Check out the colors in this shot of the Capitol grounds… just gorgeous. The shot uses the HDR technique to really bring out the natural colors and highlight the red brick. Makes you want to go outside and relax on a bench doesn’t it?
[Flickr Photo: rgb48]
As you may have heard from us in the past, we are obsessed with the old O Street Market in Shaw. Unfortunately progress has been slow to get the development underway which includes preserving the gorgeous facade while building new housing and retail space for the community. Well finally the District is getting behind the project fully and Mayor Fenty announced a $35 million tax increment financing package for the project.
Hopefully this will get things moving, as the property has sat vacant for years. According to Fenty’s office, ground could be broken as early as fall 2009 if the District Council gets around to approving the plans. Following this time line, the project could be completed by 2011. [Flickr Photo: DaveinShaw]
New Communities Initiate - Three years since it’s inception, the initiative is largely intact and wider in scope, despite a flat-lining housing market. It remains the centerpiece of Mayor Adrian Fenty’s strategy to aid and upgrade the city’s poorest neighborhoods, however market conditions are skewing the mix of future residents which may push out the very people it intends to help. [WBJ]
As you may have heard, the old Walter Reed hospital in D.C. has been slated to move to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. As you can see from the rendering, the plan is to expand the grounds of the Naval Hospital around the older historic buildings. We especially like how two of the new buildings symmetrically frame the tall historic old Naval building in the center.
The relocation of facilities will include over half a million square feet of new medical office, emergency room, and patient care construction in addition to renovations of existing facilities. In addition to being the main facility for treating members of our military, the center will also become home to research and postgraduate education. The $100 million dollar project is expected to be completed by 2011. [Rendering: HKS Architects]
Mayor Fenty has been touting his school restructuring plan for a while, and now we finally got word on what the District’s going to do with some of the 23 schools that are being closed under the plan. The idea is to turn the buildings, which are no longer being used as schools, into offices for the various District agencies as well as nonprofits.
This is great news because the plan will not only find new uses for buildings the district already owns (thus reducing rents paid), but also makes the services more accessible and part of the community.
The D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation will move its headquarters into Young Elementary School in NE and Meyer Elementary School will get the parking enforcement division of the Department of Public Works and Keeley’s boxing program, a nonprofit youth development organization. Also included will be new homes for the DMV, Department of Corrections, the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, and two charter schools among others.
We’re not sure how they grouped the Parking Enforcement with the Boxing program, but maybe they are training future parking police? Regardless, this is definitely a sign of improvement for the DC government and we are all for it!
Pictured is the old John Mercer Langston School which is not part of the plan but is being reused as you can see for the DC Service Corps. [Photo: M.V. Jantzen]
The New Communities Initiative is a comprehensive partnership between the District, neighborhoods and other public and private stakeholders which focuses on neighborhoods where older public housing developments are located and where high concentrations of poverty and crime exist. While areas like Lincoln Heights and Northwest One have been getting a lot of attention lately, there are other areas that haven’t.
One such project is the Park Morton. The District, in collaboration with the residents of Park Morton and the Park View and Petworth community, initiated a process to plan for and implement the revitalization of the Park Morton neighborhood, which is bound by Georgia Avenue on the west, Warder Street on the east, Lamont Street on the south and Park Road on the north.
Consistent with the New Communities Initiative, the goal of this effort is to transform the public housing property and its immediate neighborhood into a mixed-income, mixed-use community. In this new community, residents will have access to high-quality housing options affordable at all income levels and to the human services necessary to help prepare them to take advantage of the new economic opportunities and changes that are coming their way.
We spoke with the District’s Office for Planing and Economic Development and currently the project is awaiting the finalization of financing details with HUD, having already completed an Initiative Plan (warning it’s a big PDF) back in February. With all the activity going on for some of the more high profile developments, projects like Park Morton sometimes get forgotten about by everyone but the actual residence. Hopefully this one will be finalized soon so that a solicitation can get issued.
Looking out at the ATF Headquarters building from Capitol Plaza we noticed some green roof action happening on top of the “decorative” barrier that we had never seen before. While we have never been big fans of the architecture of the actual building, the green does make it look a bit nicer, it’s just too bad you can’t see it from the ground.
[Photo: DCMetrocentric]
Most of the arguments you hear about Poplar Point in Anacostia revolve around whether to build a new MLS stadium on the site, but the Our Park Coalition is calling for no development at all. The Coalition wants to stop the $2.5 billion, 40-acre mixed-use project by Clark Realty and transform the 110 government owned acres along the Anacostia River into an urban public park.
