Major Renovations Scheduled for Crime-Addled NoMa Neighbor

NoMa may be rapidly becoming a gleaming playground for the city’s young professionals, but some of its lower-income neighbors are about to get an upgrade, too. Tyler House, a 284-unit subsidized apartment building located at the southwest intersection of New York Avenue and North Capitol Street, will soon be undergoing a $25 million top-to-bottom renovation.

“You know the term God’s rehab?” asked owner Israel Roizman, a Philadelphia resident who runs Roizman and Companies, a management and development firm that owns mostly low-income properties on the East Coast. “We’ll be taking everything out from the inside and putting everything in brand new.”

The comprehensive upgrade will include a new building-wide HVAC system, new plumbing, improved elevators, and new kitchens—cabinets, appliances—for residents. To boot, the community center spaces will be improved and the building will include a new computer learning center.

But possibly the most important element, at this point, might be the change in lobby structure. Currently, the building has three towers but only one entrance. To improve security, Roizman will build three separate entrances, one for each tower—and each with its own security desk. “We’re trying to organize better the traffic of the building,” said Roizman. “That creates better overseeing, management, security—you won’t have kids running around all over.”

In this case, the security issue is a crucial one: last month, that corner was the site of an astounding seven shootings that occurred within seven days. “It’s the surrounding area,” claimed Roizman, who’s owned the complex for 17 years. “It didn’t happen in our building.”

Renovation plans have been drawn up by Architectural Alliance, which has offices in Delaware and Pennsylvania, and will be carried out by The Bozzuto Group. Construction should begin in February and will take about 18 months; most of the building’s almost 1,000 residents will remain the building throughout.

As for the complex’s proximity to one of the District’s most up-and-coming neighborhoods, Roizman says he isn’t planning on selling—or upgrading the building to luxury status—anytime soon. “I’ll keep it low-income,” he said. “Why shouldn’t people with less income live in a nice area?”

Washington D.C. real estate development