Who'd Want to Live There?

"It works all day long," he said. "Who's ever thought of that? No one. Why? Because who has the critical mass? It's not a golf course. It's better than a golf course. Buy a condo and you're in."

Abdo got the idea after he met three brothers -- Jerry, Andrew and Dave Schaeffer -- who run a taxicab company their father started more than 50 years ago and have acquired land throughout the city.

The brothers tried to sell Abdo some land on Capitol Hill, but Abdo wasn't interested. Abdo recalled asking: "What else do you guys have?"

They had quite a bit: 11 contiguous acres near New York and Bladensburg, one of the busiest intersections in the city, where tenants include auto-repair garages, a used-tire salesman, a towing company, a gas station and the Skylark strip club, which operates in a former Roy Rogers restaurant.

There was only one problem. The brothers were already talking to a group that wanted to build a place for slot machines. Abdo, figuring that slots would never be approved in the District, told the brothers that he would be back the day after the tentative deal expired.

And he was.

"I want to make a big statement . . . something that's going to be remembered for a long time," Andrew Schaeffer, 58, remembered Abdo telling him.

Within two weeks, Abdo essentially met the brothers' price, according to Abdo and the Schaeffers. Neither side will say how much Abdo is paying because the deal has not closed. Some brokers and developers estimate the 11 acres to be worth as much as $60 million.

Once Abdo had persuaded some other landowners around the Schaeffers to sell, he approached Broadway Management, a New York firm that for two decades has developed condos in Manhattan and has three projects in progress in the District.

"It didn't take us long to decide this was something we wanted to be involved with, based on Jim's capabilities and the opportunity to redevelop part of the city that's in need of it," said David Weldler, a Broadway Management principal. "He understands the D.C. market quite well. He's a visionary." Neither Weldler nor Abdo will say how much money they are putting into the project.

Abdo said he knew the project would work when he saw the bumper-to-bumper traffic. City officials say more than 60,000 cars pass through the New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road intersection each day.

"They're like minnows swimming upstream," he said, showing slides of his planned development. "This is my net. This is my big old net."