(Washington, DC) - Mayor Adrian M. Fenty joined Councilmember Jack Evans (Ward 2) and local community members to announce the District has selected EastBanc-W.D.C. Partners LLC to redevelop a pair of West End sites into a $150 million mixed-use development that will include a new library, fire station, neighborhood-serving retail and more than 200 units of new housing.
“This is a great example of not only getting the most value out of our District assets, but working with the community to put into action a plan that achieves their goals,” Mayor Fenty said. “EastBanc and its partners have done incredible work across the city and they have the vision and the capacity to get this job done.”
Last July, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development issued a solicitation seeking a development team to redevelop two sites – Engine Co. 1 at 23rd and M Street NW and the two-story library at 24th and the adjacent MPD Special Operations Division at 24th and L streets. Both the library and the fire station are past their useful lives and would otherwise require costly modernization work. MPD is planning to move its unit to Southwest.
Two teams responded to the solicitation. The EastBanc-led team offered to build a new public library and a new fire station as well as 10,000 square feet of retail, 235 parking spaces and 205 units of housing where 50 units would be made affordable to families earning less than 60 percent of the area’s median income.
EastBanc’s team also includes The Warrenton Group, Dantes Partners, TEN Arquitectos, WDG Architecture and Lemay Erickson Willcox Architects. EastBanc developed both the nearby Ritz-Carlton hotel and condominiums at 23rd and M Street as well as the Ritz-Carlton in Georgetown. Last year, the District selected EastBanc and its partner Stanton Development to redevelop the former Hine Junior High School near Eastern Market on Capitol Hill.
While the deal must first be approved by the DC Council and the Zoning Commission, construction could begin as soon as late 2012.