Georgia Ave. Housing Overhaul Moving Forward

A city plan to overhaul a DC affordable housing neighborhood on Georgia Avenue, called Park Morton, is moving forward and the city will unveil its first apartment building on Friday.

Workers put finishing touches on The Avenue on Thursday

"The Avenue at Park Morton" is an 83-unit mixed-use apartment building located at 3506 Georgia Avenue NW.  City officials will gather to celebrate its grand opening  Friday from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Completion of the building is a mile-marker for "The Park Morton New Communities Initiative", which has realized only a small part of its potential.  The $170 million initiative was established under then DC mayor Anthony Williams to replace an aging public housing complex on Georgia Avenue.  The initiative is a collaboration between the District's Housing Authority (DCHA), which owns and manages the complex, and the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.

Image courtesy Wiencek + Associates

The old Park Morton housing has 17 apartment buildings.  In a report on the overhaul initiative and the old Park Morton housing, the city notes "the site consists of suburban-style apartment buildings and incorporates design elements that tend to foster criminal activity."

In 2008, then-Mayor Adrian Fenty sent out a Request For Proposals for developing in the project in 2008, promising that no former residents of the complex would be displaced; the building broke ground in 2010.  The overall plan calls for 317 market-rate housing units, 206 affordable housing units, a 10,000 square foot park, and a new community center with green designs throughout.

The entire Park Morton redevelopment is being carried out by the Park Morton Development Partners (PMDP), a joint venture between Landex Corporation and the Warrenton Group. Wienecek + Associates designed the project.  Hamel Builders is the general contractor.

Image courtesy Wiencek + Associates

The building, which has 81,044 square feet of residential space and 2,388 square feet of ground floor retail, includes a mix of one and two-bedroom apartment units.  Residential space features lounge, a fitness center, meeting rooms, and underground parking.  It also will include ground-floor retail. While overall the plan calls for some market-rate housing, the Avenue is 100 percent affordable under the city's affordable housing laws.

The development was funded by a mix of city agencies and departments, as well as Freddie Mac, Prudential, Hudson Housing, and Capital One.

1-BR Unit Rendering, courtesy Wiencek + Associates

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NDC Proposes Redevelopment of Georgia Avenue Strip Mall

The Neighborhood Development Company (NDC), busy with their efforts to revitalize the Georgia Avenue Corridor, is now proposing a new mixed-use development just a block north of their already approved project "The Heights," set for the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Lamont Street, NW. "The Vue," at southeast corner of Georgia and Morton and just beginning the rezoning application, will rise seven-stories above the 7,000 s.f. ground floor retail and offer 112 residences. Forty-nine parking spaces will be provided below grade. Unlike The Heights, where developers reserved half of the units as affordable housing in return for special financing options awarded by HUD and a large tax abatement granted by the District Council, the $30 million Vue project will be privately financed and almost wholly priced at market-rate (the bare minimum of 8% of the new project's square footage will be marketed at 80% AMI in order to satisfy Inclusionary Zoning requirements).

NDC purchased the property for $2.2 million in 2009 and will raze a rather unremarkable strip shopping center to make way for their 118,160 s.f. project. A post office at 3321 Georgia Avenue, also on the site, will remain, the U.S. Postal Service could not be enticed out of their long term lease. With the help of project architect Grimm and Parker, NDC will incorporate the one-story post office into their new construction plans. "The entrance to the post office will be repositioned facing Georgia Avenue," explains NDC Principal Adrian Washington, "and the facade will be recast with brick to match the look of the first floor retail component."

Washington reports that while not many of the details have yet to come to life, several green features are in the works, as well as an indoor gym and media center. He expects "some really good, local retail" to occupy the ground floor spaces, likely restaurants and cafes. Down the street, where many online commenters were clamoring for Trader Joe's to become the 10,000 s.f. retail anchor of The Heights, a deal has not been reached with any specific tenant. "We've been in talks with Gary Cha [President] of Yes! Organic Market and a couple hardware supply stores," says Washington, "but no commitments have been made."

Back up the street, The Vue's zoning application was recently set down by the Zoning Commission. NDC's legal representative Kyrus Lamont Freeman at Holland & Knight expects the hearing to be scheduled for late February, about the same time Washington's team anticipates a groundbreaking at The Heights. In anticipation of the Zoning review process, developers have already briefed local entities on their new development plans; most recently NDC met with the The Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force and have scheduled an informal meeting with ANC 1A for December 8th. While the Vue's completion is distant, Adrian Washington expects to deliver the building within sixteenth months of a construction start, placing a ribbon cutting somewhere during second quarter of 2012.

Washington D.C. Real Estate Development News

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No School, All Play at New Bruce Monroe Park

Although reading, writing, and arithmetic may be on the agenda for future visitors to Bruce Monroe Park, for now it is just 24-7 recess at 3012 Georgia Avenue, site of the the former school, redevelopment candidate and now park. The DC government held a press conference last August to vaunt demolition of the PCB and asbestos-ridden school, and to announce that the city would issue an RFP "in the next few weeks" for redevelopment of the site. But the District's solicitation failed to materialize, and city has since spent $2m beautifying the site before releasing a new RFP last week.

Last week, Consys, Inc. finished phase one of construction at Bruce Monroe Park, and the site is now open to the public. Two basketball courts, a tennis court, a small parking lot, and a playground complete the landscaped park, almost entirely enclosed by wrought iron fencing. There is no timetable or specifics yet nailed down, but a small
community building is expected to follow. Originally only funded with $500,000, it looked as if the project would come up short of complete. But the community expressed their disapproval as the two basketball courts and tennis court sat idly, waiting for the necessary hoops, posts, and netting required for proper usage until Ward One Councilman Jim Graham secured an additional $1.5 million in funding for the temporary park, which has since undergone a vast improvement in just a few short weeks.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) has asked for redevelopment proposals for the site. Development teams would not be limited to strictly educational uses, as DMPED has asked that proposals feature both a mixed-use (half school, half commercial) option and an entirely commercial plan. The RFP does stipulate that property sales generated from a potentially all-commercial venture would have to be reinvested in the renovation and modernization of the off-site school where former Bruce Monroe students are now housed.

A significant conglomerate of involved parents had previously voiced opposition to the prospects of updating the current Bruce Monroe, and it was assumed that option had been unofficially taken off the table. But as made clear by the new RFP, the possibility remains alive. All proposals must be received by 3PM on October 14th.

Much is in the works for the long-planned makeover of the Georgia Avenue thoroughfare, including several nearby affordable apartment projects, but very little construction has gotten under way. So it remains undetermined whether the priority here is a quality educational facility, or a proposal with the greatest likelihood of immediate construction and hurried completion.

Washington DC real estate development news

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