Prince Of Petworth » New Artist Housing Coming to 3rd and K Streets, NE

New Artist Housing Coming to 3rd and K Streets, NE

From time to time folks ask me about any artist workspace living arrangements available in DC. The following sounds like great news! The Cultural Development Corporation reports:

We are working with Union Place Phase I, LLC, to qualify 30 artists, arts administrators, arts educators and their families for affordable artist live/work apartments at 3rd and K, NE, in the NoMa area of Washington, DC. The artist housing units at The Loree Grand will be live/work housing — apartments designed primarily as residential, with studio/work space as an ancillary use. The building will feature studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and two-bedroom with den units ranging from 596 to 1362 square feet.

The Loree Grand includes over 200 residential units, a roof garden, a courtyard, a gym and ground floor retail, all within steps of the New York/Florida Avenue Metro Station and Union Station. Individual units include washers and dryers, stainless steel appliances and open floorplans. Construction is under way with occupancy expected mid 2010.

You can find more info here.

Category: art, Buildings, Coming and Going

By: Prince Of Petworth | 16 November 2009 2:30 PM | 8 Comments

nate

I never understood why so much value is placed on artists as opposed to teachers, restaurant workers or any other profession.

November 16, 2009 at 3:57 pm
sean

nate,
artists are generally thought of as an economic and cultural catalyst.

November 16, 2009 at 4:50 pm
poo poo goes to washington

so affordable housing is for those making about $80k or less a year for a family of 4? does that mean $40k or less for a family of two? and…. $20k or less for a family of 1? just what constitutes a family anyway?

November 16, 2009 at 6:46 pm
hipchickindc

What Sean said. Back in the late ’80′s, I was part of a first generation of artists that moved into a city-funded co-op in Baltimore in what was then a pretty scary neighborhood. I laugh when people call my current neighborhood (Bloomingdale) sketch, because comparatively, it is so not. The B’more ‘hood is way gentrified now. I probably wouldn’t enjoy it nearly as much now as I did back then.

November 16, 2009 at 7:44 pm
nate

Is it the artists that are economic catalysts? I wonder would we think this if an artist community consisted of gangster rap artists?

November 17, 2009 at 12:30 pm
BP

Poo poo, you make a good point. The income threshold used for affordable housing is an “area median” that stretches to the ‘burbs, where income is generally higher. There is actually a push to make the area a much smaller zone (DC) so the threshold is not so high (reduces the pool of applicants to exclude some who may not need the subsidy).

Even those who are not a fan of the affordable housing concept can support getting the units to those who are most in need. Call your councilman.

November 18, 2009 at 8:41 am
Turmoilist

So then the “Arts District” in Hyattsville MD is THE destination in the metro area! Buy now before you’re priced out forever!

http://www.eya.com/Arts_District_Hyattsville

(chortle)

November 19, 2009 at 3:03 pm
dancingdoggy

actually Nate, if you read the Union Place brochure, (can be downloaded as pfd file from web), they have reserved a total of 78 units for subsidized housing, of which will be reserved for “firefighters, teachers, etc.” I guess artists get only 30 of the 78? or maybe there are 30 extras for us? In addition, it should be noted that teachers and firefighters probably make a lot more money than artists. And that, while they may also make things more safer than artists, artists make things a lot more interesting.

November 27, 2009 at 2:39 pm