Development

A little-known interest of mine is watching all of the development taking place here in DC. Although some attribute the development to the growth of government I think it has more to do with other factors such as having a competent mayor.

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Anyway, it was with great interest today that I saw this story:

A local developer is putting together a $1 billion plan to transform a hodgepodge of junkyards, a strip club and a gas station at New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road NE into shops and housing, with a portion reserved for people on working-class incomes.

The project, proposed by Jim Abdo, a District developer better known for luxury condos at Dupont and Logan circles, would be one of the largest privately financed deals in that part of the city, according to District officials.

This could be very interesting. Abdo has done some really cool stuff, playing a major role in developing 14th St., and I am unaware of any of his projects ever failing. One of them is being built just a short walk up the road from where I work and it's replacing a collection of run-down housing. It will be interesting to see if this latest project is a success, that neighborhood needs it.

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On a related note there are signs that the housing market here in the DC area is finally beginning to cool. About time.

Violain Romans-Murray, 33, is sick of the long commutes from her four-bedroom home in Gainesville; it can take her husband three hours to get home from his job as a technical manager for General Dynamics Corp. in Fair Lakes. The couple put the house on the market last month for $589,900, hoping to buy a home closer to their jobs. But three weeks have passed, and only two buyers have even visited. When they sold their previous house in Centreville in 2002, it sold in five hours.

"Honestly, we're thinking we might pull it off the market," said Romans-Murray, a mother of three and special projects coordinator for a trade group based in Herndon. "It's scary."

But many would-be buyers have withdrawn from the real estate market, saying prices are just too high to consider making a purchase. Dan McGrath, an organizer for the Service Employees International Union, and his wife, Teresa, who works at the Environmental Protection Agency, have been married for four months, have a combined income of about $100,000 a year and would ordinarily be good candidates to become first-time homeowners. But the McGraths, who live in the District's Shaw neighborhood, have been shocked and repulsed by the prices for homes in the area, including the $400,000 price on one 800-square-foot studio they visited.

"We can't figure out who -- for the life of us -- would buy a place with two doors for $400,000," said McGrath, 28. "We want to think about a future but homeownership here is just not possible."

Neither can I.