New Owner Plans $18M Upgrade of Tilden Hall

WASHINGTON, DC—Locally-based Urban Investment Partners reports it has acquired the Tilden Hall apartment building on Connecticut Avenue here for $13 million and intends to spend another $18 million on renovations to the 76-unit property in Cleveland Park.

The acquisition is UIP's third so far this year. The Tilden Hall building at 3945 Connecticut Ave. was acquired from DARO Realty and was coordinated with the Tilden Hall Tenants Association. CBRE's Robert Meehling and Brian Margerum, supported by the CBRE Multifamily Team, represented the seller, which had owned the property since 1955.

The renovation project will include upgrading the building's electric service, installing individually controlled heating and air conditioning in each apartment, plumbing replacements and upgrades, and upgrading all common areas and apartment interiors, with a particular focus on kitchens and baths, while maintaining the structure's historic character. A small addition in the rear of the building will be constructed, the new ownership states.

“Every Tilden Hall tenant who stays through the renovation will enjoy a completely renovated apartment with no increase in rent,” says Steve Schwat, principal at UIP. “We're proud to have been selected by another tenant association in DC, to bring their building up to 21st century standards and in this case, we're able to deliver 100% of the units fully renovated for all remaining tenants, at no increase in monthly rent.”

Completed in 1924, Tilden Hall was designed by architect Frederic B. Pyle in the Colonial Revival style and completed in 1924. Its historic design includes a classical entry portico, belt courses (horizontal rows of brick in the building's façade), and decorative cartouches—an ancient Egyptian symbol popular at the time. It was one of the city's first “suburban” apartment buildings, with extensive landscaping and a U-shaped form that maximizes natural lighting in each apartment, UIP officials state.

UIP owns and manages more than 3,000 apartments in Washington, DC and Maryland and has renovated and restored more than 20 downtown apartment buildings over the last 10 years.