Urban mystique helps drive interest in city’s revitalized neighborhoods

by Joan Hennessy
for Virginia Business
August 2006

Maybe it was “Seinfeld” or “Friends” or “Sex and the City.” Or maybe it was the TV commercials with iPod-wielding youngsters high-stepping on steamy urban streets.

For whatever reason, there is a national infatuation with the urban experience, says Jim Abdo, president of Washington, D.C.-based Abdo Development. “It’s glorified in the press and in sitcoms on TV,” he says. “Everyone views the urban experience as hip and cool, and not just for young people, but for empty nesters and young families.”

So Washington developers churn out hip loft apartments and condos in neighborhoods like Logan Circle and Columbia Heights. There are mixed-use developments, where residents have everything from shops to gyms to day care within walking distance. And when it comes to Washington, there are also the museums, restaurants and theaters a subway stop away.

Abdo embraces this urban love affair, making it his business to deliver such cool environs in Washington. He has made news with an ambitious $1 billion project to transform the rundown New York Avenue-Bladensburg Road area with housing, shops and green space. “We would not be pursuing projects of this size if we did not think and believe wholeheartedly that people want to live closer to work,” he says.

The district’s high cost of housing has driven many families to the suburbs and beyond. But long commutes and unending traffic congestion may bring others back to the city. “We’re in one of the hottest urban corridors in the country,” says Abdo. “We’ve seen no letup in terms of demand for our product or interest in it. We haven’t seen any softening in our pricing either.”

Some properties start in the low $200,000s. Others, from upscale condos to town homes, go for millions.

There has been a concerted effort by city officials to attract new residents while providing for the old. Some areas, such as the neighborhood around Howard University, have been brought back to life with new housing and mixed-use projects. Adding in residential and nonresidential work, $13 billion worth of projects have been completed since 2001, according to the Washington, D.C. Economic Partnership. Another $7 billion are under construction.

Still, increasing affordable housing for low- and middle-income workers remains at the center of political debate. And at the end of the day, statistics show that the city is still losing population. U.S. Census figures show that in 1990, the city’s population was 606,900. By 2000, the population dropped to 572,059 and in 2004 the figure was 553,523.The trend continued in 2005 with the population estimate at 550,521. In the publication, “A Vision for Growing an Inclusive City,” city officials reported that with 672,000 jobs in the district, “D.C. has more jobs than residents.”

At the same time, Northern Virginia’s population has been increasing. In Fairfax County, for example, the population was 969,749 in 2000 and more than 1 million in 2005.

But developer Matthew Blocher, senior vice president at The JBG Cos., expects Washington’s revitalization to continue. “The city has so much to offer,” he says.