December 2017

  By Susan Bodiker - December 13, 2017 11Park is between the neighborhoods of Logan Circle and Shaw. (Rendering by Spine)  

D.C.’s changing landscape has brought a new vibe (and some gentrification controversy) to long-established neighborhoods, as well as a whole new purpose to older structures whose original use is long past the sell-by date.

Such is the case with 11Park at 1628 11th St. NW. Nestled between the hip-and-happening neighborhoods of Logan Circle and Shaw, this former commercial building has now been converted to a chic condominium complex, featuring eight ultra-modern two-level town houses and 24 flats.

A duplex available at 11Park offers an open living space next to the kitchen. (photo by Studio Trejo)

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  By Current News Staff Writer - December 20, 2017  St. John’s quarterback Kevin Doyle received the 2017 Gatorade D.C. football player of the year award. (Brian Kapur/The Current/September 2017)  

By Robert Bettmann

St. John’s quarterback Kevin Doyle has been named 2017’s Gatorade D.C. football player of the year in recognition of his exceptional season with the Cadets, this year’s Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champions.

Doyle threw for 2,204 yards while completing 62 percent of his passes with 22 touchdowns and only two interceptions. He has committed to play at the University of Michigan next year, under star coach Jim Harbaugh, former head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Gatorade’s Player of the Year

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By Zoe Morgan - December 20, 2017 Toys collected in D.C. went to children in Puerto Rico for Christmas. (photo by Kat Vazquez Studio)  

After seeing the devastation of Hurricane Maria, local sixth-grader Javier Llano-Cruz wanted to help. And with the assistance of his family, his Oyster-Adams Bilingual School classmates, private donations and even the toy industry, Llano-Cruz got to help make Christmas better for thousands of children in Puerto Rico.

With his mother, Llano-Cruz traveled to the beleaguered island from Dec. 15 through 19 to help sort and deliver 36,000 donated toys that he helped collect. The toy drive was run by Friends of Puerto Rico, a nonprofit that his father Javier Llano co-founded.

Javier Llano-Cruz and…

 

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By Current News Staff Writer- December 20, 2017   The Wilson Tigers scored a 6-5 victory over the DC Stars on Dec. 15. (Hannah Lynn Wagner/The Current/December 2017)  

By Jack Lynch

Even as the face of D.C. high school hockey changes, its home stays the same. Wilson — still finding its way through its inaugural season — took down perennial local favorite DC Stars 6-5 on a snowy Friday night at the Fort Dupont Ice Arena, the District’s only indoor ice rink.

Forward Juraj Bystramski led the way for the Tigers, tallying two goals in the first two periods, including a long-distance snipe from near the blue line that shot past Stars goalie Liam Susswein. Bystramski was a threat all night, deking and slashing his way past the

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By Susan Bodiker - December 20, 2017   Dating to 1932, this Norman French home in Woodland Normanstone is priced at $3,500,000. (photo courtesy of HomeVisit)  

It seems hard to believe in today’s fractious times that Congress ever reached agreement on anything, much less a green and environmentally friendly policy. Yet the Woodland Normanstone neighborhood, which came about as an act of Congress in 1910, reflects that long-ago respect for nature. The neighborhood — noted for its varying elevations, winding roads, old-growth trees and wildlife sightings — is also home to embassies and grand mansions, including the Norman French residence at 2607 31st St. NW.

Built in 1932 for the family of the current owner, it was

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  By Kirk Kramer - December 20, 2017   The former Superfresh site is slated for a mixed-use project. (courtesy of Valor Development)  

The Balducci’s chain of premium grocery stores will open its only D.C. location at the Ladybird, a mixed-use development proposed for the Spring Valley Superfresh site, the project team announced last week.

The news attracted fresh criticism about the Ladybird plans, which many neighbors argue are out of scale with the single-family homes abutting the project site. Valor Development hopes to construct 219 residential units atop 16,000 square feet of retail space at 48th and Yuma streets NW, and one of the two planned buildings would stand up to seven stories tall.

The earliest project

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By Susan Bodiker - December 6, 2017

The ultra-modern building at 1111 24th St. NW was designed by Enrique Norten, whose firm's portfolio includes the New York Public Library. (photo by Greg Powers)

You know what they say about people in glass houses: They have all the best views.

And to anyone passing by the Westlight, the new all-glass condominium building at 1111 24th St. NW, the views of and inside this distinctive cantilevered structure are simply breathtaking.

The ultra-modern building was designed by the internationally acclaimed Enrique Norten, founder and director of TEN Arquitectos, the Mexico City firm whose U.S. portfolio includes such recent works as the New York Public Library, Miami Design District and Rutgers Business

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  By Grace Bird - December 6, 2017

After years of sacrificing high school parties for late nights on the ice rink, recent Georgetown Day graduate Conor McDermott-Mostowy will compete in Milwaukee next month for a place on the U.S. Olympic long track speed skating team.

The 18-year-old moved to Wisconsin in August to train for a gap year and now spends six days at practice, while also fitting in time to work at a local coffee shop. Next fall, he plans to study pre-med at a Wisconsin liberal arts college while preparing for the Winter Olympics in 2022 — whether or not he makes it to this February’s games in South Korea.

If he doesn’t make the 2018 Olympic team, McDermott-Mostowy plans to try again in 2022. (photo by ThunderBunny…

  By Kirk Kramer - December 13, 2017  

The DC Preservation League thinks the house at 3125 Chain Bridge Road NW is a landmark of modernist architecture and belongs on the National Register of Historic Places. Alma Gates doesn’t buy it.

“This house is not [architecturally] influential or important,” said Gates, a member of the local advisory neighborhood commission, ANC 3D. “It is not associated with people who are significant to our past.”

Gates and her colleagues heard from the DC Preservation League at ANC 3D’s meeting last Wednesday, but they voted unanimously to oppose the landmark application. The case will go before the Historic Preservation Review Board on Dec. 21. (ANC 3D includes Foxhall, the Palisades, Spring Valley

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