The Mission at 14th and R Will Likely Be High-End Rentals

• March 7, 2014
• 6 Comments

by UrbanTurf Staff

Latest rendering for Central Union Mission. Click to enlarge.

Long thought to be a luxury condo project, the new development planned for the former Central Union Mission at 14th and R Street NW looks like it will be a high-end rental building instead.

Developer Jeffrey Schonberger told DistrictRE.com in late January that it was “highly likely” that the building would go rental, and UrbanTurf has heard that plan reiterated by several sources in the last week. UrbanTurf reached out to Schonberger for comment, but our email was not immediately returned.

The 51-unit project is currently in the construction phase, undergoing a window-heavy rehabilitation of the existing buildings, and set-back additions on 1625 though 1629 14th Street NW. 1350 R Street NW, the main address for the former Mission, is being updated, while additions are being built on top of the buildings at 1625 through 1629 14th Street NW. Last year, architect Eric Colbert told UrbanTurf that the layouts for the units will range from loft-y condos to two-story duplexes, with a mix of larger and smaller units. No announcement has been made regarding what will occupy the retail space on the ground level.

The old Mission building.

The previous occupants of the Central Union Mission have moved to the mission’s new location at 65 Massachusetts Avenue NW. Delivery of the new project is expected in the late fall 2014, and no word yet on what the rental rates will be.

Similar Posts:

• The 14th Street Development Rundown

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_mission_at_14th_and_r_will_likely_be_high-end_rentals/8212

6 Comments

1. Exposed Brick DC said at 7:07 pm on Friday March 7, 2014:

   While I am excited to see this place go up, 14th street is now full of modern luxury units. Good news is that the competition will force other buildings to drive down their prices. Bad news is that finding historic, charming apartments will become more and more difficult.

1. vered said at 9:19 pm on Friday March 7, 2014:

   Speaking of historic, isn’t there a bit of irony in plans to put high-end rental units in a building whose purpose was to serve the poorest of the poor? Am I alone in seeing a misalignment of intent to outcome? The beautiful facade of the building remains intact in the name of historic preservation, but the true history of the building is obliterated.

1. Frilton Meidman said at 10:14 pm on Friday March 7, 2014:

   “the competition will force other buildings to drive down their prices”

   Yeah, right.

1. jason lawrence said at 12:13 pm on Saturday March 8, 2014:

   The “true history of the building” is not only a mission. So to pigeon hole the historic significance as so is to do that to the whole neighborhood. My row-house was used as a boarding house as evidenced by the locks on all the upper rooms but does that supersede the importance of current ownership? The mission were my neighbors for 15 years and they were fairly good as far as neighbors go. But they no longer served the neighborhood as a whole and would not have left if it didn’t benefit them as well.

1. J said at 11:22 am on Monday March 10, 2014:

   @Frilton Meidman…Exposed Brick DC is correct…when the Harper first started leasing, there was no units available for under $2K…now, they have lowered the starting point to $1,795 and many, many of the units are below the $2K price point…they will soon feel the pinch from the Louis opening up also and will probably have to drop the prices even farther down.

1. David said at 5:38 pm on Thursday March 13, 2014:

   This is very disappointing.  Was hoping for condos.