14th Street's Central Union Mission to Turn Into 51-Unit Condo Project

• March 8th 2012

by Shilpi Paul

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The wheels are in motion again to turn the Central Union Mission at the southeast corner of 14th and R Streets NW (map) from its current use into a residential project.

At Wednesday night’s ANC 2F meeting, residential architect Eric Colbert presented plans for a 51-unit condo building at the site of the mission. The plans for this project were initiated back in 2006 when developer Jeffrey Schonberger was working with a different architect. At the end of September 2006, conceptual approval was granted by the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB), and BZA approval was granted in 2008.

The developer has now switched architects to Colbert, and while the BZA approval is still effective, the refined plans need renewed approval, so Schonberger and Colbert will be going before the HPRB later this month and stopped by the ANC to discuss the plans, which are a simplified, “quiet design.

The timeline for this project is still very much in flux, as the Central Union Mission, which has been serving the needy in Logan Circle for almost three decades, needs to find and move into a new home before the residential project can get underway. As the neighborhood started to transform into a higher-end corridor, the directors of the mission began to look for a location closer to people who need their services. They are hoping to move to 65 Massachusetts Avenue NW in 2013, according to Borderstan, although construction on the new building has not started yet.

Update: Here is more on the new project from Eric Colbert:

We are adding on to the top of 1625 through 1629 14th Street NW. The addition will be set back from the historic facades to comply with the standards of the historic division. There will be a mix of smaller and larger units. Some will have a loft type feeling and some will be two-story duplexes.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/central_union_mission_to_turn_into_51_unit_condo_project/5259.