Dominique Kostelac picks mustard and collard greens on a neighbor's farm outside Charlottesville, Va. In a previous life, Kostelac amassed $5 million rehabbing homes in the Mt. Pleasant, Adams Morgan and Shaw neighborhoods of Washington.
Tracy A Woodward-The Washington Post
Kostelac and his family now run Arganica Farm Club, a business that buys farm foods and other products wholesale from southern Virginia farms and delivers them to D.C. homes. In a building on his farm, Kostelac, center, distribution manager Tim Simons, left, and assistant Allyssa Howells pack dairy items and poultry.
Tracy A Woodward-The Washington Post
Kostelac's wife, Rachel, handles Arganica's books. They hope the company will be more successful than Kostelac's previous big project, a 21-unit condo that ran into a blizzard of legal and zoning issues, drained his savings and ended his real estate career.
Tracy A Woodward-The Washington Post
A sample of Arganica's produce, which includes hand-picked selections of the best local finds of the week. "I have high aspirations for this," Kostelac said. "The kind of people who end up with things take chances."
Tracy A Woodward-The Washington Post
There are a few sheep on the farm, but Kostelac said he still is negotiating with his children as to whether they will become Arganica products. The farms of rural Virginia are a far cry from the Northwest Washington row houses that used to be Kostelac's habitat.
Tracy A Woodward-The Washington Post
Before product packaging begins, Kostelac attaches handmade labels to crates that are used to transport and deliver the goods. Later, the crates are recycled. While Kostelac tries his hand at agriculture, other former developers are pondering writing novels or pitching reality television ideas.
Tracy A Woodward-The Washington Post
All the perishable items packed at Arganica are transported in coolers. The journey from outside Charlottesville to Washington takes about two hours.
Tracy A Woodward-The Washington Post
Distribution manager Tim Simons checks a customer's order before it's loaded into the van for delivery. "The difference between being a success and failure is minuscule," owner and former real estate developer Kostelac said. "It's often timing and luck."
Tracy A Woodward-The Washington Post
Bharath Kort walks in an unfinished penthouse condo at The Axis, on 15th St. SE. Kort founded Macy Development during the boom but has dismantled his once-successful company and has gone back to being a contractor-for-hire. Despite reduced prices, six of 20 units in The Axis remain unsold.
Sarah L. Voisin-The Washington Post
Kort holds signs advertising condos at The Axis. Prices initially were set at $700,000 but have fallen more than 20 percent to $549,000.
Sarah L. Voisin-The Washington Post
Kort lived well in the boom years, buying a Mercedes and an Audi for his family, traveling in Europe and eating at top-rated restaurants. "You had a constant flow of money -- big money -- coming in," he said.
Sarah L. Voisin-The Washington Post
The 47-year-old Indian immigrant had hoped the boom would last another decade to fund his retirement, but his company shut down when his bank gave him 60 days to repay a $2.2 million loan, freezing construction of one of the firm's last projects, a condo called The Gaslight on Capitol Hill.
Sarah L. Voisin-The Washington Post
Entire Washington neighborhoods were redeveloped in the mid-1990s as new condo buildings became almost ubiquitous. "Of course we got greedy," said Kort, who dismissed his eight member staff and shut his office last year. "Everyone was greedy; we were aiming high."
Sarah L. Voisin-The Washington Post
"The mood is a mood of humility and contriteness and self-reflection," said one surviving developer. "There were a lot of people who were intoxicated by the times and the easy access to capital. A lot of them are gone."
Sarah L. Voisin-The Washington Post
Developer Scott Pannick celebrated the September 2008 opening of The Metropole with a lavish Hollywood-themed party. Then the building was seized by Pannick's lenders, and he had to close his office and lay off his 15 employees.
Michael Williamson-The Washington Post
Few units appear to be occupied at the Matinee condos at 1838 6th St. NW. The building was built by Bharath Kort's Macy Development during brighter times for the real estate industry. The company is gone and Kort is still struggling to sell the remaining units.
Michael Williamson-The Washington Post
Gallery Credits:
Poducer, Photo Editor Stephen Cook
