Not gonna happen, soon.

Developer Jim Abdo's lawyer tells me that he's withdrawn the zoning application for his planned 70-ish-unit building in the empty space between 14th and 15th Street on Rhode Island Avenue NW, and declined to give a reason for the reversal. It's not an unprecedented thing for Abdo; he's proposed building on top of his office and the Caribou Coffee building on 14th Street, and not moved forward there either.

The First Baptist Church apartment project for 17th and O Street NW.

Up for consideration at the Historic Preservation Review Board this month are two new projects that will just fit in between the buildings around them.

The first: A nine-story apartment building at 17th and O Street on land owned by First Baptist Church (yet another religious institution making good use of its extra acreage) and developed in partnership with Keener Squire properties. The design, which will accommodate between 185 and 230 units, mimicks the Streamline Moderne look of the Bay State and Mass House condos nearby.

And a little bit east, developer Jim Abdo is building a narrow, eight-story apartment building sandwiched between two others of similar size at 1427-1429 Rhode Island Avenue NW. The space has been vacant since the last building there was demolished in 2006. Abdo is just going for a concept review, so there's no set design, but the scale will likely stay at around 70 units.

An Abdo project at 14th and Rhode Island NW.

That's the choice facing 54 homeowners and their families in Logan Circle in the next few weeks, as big-time developer Monument Realty makes a bid for four separate parcels that operate as part of the same condominium association.

You probably know the properties: The plain brick townhouses between Riggs and S Street on 14th Street and clustered around 11th and N Street that don't quite fit with the large apartment buildings and historic facades around them. The city built them in the 1970s as rental housing, and finally made them available for tenants to purchase in 1998, selling the three and four-bedroom units with backyards and parking spaces for between $100,000 and $150,000. Now 54 privately owned homes, the pieces were consolidated into the Frontiers East and West Condominium Associations, and now help give the neighborhood a modicum of income diversity.

They also, however, represent some of the biggest chunks of re-developable land in the downtown residential core. And now, two developers are vying to buy them all at once, rezone for higher density, and build as much as they can.

Last night, Monument presented its offer to residents. It's a bit complicated. I'll try to fit it in a nutshell.

If the 14th Street parcel ("Frontiers West") were successfully rezoned to allow four stories, owners would get $810,250 for their units, which is 175 percent of the current assessed value. The price offered for the units on the other three parcels on and around 11th Street ("Frontiers East") would depend on the additional density Monument was able to achieve, putting the payout at between $681,000 and $794,500. The developer would even pay residents $115,000 just for agreeing to sell if the zoning change were allowed, even it weren't and the sale never went through. If the residents want to stay in the neighborhood, Monument said it could make units available in the new buildings for them.

Sweet deal, right? Here's the catch: According to how the condo associations were set up, 80 percent of all 54 homeowners would have to vote to dissolve the "master" condo association. And then, each of the two separate condo associations would have to vote unanimously to dissolve themselves. So one homeowner in each of the associations could throw the whole opportunity off for everybody. For its part, Monument could end up getting both, either, or none of the parcels to redevelop. Buying the whole thing would cost around $40 million, but hundreds of new units—either sold or rented at market rate—would pay that off in a hurry.

Even though it might be in their economic self-interest to take the money and run, judging from last night's meeting at the Washington Plaza Hotel, at least a few people seemed too emotionally attached to their homes to leave. Others seemed willing to listen—and hold out for a better price.

"We're living on a gold mine!" one resident protested.

"You can live on the gold mine for the rest of your life!" said Monument's Josh Olsen, whose patience started to erode after several minutes of audience chaos. "You're not going to get gold out of the gold mine unless you sell!"

The residents were asked to fill out surveys indicating their interest in the offer, and Olsen said he wouldn't pursue the project unless a majority came back positive. It's an interesting case: Because of how their associations are set up, each person has the power to singlehandedly forestall a big lurch forward for gentrification. From an urbanist standpoint, that means a few acres of prime land stay underused. On the other hand, it's difficult to get excited about replacing 54 mostly low-to-moderate-income households of color with yuppies who can afford pricey condos.

