Washington Business Journal by Karen Goff
After more than a decade of proposals, the District will make another go redeveloping the the historic Franklin School into an arts center.
D.C.’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development announced Wednesday the selection of a plan from Aspen Institute trustee Ann Friedman and Dantes Partners to turn the former school at 13th and K Streets NW into Planet Word, an interactive language arts museum and education space.
The new museum will expand on the space in the school building, creating four levels from the existing three levels (51,000 square feet) by utilizing below-grade space, according to a release from DMPED. The project will provide nearly 15,000 square feet of exhibit space, a 2,000-square-foot auditorium, a 3,500-square-foot restaurant and 1,900 square feet of classroom space.
Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Brian Kenner said the $30 million project will generate 35 new full-time jobs and is expected to have 100,000 annual visitors.
“Planet Word is a one-of-a-kind project that delivers on our promise to invest in the arts in the most innovative of ways,” Kenner said in a release. “Developing the Franklin School into an interactive language center gives visitors and residents a unique learning experience, adds to the cultural fabric of our downtown, and is a great fit for the District’s growing creative economy.”
It’s been a long road through several D.C. mayors to repurpose the Franklin School, constructed in 1869 and vacant since 2008.
In 2006, Western Development pitched a hotel to the Tony Williams administration. In 2009, Maryland-based Cana Development pitched a hotel to then-Mayor Adrian Fenty, but that never materialized.
In 2013, the Vincent Gray administration reopened the opportunity, and chose the Institute of Contemporary Expression-D.C. and EastBanc Inc. to turn the building into art galleries, art education, a bookstore and cafe.
But early in 2015, shortly after Mayor Muriel Bowser took over, the District canceled ICE’s $13.2 million bid.
The administration said at the time it had doubts about the viability of the project and was concerned about the financial risk to the District.
After marketing the building to foreign investors, the District then reissued a request for qualifications and selected finalists in May 2015: The Friedman-Dantes idea, as well as submissions by Thoron Capital, Aria Development and The CoStar Group Inc.
After no movement for nearly two years, Planet Word envisions a place “to inspire a love of words and language and increase literacy through a host of interactive exhibits and experiences.” It plans to open its doors with free admission to the public by winter 2019, DMPED said.
This time around, the process took so long because of much more thorough vetting of finalists, DMPED officials said. The winning proposal had an architect and general contractor involved in the application, and project finances were more closely scrutinized than in past RFPs, a DMPED spokesman said. Friedman, wife of author Thomas Friedman and heir to a shopping mall fortune, and Dantes Partners will pay the entire cost of the redevelopment, DMPED said.
The Franklin School is a historic landmark listed on the D.C. inventory of historic places and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was the first of several flagship schools to provide a comprehensive system of free universal education in the District.
It was also the sight of Alexander Graham Bell’s “photophone” experiments in 1876, before becoming the city's first high school is 1880. The building was the administrative headquarters of the District school system from 1928 until 1968. It also served as an Adult Education Center from 1969 until 1990.