Washington Business Journal by Karen Goff
D.C.'s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development has chosen two development teams to transform a pair of vacant properties into mixed-use development under the pilot OurRFP project.
Development at Parcel 42 and Crummell School will be the first two projects under the initiative from Mayor Muriel Bowser that incorporates community feedback early in the request for proposals process, ensuring that District residents have a voice on development in their neighborhoods.
Parcel 42 Partners, which includes Ditto Residential, Group360 Real Estate Advisors and Irving Development, was selected out of six proposals to develop Parcel 42, a 17,008-square-foot vacant lot located in Shaw at 7th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NW. The development team of Ivy City Partners, consisting of Stonebridge Carras, Jarvis Company and Ocean Pro Properties, was picked from three proposals for the redevelopment of Crummell School, a 108,000-square-foot site that includes the historic school and adjacent parking lot at 1900 Gallaudet St. NE in Ivy City.
Bowser said in a statement the OurRFP process and the selected proposals will help ensure that the sites will be thoughtfully developed and reflect the neighborhood's interests and needs.
The District will retain ownership of Crummell School and provide the option for a community center including a day care, health clinic, culinary school and recreational facility.
Plans for the school site include community open space, an urban garden, working farm, restaurant and other commercial spaces. The site will also be lined by apartment and townhouse-style mixed-income housing facing Gallaudet and Okie Streets NE. Profish, a District and Ivy City-based seafood company, will expand from its nearby headquarters to a new industrial space on site, and in the basement of the school for D.C. workforce training opportunities. In total, the project will provide 320 rental units from studios to two-bedroom units, including more than60 affordable units, 35,000 square feet of industrial space and 22,000 square feet of community-serving retail.
The proposal for Parcel 42, across from the Shaw Library, includes a seven-story mixed-use development which would contain 8,000 square feet of neighborhood-serving retail, 118 apartment units and a public park. Thirty percent of the units would be set aside as affordable housing, and most of the apartments would be family-sized. The developers used "Shaw is for families" as part of their pitch to District officials.
Using the OurRFP process, DMPED held community meetings, public workshops, and online forums for each project to in an effort to ensure the proposals met community needs and priorities. The District currently has two additional OurRFP projects — 1125 Spring Road NW and Northwest One (1010-1024 North Capitol St. NW and 33 K St. NW). Two more are planned for 2017.