Either way, Monument's suits—and the other nameless bidder waiting in the wings—have a real job on their hands.

Remember that exciting new concept coming to the old shirt laundry building on 14th and Q NW? The would-be restauranteur, Whisk Group, has finally given up the fight after pouring more than $50,000 into preparation–only to decide that foundation upgrades, soil remediation, and renovation would cost more than he'd bargained for.

"At this point, we're backing out," says Whisk Group owner Mark Weiss. "I'd like to think that if it's meant to be, maybe things will change. We just have to be careful."

Also hitting Weiss in the pocketbook: A lawsuit over unpaid fees from architect CORE Group, which claimed in late February that Whisk owed them more than $125,000 for consulting on six projects, five of which are in the District. Besides Shirt Laundry, CORE billed tens of thousands of dollars on two prospective K Street projects that never saw the light of day, as well as $16,896 for services related to the ill-fated Diamond District Seafood.

Despite the extensive terms and conditions listed in their contract, Weiss says he disagreed with CORE's calculation of what he owes, and the two firms will settle for a sum less than $125,000, which he declined to specify.

"In the end of the day, we came to an agreement of what was fair," Weiss says. "When you go into projects together, and no real architecture has been done yet, or renderings, there's a certain amount of money that should be associated with it."

What the banners could look like from the street. (Lydia DePillis)

Despite the criticism they've come under in recent months, the as-yet-unnamed Arts District team has forged ahead with its branding process, presenting four banner concepts yesterday that will be narrowed down to one design and installed on lampposts by the beginning of December.

The designs are the result of a feedback gathering process that, when it's complete, will include a market research survey, focus groups, peer review, and public input from yesterday's open house and another next Monday. The survey, taken on October 17th with 175 random people on the street at seven locations in the city, indicated that Logan, Shaw, MidCity, and U Street had the highest "mini-brand" recognition in the branding target area, while "Arts District," "D.C. Arts District," and "Arts and Design District" gained most traction among respondents as a name for the whole area outlined. Plus, said project lead Carol Felix, Destination DC felt that each of those could best attract outside investment.

"Our goal is to come up with the best marketable brand," Felix explained to a small crowd gathered at the Longview Gallery on 9th Street NW. "We need to drive more traffic into our arts district."

Once a design is chosen, it will be printed with each of the four neighborhood mini-brands on 16 by 60-inch banners, and placed in the appropriate parts of the newly-branded arts district. The facing banners, which are 24 inches wide, will be printed with unique photographic designs chosen from artist submissions. Organizer Andrea Doughty said they received "hundreds" of entries in many different media, but decided to go only with the photographic ones, since they could be more easily cropped and color-tinted.

Each of the four designs has a few common elements: Hot pink and grass green. The tagline "It's more than art...", which was a concession to the restauranteurs and retailers who felt left out by the arts-centric brand message. And a to-be-decided URL for a website that at this point has neither a designer or a plan for ongoing maintenance.

You can see the designs for yourself next Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Hamiltonian Gallery at 1353 U Street.

The most "modernist," "curvilinear" design.

A bullseye or "happy A" design. You're supposed to call it "Dee-Cad."

I like the map design on this one–note the white line for U Street.

The folks heading up the city-funded neighborhood branding initiative for a region around 14th and U Streets learned last night that getting consensus around the idea of a unified, arts-oriented identity might require some convincing.

In a packed gathering at Busboys and Poets, project leaders Andrea Doughty and Carol Felix ran through their plans to host a street banner design contest and an outreach campaign to market an area that stretches from Florida Avenue down to Rhode Island and 15th Street to 7th Street NW. The concept, Felix explained, would be an "umbrella brand" for the many successful "mini-brands" represented by each neighborhood that region touches, including U Street, Little Ethiopia, Shaw, Logan Circle, and Dupont Circle. This month, they'll launch a design competition for street banners that will be installed in time for a three-day arts festival in early December. Most importantly, Felix explained, the branding campaign should portray the area as "fun."

