In Washington, D.C., a Back Alley Becomes a Sustainable Haven

Even as Andrew and Hannah Linn were moving into their first home, in Washington, D.C., in late 2015, the soon-to-be-newlyweds were hunting for the next. Their small apartment "was the perfect place for that moment, but we never even pretended that it was the forever place," says Hannah, the director of operations for a consulting firm. Within months the couple narrowed their search down to empty lots that would allow them to fully express themselves, although Hannah also remembers, "It quickly became crystal clear just how few ground-up opportunities there are here."

Hannah’s parents were keeping tabs from New York on real estate listings in D.C., too, and her mom eyed a pending change to local zoning that would allow new development on lots in the city’s 3,200 or so alleys. Until 1930s-era "slum clearance" erased them, small buildings on these backstreets housed more than 20,000 people. With the updated regulations scheduled to take effect in fall 2016, Hannah’s mom urged her daughter and son-in-law to explore the new pool of residential properties, and by the following year the couple had a contract to purchase a 1,900-square-foot alley lot around the corner from Congressional Cemetery.