Neighborhoods- Columbia Heights

The Gracie Condominiums are located in the southwest corner of Columbia Heights. This area is very popular for several reasons. First, it's right on top of the red line of the metro, so it's it's easy to get anywhere else in the city very quickly. Also, it has a gorgeous housing stock, with lots of old grand Victorians as well as several new condo buildings. Finally, the DC USA development a few years ago brought 30+ new stores, the largest of which include Target, Best Buy, Giant and Bed, Bath and Beyond. However, the real benefit of these huge shops was the smaller, more local places that followed that really give the neighborhood some unique flavor.  Here are some of the best:

1. Red Rocks Firebrick Pizzeria (1036 Park Road NW)

The basic Margherita pizza is a great bet.  Photo courtesy of seriouseats.com

Red Rocks Pizza opened in 2007 and has been packed every day since. It's in a small converted rowhome that features exposed brick and a very comfortable feel. They have an outdoor patio with picnic tables in the warm months. The pizza here is incredibly fresh and flavorful, and very reasonably priced.

2.  The Meridian Pint (3400 11th St NW)

The coolest part of this bar is the beer taps at each table.  Photo courtesy of dcbeer.com

Meridian Pint opened last year and provided the neighborhood with its' first real upscale bar.  The beer menu here is also huge and they have several microbrews on tap.  

3.  Taqueria Distrito Federal (3463 14th St NW)

The tacos are simple and tasty.  Photo courtesy of cuisinivity.com

TDF is a small taco stand just north of the metro station.  They serve some of the most authentic tacos in DC, and specialize in meats that are difficult to find elsewhere.  I've heard the tripe and tounge tacos are good, but I've never tried either.

4.  Tynan Coffee (1400 Irving St NW)

Lots of space to do work and free Wifi.  Photo courtesy of GTM Architects.

Tynan is a large coffee shop that is a popular meeting place.  The space is large and the couches are perfect for spreading out with your laptop and getting work done.



5.  The Wonderland Ballroom (1101 Kenyon St NW)

Wonderland is the neighborhood bar that most neighborhoods wish they had.  It's very casual and attracts a booming crowd on weeknights.  However, it's even more fun to go for brunch on the weekends and sit outside on one of the picnic tables.

6.  The Heights (3115 14th St NW)

The Heights has one of the best brunches in the city.  Photo courtesy of theheightsdc.com

The Heights is a large restaurant with a huge patio that serves some of the best casual food in the city.  The menu is nearly identical to Logan Taverns' because they have the same owners.  However, there might be an hour wait at Logan Tavern on a Sunday morning, but you can usually get a table in 15-20 minutes at The Heights.  It's a little-known secret.

Construction Update- The Gracie

We had some torrential rains this week which really slowed things down, but things finally cleared up and we were able to get a lot done over the last three days.  It's gotten really, really cold here in DC so everyone is motivated to get the building sealed up so we can get some heat blowers running.  The electricians came on Friday and finished running the wires for the new panels in each unit in one day.  Next week, the plumber is coming back to finish his pipes and we're going to start framing the top unit.

The back of the building is pretty chaotic right now, but you can see the block wall is progressing nicely.  They're about halfway done.

Upstairs, the masons have reached the level for the floor of the mezzanine.  They were working friday to install a piece of iron that goes in between the floors.

The electricians came and installed their meter box outside.  We were originally thinking about putting it on the front of the building, but there was no where to do it without blocking one of the basement levels.  We found a great spot for it along the side of the property.

Kitchen Ideas

We're getting closer to choosing all of the finishes for The Gracie. We're leaning towards replicating the kitchens from the project we did last year at 1133 6th St NW (The Grayson). These kitchens work really well because they're modern but they also fit in with the rest of the unit, which has a lot of traditional elements. Although this building does not have the original floors, it will have really great new oak ones which will match these cabinets perfectly. We're also considering staining the floors a darker color like the ones from 2106 10th St. Here are some pictures from The Grayson:

This is the kitchen with the glass backspash.  We did this in units 1 and 3.

