Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Most Expensive Apartments in Washington, DC

The Louis Apartments, U Street Corridor,
 Northwest Washington, DC
                                                                Photos courtesy of The Louis
                                                                                    Text by Michael Hochman
  
WASHINGTON, DC -- Washington D.C. is inhabited by titans of government and some of the most influential people in the world … temporarily. It's a city of transients and uprooted politicians living election to election.

But if you’re a high-priced power player looking for the best place to live for the duration of your stay in town, where would one find the most expensive Washington D.C. apartment?


Just north of the White House and Capitol Hill near the swanky neighborhoods of Dupont and Logan Circles and just off the nightlife enclave of Adams Morgan is The Louis, an upscale, amenity-laden apartment building along the trendy U Street Corridor.

There you’ll find Apartment 912, a two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,078-square-foot, E22-style open floor plan stunner that runs for as little as $8,655 per month to start bare-bones, but can be upgraded to as much as $31,434.

Republicans and Democrats can agree that’s a big slice of the deficit, so what do you get for that kind of mint?



The coolest street in The District

Located in Northwest Washington, the U Street Corridor is a stretch of trendy shops and fashionable restaurants along U Street from 9th to 18th Street NW designated a “Great Street” by the American Planning Association.

Smack in the middle is The Louis, built in 2014 with 268 units and access to a host of specialty stores, grocery stores, pubs, eateries and nightlife spots.

In the early part of the 20th century, U Street’s “Black Broadway” was the heart of Black Culture in America, teeming with jazz clubs, soul food joints, historically-black theaters and hotels.


In recent years, U Street’s demographics have diversified. But the corridor remains one of the coolest in the city while gaining an upscale appeal.

Today, the area is populated by some of the best music clubs in the nation, including the 9:30 Club, the Black Cat, DC9, U Street Music Hall and the Velvet Lounge.


Dozens of popular restaurants are available in walking distance, but none stand out more than Ben’s Chili Bowl, a D.C. “must go” that luminaries from Redd Foxx to Martin Luther King, Jr. to Barack Obama named as a favorite spot.

Also along the street are Restaurant Marvin, Busboys and Poets, Ice Cream Jubilee and authentic cuisine in “Little Ethiopia.”


The area also features both upscale and vintage clothing shops, brewpubs, galleries, cafés, pocket parks, the century-old Lincoln Theatre, the African-American Civil War Museum, the outdoor 14&U Farmers’ Market and even the longest cascading fountain in America in Meridian Hill Park.


While back in the comforts of home, what exactly do you get for eight grand a month? A fantastic living space and enough high-end amenities to rival the White House itself.

The unit is a sleek marble-inspired open space featuring a large living area flanked by two large, airy bedrooms. The spacious living and dining room is lined with grayscale hardwood floors and a plethora of natural light thanks to a full wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.

The modern kitchen contains a built-in oven and microwave, two-tone wood cabinetry and a stainless-steel refrigerator across from a minimalist granite countertop kitchen island.

Redd Foxx
Two nearly-matching bedrooms are accessed from either side of the living space via a sliding door, where the hardwood floors continue and offer two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the neighborhood for an abundance of sunlight.


The unit contains two baths with modern fixtures, one in the main bedroom and the other off of the living area.

But as exciting as the interior space is, the killer feature of this apartment is a gigantic terrace running the length of the entire unit accessible from the living room and both bedrooms.

Not only does the terrace offer a full-length stone patio ready for lounge chairs and al fresco dining, but it also features a private stone-landscaped green roof along the city-view edge, perfect for both human and canine frolicking like a garden apartment in the sky.


However, with all the amenities The Louis offers residents, you may do nothing in your apartment but sleep. The elegant rooftop features a pleasant swimming pool and patio sundeck, an outdoor projection movie space and fire pit lounge and outdoor intimate and group picnic spaces overlooking U Street with three separate grilling stations.

Inside, the building provides a party-display kitchen, meeting lounge and business center, game room with shuffleboard tables and a fitness center with free weights and group exercise programs.

There’s even a Trader Joe’s, neighborhood coffee shop and a James Beard Award-fronted bistro right downstairs on the lobby level.

A lot of dead Presidents

Yes, $103,860 a year is a large percentage of the U.S. Treasury for a nice apartment. Add in the full upgrades and that price goes up to about $375,000 a year.
Budget experts suggest spending no more than a third of your pre-tax income on your living space, so all you need to be pulling down to snag this deluxe Cardozo unit is a cool 311,583 Georges. What else could you afford in this government town for $8,655 a month?
1,443 Original Chili Half-Smokes at Ben

If you don’t run the Treasury Department

We can’t all add a budget line in a bill to fund our apartment rent or throw a fastball like Stephen Strasburg or Max Scherzer, so you’re probably not pulling down the GDP of a small nation on Embassy Row. Fortunately, there are plenty of other gorgeous — and affordable — rental units around D.C. that might be a little more your style.
Or, if you’ve got your heart truly set on The Louis, snag a studio for $2,358.

The rent information included in this article is based on April 2019 rental property inventory on ApartmentGuide.com and rent.com and is used for illustrative purposes only. The data contained herein do not constitute financial advice or a pricing or availability guarantee for any apartment.
CONTACT:
Jennifer Dunaway 
dunawayjl@gmail.com

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