Wednesday, April 15, 2015
INS
Serving Communities in Northwest Washington Since 1967
IDE
Vol. XLVIII, No. 15
The NorThwesT CurreNT
Walter Reed is slated for zoning review
■ Development: Proposals
include two 90-foot buildings
Current Staff Writer
By GRAHAM VYSE Current Staff Writer
Georgetown Day School has released preliminary designs for its newly purchased land in Tenleytown, with new elementary and middle schools as well as a pair of high-rise investment buildings combining for the largest construction project the neighborhood has seen in decades. These designs come nearly a year after Georgetown Day announced
Brian Kapur/The Current
As part of events commemorating the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s death, “Lincoln’s Last Ride” on Monday afternoon retraced his last horseback trip from the White House to President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home before his assassination. Lincoln was the first U.S. president whose funeral procession featured a riderless horse.
see more success with rentals By KATIE PEARCE Current Staff Writer
For the past few years, agent Suzanne Des Marais has been crafting specialty knowledge on an emerging niche in the D.C. market — selling “inclusionary zoning” units. Though only seven such affordable units have sold in the District since the law mandating them took effect six years ago, it’s an area demanding more attention as hundreds of new units become available. “We have a pipeline into 2017,”
NEWS
Brian Kapur/The Current
The developer of 2910 Georgia Ave. has struggled to sell his affordable units.
said Des Marais, whose 10 Square Real Estate firm has worked to represent developers on the often-tricky sales of these units in new residential buildings. Under the city’s inclusionary
zoning program, developers of new buildings (both rental and condos) with at least 10 units are required to set aside between 8 and 10 percent of those units for certain income thresholds. The program got off to a sluggish start, but housing officials and advocates are pointing to recent progress, with 116 total rental and for-sale units created so far, and another 1,100 in the works. The vast majority of those, however, have been geared toward renters. Between the program’s slow implementation and the sizable challenges of selling the units, not many buyers have been able to take advantage so far. The latest figures — though difSee Housing/Page 14
SPRING REAL ESTATE
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that it would be moving its elementary and middle schools from their current location on MacArthur Boulevard near the Georgetown Reservoir to the plot of land now occupied by the Safeway at 4203 Davenport St. The pre-K-through-12 private school purchased the supermarket property along with the adjacent Martens Volvo-Volkswagen dealership, which sits directly across the street from its high school facility. Now the public is getting a look at what specifically the school intends to build on its new land over the next four years. Appearing before the TenleySee GDS/Page 14
Neighbors debate plans for Spring Valley retail center By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
‘Inclusionary zoning’ sales remain skimpy
■ Real estate: Advocates
SP
GDS unveils plans for Tenleytown projects
LAST RIDE
By ELIZABETH WIENER From the outset, the redevelopment of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Campus has been a balancing act. The city hopes to bring vibrant growth to a now walled-off part of Ward 4 and provide public benefits like affordable housing that don’t generate much revenue, all while parsing out new construction limits — height, mass, density — to produce both. And that’s while preserving historic buildings and making sure new development doesn’t overshadow adjacent low-scale homes. The Office of Planning’s proposal for how to juggle these needs is now in the hands of the D.C. Zoning Commission. The agency has recommended designating the campus into eight distinct zones, each with its own maximum building envelope — promoting a mix of retail, office and residential construction, as well as two charter schools and green space. A vote on the overall “WR Zone” is scheduled for May 11. At a public hearing April 2, comSee Walter Reed/Page 5
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When it was planned out in the 1930s, the Spring Valley Shopping Center was set to be a retail hub with a distinct focus on the automobile. In contrast to the downtown location of anchor tenant Garfinckel’s, the site was laid out to show off the center’s ample parking lot to passing Massachusetts Avenue motorists. An Esso service station helped cement the center’s car-friendly theme. The shopping center’s design is no longer in vogue for Northwest Washington, where gas stations and surface parking lots are commonly deemed less valuable than the costly land they occupy. And now a pair of proposals for the center — a new building on part of the old Garfinckel’s parking lot, and the expansion of the former gas station to accommodate a 280-seat restaurant — could give new life to the area. But many neighbors have concerns about the changing character of the shopping center. Not only would additional development and less parking leave more cars crowding out their street parking, they say, but the proposals conflict with the
Brian Kapur/Current file photo
Plans call for expanding the former gas station for Millie’s, a large seafood restaurant.
shopping center’s 1989 historic designation. Under the designation, said Palisades/Spring Valley advisory neighborhood commissioner Stu Ross, “you’re not just preserving a building; you’re preserving an idea and a concept of what was going on in this area” — which includes car-centric development. At their meeting last Thursday, commissioners overwhelmingly opposed a Historic Preservation Review Board application for the planned new two-story commercial See Spring Valley/Page 41
INDEX
SPOR TS
Council declines to seek moratorium on ‘pop-up’ projects
Realty firms follow buyers to bustling 14th Street corridor
Sidwell senior opts for baseball when peers go for softball
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— Page RE1
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Calendar/44 Classifieds/53 District Digest/4 Exhibits/45 In Your Neighborhood/10 Opinion/8
Police Report/6 Real Estate/Pullout School Dispatches/42 Service Directory/51 Sports/11 Theater/47
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