While reporting this week's column about Clarendon's "Skinny House," one of City Paper's resident Northern Virginians informed me about "Spite Houses," tiny slab-like houses wedged in between other properties and supposedly built out of spite.
A few people have referred to the Skinny House as a modern day version of this tradition. I don't think that's [...]

U Street's Moderno is certainly new—But is it the best?
As I wrote earlier, our "Best of D.C." issue is coming soon. On that note, let's talk "Best New Condo Building." We had a similar category—"Best-Designed Residential Development," won by City Vista—last year in our Reader's Poll. But nothing written by one of our writers. And nothing [...]

A few months ago, I blogged about Royal Blue, a new restaurant supposedly coming to Columbia Heights, occupying one of several long-boarded up, brand new storefronts in the neighborhood.
At that time, I had good news to report: ”I guess they had some issues with their build out," John Groth, Marketing Director for Donatelli Development, [...]

So if the "Best of D.C." advertisement in the corner hasn't caught your eye. Or you didn't spot the "Best of D.C." ballot party invite covering the entire back page of newspaper. Well, then allow me to tell you: Our 2009 Best of D.C. issue is coming out soon—March 27 to be exact.
Unfortunately, our first [...]

This week's "Skinny House" story has prompted some interesting comments on Housing Complex. But perhaps the most memorable line about the home and the builder landed on the Lyon Park listserv:
"My impression is that the house on Barton is the exact shape of Mickey Simpson's middle finger."
(1) What’s the Skinny?
(2) Donald Trump Buys 800-acre Golf [...]

Oh Donald Trump. You kill me, you really do.
Earlier this week, news broke that Trump had dropped millions on the Lowes Island Club, a country club with two championship golf courses in Loudoun County. Then he bragged to the Washington Post that "this place, when it’s finished, will be the finest club anywhere in the [...]

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Public art in Vancouver. Note to future NoMa artists: Please design something nicer than this.
"NoMa" will never be SoHo. But it can always try.
The neighborhood formally known as "Swampoodle" just issued a press release soliciting applications for a $100,000 art project at the Capitol Plaza Building, located at 1200 First Street N.E. According [...]

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The McMillan site is the green 25-acre site at the bottom of the image, directly right of the reservoir. The Armed Forces Retirement Home sits within the green 77-acre site above the Washington Hospital Center.
At various McMillan meetings I've attended, people have made vague, unexplained references to development at the Armed Forces [...]

One of many auction properties: 3004 13th Street, N.W.
The Department of Housing and Community Development has finally released the list of buyers from its D.C. vacant property auction, held Jan. 30.
So now you can know if your new neighbors are low-key residents, who just found their perfect fixer-upper project...Or developers with possibly other things [...]