1108 16th Street: Renovation of Former Planned Parenthood Building Moves Forward

At its regular monthly meeting October 8, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle endorsed the redevelopment of 1108 16th Street NW. The building, formerly the DC headquarters of Planned Parenthood, is to be transformed into a mixed-use commercial office and residential building.

1108 16th Street

Planned Parenthood has sold the building and is moving to H Street NE.

The ANC endorsed both the historical preservation aspects and requests for zoning relief by separate votes. Both votes received unanimous approval by the six commissioners present at the time of the vote.

Attorney Christine Roddy of the law firm Goulston Storrs and Jane Nelson of Nelson Architects led the team of presenters. The presenters said that the building started its life as three buildings in 1880s, was renovated to make it a single flat-front building in the 1920s, and then was "inexpertly renovated" (the presenters' words) in the 1950s.

The facade of the first two floors of the building (see photo) will be retained as is, according to current plans. Six additional stories will be added.

There will be four stories of commercial space and four stories of residential space. The current plan calls for 20 residential units.

The project requires zoning relief in three areas. The area that received the most discussion was parking. Normally, zoning would require 14 parking spaces for this building. It currently has five. It would have three if the proposal goes through as presented. The ANC discussed if there would be sufficient parking for deliveries as well as for handicapped accessibility. The presenters said there would be -- at least one of the spaces would be, as required, extra wide to accommodate people with special needs.

There are few residential neighbors, and none of them have any objection, according to ANC2B Commissioner Abigail Nichols (district 05). The project is in Nichols' district.

"This is perfect for what you are going to do," said Commissioner Mike Silverstein (district 06).

The historical preservation aspects of this case are on the October agenda to be reviewed during one or more of the scheduled meetings of the HPRB. The meetings are scheduled for October 23 and 30. See the HPRB staff report on the historical preservation aspects of the renovation here.

The case of 1108 16th Street is on the BZA's calendar for consideration on December 2.

Documents related to the request for zoning relief, including plans and drawings for the building, can be seen by going to the Interactive Zoning Information System and entering case number 18866 in the search bar.

See previous reporting on this project from the blogs District Source here and Urban Turf here.