Reply to Tony Williams takes DC Govt to task for failing downtown and budget mismanagement

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You are correct---loft conversions worked because they offered huge spaces, extremely high ceilings, big windows.  DC was never an industrial town so we don't have the types of warehouses, 19th and early 20th c mills, etc. that work for that sort of thing.  The only thing that was similar in DC was old school buildings and the city no longer wishes to sell those  off to  developers for conversions.  Late 20th c office buildings have 8 foot ceilings.  Mid block buildings have little natural light, the column layout results in long narrow dark units with low ceilings.  Sure, the city could create lousy units and make it all subsidized housing, but do people really want downtown DC to become one huge extremely low income housing project?   The working poor won't go for  those micro-units----they'd get bigger units and more natural light by staying out in the 1970s garden apartments in Langley Park.

If the feds won't send their workforce back to work, they should eliminate federal income tax for DC residents.  THAT would cause people to have an entirely new attitude towards downtown residential development and mitigate the disaster that downtown is slowly becoming.   Of course, we'd immediately become the United State equivalent of Monaco---housing prices would spike as the wealthy try to become DC residents.  [/quote]
The only way I see these commercial buildings emulating lofts is if they cut through the floor plates and create multi-story units. However, I have zero confidence that the economics of this works out until or unless the value of these buildings drops considerably lower. And at that point, downtown DC would not be a very nice place to be.

I agree that the biggest potential due to the limitations are subsidized low-income housing. However, you are correct that even low-income residents have options and this would be a serious adverse selection situation. Families stay in Wards 7/8 and the burbs, while these potential small and dark units would be occupied by mostly single, formerly unhoused men. That is probably not the vision that the mayor seeks, however the mayor’s goal for downtown is contrary to current policy.

Current policy is to broadly expand housing construction in Ward 3. If there will be more housing options in Ward 3 for higher income folks with lots of amenities, like City Ridge, then who is the target market for downtown? There is no coherent strategy, which is a concern.

If I was mayor, I would probably try to lean into what downtown DC is best set up for, which is as a center for conferences and tourism. Ban AirBnB and short-term rentals unconditionally throughout the city (no exceptions) and look to convert downtown commercial office buildings into hotels, entertainment, etc. Odd units with low ceilings and limited light dont work well for an apartment but are fine for a hotel.
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