ReadysetDC A CREATIVE URBAN ENTERPRISE

Future Development: Akridge at Half Street

Akridge at Half Street will include two 9-story office buildings and a 280-unit 11-story residential building (with rooftop views of the ballpark), which will include 75,000 SF of retail + restaurants. Now the economy has really slowed down the Ballpark District, but Akridge is hoping to break ground early next year. First off, my thoughts on the Ballpark District/Capitol Riverfront. With these “new” neighborhoods you can’t expect an authentic neighborhood-feel. Not like U Street, Logan, Dupont, Columbia Heights, H Street NE, Shaw, etc. But I do think that these places will be interesting, and that they provide much needed space for the city’s population to grow.

At the residential building is what you would expect: a private courtyard in the center of the U-shaped building and a green rooftop terrace with a pool, grills, etc. and views of the Ballpark and beyond. Click to zoom:

Click to zoom into the floorplans:

Much more after the jump…

In the image below, the alley will be called the “Via”, a pedestrian retail walk that it supposedly going to have a market-feel. I’m not sure if it will have the big screen showing the ball games or not.

The north end of the block facing National’s Park. Lanterns strung above Half Street look very cool, but again, I cannot say if that’s just for the rendering. It looks like they want that corner to be interesting.

However, that same feature is in the renderings for Monument Realty’s Half Street project across the street, which is where Artomatic is being held right now. So there’s a good chance we can get our lanterns.

In my personal taste, I think the architecture of this project to be visually interesting. It can be hard to tell from renderings but we will see. What are your thoughts? Would you live here? Would you hang out here?