Going Bigger By Going Smaller: Capitol Hill Apartment Trades One-Bedrooms For Two-Bedrooms

• September 23rd

by UrbanTurf Staff

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A three-story apartment building on Capitol Hill could soon trade its one-bedrooms for fewer, larger residences.

The owner of 245-249 8th Street NE (map) has filed plans with DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) to renovate the 11-unit building, which is currently made up entirely of one-bedroom apartments, and construct a three-story rear addition. When all is said and done, the building would have eight units: seven two-bedrooms and a one-bedroom with an office. The project needs two special exceptions from the BZA: one to increase lot occupancy, and another to expand an apartment building that was converted before 1958.

Out front, a rendering depicts a refreshed brick facade with a single central entrance under an awning, replacing the building's three separate stoops. In back, the applicant says the addition won't be visible from 8th Street and has been designed to fit the character of the homes along the alley and C Street.

The proposal runs counter to what other owners of older, small apartment buildings have pursued. Last October, the BZA approved a request to add two dwelling units in the cellar of an existing four-unit apartment building at 1631 A Street SE. A few months earlier, the board approved an application to add three units to an existing four-unit apartment house on First Street NW, bringing it to seven units with a partial third-story addition.

The 8th Street project is expected to go before the BZA later this year.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/going_bigger_by_going_smaller_capitol_hill_apartment_trades_one-bedrooms_fo/25022.