DC UrbanTurf by Nena Perry-Brown
Capitol Vista Community Partners has filed a zoning application for the Capitol Vista parcel in Mount Vernon Triangle that will be aesthetically similar but substantively different than the original proposal put forth when the city requested a developer for the site in 2015.
The Dantes Partners-led proposal for the triangular, 9,648 square-foot site bound between New Jersey Avenue and Second and H Streets NW (map) would be an affordable development with 104 apartments above 3,200 square feet of ground-floor retail. The unit mix will include 21 studios, 52 one-bedrooms and 32 two-bedrooms; 16 of the units would be set aside for households earning up to 30 percent of area median income (AMI), 16 for households earning up to 50 percent AMI, and the remaining 72 for households earning up to 60 percent AMI.
The building would provide bicycle parking for residents on the ground floor and a club room and gym on the 12th floor; no parking spaces will be included. The Capitol Vista site is currently temporary event parking controlled by the District.
Grimm + Parker Architects helmed the design of the building, which is an interpretation of Manhattan’s Flatiron Building. In conjunction with the PUD, the developer is also applying to have the land upzoned from MU4 (with its maximum height of 50 feet) to D4R to allow for the requested 130-foot height and density. The new zone would also eliminate any parking requirement, although loading would be required by both the residential and retail portions of the development.
The developer is also requesting flexibility to finalize the materials of the building and its interior design elements and placement, as well as flexibility to increase the quantity of residential units by up to 10 percent (if affordable housing proportions are maintained) and/or increase or decrease the retail square footage by 10 percent.