A Rapid Renaissance in Columbia Heights

But Graham acknowledged that ginning interest was difficult in a crime-addled area defined by acres of vacant lots. "This was before the red-hot real estate market and a very different Columbia Heights," he said. "This was a neighborhood where we had tried to get McDonald's, and they said they wouldn't consider it. Today, we'd rather not have McDonald's."

Yet, even with the new construction, Graham acknowledged that Columbia Heights is still too risky for some national retailers. "They can't convince themselves that this is going to work," he said. "There is no Saks going to be located there. There is no Whole Foods."

Drew Greenwald, Grid Properties' president, also built Harlem USA, a shopping center on 125th Street in New York that contributed to that corridor's revival. The massive growth in the suburbs in recent decades, he said, has made long-neglected urban areas more attractive.

"We love projects where everyone has written off the neighborhood," he said.

Recalling his impression of Columbia Heights when he visited in the 1990s, Greenwald said he saw promise in its proximity to the Howard and Catholic university campuses, the planned Metro station and the surrounding residential population.

Columbia Heights' rebirth is not only about the arrival of bricks and mortar at a crossroads that long struggled to recover from the looting and arson that followed Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. It's about the blending of cultures and classes.

The new luxury apartments along 14th Street join the neighborhood's existing stock of subsidized housing, much of it preserved and rehabilitated by officials who feared that the poor would be forced out.

Located near the District's geographic center and bound by 16th Street and Georgia Avenue, Columbia Heights' disparate narratives play out on the neighborhood's Internet mailing list, in which one posting last month was headlined "Sushi Coming to Columbia Heights!" Another updated viewers about a late afternoon shooting.

Black residents made up just over half the neighborhood's population in the 2000 Census, although their share had declined since the previous count while the numbers of Hispanic and white people grew. From 2000 to 2005, home buyers' median income rose from $76,000 to $103,000, according to the Urban Institute .

The neighborhood's mix is reflected in its educational choices, which include several traditional public and charter schools, one of them bilingual; Banneker, one of the city's best-performing high schools; and Bell Multicultural Senior High, recently rebuilt for $65 million.

"Columbia Heights potentially is the manifestation of Dr. King's vision," said William Jordan, a resident of more than 20 years. "You have the potential not just for token integration but for a critical mass of old and young, low-income and affluent."

But Jordan questioned whether that spectrum can withstand economic pressures. "Can this last longer than half a generation?" he asked.