I’ve written a lot about the DCUSA parking garage — Target and other big box stores demanded a large number of parking spaces before they would agree to open, which turned out not to be needed. After all, the complex sits on top of a Metro station and numerous bus lines, and people use public transit in DC.
Since then, it’s been expensive for the city, who maintains it, and is often largely empty. There have been a few ideas for re-use, such as parking for local churches, for a Mt. Pleasant shuttle bus, for WMATA employees, for commuters, and so on. But for whatever reason, none of those took off.
And now we have another proposal: to convert part of the garage into luxury, micro-unit condos. The plan, from a consortium of New York and San Francisco developers, envisions 50 luxury units of 375 square feet, to be priced from $3,500 a month.
The units will include the current pipes, concrete and such as “industrial finishings” which will be renovated, polished or otherwise made to look more homey. Since there isn’t much natural light in the garage (it’s underground, after all) there will be an elaborate series of mirrors, much like the Egyptians supposedly did with the pyramids.
There will also be en-suite Keurig and Sodastream machines, delivery services for laundry, a private shuttle bus to H Street NE, and other amenities like a rooftop yoga studio that will be opened on top of DCUSA.
The units will have what is being called a state-of-the-art artisanal air filtering system to take out any toxins from car exhaust in the building.
There will also be several affordable units included; those start at $3,000 a month and have a separate entrance.
