Washington Business Journal by Karen Goff
The District's plan to redevelop the historic Grimke School, delayed when D.C. failed to reach an agreement with its originally chosen partner, is back in play.
Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Brian Kenner said his office has reached an agreement with Community Three Development, Torti Gallas and Partners and CulturalDC for the property along the U Street corridor.
The Community Three partnership finished as a runner-up to Roadside Development in an RFP issued by then-Mayor Vincent Gray in 2014. Roadside and Mayor Muriel Bowser's administration parted ways on that $35 million project in December. Kenner's staff said then it would try and work a deal with Community Three.
As part of the project, the original Grimke school at 1923 Vermont Ave. NW will be renovated for use by the African American Civil War Museum, CulturalDC and Silver Spring-based Torti Gallas, which will relocate there. At 912 U St. NW, now a vacant lot, the team will build about 50 housing units (30 percent affordable) and 4,000 square feet of retail.
Grimke was constructed in 1887 as the Phelps School and renamed in 1934 after Archibald Grimke, one-time president of the NAACP of Washington, D.C. It had more recently hosted District government offices, but is now vacant.
DMPED was scheduled to announce the new Grimke partnership, as well as 20 redevelopment opportunities, at its third annual March Madness event Friday.
Among the projects opening for developer partnerships:
- An OurRFP opportunity for The Eastern Branch Boys & Girls Club
- New Communities Initiative projects for Northwest One, 2 Patterson Street in Ward 6 and Lincoln Heights/Richardson Dwellings in Ward 7
- 10 houses in Ward 8
- A renovation project for the East Potomac Swimming Pool (Ward 2) and redevelopment projects at Edgewood Recreation Center & Park (Ward 5) and Fort Greble Urban Nature Center (Ward 8)
- A modernization project for the D.C. Corrections Center and the police headquarters
- School renovation projects at Fletcher-Johnson School (Ward 7) and Winston Education Campus (Ward 7)