To more fully explicate that concept, Doughty and Felix convened a panel of local figures moderated by tourism expert Michael Altman, who threw around jargony business terms like "flavor," "genesis story," and "value proposition." But panelists quickly added a race and class dimension to the discussion. Busboys and Poets proprietor Andy Shallal explained arts marketing as a facilitator of racial harmony in a place that looks diverse, but isn't necessarily integrated–longtime local gallery owner Sandra Butler-Truesdale described her frustration at seeing black couples, white couples, and Asian couples walking down the street, but little actual racial mixing. Virginia Tech's Derek Hyra, who's working on a book about race and redevelopment in the Shaw/U Street area, noted that people especially start to segregate within neighborhood institutions like ANCs and civic associations. Rick Lee, whose family has owned a flower and card shop on U Street since the 1940s, sees the branding process as a way to reclaim a sense of vibrance and "hoopla" that had been lost in recent decades.

During a Q&A period afterwards, skeptical questions arose. One audience member wanted to know why the area didn't include more of Columbia Heights, implying that the map had been drawn to stop short of the lower-income blocks north of Florida Avenue. Actor and writer Sheldon Scott asked whether the plan included retaining housing and performance spaces for local artists, who tend to get priced out of areas as they get more attractive–Felix acknowledged that several people had raised similar concerns, and while the grant is limited to marketing, they were bearing the issue in mind.

The most pointed critique, though, came from Junction Vintage owner Shannan Fales, who wondered why the marketing initiative was so focused on theaters and galleries, and how that would help retail and restaurants, especially over such a large and diverse area.

"I have nothing in common with a business down at the Convention Center," Fales said, noting that she wouldn't necessarily even recommend someone walk that way at night. "I don't want to be part of an arts district, because I'm already part of something–the Midcity Business Association." Applause came from the back of the room.

The idea, of course, is that investment in the arts pays off for other businesses that profit from their proximity. But Felix and Doughty will have to keep making that case.

The next two meetings are scheduled for September 7th and 13th. Details here.

• What happened: Developer Scott Pannick built Logan Circle's Metropole, which has since been seized by his lender. Moving on: Pannick plays with his three-year-old daughter (Ugh, how pitiable!), and plans a six month move to Argentina "to contemplate his future, the options of which include writing a novel."

• What happened: Former co-owner of Monument Realty Jeff Neal leaves a bunch of half-finished projects around D.C.—most noticeably in the Capitol Riverfront/ballpark area—to take over a "failing brokerage that he closed this year." Moving on: Still developing...this time, in the realm of reality television; he declined to discuss his new show, "except to say that he's not the star." Neal also plays golf and works on a book about politics.

• What happened: Trained architect Dominque Kostelac "amassed up to $5 million, buying, selling and rehabilitating properties in Mount Pleasant, Adams Morgan and Shaw" before beginning a more substantial 21-unit condo in Adams Morgan in 2000. But construction  delays caused him to eventually foreclose on nearly all his properties. Moving on: His new business Arganica Farm Club is freshening up palates across the D.C. region with a produce delivery service, based in Charlottesville, plus he produced sorbets and syrups.

This story will run in this week's print edition of the Washington City Paper.

Update: Central Union Mission Still Pursuing the Gales School.

In September, representatives with the Central Union Mission went before community members from Petworth and Columbia Heights to explain plans for a big project on Georgia Avenue NW. The mission wants to launch a development with office space plus 37 units of affordable housing for people making between 50 and 80 percent of the area median income.

“Affordable housing” + community groups = jitters.

A rash of questions emerged about just what Central Union Mission had in mind. “The initial concern was that it was going to be low-income housing, basically,” says Columbia Heights ANC Commissioner Lisa Kralovic about one recent meeting. And that initial concern has some roots in local history.

Three years ago, when Central Union Mission announced it wanted to move the homeless shelter it operated from its longtime location on 14th Street NW, near Logan Circle, to the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Newton Place NW, residents said they already had enough social service operations in their backyards.

During spring 2007, Cliff Valenti and five other neighborhood activists from Petworth and Columbia Heights took a little field trip to the leafy Virginia suburbs of Burke and Fairfax, with the goal of meeting with mission board members about the plan.

