Learning to Age Gracefully

One evening in October 2005, Theresa Ojinmah grabbed a frozen dinner from the grocery in the basement of the Northwest Washington condominium where she works. The shop had grown seedy, it reeked of cigar smoke, it was poorly stocked, and its aging manager was apathetic.

Back at her desk, Ojinmah discovered mold on her Salisbury steak. However, she didn't toss it out or demand a refund. Instead, Ojinmah, the assistant manager at the Towers, presented the decomposing meal at the condo's board meeting that evening.

Perish the thought that the developer of the Towers, local builder Melvin Gelman, would have allowed such unseemly conditions. Gelman kept a decorator on retainer and lived in a 9,000-square-foot duplex in the building, at 4201 Cathedral Ave. NW. (His family still owns the unit.)

When he opened the apartment building in the late 1950s, Gelman promised Shangri-la. Built on 12 acres with 12,000 budding tulips, the Towers boasted a restaurant, a drug store, a florist, a grocer, a beauty salon, a valet, a tailor, a swimming pool, tennis courts and 600 parking spaces for about as many apartments.

The Salisbury steak incident signaled a tipping point. With a changing demographic in the past few years, the Towers, like other condominiums and cooperatives across the District, has had to acknowledge both its wrinkles and its new residents. Owners now include not only the empty nesters and retirees who have traditionally lived there but also younger people, some of them couples with children.

In a search for convenience and affordability, those younger buyers are choosing condos over single-family houses, according to Joseph Himali, principal broker at Best Address Real Estate in Georgetown. "The new buyer puts a greater value on time and convenience than a yard. They don't have the time to meet a utility worker or pick up a package," he said.

In the past few years, thousands of trendy new condo units have hit the market in the District and the close-in suburbs. Eager to meet the needs of the new breed of buyers, developers are "trying to define the moment," said Jeff Wilson, a real estate agent at the Bethesda Gateway office of Long & Foster who does a high volume of sales in the District.

Many of these new buildings boast the latest in luxury kitchens and fashionable loft layouts.

According to Himali, however, location and convenience can trump granite and stainless. And ultimately, a sleek new business center or high-tech gym won't move a property any faster, Wilson said. "Traditional never goes out of date," he said.

But how can traditional age gracefully? It can require a little push, according to Anna Maria Taylor, a member of the condo board at the Towers.

Longtime residents become complacent, so new owners are key, she said. "Once you're in," she said, "you forget the problems."

Himali describes the tension that can arise between new buyers and older owners as a conflict of time over finances. New owners are eager to see updating but don't have the time to attend board meetings. Older owners, particularly those on fixed incomes, worry they can't afford rising maintenance fees.