RSS FeedCribs XXI: Totally Over The Top!
We’ve seen lots of Penn Quarter and downtown cribs in our time and once you’ve been in all the buildings, you tend to get a bit jaded. What’s another granite counter top and high ceiling when that’s what sets the standard? But, we now see a listing for a condo that makes our jaw drop.
Today we’re pointing out a penthouse condo for sale at 1010 Massachusetts Ave, PH-103, with 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 1 half bath, a large balcony, and it is a stunner. Perched on the northwestern corner of the building, the balcony commands views of the National Cathedral and neighborhoods to the north. The main living/dining room area was reconfigured from the original floor plan to turn into a truly expansive area. The master bedroom faces west which catches the afternoon sun. There is no doubt that some great parties could be hosted here!
The MLS number is DC7764090, the list price is $2,199,000, and the listed area size is 2,266 square feet. It has extra storage space and 3 parking spots and a condo fee of $1,367 per month. For today’s analysis, we’ll assign $50K for each of the parking spots, $10K for the storage, and $200K for the amazing view and extra upgrades over the stock configuration. That leaves us at $1.839 million resulting in an $811 per square foot price. The condo fee comes in at 60.3 cents per square foot which is in the upper end of the normal range but certainly not the highest cost building for downtown condo fees. The last recorded sale for this unit was on January 17, 2008 for $1,647,000.
Totally over the top!
1010 Massachusetts Ave, NW – Unit PH-103 (1303) – Redfin Listing
1010 Massachusetts Ave, NW – Unit PH-103 (1303) – Photos
(Our Cribs post series explores homes for sale or rent in the downtown DC area. None of these posts are paid placements.)
Donald Trump’s Post Office Building Redevelopment And “Civilian BRAC”
(photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
We all know that BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) is the process in which the federal government closes excess military installations and optimizes usage of their existing facilities. Well, a new bill is making its way through congress with pretty impressive speed, dubbed Civilian BRAC (formally Civilian Property Realignment Act). It would create a commision that would surplus civilian government properties in the District and across the country. It has already passed in the House and the Senate is currently making some modifications.
But, it seems that there was one building that Congress just wouldn’t ever want to completely sell, the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Ave. The Trump Organization won a bid to lease the land while the National Park Service retains control of the clock tower (which will also remain open to the public).
But, Penn Quarter residents aren’t so much concerned about the Old Post Office building as much as we are the aging Hoover building. As the Washington Business Journal reports on Civilian BRAC: The bill charges an independent commission to select at least five properties worth $500 million or more for sale in the first 180 days after it is created. Purchasing a superblock with a front on Pennsylvania Ave might not fetch $500 mil or more, since Trump’s organization’s plan to redevelop the Old Post Office building is valued at $200 million. But, then again, we’re talking about purchasing land (not leasing it) and we would expect any real estate on Pennsylvania Ave to push the limits of the market.
Even if the Hoover building doesn’t make it onto the Civilian BRAC’s shortlist, we’re really hoping that the Hoover building is at the top of the long list.
The 15% Solution
Sorry little guy, but sometimes size does matter
Many of our local shops and restaurants (take-out for the most part) have some form of a rewards card set up. Those rewards very often follow the formula of buy X numbers of an item, and then get one of those items for free. For instance at Chopt when we buy 9 salads we get the 10th free (if it’s under $10), and at Luke’s Lobster when we buy 10 lobster rolls we get one free. But there is one reward card, the one we have stamped more than all of the others, that has always left us stymied when it came time to cash in: the Zola Wine & Kitchen buy 7 bottles of wine, get 15% off your next bottle card.
Now don’t get us wrong, we don’t expect Zola to give us a free bottle of wine after we buy a certain number from them; hell, it’s great that they give us a discount at all (we were going to buy more wine anyway). But we usually buy wines from Zola that cost about $15 a bottle (often Calheiros Cruz from Portugual’s Douro region), so if we used our fully stamped card to discount our next purchase of the same, we’re knocking just $2 or so off the purchase. Again that’s $2 more than we saved on the previous 7 bottles, but it also barely covers the cost of a bottle of Strawberry Hill.
No, we wanted our 15% discount to come closer to the actual purchase price of our usual bottle of wine. Now we know what you’re thinking “just buy a $100 bottle of wine” and of course you’d be correct. But we also know our limits when it comes to wine appreciation, and it’s about the $20 limit. While we can arguable tell the difference between a bottle of MD 20/20 and a bottle of Brunello, we probably can’t tell the difference between a decent $20 Cabernet Sauvignon and a more refined $300 bottle. Our point being we didn’t want to spend $100 on a bottle of wine just to save $15. If the more expensive bottle didn’t wow us, it wouldn’t be worth it.
Our solution was suggested by the sales clerk at Zola who knew that we were fans of champagne & sparkling wines as well. “What about a champagne magnum?” he suggested. What about a magnum indeed. 1.5 liters of sparking French bliss, the magnum covers the simple solution (“just buy a $100 bottle of wine”) and passes the “worth it” test. At $105 a bottle we saved $15.75 using the Zola reward card, plus we get a giant bottle of champagne. We bring these big boys to parties, drink them with neighbors for impromptu Friday night pizza & Kinect dance offs, or just use them to toast to our good fortunes (and sometimes to drown in our sorrows).
Sherlock Holmes was known to be fond of 7%, but we prefer our 15% solution.
Laissez Bon Temps Roulez
Looking for a place to “Let the good times roll” in our neighborhood? Be sure to stop by either Central or Acadiana for drink and menu specials on Fat Tuesday, February 21.
Central (1001 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW) is offering classic New Orleans cocktails all month, including the Sazerac, Absinthe Suisesse, and Hurricane, as well as their special Mardi Gras menu starting Friday, February 17.
Acadiana (901 New York Ave., NW) will be offering their special prix fixe menu February 20 and 21.