DC Curbed by Michelle Goldchain

For over 60 years, the Alexander Crummell School served as the first public school for African Americans in Ivy City. It closed down in 1977 and was later used as a preschool, library, and daycare center. Roughly 20 years later, an automobile auctioneer found use in the development. Now, the Washington, D.C. Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) has found three potential new uses for the property.

During March Madness, the annual effort to create more affordable housing, Bowser listed the Crummell School as one of 17 new projects unveiled to local investors and businesses. Just recently, the DMPED revealed the three new proposals for the property, ranging from affordable housing to healthcare to retail to community recreational space.

The respondents to the Request for Proposals include Ivy City Partners, LLC (a collaboration of Stonebridge Carras and The Jarvis Company), Trammell Crow Company (partnering with CSG Urban Partners), and lastly WC Smith (partnering with DC Habitat for Humanity, Empower DC, City First Enterprises, and Stoiber & Associates).

WC Smith chose to make no comment on the proposal that was submitted. Ivy City Partners LLC and Trammell Crow Company did not respond to Curbed by the time of this publication.

The school, located at 1900 Gallaudet Street NE, is named after Alexander Crummell, who was an African American minister who founded St. Luke's Episcopal Church, the first independent black Episcopal church in Washington, D.C. He was also the founder and first president of the American Negro Academy.