Design and Construction Report staff writer
Construction has begun on The Geneva, the largest office-to-residential conversion project in Washington, D.C.’s history.
The project will transform a 604,000-square-foot office complex at 1825–1875 Connecticut Ave. NW into a 15-story, LEED-certified residential building with 532 homes, including 60 permanently affordable units. Plans also include 57,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.
“From the start, our Housing in Downtown strategy has been about turning challenges into opportunities—taking underused office buildings and converting them into homes that strengthen our city,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser. “The Geneva shows what it looks like when we follow through on that vision. We are delivering housing, bringing more people Downtown, and setting a national standard for how cities adapt and grow.”
The Geneva is supported by the District’s Housing in Downtown program, which offers a 20-year tax abatement to spur the conversion of underused office buildings into housing. The District has committed $41 million to the program and estimates it will help deliver about 6.7 million square feet of residential space, or roughly 8,400 housing units.
Total financing for the project is $575 million. That includes $465 million in Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy financing from Nuveen Green Capital and a $110 million senior loan from Mavik. The developer is Post Brothers.
Two additional office-to-residential projects have also been conditionally awarded tax abatements through the Housing in Downtown program. A redevelopment at 2121 Virginia Ave. NW by Carr Properties is expected to deliver 300 homes, including 30 affordable units. A project at 899 Maine Ave. SW by Jair Lynch is planned to include 511 homes, including 76 affordable units.
Since the program launched in March 2024, the District has advanced 10 Housing in Downtown projects, representing 2,563 housing units, including 289 affordable units, officials said.
