Rob Goodspeed has a good piece for the Urban Land Institute about the renaissance in Columbia Heights. Everything is great, except more and more developers are realizing they built way too much parking.

The Highland Park Apartments, across the street from DC USA, has 278 spaces for 229 apartments. So far, however, 90 apartments have been leased in the not-yet-completed project, but “only 9 parking spaces have been purchased, forcing [the developer] to look to local schools who may be willing to pay for parking.” Wouldn’t it have been great if, instead of spending $30-60,000 per space to build that garage, they had been able to offer a couple hundred dollars lower rent?

By the way, I recently learned that the 1,015-space garage at DC USA was originally required by zoning to contain 1,600 spaces. To get down as low as 1,000 required a special zoning variance. Yet the garage still has an entire level that has never been used.

This is why we need to pass the parking requirements reform that Office of Planning is recommending. The Zoning Commission hearing is July 31, and we need residents to write letters or testify at the hearing, to make the case for the changes and make it clear that residents support it.

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Tagged: columbia heights, dc, dc usa, excessive parking, parking

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.