![]() ![]() “Why do I need exceptional stores?” he asked rhetorically. Sitting astride his bicycle after doing errands, resident Horst Kleuting gestured around him. While smart growth theories emphasize greater development near Metro stations, many residents in Tenleytown are content with the level of growth they already have, and fear greater crowding on Metro trains or increased traffic along Wisconsin Avenue. The issue of density seems to galvanize residents like no other. Tenleytown hasn’t had an active citizens’ association for some time, but ad hoc groups like the Coalition to Stop Tenleytown Overdevelopment, which later morphed into the Alliance for Rational Development, seem to form whenever a new, potentially outsized project looms. ![]() Rendering of the new Wilson High School Anti-Development Sentiment Fort Reno Park, a large, hilly expanse that is also the highest point in DC, lies in the middle of the neighborhood. After years of bickering and indecision, the airy, LEED-certified Tenley-Friendship Library finally opened on Wisconsin Avenue a couple of months ago and the newish Wilson Aquatic Center, a public complex attached to Wilson, includes four year-round swimming pools. There are also a bunch of high-quality public services for kids. Well-known private schools like Sidwell Friends and Georgetown Day School are nearby. The public schools are some of the best in the city, and Woodrow Wilson Senior High School is currently undergoing what some would describe as a futuristic renovation. But Kennedy said that these days she doesn’t have a typical client, selling to all kinds of folks, many of whom don’t have kids. Tenleytown residents have a reputation for being typical upper Northwesters: professional couples earning two incomes who might’ve gotten started on their families a little later than average. Not Exclusive to Families, But Kid Friendly One-bedroom apartments go for between $1,500 to $2,200 a month, and two bedrooms run from $1,900 to $2,900. Rentals are available, but not as plentiful as other parts of the city. The area has a few condo developments, most notably Cityline at Tenley, which sits atop the Metro station on Wisconsin Avenue, and Tenley Hill, a few blocks farther north. Tenleytown homes have traditionally been slightly less expensive than those in surrounding neighborhoods, but the prices can’t be described as bargains: three-bedroom listings are currently selling for between $650,000 and $880,000, and four-bedrooms range from $635,000 to $1,255,000, according to Kennedy. There are also a few duplexes and row houses, a number of bungalows, “and many center-hall Colonials, the Washington cliché house,” Pat Kennedy, a real estate broker with Evers & Co, told UrbanTurf. The community has a few small-but-charming Victorians, particularly along Grant Road, a quiet street off of Nebraska Avenue that feels like it can’t possibly be in the middle of the city. ![]() Many houses in Cleveland Park, for example, were built as summer homes for DC’s elite at the end of the 19th century Tenleytown didn’t serve the same purpose, and so its homes are smaller and weren’t constructed until the 1920s and ‘30s.Īrchitecturally, the housing stock is all over the map. The homes in Tenleytown aren’t quite as similar to those in neighboring communities as they initially appear. ![]() While the neighborhood Metro stop is named Tenleytown-AU, most of American University’s campus is actually a half mile to the southwest of the station, though a small section of the university sits near Wisconsin Avenue. Its borders are Upton Street to the south, Wisconsin Avenue to the west, Garrison Street to the north, and Reno Road to the east. Tenleytown lies on and east of upper Wisconsin Avenue. As a result, Tenleytown’s commercial area lags behind that of its neighbors.īut that situation could be changing, and after years of representing an ultra- NIMBY crowd, the neighborhood’s ANC has become more friendly to growth, which could mean that changes are on the way. In fact, the only groups that seem to thrive are anti-development ones that form in opposition to various construction plans for the neighborhood. Most glaringly, the area lacks an active citizens’ association to unite residents in proactively improving their community. At first glance, Tenleytown appears to be very similar to its Red Line neighbors to the south (Cleveland Park) and to the north (Bethesda) with cute detached homes and small town retail dotting a major avenue.īut look a little closer, and some cracks appear in that image. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |