconies, soften the elevation, and strengthen the presence on the street.”

Foster said the conversion would be by-right in a zone intended for residential use anyway. But the project would still have to go through an approvals process; the owners are proposing closing off a bit of a public alley and building up on a lot they own on the same block.

“We want to return the alley to private ownership and dedicate the exact same public access across from it,” Foster said. There would still be alley access for the neighboring property, he said.

Wednesday’s presentation was informational, so the ANC didn’t take a vote on it. The project will go before the commission again next month.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/owners_of_dupont_office_building_propose_conversion_to_80_apartments/9409