(Washington, DC) The Office of Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) has issued a Solicitation for Offers seeking development teams to submit proposals to build the first phase of the Northwest One New Community.

Northwest One is part of the District’s New Communities Initiative, which 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.

In June, the District purchased Temple Courts, a 211-unit, severely distressed housing complex at North Capitol and K streets, NW from Bush Construction for $22 million. And as a part of the first phase of the project, the District is looking for 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. Two-thirds of the units will be sold or rented to families earning significantly less than the area’s median income.

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

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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

Responses to the solicitation are due on August 31, 2007. The District will host a pre-bidder’s conference July 20, 2007, from 10 am to 12 pm at the Washington DC Economic Partnership at 1495 F Street, NW.