NEIGHBORHOOD
Shaw Streets by Pleasant Mann District government and Shaw community leaders break ground for new housing at Parcel 42. Photo by Pleasant Mann
Groundbreaking on Shaw’s Parcel 42
In a recent review of Shaw’s projects in development, the real estate blog Urban Turf asked if Shaw was “DC’s Busiest Development Neighborhood?” In surveying 20 projects, the blog noted that “the neighborhood has seemingly gotten a shot in the arm, development-wise.” Shaw got its latest shot in the arm on February 26 when ground was broken on long-vacant Parcel 42, a District-owned site that was recently conveyed to Dantes Partners, a local developer
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noted for building affordable housing. Bua Binitie, Dantes Partners principal, started the groundbreaking event by noting that Women’s History Month was about to begin in March, and that there were a number of prominent women that got the project finalized. In particular, he said that although disposition of the parcel was attempted by three previous mayors, it took the current mayor, Mayor Muriel Bowser, to get it finished. Binitie also thanked his mother, who was present at the event, for bringing him to the United States 20 years ago.
Alexander Padro, Executive Director of Shaw Main Streets, who Binitie said he had worked with for 15 years on various housing projects in Shaw, was next to speak. Padro started with the history of the site, noting that before the riots, the lot was the home of Manhattan Auto, a dealership known for selling foreign sports cars. After the dealership was burned down during the 1968 riots, the site became the location of the Shaw Health Clinic for a number of years. Padro referred to the Beatles tune “Long and Winding Road” as a metaphor for the
