High Hopes, and Higher Home Prices, in Anacostia

The Woodmont development lies between two projects that have received heavy public investment: Good Hope Marketplace, a shopping center that opened in 1997, and Anacostia Gateway, an office and retail complex under construction in the heart of Historic Anacostia.

"Once that Anacostia Gateway opens, this whole area is going to take off," said A. Gene Edgecombe of VMS LLC, one of the builders of the Homes at Woodmont. He pointed to the location -- less than 10 minutes by car to L'Enfant Plaza, downtown or Capitol Hill -- as a major selling point.

The new houses sprang from negotiations between the community and a developer, which used $10.4 million in city funds to build a 176-unit apartment building for low-income renters in 2002. Neighbors initially objected, saying the area was saturated with apartments. "The neighbors wanted stable, long-term homeowners," said Sarah Davidson, vice president of KSI, which built the apartments.

To appease the community, KSI pledged to build single-family homes on several adjacent wooded acres. Then it sold the land to IDS/VMS to build the houses.

Without the city's financial help, IDS President Andy Botticello said, the single-family houses wouldn't have been feasible because the land needed expensive correction of soil problems. The soil issues delayed construction, increasing costs, he said.

The Woodmont project is under construction; the first five homes should be ready for occupancy next month, Botticello said.

But the development's contours and feel are already apparent. It has a distinctly suburban look, more Annandale than Anacostia. The homes are on smaller lots than in the suburbs, but that's the main difference.

The houses have brick fronts, peaked roofs and many amenities -- including whirlpool soaking tubs and attached garages. The development backs onto federal parkland, so the houses face woods instead of city streets. "Our construction guys keep running into deer," Edgecombe said.

As a condition of the city's grant, the developers agreed to discount the first 13 of the 35 houses by about $100,000 under market value. But there were no income restrictions on buyers. Anybody could purchase the discounted housing; they just had to be fast.

With no advertising and not even a "For Sale" sign on the property, the developers got more than 1,000 e-mails from would-be buyers through their Web site and sold the houses in waves starting in 2002. That reassured Riggs Bank, the original lender, that a market exists for half-million-dollar homes in Anacostia, Botticello said.

The developers expect to put the remaining 17 lots on the market next month, with house prices ranging from $489,000 to $584,000. There are no income restriction on these, either.

Most buyers are moving up from townhouses, condominiums or rental apartments. Many have a connection to Southeast. "I had a townhouse in Prince George's County, and I wanted to come home to D.C.," said Karen Beddoe, a 35-year-old Washington native whose parents live in Ward 8. "You never realize how much a place has to offer until you leave it."

Beddoe, an accountant with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, stumbled across the Homes at Woodmont on the Internet. "I couldn't let that go by," said Beddoe, a single mother of two. "I jumped at the opportunity. I was just so lucky."

She signed a $360,000 contract for a four-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bath house. The same money would buy a one-bedroom condominium about one-third the size of that 3,300-square-foot home in one of the city's affluent neighborhoods.

"I pass my new house every day on the way to work," said Beddoe, who has waited for the home through years of construction. "Some days, I slow down and say, 'That's mine! That's mine!' "

One recent day, Beddoe toured her unfinished house with Edgecombe and Botticello. The hardwood floors, carpeting and appliances had yet to be installed, and the electricity wasn't connected. But to Beddoe, it resembled a page from Better Homes and Gardens. "I love it!" she cooed, surveying the walk-in closet in the master bedroom. "This is Karen's closet! I've got plans!"

Gome Legesse, another buyer, said her family tried to sway her against buying a house in Anacostia. "They didn't want me to go there. They said it wasn't secure," said Legesse, a 40-year-old computer technician for the District government who rents an apartment at Florida Avenue and North Capitol Street NW. "I told them not to worry about it, that a lot was developing around the area."

Legesse has agreed to pay about $302,000. "I couldn't beat the price," she said. "It is my dream to live in a single-family house."