Developer Sells H Street Site Set For 180 Units After 2-Year Appeal Delay
A plan to build 180 apartments on the bustling H Street corridor was delayed for more than two years by an appeal, and now another developer will try to see it through.
Capital City Real Estate in late October sold the development site at 1701 H St. NE for $11.4M to 1701 H Street Washington LLC, a Vienna, Virginia-based entity, D.C. deed records show.
The buyer is a group of partners that plans to pursue the same type of development for which the site has been approved, Capital City Real Estate's Scott Zimmerman told Bisnow, but he declined to disclose the buyer's identity.
The Zoning Commission in March 2017 approved the project for 180 units, with 8% set aside as affordable, and 15K SF of retail. The following month, a group filed suit in the D.C. Court of Appeals, making it one of a host of projects that have been brought to the court.
The D.C. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the developer in June 2019, 26 months after the appeal was filed. Zimmerman said the appeal delay played a role in his decision to sell the property.
"It disrupted our pipeline and timing and resources of when we were planning to start, so [the appeal] definitely had an impact," Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman also said Capital City sold the site so it could focus on the other projects in its pipeline. It is building a 110-unit condo project on Buzzard Point and a 74-unit condo project near the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station. The company also has at least three developments planned in Atlanta.
