By: Tom Ramstack

Developers and D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty applauded as a backhoe ripped down a large satellite dish at 14th Street and Florida Avenue Northwest yesterday, marking the end of the Comcast satellite-dish farm that has occupied the northeast corner of the intersection for 20 years. 

A new apartment building will rise on the site, which is at the north end of the U Street corridor. 

"I think this is the District of Columbia moving forward," Mr. Fenty said in a ceremony before demolition started. 

Real estate developer Level 2 Development plans to build a 190,000-square-foot apartment building at the site of the satellite-dish farm called View 14 with slanted bay windows that look toward the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument. The $80 million project is scheduled for completion in early 2009. 

It is designed with 185 apartments. Studios would rent for as little as $1,200 per month. One-bedroom apartments are planned to rent for an estimated $2,200 per month. Level 2 said it would open 34,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor of the nine-story building. 

Neighborhood residents and those who drive along 14th Street between Florida Avenue and Belmont Street Northwest have been intrigued at recent signs of construction preparation at the former site of an auto repair shop.

This stretch of 14th Street rises high above Washington with spectacular views of downtown. Level 2 Development LLC and Centrum Properties Inc. of Chicago have joined to develop a nine-story mixed-use project known as View 14 at this location, with an additional condominium building, 2400 14th St., across the street. 

SK&I Architectural Design Group of Bethesda has designed the building. The 275,000-square-foot View 14 project functions as a link between the Columbia Heights neighborhood and the U Street corridor, both of which have experienced growth and revitalization in recent years.