ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The city’s Board of Architectural Review on Wednesday voted 6-0 to approve a developer’s plan to convert a 1960s commercial office building at 732 N. Washington St. into multi-unit apartments, attaching eight conditions ranging from a steeper mansard roof slope to a redesigned decorative railing.
The conditions go well beyond the two recommended by city planning staff, who had concluded in their report that the developer’s revised design “successfully resolve[d] the outstanding design issues” raised at an earlier hearing. The board’s added conditions reflect lingering concerns about the project’s roof line, balconies and detailing on a high-profile site fronting the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
The 4.5-story building, in the Commercial Residential Mixed Use zone of Old Town North, was originally approved by the BAR in September 1963 as a flat-roof, four-story structure. The board approved the addition of the mansard roof and half-story in June 1964, according to the staff report…