5th and Eye Proposals Revealed

Nice post! This is really great info you’ve pulled together.

Agreed, great info! I would love to see this project go forward for the reason below..

Question for everyone (this might be the wrong forum but here goes): I put a deposit down on 1 bdr + den, 2 full bath, Penthouse at the Dumont, 1000 Sq Ft. Price was approximately $530k, including parking. Good, decent, or bad deal for me?

Great job tracking down the PDFs.

Here’s my review at The Triangle:
http://mvtriangle.blogspot.com/2008/05/5th-i-public-meeting-recap.html

I went to the meeting which I thought was well run, orderly and left enough time for the asking and answering of thoughtful questions. a job well done!

there were more than just a handful of residents there too which was encouraging. this project has the potential to have a great and positive impact on the ‘hood and all of downtown but residents still need to show up to provide their input and feedback throughout this first phase of the process.

Thanks very much for the reporting. Clint Jackson of the Deputy Mayor’s office kept the process focused and on track – not so easy to do.

From our perspective, it was encouraging to see strong turnout and good questions. We want to build a project that MVT will be proud of – one that meets the needs of MVT residents. We’ve got more info on our ideas for 5th and I at our website (link above).

And if anyone has additional questions, or wants more details, you’re welcome to email me directly at JadD [at] Donohoe.com.

Thanks again. Comment cross-posted on the MVTriangle blog.

I vote for i5

seriously? I5 was the least inspired of the proposals. what about it turns you on?

I vote for donohoe. It’s most successful at engaging street life and has all components in place to be a great addition to the triangle.

I agree with #7… Although I know that some here at 555 Mass do prefer i5…

Just in case an informal vote on a blog (albeit an important blog!) ends up deciding which proposal is accepted, I am leaning towards Donohoe as well, and would rank i5 at the bottom of my list.

–MLB

Good catch on the Donohoe/Holland team looking to expand fully to K St. The renderings are not drawn that way but it was briefly mentioned towards the very back end of their slide presentation. That’s substantially more space. I’d be interested in knowing how acquiring that space expands their vision… I would think the 5th & K corner deserves its own substantial retail as well. There is also the question of what attempts to acquire the additional space do to timeframes.

There’s a poll on the Triangle blog at http://mvtriangle.blogspot.com

What concerns me with the JBG proposal is that it is too broad and conceptual. Will they just do the bait and switch and give us Coyote Ugly as our neighborhood entertainment venue (as they did before?). My experience with them is they tell you what you want to hear and then do whatever makes them money.

Buccini just won’t work. The 5th and Mass intersection can’t handle the traffic right now and is extremely dangerous during Verizon and Convention Center events. Dumping 1000 to 1600 people on this corner for concerts is a bad idea. We need to enliven the area for existing residents.

All this being said, i5 and Donohoe both give us different versions of what we want. I personally would be satisfied with either.

i5

Simply from the descriptions, as I did not attend the meeting nor have I seen drawings, etc. i5 seems the most appealing to me…….

TriangleAnon has a useful perspective. Before, I was just happy that anything would be coming to that corner, and these 4 proposals didn’t seem to vary dramatically amongst each other.

I vote for the Arts at 5th&I.

I also like the Shalon Baranes one, but at this point I am getting really sick of all-glass buildings, and so i5’s proposal seemed a respite from that… but looking at the proposals again I’m definitely not totally gung-ho for i5.

Update:

Two of the development teams have web sites —

View i5 (aka Potomac) —
http://www.i5dc.com/

View Donohoe/Holland (aka Arts on Fifth)
http://www.5th-and-i.com/

Next meeting is with the ANC — 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the NPR building, 2nd floor.

with the proposal’s for 5th and eye obviously helping (if it actually happens), question: I paid approximiately $530k for a 1 bdr + den penthouse (1000 sq feet) at the dumont. Unit has a small balcony and faces north. Do you think I got a good, decent, or bad deal? Thanks!

when and where is the next meeting? Did I just miss it? Thanks.

jackson999: I think it’s a decent deal if you plan to live in the unit. If you plan on flipping it or renting it out, it may not be a good deal.

Next meeting is Wednesday May 14th, 7:00pm, Heritage Foundation, 214 Mass Ave NE (ANC 6C full commission)

Keep the comments coming, the ANC and DC Gov are reading them! They want to know what the community wants.

I gotta’ be honest. a development at this corner that omits a residential component (apartments OR condos) does not make sense to me. without the residential component, this development becomes much more transitional in nature and less vested in the neighborhood as a neighborhood. that strikes out Buccini/Pollin in my book.

I think The Arts and the JBG projects have the most forward leaning aesthetics with the edge going to JBG there. but, the JPG project has a lot of wiggle room since no tenants have committed their names to the project.

I prefer something more daring visually than i5 although I do like the setting aside of space for artists’ studios.

The Arts has a great all around blend of visual appeal and mixed use. it’s the building where I’d most likely want to buy a condo given what was presented.

they all have their points.

As an update — only i5 and Arts on 5th contain residential components. Arts on 5th also contains street level neighborhood retail (a fact that is missed in this post).

i5 and Arts on 5th both have residential along with very nice boutique hotels and neighborhood retail.

At the ANC presentation, Buccini spent a large amount of time talking about children’s events and birthday parties. They somehow wanted to make what is a large destination music venue (1000 capacity) into some sort of kid friendly space. Looking at the club’s web site, this is just not the reality. That confused me.

The experience of folks in JBG condominium buildings is that they promise things and then don’t deliver them. So there is just a consensus that anything goes in the future because they will just do whatever suits them.

Donohoe Holland for me–let’s get this thing moving!

I don’t see why 555 Residents would appreciate the i5 development over the arts. They’re both going to create the same amount of construction noise and in the end i5 will leave you with retail aka a restaurant with outdoor seating right in front of your unit. The donohoe development puts all that “rowdy” activity on Eye street in front of the park. Talk about engaging the park…

the i5 development seems very poorly executed in my lowly architectural opinion.

also seems like i5’s architect of choice has only one “new construction” under its belt as opposed to shalom’s years of experience…

see for yourself http://www.mjarchitecture.com/projects/summit.shtml

I think 555 residents are more or less evenly split between i5 and Donohoe, perhaps with a slight majority moving towards the Donohoe camp.