Last week, DCmud reported on The Overlook apartments, formerly known as Parkside Terrace. Back before the demolition, Parkside was an empty shell of a building. With its exterior ripped off, one could peer up at the vacant rooms, looking into the building like it was some humongous, slummy dollhouse. (Sorry I don’t have a picture.)

I thought I recognized the old building, located in Washington Highlands, but it turns out I had a completely different property in mind.

A co-worker had previously alerted me to a another empty highrise east of the river with the same eery, bombed-out look. This one is up in Ward 7, located by the intersection of Southern Ave. and East Capitol Street.

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Read More “Creepy, Vacant—and Sadly Interchangeable—Highrises Located East of the River…” »

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Wheeler Terrace, a 113-unit affordable apartment community in Washington Highlands, is receiving a $32 million green facelift. The Washington Business Journal wrote about the project a few months ago, and now an affordable housing trade publication has zeroed in on the venture.

In late 2007, the Community Preservation and Development Corp. (CPDC) worked with residents to purchase the property, which will apply for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification later this year, according to the trade publication’s, Affordable Housing Finance, story.

Here’s more from the piece:

Wheeler will meet and exceed Washington, D.C.’s new standards for sustainable design, even though they were not yet mandatory when the developer started the rehab. The standards are based on the Green Communities criteria created by Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. CPDC accepted a $50,000 grant from Enterprise.

To pay for the $32 million renovation, CPDC took out an $8.1 million tax-exempt bond mortgage from Union Bank of California. The interest rate on the 40-year loan is fixed for 15 years at 5.6 percent with a swap contract. Read More “Wheeler Terrace’s $32 Million Eco-Friendly Facelift” »