Demo Underway at 1449 Harvard St NW

We just finished the project at 2431 Ontario Rd and without a break moved about three blocks east to our new development at 1449 Harvard St NW. Last week was the first full week, and we made a ton of progress. The new layouts are totally different than what was existing, so we are demolishing all of the existing interior walls. Also, the building has a lot of old plaster, so we're removing it in order to install all of the new insulation, electric, plumbing and HVAC.

The front of the building is unchanged and won't look much different for several months until we replace the front steps and paint the front.

Inside pretty much looks like a tornado came through the house.  To the right center you can see the old chimney shaft.  We took the fireplace down to reuse again in the new units.

Here's one of the old fireplaces.

In the rear, the masons worked to put back a piece of the fencing between our house and the apartment building next door.

The basement is finally starting to get cleaned out.  All of the debris on the ground is shetrock that was pulled down today and put in the dumpster at the end of the day.

The Charles at 2431 Ontario- New Cornice

The Charles is 99% percent finished, but the last piece was the cornice on the top front of the building.  We special ordered the pieces from Fypon and they came all the way from China.  The long voyage took a month longer than they quoted us, but it was worth the wait.  Here's how it looked today before paint:

The paint will be black on the bottom and white on the top to match the rest of the colors on the front.

What makes this even more impressive is that it was 100 degrees today- in the shade!

One down!

We've had a lot of interest at 2431 Ontario, and Unit 3 is now under contract. We just listed Unit 1 yesterday, and the other two units have only been on the market now for one week. Most of our projects sell within 2-3 weeks, so we're confident these won't be on the market for long.

In other news, we started construction yesterday at 1449 Harvard St NW in Columbia Heights. I'll post some pictures of the progress tomorrow.

2431 Ontario- Professional Pictures

The photographer came by yesterday and took some amazing pictures.  Here are some of the better ones.

The Charles- Grand Opening Event

The Charles- Mostly done!

Our first open house was Sunday afternoon and it was a huge success.  We had several groups through the project, and we received two offers.  Not bad!  We're still finishing up the last few items at the project and will be 100% finished by the end of the week.  The crew worked late all week and even over the weekend, and got the project completed just in time.  The biggest transformation was the front yard, which got grass, paint and pavers on the last day.  The professional photographer is coming through tomorrow, but here are a few quick ones I took today.

In a former life, two of our best masons worked for a company that only did pavers for paths and driveways.  As a result, they always get creative with our pavers.  I love the pattern they chose here for the front walkway.

Here is the kitchen in unit 2.  This layout is really perfect because you can put stools at the island for quick meals, but there is a big space to the left for a full dining table.

Red House once again did a great job with the staging in the loft.

The biggest hit at the open house was this white tile backsplash, which is in units 1 and 3.  Thanks to everyone who voted on the poll here on the blog.

This is the same kitchen from above.  The darker grey counters contrast really well with the white cabinets.

The windows in the light shaft are a unique feature that really bring a lot of light into the building.

The back of the building got one more coat of paint.  As dog owners, it was important for us in the design stage to have a grassy area in the back of the property.

The front area also has some grass and flowers from Old City Green.

Construction Progress- The Charles at 2431 Ontario Rd

With one week to go before our first open house, everyone is working as hard as possible to get the project on Ontario Road completed.  The main projects now are getting the front and rear areas complete, as well as finishing the tiles and painting inside.

Here are the 4th of July fireworks on the national Mall as seen from The Charles roof deck.

The floating vanities are installed in all of the master bathrooms.  Tomorrow, the plumber will install the sink and the glass company will come to measure the mirrors.

Here is a neat little office area in Unit 3.  Everything is finished here and the floors will be stained on Monday of next week.

The marble tile is complete in the penthouse powder room.  It just needs to be grouted.

The rails were installed yesterday in the loft.  It's amazing on a sunny day how much light comes in from the skylights.

In the back, the masons helped out by loading dirt onto the truck.  This will be a grassy patio by the end of next week. 

One of the biggest transformations has been the front patio, which used to be a large hill.  In the picture, they had just applied the mortar mix below the windows.  It was then smoothed out and painted to match the rest of the building.