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| View looking south from 4th Street |
The proposed building is a joint venture between HSCDC and E&G Group. The new $37 million development will create about 160,000 s.f. of mixed-use space, designed by Bonstra | Haresign Architects and built by Maggin Construction Company.
Plans call for between 155 affordable residential units on the five floors above the first-floor podium. Ground level space is reserved for 3,000 s.f. of retail, various tenant facilities and 40 parking spaces.
Kenton Drury, the project manager from E&G Group, said residential units will vary in size with 5 studio, 85 one-bedroom, and 65 two-bedroom units.
Tenants must be at or below 60 percent of the local Area Median Income (or about $40,000 for an individual). Rent for someone at 60 percent AMI is about $1,000 for a studio.
"We see young professionals wanting to live here because it’s an up-and-coming vibrant neighborhood close to metro and close to areas of employment," Drury said. The target tenant is a young professional entering the workforce or an "empty nester" who is retired or working part-time.
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| View looking north from 4th Street |
Drury said he told local business owners interested in providing construction services to get their Certified Business Enterprise (CBE) Certification because some work will be designated for CBEs. And residents with retail or service-oriented businesses could open up shop in the retail space on site.
Whatever the final development looks like, it will be a welcomed change from the so-called "Heroin Hotel" that used to stand on the lot. HSCDC demolished the three vacant buildings that had become a hotbed of criminal activity, but the community must wait longer for construction.
After the ANC meeting tonight, the next big step will be a Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) meeting tentatively scheduled for June. Developers will ask for a variance on the loading dock height and parking space requirement. Drury said the only way to keep the 6-story building within the height limits is to reduce the loading dock height. And the triangular lot -- plus debris from the former buildings -- make it difficult to provide more parking spaces.
Drury said he hopes to have funding lined up this summer to move forward with working drawings and permit applications by the end of the year, and he hopes to break ground in early 2013.
Washington, D.C. real estate development news
7 comments:
This is great news. That empty lot is an eyesore and does nothing to help make my neighborhood more safe and walkable. I wish it was all market-rate, but this will be nice.
It would be nice if they could even add density and add some market rate housing to this since it is less than .25 mile from metro
All-low-income housing = future ghetto. Shame. Not that anyone paying market price would move into that hideous building. Gag.
H Street CDC is a publicly funded group that is supposed to be solely focused on... H STREET!! What the hell are they doing, with taxpayer funding, branching out to random neighborhoods to redevelop land into low-income housing? This is pretty ridiculous, to be honest.
The slipping facade thing is a bit over played here.
I'd like to know how someone who makes $40,000 a year can afford a studio for $1,000 a month, and for that matter, why that neighborhood would support rents that high even if they were open to "market rate". I'd be very curious to see how well those new apartments right under the RI Ave metro are leasing, because i'd never pay what they are asking to live there when just a few stations further up in Takoma and Silver Spring you can get equal rent costs and better neighborhoods.
As a home owner in Edgewood,I agree we desperately need development, but this will be an eyesore for our community. At the very lest we need a mixed building with part market rate and part affordable housing. Anyone who says this neighborhood is not ready for market rate apartments or condo's does not have a clear understanding of the current neighborhood. (just look at how well the Mint Living Condo's are selling & the new market rate apartments at Rhode Island Row are renting) The old days are gone. Let's use this building and tweak the plans to help continue the positive progress our neighborhood is experiencing. If built as currently proposed, it will be a major step in the wrong direction.
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