October 14, 2011 - 9:44 am

That was fast!

It was only earlier this year that work began on 1915 6th Street (right). The property stood as a vacant lot for years, but was snapped up by a condo developer.

After being on the market for just a few days at $299,000, the 1-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom basement condo at 1915 6th Street  is now under contract.

LeDroit Park has seen a good deal of reinvestment over the past few years despite the economy. A new condo is nearing completion at 5th St and Oakdale Place (bottom left) after sitting as vacant lot for years.  1907 3rd Street (bottom right), after sitting as a vacant apartment building for many years, is now a condo building.

NPR reporter Ari Shapiro and his husband are renovating the old McGill house at 1922 3rd Street (below).

2 Comments »
August 08, 2011 - 9:01 am

Census data for LeDroit Park

In preparation for redistricting Ward 1’s ANCs, the DC Office of Planning has released block-by-block demographic data for the District. We have combined the data for the blocks that comprise LeDroit Park to create a LeDroit Park census.

Analyzing U.S. Census data for LeDroit Park proves difficult because the of the way census tracts are drawn. Our census tract, 34, combines LeDroit Park and Howard University. Dorms on the northern end of the campus, far away from LeDroit Park, account for 717 of the tract’s 4,347 residents, thus skewing tract data.  Furthermore, the tract also inclues several blocks bounded by Rhode Island Avenue NW, Florida Avenue NW, and 2nd Street NW.

Fortunately, the Census Bureau provides data for each block, allowing us to combine the statistics for those blocks in LeDroit Park, while excluding the Howard University campus. In the map below, we have outlined the tract in blue and shaded the blocks for LeDroit Park in red.


View LeDroit Park Census in a larger map

Though LeDroit Park started out as an exclusively white suburban neighborhood, by 1910 the neighborhood was almost entirely black.  Today, 100 years later, the neighborhood is 70% black and is continuing to diversify.

However, when looking at the numbers on a block-by-block basis, you see that the neighborhood demography, must like that of the District itself, is unevenly distributed.  

The block bounded by 5th Street, T Street, 6th Street, and U Street is 53% white, the highest in the neighborhood.  Likewise, the block containing the Kelly Miller public housing is 91% black, the highest percentage in the neighborhood.  The block containing the arch and the Florida Avenue Baptist Church comes closest to black-white equilibrium at 44% and 49% for each group respectively.

When looking at total population numbers for each block, you see that the two most populous blocks contain Howard University dorms.  The block bounded by 2nd Street, T Street, 3rd Street, and Elm Street has 382 residents and contains Slowe Hall, which houses 299 students.

The second most populous block contains the new park.  However, it also contains Carver Hall, which itself houses 173 students. Certainly these blocks are big, but the fact that their population numbers are off the chart has more to do with student dorms than with any inherent difference in housing density.

Finally, when we look at housing vacancy, we see that the block bounded by 5th Street, T Street, 6th Street and U Street has 38% of its housing units vacant.  We’re not sure what’s causing this number, but we suspect that the apartment building at 5th and U Streets NW boosted the vacancy rate.  The building has since been finished and is fully rented.

The block with the second-highest rate of vacancy contains the now-renovated Ledroit Place condo building at 1907 3rd Street NW.

It would be interesting too look at other data, including household income, car ownership, and age distribution for the neighborhood. However, the Office of Planning’s spreadsheet only covered population numbers, racial distribution, and housing unit numbers, so those are the metrics we graphed.

2 Comments »
May 12, 2011 - 9:23 am

Views of Anna J. Cooper Circle

1907 3rd St NW

This Sunday we toured the just-renovated Ledroit Place condo building at 1907 3rd St NW. All of the units are now for sale and the top-floor units come with terraces with breathtaking views.

The building is open again this Sunday if you wish to see some of the views yourself.

1903 3rd St NW

1900 blk 3rd St NW

Above Anna J. Cooper Circle NW

1883 3rd Street NW

Anna J. Cooper Circle NW

1903 3rd St NW

3 Comments »
April 15, 2011 - 8:50 am

Renovation of 1907 3rd Street

DC developer Neighborhood Development Company bought the vacant apartment building at 1907 3rd Street and is nearly finished renovating it. The building, which sat vacant and blighted for years, was finally auctioned off last summer and is being turned into a 12-unit condo building called Ledroit Place.

The condo building’s open house is this Sunday from 1pm to 5pm.

Here is what the building looked like two weeks ago:

IMG_6936

That southern façade is just begging for a mural.

Here is what the building looked like on May 1, 2010:

1907 Third Street NW

Big improvement, right?

This is the first big project to open in the neighborhood since we moved here in May 2009 and we’re glad to see that one of the biggest eye sores is finally returning to productive use.

6 Comments »