WASHINGTON, DC—Valor Development and DBT Development Group broke ground at what will be the second largest condo development in the city, after the CityCenter. The project, located at 1350 Maryland Avenue, NE, will be called The Maryland, and will feature 84 one-and two-bedroom units.

Urban Pace will begin presales in May. Based on comments by Urban Pace President Lynn Hackney, the building is hoping to attract mid income individuals-by DC standards, that is-with the one-and two-bedroom condos priced from the $300,000's to the $500,000's.

She pointed to the DC Open Doors program, which provides down payment credit assistance to buyers with annual incomes below $123,395. "[O]wning a condo at The Maryland will be less expensive than renting a comparable apartment in the same neighborhood," she says in a prepared statement.

The developers started the project more three years ago with the acquisition of the vacant Faith Bible Church and an adjacent lot occupied by a car repair shop. The building will have the look and feel of Capitol Hill residences, with detailed brickwork and window bays. PGN Architects is the project's architectural firm.

The condo market is slowly recovering in the greater DC area, but it is unclear whether it will ever reach the robustness seen a decade ago. One theory is that for-sale projects in certain micromarkets in DC will do well, but developers have to pick and choose their locations carefully now to ensure that they can sell to the high-end to justify the cost to produce it.

Another condo project set to break ground later this year is Woodmont View in Bethesda, MD.