Who'd Want to Live There?

Carol Felix, a Logan Circle resident and marketing consultant, said Abdo had a gift for explaining why his units were worth their high prices. "He's always telling you a joke, even if he's telling you he's charging you $100 more a square foot," Felix said.

Abdo moved to larger apartment buildings and commercial properties. When drug dealers kept crowding around a pay phone on P Street NW, a spot Abdo was fixing up for CVS and the Logan Hardware store, he called the phone's owners several times, asking them to remove it. When they wouldn't, he had his construction workers rip it out and toss it into a Dumpster -- quarters and all, Abdo recalled, as he munched on a Think Thin energy bar.

He showed another side, too. When Theo Turner, a man living in a nearby church basement, turned up asking for work, Abdo hired him to carry supplies and sweep up debris -- and kept him on for years. Abdo also leased a basement apartment to Turner at a reduced rent in one of his renovated buildings near 15th and P streets NW. Not long ago, Abdo visited Turner in a hospital, where he was being treated for a heart attack.

In 2002, Williams presided over the marriage of Abdo and Mai at the Meridian House in Kalorama. After that, Williams became a regular at their house. The mayor is godfather to Abdo's son.

"He calls me the chief," Williams said. "My wife calls me Hey You. It balances out."

Since the beginning of 2000, Abdo or his company have contributed $11,550 to District candidates, including $3,000 to Williams and $3,500 to four candidates in this year's race for mayor.

Abdo admits he drops the mayor's name, which some people find irritating. "It's because he's a friend," Abdo said. "I'm an outward, vocal person and if I see someone over the weekend I start rattling off. If that's interpreted as name-dropping, I'm sorry."

As Abdo pursues his New York Avenue plans, he says the quality of his projects and the uniqueness of his design will create a market, regardless of broader trends.

On April 6, he presented his plans to a seven-member Advisory Neighborhood Commission. About 40 residents came out, and Abdo had the opportunity to display attributes important for a developer -- charm and salesmanship.

"I'm from a working-class family," Abdo said. "That's the idea here. We're not trying to compete with Dupont Circle or Kalorama. These will be at least $150 a foot less than what they'd cost in Northwest."

From the front row, resident Debbie Smith let loose a harrumph, shaking her head at the notion that working-class people would pay upward of $199,000 for a studio and $690,000 for a three-bedroom condominium.

Someone else asked about rising property taxes. That prompted Abdo's new vice president -- Eric W. Price -- to jump up and address the crowd. They knew him from his previous job as deputy mayor for planning and economic development, which he held for five years. He played a major role in luring a baseball team to the District and jump-starting the redevelopment of the old convention center site. Now they listened as Price, 44, calmly walked through tax-break programs that could keep older residents on tight incomes in their homes, even as their property values rose.

"New York Avenue can become a place of Whole Foods, hair salons, boutiques and coffee shops," Abdo said. "We've done this before on 14th Street and at Logan Circle and we're doing it on H Street. We'll tackle the tough areas. We're not here to give you lip service. We're here to make it happen."

It made for a compelling pitch.

"I'm tired of fighting the same garbage," Joan E. Black, a neighborhood advisory commissioner, told the crowd. "We want to improve our standard of living."

Within 30 minutes, the advisory panel endorsed the plan by a 5 to 1 to 1 vote.