“For months and months, we tried to meet with their board,” says Valenti, now a local advisory neighborhood commissioner. Requests went ignored, so the group went with the doorstep approach. ”We said, ‘We need to talk to you guys’—and not one of them would talk to us,” he says.

After giving up on the dream of a 150- to 175-bed shelter on Georgia Avenue, the mission focused on the Gales School, an unoccupied city-owned building near Capitol Hill. But that plan hit some roadblocks when the local ACLU affiliate and some other groups sued saying the District was offering Central Union Mission, a religious organization, a less-than-market rate deal on the building..

“Our hope is still the Gales School,” says David Treadwell, executive director for the mission. “We’re not out to seek special favor. We’re going to do the city a big favor by running a shelter.”

Meanwhile on Georgia Avenue, locals kept up the pressure to block more homeless people, or any other group low on the economic totem pole, from coming to the neighborhood.

At some point during a recent ANC meeting, it was mentioned that a family of four with a combined income of $48,000 could move into a unit. “But did that mean that a person who makes $10,000 could move in?” people wondered, according to Kralovic.

The answer was no, and that seemed to appease the skeptics.

“Once it was much clearer what kind of incomes people were going to have, I think that it was OK,” says Kralovic. The ANC unanimously approved Central Union Mission’s latest plan.

Image by Intangible Arts, Flickr Creative Commons

Next Friday, the District will issue a request for proposals to redevelop six sites around the city into affordable housing.

In the Shaw/Logan Circle areas, the sites include:

922 French St., NW (Shaw)*

View Larger Map

1335 R St., NW (Logan Circle area)*

View Larger Map

1713 New Jersey Ave., NW*

View Larger Map

There are three other sites throughout the District, which I'll include in a follow-up post.

*The Google street views don't always clearly identify addresses. But these are the images linked to the respective addresses above.

Twenty years ago, Damian Ford would hear pimps beating up prostitutes in the alley behind his N Street NW townhouse. He'd grab a baseball bat and scare them off. He was 20 or 30 pounds bigger then—an imposing guy in a neighborhood that was not defined, as it is now, by yoga studios and Whole Foods.

Ford saw himself as a protector of Logan Circle and the surrounding neighborhoods. He had insomnia, so he would walk the street at night with his dog, patrolling. He says he once caught a robber in the late '80s trying to steal from a cabbie sleeping in his car near Thomas Circle.

He believed people appreciated him—and that they would return his favors.

In 2004, his building was converted into four condominiums. Contrary to most gentrification tales, he was not pushed out. Ford became the proud owner of the first-floor unit-which he estimates to be 1,500 to 1,600 square feet with lofty 16-foot ceilings.

In the beginning, he and the other residents had cordial relations. Then last year, they descended into a battle about a missed payment for some construction work. The fight eventually turned into a $5,000 suit filed against Ford in the Small Claims and Conciliation Branch of D.C. Superior Court.

"I've never been treated this way in my entire life," says the 47-year-old Ford.

Before his building went condo, Ford was listed as a partial owner on the deed. In the mid 1990s, friends of a friend had money to buy the building. They needed him to help them get a deal, and they gave him a deal in return. When he purchased his unit, he paid under market rate-$275,000-while the other condo-owners paid in the $400,000s and $500,000s.

When the board of directors was formed, Ford opted out, he says, because he figured his neighbors had a larger stake in the building. The board now consists of every condo-owner except Ford.
The conflict about construction costs began when Ford, who did not attend meetings of his building's board of directors, says he was blindsided by a request for roughly $2,260 between November and December 2007. At the time, he was trying to fix his furnace (he says he lived without heat the previous winter) and didn't have the money at hand.

While David Copeland, the president of the condo board, contends Ford was invited to two meetings to discuss building repairs, Ford claims he had no opportunity for input, and no advance warning about the upcoming bills.

Ford went to the board asking for a flexible timetable, but he was rebuked.

The way Ford saw it, his fellow homeowners were not living by his neighborly code. "I said, 'Guys, when did you decide you were going to do this? They said 'We sent you a letter in August.' I said 'August?' You guys have seen me since August."

