The Thompson- Lots of Progress

The Thompson at 2108 10th St NW is really starting to take shape.  Over the last two weeks, we finished the foundation work, basement plumbing, and about 1/3 of the floor framing.  We're working now to get in the next level of floor framing and finish the new water service to the street.  We anticipate finishing this building in early April- just in time for the spring.

Last week, we filled in the basement with gravel and ran the new plumbing.

We ordered a pump truck to pump the concrete from the street down into the basement.

The concrete is wet and heavy when it is first poured.  After several hours of leveling it and smoothing it over, it forms a solid floor.

After the basement slab was poured, we framed the first floor.

This weekend, the masons returned to build the block walls up to the second level.

1449 Harvard St NW- Renderings

We got some great renderings back from our designer for the Harvard Row units. These images do a pretty amazing job of showing how the space will look once complete. We're offering buyers who get in early the option to pick some of the flooring and cabinet colors, but otherwise we are planning on dark maple cabinets with a dark brown oak floor.

This is the lower-level unit in the front of the building.  It really gets so much light from the southern exposure.

This is the rear first-floor unit.  These units have huge patio doors with a walk-out balcony, which is a great bonus.

This is the view from the mezzanine level looking down into the kitchen area in the front penthouse.

This is the kitchen in the same unit.  We haven't decided between a half-wall or a full glass wall above the kitchen.  Our plan is to leave the option available for either and let a buyer decide which they prefer.

2108 10th St NW- Progress

Although we're working hard at 1449 Harvard St NW, 1120 Rhode Island Ave and 2108 10th St NW, the project on 10th St. is at the stage where things show the most progress every day.  We have the site fully excavated and the foundation work is underway.  Here is the progression of the site over the last week:

Here's the site on Friday before they poured any concrete.  The footers were all formed with rebar and ready to go.  We're been so fortunate to have two straight weeks of no rain.

Yesterday, our masons set the corners of the building for the surveyor to come and perform a wall check.  This is done to make sure the building falls within both lot lines.

This morning, our masonry contractor came to start laying the block on the South wall.  They made a ton of progress- this wall was several feet high by the end of the day.

1120 Rhode Island Ave- Before Pics

We have everything set up to begin some minor demolition at our new project at 1120 Rhode Island Ave. on Monday morning.  I had a chance to go by today to take pictures of the project before we start.  Our pine flooring expert came in yesterday and said the floors here are some of the best he's seen in DC, period.  They are heart pine and all horizontal grain.  In addition, the planks run wall-to-wall, so there are hardly any seams at all.  We can't wait to see how they look once we sand them down and clean them up.

The fireplaces will also be reused, as well as most of the trims and casings.  We donated the radiators to a company that repairs, repaints and then re-uses them.

The fireplace will be re-used, but the tile will probably not survive the move.  I took a lot of pictures of the tile so we can match with something similar when the project is further along.

All of this trim will remain, and this will become the living room for unit 8.

These doors are so cool that we'll fine somewhere to use them again.

The layout of the steps will change, but we're going to try to use the posts again.

This parlor is one of the most historically preserved rooms I've seen in DC.

The front doors will stay, or be replaced with something identical if the damage cannot be repaired.

These are the radiators- pretty awesome.  They'll be salvaged and used in another house.

This picture really shows the grain of the flooring.  Can't wait to see the finished ones.  The floor here in the foyer will probably be moved into one of the units and this will be tile or carpet.

This fireplace has a stone that looks a lot like emperador dark.

This stain glass and all of the original trim will remain.

New Logo for The Thompson at 2108 10th St NW

We have our new logos completed for our upcoming 4-unit building at 2108 10th St NW.  We decided to continue the "Thompson" theme from the Thompson Flats building we built next door in 2010.  The name is a reference to the Thompson Milk Dairy, which was located on this site in the 1920's.  The dairy was the biggest in the city and delivered milk to all of DC with small carts.  You can read more about it here.

This is the logo that will be on the new website, coming soon!

Construction Progress- The Thompson at 2108 10th

We finally had a great week of clear weather here in DC and we were able to get a lot of foundation work done at 2108 10th St NW.  The first part of the project involved underpinning the foundation of the house next door.  Here's what this process looks like:

The underpinning is nearly complete.

Underpinning is the process of creating a new foundation below an existing one.  The house to the right has no basement, and our new building will have a full one.  We can't just dig straight down because doing so would remove the dirt that supports the foundation of the other house.  Instead, we pour a new concrete foundation down to the lowest point of our new building.  On the right, that building has a full basement so we can just dig the dirt all the way down.

Smaller Units

There was an interesting article today on Urbanturf.com about the appeal of small units in DC.  Here's a link to the story.  The article features a 302 SF unit, which is in Foggy Bottom and is being sold by our good friend Lindsay Reishman.  Here's pretty much the whole unit:

Our upcoming project at 1120 Rhode Island Ave will feature eight units, which range from 500-650 SF.  We've sold several other moderately-sized units in the past, and we've found that they are usually the first units to sell.  Here are the reasons that we've seen why buyers love our smaller units:

1.  Cost-  Let's face it, smaller units are less expensive.  They often allow buyers to get into the most popular neighbors at a more attractive price than other, larger units.  Our units also are all new with high-end finishes, which is hard to find under $400,000.00 in DC.

2.  Location-  Our units are in the middle of downtown DC, close to pretty much everything.  Buying a unit with slightly less space but in such convenient locations is a trade-off most buyers are willing to make.

3.  Piede-a-terre-  Literally a "foot on the ground," often buyers who travel a lot for work like to keep a place to sleep when they're working in DC.  It's less expensive in the long run than staying in a hotel.

4.  Investors-  Apartments generally rent based on bedrooms, not size of the unit.  If you're buying a condo with the intention of one day renting it out, you'll get a better return on your money by buying a smaller, better priced unit.

5.  Lifestyle-  Single buyers and young couples don't need all of the space and upkeep of larger condos or houses.