Another Logan Circle condo project is getting underway, this one at the former sites of the Mr. Wash carwash, Jerry Chan’s carryout spot and a garage, all demolished in recent days.
Digging starts this week on Logan 13, a 67-unit condominium building, says Rita Bamberger, senior vice president at Holladay Corp., the D.C.-based developer.
Properties at 1309, 1311 and 1313 13th Street were all razed in preparation for the project, whose address will be 1311 13th Street NW.
Bamberger expects the new project – to be comprised of studio, one- and two-bedroom units – to be at completion some 18 months hence, or some point in the summer of 2016.
Logan 13 is strictly residential, though the carwash it replaces – and its yellow-and-red signage – was instantly recognizable to many. The Mr. Wash chain opened in D.C. in 1958.
“There were a handful of people who were concerned” about the size and scope of Logan 13, Bamberger says, adding that meetings between Holladay and some neighbors went well and provided a forum for people to share their worries.
Holladay’s other projects have included Capitol Hill’s 196-unit CarBarn – a building that dates to 1896 and once housed streetcars in their Washington heyday – and the Matrix, a 40-unit building at 1529 14th Street NW, once the site of a car dealership. It was completed in 2007.
“It’s a good time to buy a condo for a number of reasons,” Bamberger says.
“For one thing, there is a groundswell of people who want to live closer in, who don’t want to fight the traffic and who love the vibrancy of downtown DC. It’s not just younger people – it’s empty nesters, a whole spectrum” of prospective buyers.
Amy Rogers Nazarov is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist with more than 25 years experience as a staff reporter and a freelance writer, covering technology, adoption, real estate, and lifestyle topics from food & drink to home organizing. Her byline has appeared in Cooking Light, The Washington Post, Slate, Washingtonian, The Writer, Smithsonian, The Washington Post Express, The Baltimore Examiner, The Sacramento Bee, Cure, The Washington Times, Museum, and many other outlets. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists & Authors and tweets at
@WordKitchenDC.