Ford has taken the rejection hard. When talking about the situation, he says the words "hopping mad" enough times to notice. He's depressed and, he says, demoralized. He's seriously considering leaving Logan Circle, where he's lived most of his adult life. He says he'll rent out his place first, and move back to his hometown of Mount Holly, N.J., for a year. Then he'll see if he can stomach a return to Washington.

Regarding the lawsuit, Ford's neighbors say they followed protocol outlined in the board's bylaws. Second-floor resident Jennifer Trock says Ford was treated like any other tenant.

"It's a hard time for everyone. And we understand that. We're not insensitive to that at all," she says. But Trock says Ford was invited to participate in meetings, and he didn't come. Meanwhile, water leaks were damaging paint in Trock's unit and that of third-floor resident Timothy Douglas. The board decided it needed to remedy the problems immediately-they didn't want to wait until after the spring rains.

"The truth is these were not unreasonable fees, and we all decided this is what we needed to do," she says.

Copeland says he empathizes with Ford, to an extent. He lives in the basement apartment, which doesn't utilize some of the building's common areas upstairs-yet he still has to pay for certain fixes that don't affect him.

"I've had frustration, too," he says. "But two-versus-three or three-versus-four-however it turns out-rules. And you just live with it."

Copeland says he and his fellow board members felt they had no choice but to file the suit. The building has rules, and Ford wasn't paying up.

"It's just scary to think. A building a few doors down from us-apparently their condo association was mismanaged. So they had to replace the roof, and it was some [large] assessment to every person. And that was just poor planning. And it's like, geez: I don't want to have to come up with that. I don't think that I can come up with that," says Copeland.

In July, Ford showed up for a small claims hearing expecting to talk with the board's lawyer and a judge. When he realized his three neighbors and a member of the management company had come to testify against him, he "lost it," he says. His father had passed away that summer, and he says he was emotionally drained. He ended up ranting in the courtroom for a few minutes, and then agreed to settle with the lawyer.

Ultimately, Ford was required to pay $2,627 to the board. But his anger has not subsided. In the last year, Ford hung up a protest sign in his window that he has since taken down. It read: gentrification, right of entitlement and narcissism are alive and well at 1217 n street, n.w.

These days, he wonders aloud (repeatedly) if his neighbors are racists-if they're acting this way because they're all white, and he's black. Trock says she finds it "offensive that he would even suggest that," and contends her neighborhood and building is diverse.

In the last year, Ford has fought with two management companies hired by his building's board. He asked them to assist him in dealing with his fellow condo-owners, but says his requests went unanswered. Chatel Real Estate, a property management outfit, dropped the building, claiming Ford threatened the company's representative. Ford disavows having threatened anyone but confirms that's the reason cited for Chatel dumping his building.

He also purposely vandalized the building at one point: After the board voted to paint his back door white to match the windowsills, Ford spray-painted a black streak on it. He says his dog scratches at the white door and a darker hue would have been more sensible.

Recalling these details, Ford starts to talk very fast. He knows he gets frazzled, and he apologizes constantly. He's talked about "thrashing" his top-floor neighbor Douglas, who added a rooftop deck that Ford believes is causing water damage.

Back in the day, it used to be "hell" outside in Logan Circle, and heaven inside 1217 N Street, he says. Now he claims it's the other way around.

Inside his sparsely decorated unit, he's collected a few things he wants to share: a note from a former renter, a picture of his back taken for an ad that appeared in the City Paper in 1993. His arms are flexed-and they are humongous. The ad was for his services as a personal trainer, which is still his occupation. But he's down to a few, irregular clients: When the economy sinks, people lose their high-end fitness gurus, he says.

"It used to be I walked the neighborhood, and people thought I was a cop," Ford says. "Now I walk the neighborhood, and people think I'm selling drugs."

Over and over again, he says he's had enough. He's getting out of here soon.

"I'm sorry to hear that Damian's still going through this," says Trock. "From our perspective, these issues have been resolved. It's just a matter of complying with the payments that are due when they are due."

Photo by Darrow Montgomery. This article will appear in this week's newspaper on the street Thursday January 8.