The quest to turn the District's former Hebrew Home for the Aged into new housing may soon be realized by the private sector after previous tries from two different D.C. agencies fell flat.
The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development last week detailed seven proposals for the property's redevelopment submitted through DMPED's OurRFP process.
All proposals include preserving the historic building at 1125 Spring Road. NW and adding more housing on the site of the Robeson School next door (the school building would presumably be demolished). All also offer some level of affordable and senior housing.Sponsored by
The 88,000-square-foot building served Jewish seniors from 1925 until the late 1960s, when it was sold to the District for $13 million and a new Hebrew Home was built in Montgomery County.
From 1968 until 2009, the city used the building as a mental health facility for the homeless. It’s been vacant since then. The Department of Human Services in 2010 proposed housing homeless families there instead of at D.C. General Hospital in Hill East, but renovation costs were high and then-D.C. Councilwoman Muriel Bowser was concerned about too many homeless shelters in her home Ward 4.
In 2014, the city planned to redevelop the site with 200 highly affordable units, but that plan stalled when the District learned that it wouldn’t be able to transfer ownership to the D.C. Housing Authority without a formal RFP.
That’s when the project was transferred to DMPED, which has hosted a series of community meetings over the last year to determine what would fit best on the site.
Check out our gallery to see which development teams are biddin for the project and what they plan. DMPED is also accepting community feedback through June 9.