1800 M Street NW - Determination Letter

The purpose of this letter is to follow up on the discussion I had with you regarding the maximum permitted height for a building on the above site. I understand that a Columbia Property Trust entity owns the building which is located in the D-6 zone. As we discussed, the building fronts on both 18th and M Streets NW and is separated from Connecticut Avenue by a federal reservation known as Reservation 150.

As shown in the attached plat, the Property has frontage on Connecticut Avenue NW for purposes of determining the maximum building height. Under the Height Act, when a property confronts a pubic reservation, the maximum permitted height may be determined by the widest street across the reservation from the property. This determination is consistent with the District of Columbia Circuit Court decision in Stanley Company of America v. Tobriner, 298 F.2d 318 (D.C. Cir. 1961), which addressed the issue of whether the Warner Theatre building has frontage on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. In that case, the court agreed that the building has frontage on Pennsylvania Avenue despite an intervening public park and noted the physical relationship between the avenue and theatre property, which the court found “to be clearly in the line of a well nigh unobstructed view from the Avenue as well as in close proximity thereto . . . .” 298 F.2d at 321. Here, the Property has a clear line of sight to Connecticut Avenue NW across the reservation.