And so it begins…..
The Week Ahead – Community Meeting on 45 Mixed Unit Project Near SE Safeway
by Larry Janezich
Monday, March 23
Opal LLC hosts community outreach meeting on 45 unit mixed residential project comprised of townhouses, condos, flats and a carriage house for the site at 1309-1323 E Street, SE, currently occupied by an Jerry’s Custom Automotive Center and its associated warehouse. The meeting will be at 7:00pm in Hill Center. See CHC posting here: http://bit.ly/14qcnLZ
Wednesday, March 25
Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee meets at 7:00pm in Eastern Market’s North Hall. Among items on the agenda: Update on Hine Construction Planns
Friday, March 27
Councilmember Charles Allen Community Office Hours, 8:00am – 9:30am, Curbside Café, 257 15th Street, SE
CAPITOL HILL CORNER 
How “defensible” is the space between the two rows of townhouses? Far from street pedestrian eyes, the space, at least in the drawing, appears frighteningly vulnerable. In his March Hill Rag column, Don Denton tells us that million-dollar prices are much more frequent on Capitol Hill now because there is such a shortage of housing stock on the Hill available for sale — sending all prices up up up. This block of E Street is not what one would normally imagine as a million-dollar location. One guesses that the developer is betting on current trends continuing big time.
If Trinidad and Brookland can command $1mil+ prices then this location certainly can. the Penn corridor has a lot of development in pipeline and some of the drawbacks like the industrial makeup of this specific block will be mitigated by this project. When the IGU space eventually turns over and the Safeway gets redeveloped (both of which are inevitable), this block will look a lot more attractive. it’s also outside the historic district, and even if developers seek PUDs and commit to compatible design they don’t have to preserve what’s already there.