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Washington business leaders yesterday urged the District government to launch a major new effort to manage the booming development in the downtown business district.</br></br>Unless the city gains control of new construction, much of the old business district quickly will be turned into another K Street, a sea of office buildings lacking the amenities that make for a vital downtown, warned the Greater Washington Board of Trade.</br></br>The Board of Trade recommended that Mayor Marion Barry appoint a ÛÏdowntown coordinatorÛ as the first step toward planning development in a 50-block area bounded by 15th Û¢Street on the west, Third Street on the east. New York and Massachusetts avenues on the north and the Pennsylvania Avenue redevelopment area on the south.</br></br>The business group also asked the city for a series of incentives to subsidize preservation of historic buildings and construction of new facilities to make the downtown ÛÏa people place.Û</br></br>The height limit for buildings in the downtown area should be increased from the present 130 feet plus rooftop machinery to 160 feet including rooftop gear, the same height permitted along Pennsylvania Avenue, the Board of Trade recommended.