Mount Vernon Triangle Home Tour This Sunday

I understand the fees go to charity. Otherwise, in all honesty, and as a resident of one of the buildings, I can’t understand why someone would willingly pay for this tour; if you’re thinking of buying, the developers should be paying you in this market rather than the other way around. Also charging for children is kind of offensive and just silly; if I was *really* interested, I might think about paying $30 for two, but $45 so I can bring an infant strapped to my chest? I don’t think so. Offensive in that they are perhaps inadvertently making a comment about whether or not children are welcome in the buildings and in the neighborhood, and I think Mt. Vernon is a great place to have a baby.

RLayman’s take is worth a read: http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2009/05/house-tours-and-national-preservation.html

Having been to the Dupont House tour a few times I can say its great fun to tour domiciles and bonus – awesome exercise. This would also be a neat way to see examples of smaller space living and probably see some lovely views.

I’m confused on why I would do this. I can just get a tour of all these places for free, and most of the places give you free snacks when checking the place out by yourself (big thumbs up to Madrigal Lofts on their snack selection, thumbs down to City Vista).

Maybe if this was after a PQ bar crawl, it would make sense, and be A LOT more entertaining.

there are residential buildings in the MVT where developers aren’t selling units. for those buildings that are privately held and already sold (or in one case, not selling at this time), you wouldn’t be able to get into them for free in the way described by previous commenters. just a point of clarification.

Sundays are usually tough as I’m working with clients, but I hope to make this tour.

pqresident, what buildings are you referring to where there are no units for sale? The Sonata, Madrigal and City Vista all still have units for sale. don’t know about 555 Mass but I
d be surprised if there weren’t units for sale. Quoting from the website, “Residential condos will primarily be featured in the House Tour, which may include units in 555 Mass, The Sonata, Madrigal Lofts, The L, The V, and The K.” So it’s all condos, no private homes, and it might not even include all the listed buildings. I also understand the developers are sponsoring the tour, so I do think part of the objective is to sell vacant units.

The tour features resident owned units. It will be a different experience than viewing the model units in these buildings. These condos will have more personal touches and eclectic taste than any model unit. The Madrigal unit has, among other things, considerably upgraded lighting and artwork the owner has amassed over a decade. Several other units on the tour have furnishing and artwork collected from far away places across the globe.

Tours like these fulfill a niche market. Not everyone is intrigued by spending an afternoon touring homes for the sport of it but some people will truly enjoy it. For those of you not interested that’s perfectly fine but I don’t understand why you would channel that disinterest into manufacturing criticism. Heck, I don’t personally enjoy Asian food but I’m still excited Buddha Bar and Kushi are coming to the area as I value high quality investment in the neighborhood. This tour will raise the profile of the Mount Vernon Triangle citywide and raise money for Strive DC – these are great things.

Anon 8:53 pm – my comment, “there are residential buildings in the MVT where developers aren’t selling units.” does not equate to “what buildings are you referring to where there are no units for sale?”

units *are* for sale in all the buildings but one of the buildings on the tour was sold out by the developers a couple of years ago and it’s been turned over to its condo association so the developers are long gone. for that building, you’d have to hire a realtor to let you in for you to see units for sale.

the one building where no individual units are for sale is The Dumont. in that case, all the units (i.e. the whole building) are for sale simultaneously…for $170 million. but I’ve learned it’s not on the tour.

Anon 10:30 am – I do think your point about charging the same amount for children has merit.

I enjoy spending afternoons touring available condos, however I normally do it for free, since most condos in PQ give free tours (and as another poster pointed out, give out free snacks). So I guess the niche market is people who like to tour condos and waste money while doing it?

The criticism is valid, it’s a blog, people post their opinion. If people started selling past copies of the Express or Metro and were doing it in the name of charity, people would call it stupid, and rightfully so. I don’t think people should refrain from criticism just because they know something offered in their neighborhood is a bad deal and therefore won’t do it themselves.

First of all, thank you, PQowner, for clarifying the right of interested parties to make both pro and con comments on a blog. To FourthandEye, I would say check out this posting at the Mt. Vernon Triangle blog: http://mvtriangle.blogspot.com/, and look at the “gift” of movie tickets that are a blatant tool to sell units in the Madrigal. The Madrigal, by the way, is still owned by the developers. And clearly the developers felt this was a prime opportunity to sell more units. I don’t object to anyone spending their money in any way they see fit; for example, I don’t believe that our society should ban gambling just because it’s not a way that I choose to spend my money or a way in which I would advise others to spend their money. But I also think that the people have the right to be educated about how to spend their money, and that anyone considering spending money on this tour had a right to know that it was sponsored by several developers who were using it as an opportunity to move units at the expense of the potential buyers. That some of these developers are unscrupulous, well, we’ll save that conversation for another blog. I’d certainly be curious to hear from those who did spend money on the tour, what it consisted of and what they thought.

As someone who’s considering buying a condo in this neighborhood, I decided to go on this tour to see these buildings from a different perspective, most of which I’ve already seen during open houses and sales tours. I must say I had a delightful time, got to see some amazing spaces that considerably improved my opinion of some of these buildings, and had some interesting chats with volunteers who knew a lot about the units they were showing and who also lived in that building or in the neighborhood. There was some opportunity to see model units and visit the sales centers in Madrigal Lofts and City Vista, but I didn’t feel there was a push to do so. (Had I known about the movie tix, I would’ve happily bopped into the Madrigal sales center again.) The odd situation was with one tour unit in CV that was also for sale, and so the listing agent was the tour host rather than a volunteer. But they had snacks and some very welcome bottled water to offer, so even that didn’t bother me too much. For the $16 I paid, I felt satisfied with my experience and look forward to next year’s even if I’m living somewhere else (PQ, perhaps!) by then.