(Washington, DC) The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) will hold a pre-bidder’s conference on Friday, July 20, for developers interested in responding to the District’s Solicitation for Offers for the first phase of the Northwest One New Community.

The solicitation seeks development partners to transform the Temple Courts complex and several other important District-controlled properties—totaling more than 228,000 square feet—into several hundred units of housing in the new neighborhood. It is proposed that two-thirds of the units will be sold or rented to low income and moderate income families.

The solicitation asks development teams to adhere to the goals of the New Communities Initiative, which are to:

• Create a mixed-income community that places realistic demands on the area infrastructure (including parking) and creates jobs and economic opportunity for District residents, especially those who already live in the community
• Provide a safe, urban community that will include street-level retail to accompany active open space
• Establish K and North Capitol Streets as the area’s principal retail center to connect the area to adjoining commercial districts
• Reserve no less than 20,000 square feet of space for a primary health care clinic

Northwest One is one of four New Communities Initiative projects. The program aims to transform chronically troubled, low-income neighborhoods into healthy mixed-income neighborhoods that protect housing for low-income residents with a one-for-one replacement of existing affordable housing around improved community anchors such as schools, parks and recreation centers. New Communities also stresses the importance of rebuilding the social infrastructure through linkages to job training, asset building, counseling and other supportive human services.

Responses to the solicitation are due on August 31, 2007.

The conference begins at 10 am at the Washington DC Economic Partnership’s offices at 1495 F Street, NW.