Construction begins on 2400 14th retail and apartments, replacing Nehemiah Center

It's been about two years, but the empty lot at 14th and Belmont that replaced the Nehemiah Center finally has some construction work happening. I passed by today and there's construction equipment, workers, and trailers for the construction company. The building replacing it, to be called 2400 14th Street, will be a 255 unit residential building with ground floor retail.

Originally, Level 2 Development was going to build the project with the same name starting in mid-2008. Those plans fell through. The property was then sold to UDR, which doesn't have anything on their site about it.

DC mud reported that the plans will mostly stay the same, however: here is Level 2's version. The place will be 9 stories, have partially underground parking, and probably nice views of the city considering it's on the uphill part of the street. DC mud reported two years ago there would be apartments instead of condos, but that may have changed

Hopefully that ground floor retail fares better than View 14 and the other similar places nearby, which have a bunch of empty ground floor retail spots. The retail is 18,5000 square feet and could be anywhere from 2 to 5 tenants, DC mud reports, and they'll be "reserved for businesses that supply neighborhood wants and needs: such as a grocery/convenience store, restaurants, bank, café, etc." Let's hope it's something good -- maybe something we're missing?

What it looks like today

The lot, which covers the entire west side of 14th from Belmont to Chapin, used to be a suburban-style shopping center called the Nehemiah Center with parking in front, and very few tenants: a pizza place, a laundromat, a cash advance place and so on. There was a fair amount of crime, drug dealing and loitering there. The tenants gradually left and it was demolished about two years ago.

Donohoe Construction is building it, and Shalom Baranes Architects are designing it.