This is the same kitchen scheme but in the basement.

This was the same granite, cabinets and floors, but we used a marble backsplash in this unit and the penthouse.

This is a better view of the same kitchen.

Construction Update- The Gracie

We've been working hard at the two condo projects that we currently have under construction. I don't have any good pictures today of 2431 Ontario Road, but I was able to take some pictures at The Gracie (1470 Chapin St NW). Tomorrow, the electrician is going to start running his wires and the HVAC guy is coming to measure for his ducts. We're hoping to have the roof on the top of the building by the end of next week. Also, we've been looking hard for another project and we're going to ramp up our marketing efforts in order to get our name out there.

The basement is totally framed out and the plumbing waste lines are finished.  The plumbers are coming back Weds to run the supply lines.

In the back of the building, the first floor of the new rear wall is complete.  The guys got slowed down because they had to set up the scaffolding, but now they're moving quickly.

Upstairs, the right wall is complete up to the mezzanine level, and the left wall is getting closer each day.

Construction Update- The Gracie

Lots of progress this week at the Gracie Condos. We got the basement concrete finished so now we can frame up unit #1. Also, we can now focus on building the new top level so we can finally top out on the building.

We're also changing the formatting of the blog so it will a look a little different for the next few entries.

The basement concrete is totally done.  We're really happy with all the headroom- close to 9 Ft!

We gave the concrete a night to harden and then got to work yesterday on framing up the new walls.

The masons began work on the near rear wall.  The back yard is a mess!  We got jammed up because the dumpster was full and it was blocked in with hundreds of cinderblocks.  We were able to get it out and the back yard cleaned up this morning.

The Gracie Condominium- Moving Along

Our project in Columbia Heights is moving along really well. We finished framing out the middle two units, and now we're working on building the other two condos. The basement had to be dug down and we'll be pouring the new concrete slab on Thursday morning. The top unit is a whole new floor, and the masons have been working hard to build up the walls with cinder blocks.

We'll be meeting tomorrow with a cabinet designer and we should be ordering the kitchen cabinets by the end of the week. We're leaning towards a darker espresso color but we're looking at several options.

In the rear of the building, we decided to remove the old brick and just build a new block wall. The new block will be significantly stronger. Also, the new window and door openings were all in new places, so it would have been a very difficult process to cut and rebuild all of the openings with the old brick. The new wall will make it much easier to do so.

After the wall was taken down, the concrete guys worked today to install the rebar in the new footer.

This picture was taken over the weekend before the rain, but you can see that they are starting to make progress with the new walls. They had to take down a lot of the old brick because it was loose. Once they got to a point that was stable, they reinforced it with concrete and rebar and then started with the new blocks.

This is another house around the corner that uses a very similar paint palette to what we will use on our building. Our color is a slightly less dark shade of tan.

This is at our other condo project (The Charles Condo) but it's a great picture of our new signs. They were printed and installed last week. Definitely an upgrade over the previous banners.

1470 Chapin St- Full Speed Ahead

We've been taking advantage of the nice weather to get a lot of the exterior work done. One of the biggest tasks was removing the roof because we are adding another full floor. In order to do this, we had to remove the existing peak, which was quite a production.

First, we had to tear off all of the shingles. The structure was framed like a tee pee with a common point. After all of the shingles were removed, the carpenters removed the back side of the peak and tied ropes around the remaining part.



Then, very slowly, they pulled the ropes back and pulled the peak back into the building. I was anticipating more of a "bang" but it was surprisingly smooth and quiet.



In the rear and basement, several workers have been digging trenches in the basement for the new plumbing and waterproofing system. After all of the dirt was removed, the trenches were filled with gravel from huge sacks in the backyard.



Inside, the framers finished the third unit and installed the steps. We used to make the steps ourselves but we found a great supplier near Baltimore that can build them faster and stronger in a factory. Now we can install them in less than a day, wheras it used to take almost a week. Not bad!