Jenkins Row
Changing the Neighborhood While Honoring its History
By: Jessica White
Capitolcommunitynews.com
Before the Capitol was built, the Capitol Hill area was known as Jenkins Hill. Thomas Jenkins, the “great to the fifth” grandfather of Hill resident and local artist Will Fleishell Jr., owned much of present day Capitol Hill. “The Jenkins family goes back in this area to around 1750,” says Fleishell. “At the time the area was heavily forested, and many of the houses were built of wood,” says Fleishell, whose art studio is in the alley system behind where his ancestors used to live on Seventh and G streets SE. Of course, after the Capitol was built, the area became known by its present day name, Capitol Hill.
Now, on a part of the Hill known as “Capitol Hill East,” the Jenkins name is reasserting itself in the form of a 250-unit condominium building with the much touted Harris Teeter (the 48,000-square-foot space has been turned over to Harris Teeter for the build out and is expected to open in the first quarter of 2008), and of course other retail space (still in negotiation), on the ground floor.
Jenkins Row, as the building is called, has seen its first residents move in, and the majority is expected to move in by the end of this year. Currently, 237 of the units are sold, and 13 remain on the market, priced from $300,000-$700,000.
“Architecturally, the challenge of the property was that it is such a long property on Potomac Avenue SE and Pennsylvania Avenue SE,” explains Aaron Leibert, senior vice president of JPI, the developer. “And we wanted to develop something that was in the context of Capitol Hill, which is predominantly row houses. And we wanted to do that without being too kitschy or Disneylandy with a row house façade. Instead, we came up with three façades for the building to make it more palatable.” Essentially, the goal was to create what could be described as a visual history for that parcel of land.
“The corner of the building has a row house façade with bay windows and a mansard roof. As you move down Potomac closer to the entrance of Harris Teeter, it has an industrial style and looks like it could have been an old turn of the century warehouse on Capitol Hill,” explains Leibert. “For the corner of the building, (the curve from Pennsylvania Avenue to Potomac Avenue), architecturally we wanted to get up to modern times. We used yellow brick, metal panels, big floor-to-ceiling windows and a neon sign.”
The façade along Pennsylvania Avenue also incorporates the same elements. Additionally, both ends of the building were tapered down so as not to impose on the neighborhood buildings. “We went to the Capitol Hill Restoration Society, even though we did not have to, to get their comments on the building and get them to sign off on it,” Leibert adds.
“We are really trying to assimilate ourselves into the Eastern Market neighborhood, which the American Planning Association recently named one of the 10 top neighborhoods in the United States,” says Kurt Rieschick, sales manager for McBallard Williams.
The main entrance on Potomac Avenue is gracious and grand. It boasts oversized, leaded glass French doors, marble tiles with a large medallion design, 14-foot tray ceilings, a limestone slate wall, and an ornate spiral staircase with decorative iron work, not to mention the well-appointed sitting area. It is simply the first and only lobby of its kind on Capitol Hill. Off the lobby there is a small fitness center and a business center. Further back, there is a hip pub, with seating for 45, which can be rented as a party room of sorts by residents. “And they can rent the courtyard space off the pub as well,” says Jessica Birkel, a sales agent with McWilliams Ballard, who is handling the sale of the project.
The large, two-tiered courtyard is like a private oasis in the city. Some of the units have balconies that open onto the courtyard. Others have Juliet balconies. And there will be a large rooftop terrace from which you can see the Capitol Dome, Washington Monument and even the new baseball stadium.
Inside, the one-, two- and three-bedroom units were designed to accommodate modern living. Every unit has a coat closet (a rarity in the Capitol Hill rowhouses), large walk-in closets off the bedrooms, lots of storage, soaking tubs and a full-size washer/dryer. Of course every unit also has high-end finishes in the kitchens and bathrooms that today’s buyers expect – cherry kitchen cabinets, oak floors, granite countertops (buyers have some options for the final product). “We had to paint a picture [for buyers] during preconstruction, but now the building speaks for itself,” says Rieschick.
Without a doubt, Jenkins Row represents a new beginning for the eastern part of Capitol Hill, and it is nice to move forward in a way that honors the neighborhood’s past.
For more information about Jenkins Row, call 202-546-2922 or visit www.capitolhillcondo.com.
Jessica White, also known as “Ms. Mortgage Maven,” is a mortgage consultant with Tenacity Mortgage. Call or e-mail her to discuss your home purchase or refinancing needs. She can be reached at 202-607-4449 or Jessica@msmortgagemaven.com. You can also apply online at www.msmortgagemaven.com
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