D.C. leaders gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of Elle apartments in Northwest Thursday, marking the first significant office-to-residential conversion in the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District.
Elle, formerly home to the U.S. Treasury Department, offers 163 residential units. Prices range from $2,800 for a studio to $6,000 for a one-bedroom, with 111 units currently available.
Residents can enjoy amenities such as a rooftop pool, work areas, a fitness center, pet space and on-site parking.
At the event, Mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled the Office to Anything program, an initiative that encourages the transformation of vacant office buildings into retail spaces, restaurants, hotels and other uses by offering a 15-year temporary property tax freeze.
The eligible area encompasses all of downtown, as well as portions of NoMa and Southwest.
“The transformation of downtown D.C. is focused on people,” Bowser said. “We're changing spaces and filling spaces with one big goal: to bring more people downtown. And that’s what this conversion is helping us do.”
The redevelopment of the Elle was led by developer Willco, which transformed the former Vanguard office building into a residential property with 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.
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“I believe in downtown and I’m seeing that people want to experience everything the Golden Triangle offers,” said Gary Cohen, president and chairman of Willco.
Bowser also mentioned that there are 11 similar projects in the development pipeline, expected to deliver 2,300 housing units to downtown D.C. She said the goal is to bring 15,000 new residents to downtown.
The new Office to Anything program complements the District’s Housing in Downtown program, which aims to add thousands of new residents downtown through a 20-year tax abatement.
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