1528 Church Street: "They're Both Nice Designs"

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle endorsed plans to renovate a dilapidated 142-year-old house at 1528 Church Street. The vote came at the meeting of the full ANC last night, January 8. The ANC's endorsement will accompany the plans to its next stop in the D.C. bureaucracy, the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB), which must approve the design concept.

1528 Church Street (propertyquest.dc.gov)

The HPRB has a say in the design concept because 1528 Church Street is located in the 14th Street Historic District.

The plans were discussed at length at the meeting of ANC2B's Zoning,
Preservation and Development (ZPD) Committee on the previous evening, January 7. At that time, an unusual situation occurred: there were two separate designs, and the committee liked both of them.

The existing two-story single-family home is in a state of disrepair, and the new owners told the ZPD Committee that the first order of business would be to meet with a rat exterminator.

The new owners and their architect, Sacha Rosen of R2L:Architects, told the committee about the original vision for the project. It was to add a set-back third story on top of the existing structure and add a carriage house in the rear, in the style found behind many houses in the neighborhood. Rosen had presented this idea to D.C.'s Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB). Just hours before the ZPD Committee meeting, he received word that HPRB was "no longer supporting third story additions on top of existing structures".

This explicit and categorical rejection of additional stories seemed to be news to the members of the ZPD committee.

In any event, the owners and architect went back to the drawing board and came up with a new design. It will be a three-story structure that will abut the existing house to the rear. The ground floor will be a garage, and the structure (including the additional floor) will not be visible from Church Street.

The new owners did not seem to be very concerned that the original design had been rejected. They were more concerned about getting the house ready for long-term occupancy.

"It's all about making it livable for a family with kids," they said.

The new owners told the committee they had discussed the project with their neighbors, sending letters to all residents within 200 feet of the proposed project. The neighbors were "strongly in favor". The owners had also talked with neighbors about improved lighting and cleanliness for the parking lot which abuts the property to the east.

Although the petitioners seemed satisfied with ZPD endorsement of the new plans, members of the committee told them that "plan a" seemed just as good and the ANC could live with either alternative.

"They're both nice designs," said Commissioner Leo Dwyer (district 07). Dwyer is also chair of the ZPD committee.

According to online information, the house was bought in November 2013 for $740,000.

Sacha Rosen has been the architect on a few high-profile developments lately, including the Parcel 42 project and the Wonder Bread building, both in Shaw.

The project is on the agenda for the HPRB meeting of January 23.

7th & R: 105 Apartments + Retail, 40 Parking Spaces

Shaw 42 Developers told Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6E/Shaw about plans for a proposed multi-story building to be erected on the corner of 7th and R Streets, NW. The building will be near the corner of Rhode Island Avenue and across the street from Shaw/Howard University Metro station.

Artist's rendition of the proposed building

The empty site now

The presentation by Marullus Williams took place at ANC6E's regular monthly meeting on September 4. Williams said construction was planned to start in 2015 and conclude in 2017.

Parking always an issue

The planned building will have 105 rental units and retail space, and 40 parking spaces for both purposes. The developers have not decided how many spaces will be allocated for residents, and how many for retail, Williams said.

The presentation led to a debate about the appropriate number of parking spaces for the neighborhood, given the changing demographics of the neighborhood and the current shortage of spaces. Commissioners and member of the public made statements on both sides of the parking issue. Some urged more parking in the development. Others advocated making this new development near Metro less car-centered.

"Being close to a metro station will not alleviate parking problems," said Commissioner Kevin Chapple (district 02).

ANC6E then voted to recommend to Victor L. Hoskins, DC Deputy Mayor for Planning and Development, that the Parcel 42 development have at least two levels of parking. No specific number of parking spaces were recommended. The vote was 5-1. Commissioner Marge Maceda (05) voted against the resolution.

Affordable housing

The building will be only rental units -- no condos.

Of the proposed 105 units, 21 will be designated as affordable housing. Fourteen units will be priced as to be affordable to those at 50 percent of Average Area Median Income (AMI). Four will be priced for those at 30 40 percent of AMI. Three units will be priced for those at 20 30 percent of AMI.

Recent census statistics state that AMI overall in the District of Columbia is $75,807.

[NOTE: See comment below for an explanation of Area Median Income and what it would mean for the cost of apartments in this building. Thanks to commenter for setting me straight.]

There was no discussion of exactly how much an apartment might rent for, or about the cost of parking spaces.

The average unit size will be 700 square feet. Two bedroom units will be 1000 square feet. The building will be divided nearly equally between efficiency, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom rental apartments, according to Williams.

This piece of land, called "Parcel 42", was the site of a long-term protest about affordable housing in the summer of 2010, described here and here. 

Retail

Two retail operations have been chosen for the development.

One is Old City Farm and Guild, a garden store currently operating at 925 Rhode Island Avenue. Old City Farm and Guild will also move and do business on the land while the planning process is in progress.

The other is NURISH, described as "a restaurant and culinary entrepreneurship incubator". The operation will have an educational function for those who wish to enter the retail food industry. The developers have not decided how many seats the restaurant portion of the establishment will have, or the amount of free or paid parking.

Design

The architect will be Sasha Rosen of Georgetown-based R2L Architects. Rosen has recently attracted attention as the architect behind the restoration and development of the Wonder Bread building on the 600 block of S Street in Shaw.

Bernard Demczuk, African-American studies expert and Assistant Vice President for District Relations at George Washington University, made an enthusiastic presentation about the work he is doing on the project. Demczuk described his vision of the building's lobby, which will also function as a map and museum of the 7th Street corridor and its contribution to local African-American and Jewish history.