The WBJ is reporting how difficult a task the environmentalists face in part because Congress established the land transfer with the expressed purpose of increasing the District’s tax base and shoring up its finances. Despite Clark being required to have 70 of the 110 acres developed as public park land, the Our Park Coalition still plans to kick off their efforts to save the entire property as one continuous public park. [Photo: WBJ]
Pictured below is the incredible futuristic new bike transit center designed by KGP Studios for the District DOT. Despite all the issues involved in making Union Station a true center of transportation, this is definitely a step in the right direction. The design includes both storage and rental facilities… precisely the type of infrastructure the city needs to make alternate forms of transportation attractive.
The project is being built on the west side of Union Station near the metro exit and should be finished by the end of this year. Also it goes without saying that the design looks really awesome… we got one more rendering for you after the jump…
The construction of the Arlington Memorial Bridge was apparently authorized by Congress after then President Warren G. Harding was caught in a three-hour traffic jam. Built in 1931 as a connection to Arlington National Cemetery, the neo-classical bridge design included a draw bridge (picture) which has since been sealed shut. You can also see the temporary buildings built on the National Mall during World War I which served as barracks and offices all the way until after World War II.
We just love old timey photos!!! [Photo Credit: NPS]
This past Saturday we were invited along with a few other DC websites to have a conversation with our city’s Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton in the NoMa lounge of Artomatic. The conversation covered a wide range of topics including everything from the the District’s handgun issue before the Supreme Court, to the harassment of local photographers at Union Station. However we couldn’t help but ask a few questions about new development in the city…
The Congresswoman really has been a true advocate for development in the District over the last few decades using Federal facilities to anchor revivals in areas like NoMa and Near Southeast. When we asked her “where next?” Congresswoman Norton got excited over development on the other side of the Anacostia saying “I love to be involved in development and that’s the next place… in the history of the Federal government nothing has been built on the other side of the Anacostia.”
We used to think that the planned $250 million expansion of the Kennedy Center was never going to happen after it got put on hold a few years ago, but according to a very reliable tipster, the subject was raised again at the most recent meeting of the Kennedy Centers Board of Trustees. The beautiful new complex designed by Rafael Vinoly Architects will include a museum as well as new rehearsal halls and office space.
In addition to the new buildings, the plans also include the ever elusive connection to the National Mall that the Kennedy Center has always lacked. The Kennedy Center has always been fairly unfriendly to pedestrians and is currently trapped behind the maze of ramps connecting to the highway.
The project will take ten years to complete, so we aren’t talking about anything soon, but it will still be an exciting transformational project for that part of the city. We will keep you posted! [Scale Model: Rafael Vinoly Architects]
The grand buildings along Washington’s Embassy row in Northwest have generally always symbolized the status and wealth of the countries they represent, however lately some of the buildings look more like dilapidated Haunted Mansions and sadly sit empty.
According to the Post, some countries like Pakistan and the Philippines have ditched their old buildings for more lavish digs. While some have been abandoned when things fell apart back home (Yugoslavia and Congo) or when the ambassador got a promotion (Togo). Unfortunately the district can’t use the usual tools it has to get abandoned properties fixed up since Embassy’s have diplomatic exemption from paying property tax.
Pictured above is the abandoned Embassy of Pakistan. The flag pole stands empty and the doors are shuttered. It is such a shame that these properties sit empty, but more troublesome are the properties that are neglected. It is unfortunate that short of State Department intervention, there is very little that residents and the Districts can do.
They need to open these babies up for party rentals, can you imagine how cool and abandoned Embassy party would be? [Flickr Credit: OtavioDC]
Poplar Point Stadium Benefits Questioned - A bunch of economists (none of whom are from this area) are questioning the public benefit of a new stadium at Poplar Point in Southeast. [WBJ]
The Mayor announced some promotions today but turns out it’s really just a case of musical chairs. Try to follow us here…
Erik Moses, the city’s Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) Director, moves over to be the CEO of the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission while its current CEO Greg O’Dell has been named CEO of the Washington Convention Center Authority, and Nicole Becton replaces Moses as the director of DSLBD.
These changes probably wouldn’t have much of an effect, but clearly the direction of economic development in the District is in capable hands. [DC.gov]
