Goodbye to another piece of old Trinidad

Change happens all the time. When it comes to a neighborhood, some call it progress, while others lament the passage of time. Regardless of the position you take, it can be jarring to wake up one day and find the things you're accustomed to no longer being there.

On our corner in Trinidad is the former home and office of Dr. Louis E. Lowman, M.D. Neighbors were born in that house and treated in his office. It was one of the only stand-alone homes in all of Trinidad. By the end of today or tomorrow, it will likely only be a memory, to be replaced by a six-unit condominium building. I'm putting these pictures online in hope that those who are interested in our history will have something to find when they go searching on the Internet, wondering what used to be at 1328 Montello Avenue NE before it was replaced with something modern and new.

(Photos by the author unless otherwise noted.)

Photo from Google Street View

Photo from Google Street View

Photo from Google Street View

"Pretty soon you won't recognize the place" - gone

Do you remember the "New Town" project that was pushed by John Ray and Sang Oh Development 6 years ago in the Florida Avenue Market area? It was touted by Vincent Orange during his failed mayoral run that year, but never really got off the ground (thank goodness).

The last reminder of the project was a sign at the northwest corner of 4th Street and Florida Avenue NE. The vacant U.S. Beef building had been located at that corner, but it was demolished in 2006 and a sign quickly went up promising a large residential building. "Pretty soon you won't recognize the place. Promise," it declared.

Pretty soon you won't recognize the place by Inked78

The sign became something of a joke, as its promise stood for 6 years, faded from years of promising something that never came to be.

Until now?

This new sign went up yesterday, and Tony Goodman, the neighborhood commissioner who represents the area across the street, linked to this showing the latest proposed building for this space. From the sign, it appears that EDENS has teamed up with Sang Oh Development for a project related to the new Union Market.

Is it possible that we really might not recognize the place this time? Until shovel hits dirt, I'll remain skeptical. But the area is certainly on local developers' radar in a way it wasn't 6 years ago.

Plugging up holes on N Street NW

N Street NW, between Connecticut Avenue and North Capitol Street, has horrible pavement. It's rutted, full of potholes, and patched so poorly that it's a stretch in places to call it a paved street.

But N Street NW has other holes in it as well. Gaps in its urban fabric. Small lots big enough for a rowhouse and nothing more. These lots don't lend to exciting speculation, like the large developments including City Center DC or The Yards, but small infill development projects are having an easier time getting financing in the current sour economy. Progress is happening here, things are moving forward, unlike those large projects.

Here are picutres of a couple of them (the photos are already a few weeks old, so progress has made things look different from what you see here):

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907 N Street NW before (lot full of Ailanthus trees)


907 N Street NW after



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226 N Street NW before (concrete barriers protecting a giant hole in the ground)


226 N Street NW after (a large rowhouse appears)

Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.