Jocelyn Group principal Frank Chambers thinks the Rhode Island Avenue area is the next hot neighborhood, and he is putting his money where his mouth is.

The Jocelyn Group recently bought two abandoned sites about a mile apart—at 1515 Rhode Island Ave NE and 1940 3rd St NE—and plans to open apartment buildings on both sites in the next year.

"I think they both are in areas where there's a lot of growth potential, and with Jocelyn we like to look at developments that can grow with the neighborhood and help the community," Frank told Bisnow today.

Jocelyn bought the 3rd Street site, two blocks from Rhode Island Avenue, for $1.3M and began construction in November. The redeveloped property, 3rd Street Flats, is slated to open by the end of the year. It will include 12 two-bedroom condos and a single one-bedroom condo.

3rd Street Flats sits less than a mile from JBG and The Boundary Cos' massive Eckington Yards project, which will contain 695 residential units and 77k SF of retail. Frank isn't the only one bullish on Eckington.

The developer just got financing for its second project on the Rhode Island Ave corridor, securing a $4.3M loan from Presidential Bank, brokered by Eastern Union Funding. Construction began on the abandoned site, pictured above, two weeks ago.

That site will become The Violet, a 20-unit apartment building with a rooftop terrace (rendered above). The two-bedroom, 1,100 SF units will have monthly rents starting at $2,400. Frank pegged March 2017 as the expected opening.

Neighborhood residents were "ecstatic" when they saw these new developments going up, Frank says. He says Jocelyn has gotten several inquiries about both properties and plans to market more aggressively as the completion dates approach.