NBC Washington by Tom Sherwood

 

 

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser ceremonially broke ground Monday on a massive residential, office and retail project at the former northwest Washington campus of Walter Reed Army Hospital.

"The Parks at Walter Reed" is planned to offer 2,100 housing units -- more than 400 of which are designated as affordable housing -- as well as a new grocery store, a 200-room hotel, a walk-in medical center run by Howard University and two schools. 

It's a massive project, which the city says will create 6,000 jobs. But it's far from the only project that has sent construction cranes into the city skyline.

Here are four more huge projects, some in early stages, others well underway. More on these projects and others can be found on the city's website.

UNDERWAY: Capitol Crossing 

In a city as densely developed as D.C., sometimes the only way to find more ground for buildings is to build it. In the $1.3 billion Capitol Crossing project, private developers plan to extend the ground covering over the Third Street Tunnel downtown.

That will allow for the development of five new, energy- and water-efficient buildings. About 150 residential units are planned, with at least 50 reserved for affordable housing (in this case, that's defined as homes for people making 80 percent of the area's median income).

In preparation for the project, developers opened a new I-395 on-ramp Monday. And two historic religious buildings -- the Adas Israel Synagogue and the Holy Rosary Church -- are being moved and preserved nearby.

UNDERWAY: The Wharf

A mile of the Potomac's Washington channel waterfront in southeast D.C. is being redeveloped into a new living, retail and cultural destination called The Wharf.

The first of 30 restaurants will open soon, along with a new hotel. A concert venue called The Anthem is under construction and will have seats for up to 6,000 people.

At The Wharf, 30 percent of the housing is planned to be affordable, with half of that affordable to households earning 60 percent of the area's median income and another half affordable to households earning 30 percent of median income. The developers are trying to contract goods and services from Wards 5, 6, 7 and 8 and hire 51 percent of workers from the District.

BEGUN: St. Elizabeth's East

On the campus of former mental hospital St. Elizabeth's in Congress Heights, Events D.C. is building a 5,000-seat sports arena for the WNBA's Washington Mystics and the training center for the Washington Wizards. The facility will also serve as an entertainment venue.

Bowser broke ground for the development in February 2016. Some in the community are concerned about gentrification, but the project also includes the the R.I.S.E. Demonstration center, which offers meeting space and technnology to local organizations as well as training and education programs. 

BEGUN: McMillan Reservoir Sand Filtration Site 

The city held a ceremonial groundbreaking late last year on a $720 million project to develop a housing, retail and recreation space at the site of the former McMillian Reservoir, which purified the city's water until 1986.

The site, at the intersection of North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue in northwest D.C., is expected to include 12 acres of public, open and green space, including an eight-acre partk and a community center with a pool.

Some neighborhood grounds have opposed the redevelopment, saying more of the land should be preserved for parks.

Of the development's 655 housing units planned, 134 are earmarked as affordable.

Source: CraneWatch: Walter Reed Development Among D.C.'s Biggest Redevelopment Projects | NBC4 Washington http://www.nbcwashington.com/blogs/first-read-dmv/CraneWatch-Walter-Reed-Development-Among-DCs-Biggest-Redevelopment-Projects-420280023.html#ixzz4fHHZtCAu