Friday, April 06, 2007

831 L Street High-rise Alternatives

For about a year now this project has been slowly moving through the planning process and is still in the early proposal stages with the city. The corner of 9th and L Street is where this tower is being proposed and it still has not been determined weather it will be a residential tower or an office tower.


This is what the current design would be if the residential tower were built. The buildings height would be 150 ft with 173 units, 222 bedrooms, and 219 parking spaces. The 15 floor high-rise would have a total of 343,300 sf. with 6,500 sf of retail and 241,050 sf for residential. A dinning terrace would bump out onto L Street with 1090 sf for tables and chairs.


View from corner of 9th and L Street.


This is what the current design would be if the office tower were built. The buildings height would be 150 ft with 316 parking spaces. The 12 floor high-rise would have a total of 325,200 sf. with 6,500 sf of retail and 190,200 sf for offices. Just like the residential proposal, a dinning terrace would bump out onto L Street with 1090 sf for tables and chairs.


Corner or 9th & L Street.

The ground floor plans for the office and residential plans are very similar.

Overview of project site.

7 comments:

wburg said...

I like the look of the residential tower. The office tower is a bit too, well, officey.

I still hope to heck that there is a way to save the Bel-Vue, and the Hof Brau buildings. Despite their dilapidation there is some real architectural charm on that block (look at the back alley!) if only someone can get them away from the Im"Mo"lator. The northwest corner of 8th and L, though, is definitely lose-able...

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm.... maybe they are just not complimentary renderings, but my first thoughts are, "Jeeze... could that be any more hideous?" Looks like it was designed by the state... in 1955!

GA said...

Nice find...This is the one the Cordano's proposed a short time ago, right?

Any idea who the architect is?

Not sure about the look of it yet. Tough to get feel with those renderings, but it does look pretty bulky, and eh looking...but considering what is there now, it's an improvement already.

That seems to be one problem with the height restrictions around the Capitol (Which I do think is a good idea for the most part)the buildings seem to be pretty bulky, I assume to get as much space within the 150 feet.

Housing and office would be nice..

Hey William - I'm sure there are added costs when do mixed use office and housing, including some loss of economies of scale, esp for a smaller building...would you be able to give me a couple quick notes on that? Thanks...

Zwahlen Images said...

The architect is Kwan Henmi out of San Francisco.

Yep, Cordano has proposed this. These were submitted to the city back in May of last year and now the project appears to be in an idol state... I hope to know more by the end of this week.

The office tower does' nothing for me, maybe in color it might be more impressive. I do like the residential tower except for how the four levels of garage are exposed on the 9th street side. Couldn't they just move that open area towards the alley or even to the opposite side where a future building will hide the open void?

Anonymous said...

ouch... looks like the cordano's weren't looking to spend too much on the design. Kwan Henmi's other proposals are above and beyond those two stubby little towers.

i think they need to address some of the issues brought up in the urban design workshop that you had posted a few months ago. both designs need to lose some weight and gain some height.

Zwahlen Images said...

The height restrictions for L Street going west ends right where this tower would be built. Right next to it on the corner of 8th & L Street a 300' tower can rise... this is where one of Saca's others proposals is planned.

This tower is actually being pulled back from the property line on both L Street and 9th Street by nine feet... this will make for some wide sidewalks and room for dinning on L Street.

wburg said...

Sounds like a perfect place for some of that height trading...build taller on 9th and L in return for permanent "air rights" over the Bel-Vue, then restore that quarter-block.