Builder profile

Name: David Franco

Title: Principal

Company: Level 2 Development LLC

Address: 2307 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009

Phone: 202/481-2220

Fax: 202/478-1768

E-mail: dfranco@level2development.com

Web site: www.level2development.com

Year started: 2004

How did you get started in your profession? My close friend Jeff Blum took me to see his fist renovation project, a four-unit condo conversion of a row house on R Street. I walked in and thought, “This is what I want to be doing.” Jeff and I then became business partners and developed a 12-unit condo conversion and renovation.

How long with the current company? Since inception in 2004

Greatest accomplishment in the past 12 months: Granting a $1,000,000 contribution to the residents of the affordable housing building Cresthill Apartments through our 14-PUD [planned unit development] project. This contribution provides the funding gap that will enable the residents to acquire and renovate their building. It brings homeownership to low-income residents and prevents the building from ever losing its affordability status.

Best-selling community: Mercury at Meridian Hill Park

Community most proud of developing: Mercury at Meridian Hill Park. I am proud of it because it was my first project and Jeff’s second.

We took a nondescript 1960s side-entrance apartment building, maintained the integrity of the original architecture and brought it into the 21st century with flagstone terraces, Juliet balconies, steel, Lumisite [translucent fiberglass panels] and modern interiors — all accentuating its midcentury roots.

I am most proud of our post-sales customer service. All too often, developers turn over the keys, never to be heard from again. Sometimes it’s like pulling teeth to get the developers to respond to issues. I experienced that firsthand when I moved into a condo a few years ago. Every building has some post-closing issues to fix, but it’s how we handle it that sets us apart.

Our Mercury condo owners were so pleased by Level 2 Development’s responsiveness that as a thank-you, the condo association bought our project manager a gift card.

New and upcoming projects: View 14, a 170-unit mixed-use condominium development at 14th Street and Florida Avenue Northwest; an unnamed mixed-use 225-condominium project at 2400 14th St. NW.

Age: 41

Family: Single

Pets: Boxer named Max

Education: Attended University of Maryland at College Park, for urban studies and planning.

Community Affiliations/Community Service: Victory Foundation, Meridian Hill Neighborhood Association

Last book read: “Green Roofs: Ecological Design and Construction,” by Leslie Hoffman

Last movie seen: “United 93”

What kind of car do you drive? Range Rover

What is your personal dream house? A house in the woods with a stream running through it like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater.