Morning Real Estate Review

Bidding wars return, home buyers get creative (Washington Post)  Forget just having good credit - as the stock of homes for sale thins, bidding gets competitive, sometimes in weird and creative ways.

The politics of the reemergence of U Street, a short history of redevelopment (The Atlantic)  A thoughtful response to the Post's story on changing demographics on U and 14th Streets:  not as black and white as you think.

Happy birthday Pierre - lauding the prickly genius of DC's designer (Huffington Post)  The genius behind the grids of DC was never fully appreciated during his life, thanks in part to his difficult personality, but still inspires cultish fascination in addition to his post mortem redemption.

Archstone files for initial IPO (Wall Street Journal)  The apartment behemoth, which owns residential buildings nationwide - including a concentration in the Washington D.C area, files for up to $100 million in common stock to pay down debt.

Georgia Avenue Walmart construction to begin next month (Washington Post)  The mega-retail store would be the second to start construction in the District, following 77 H Street, NW.

Donatelli to build new apartments at Minnesota-Benning (Washington Post) The developer of Columbia Heights makes plans for a northeast DC neighborhood that has failed to realize the promise of development.