(Washington, DC) – Mayor Adrian M. Fenty on Friday announced the District will make available $25 million in local and federal funding that will be used to build up to 710 units of affordable housing throughout the District. The Mayor also announced the District has issued a solicitation for development partners for three properties along the 3800 block of Georgia Avenue that could be redeveloped into new restaurants, retail and housing.
“Real economic development is neighborhood development,” said Mayor Fenty. “And these kinds of investment and these kinds of opportunities are really indicative of where our priorities lie – building stronger, healthier, safer neighborhoods.”
The District issued a Solicitation for Offers for three properties 3813, 3815 and 3825-29 Georgia Avenue, NW, which are a combination of empty storefronts and vacant lots located about one block north of the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metrorail Station. The sites can be redeveloped into retail, restaurants and potentially housing. The District is seeking one or two development partners and the responses will be due this summer winning bidders will be selected early this fall. The 3813 and 3815 properties will be treated as a single development opportunity.
There are currently several other prominent District-sponsored projects nearby, including Donatelli Development’s Park Place, a $60 million, 156-unit housing and retail development atop the Metro station and Georgia Commons, more than 100 units of housing and ground floor retail, which is being developed by the Jair Lynch Cos.
The District’s Department of Housing and Community Development has selected 11 development projects – via a competitive process – that have applied for a funding assistance for new affordable housing projects throughout the city. The projects are in Wards 1, 4, 5, 7 and 8. The District is now in the process of underwriting each project.
All together, the projects total about 710 units of affordable housing made up of ownership, rental and senior housing units as well as about 100 units for permanent housing for the homeless. All properties will have to comply with the District’s recently adopted green building standards.