Wednesday, November 7, 7:00 P.M., at Park Triangle Community Room.
Guests at the meeting were Jason Yuckenberg of Councilman Graham’s office and Jonathan Kardon from Level 2 Development, the developer of View 14.
(1) We briefly discussed the former Hope 7 project on the corner of Monroe and 11th. A new developer, Prosperity Development, has taken over this project and hopes to get it rolling again. As of now, the plans call for two additional floors, ground floor retail, and mixed income condominiums. This may be subject to change over the next few months. For more info, contact the developer directly:
http://pdevgroup.com/
(2) There was a presentation from Level 2, the developer of View 14 on Florida and 14th. These will be rental apartments with ground floor retail. The developer noted that they had provided $1 million to an adjacent tenants association for affordable housing, and also discussed their plans to attract locally-owned businesses to some of the retail space. For more on View 14: http://www.view14.com/
(3) I briefly noted today’s zoning board hearing re: the Bi-rite project. From what I have heard, nothing has been signed with Warehouse. Given how long the negotiations have taken, I am guessing there may be a few sticking points, but they are still the most likely first floor tenant. I have also heard there is substantial interest from others in this space should the Warehouse negotiations fall through. The zoning hearing is on Tuesday, November 13 at 1:00.
Case Number : 17619
Case Name : Application of 3DG/3400 11th Street LLC
Case Summary : (Area Variance) pursuant to 11 DCMR ยง 3103.2, for a variance from the rear yard requirements under section 774, to allow an addition to an existing commercial building in the C-2-A District at premises 3400 11th Street, N.W. (Square 2839, Lot 121).
(4) We briefly discussed the Monroe and 11th Street Park. Everyone agreed that there needs to be substantial investment into this park. Graham’s office said they are interested in pursuing city funding for a redesign or refurbishment of this park in the next budget cycle. There also needs to be increased policing of the area around the park. Public art was discussed, but there was no consensus reached on that issue. If you have ideas about this park or just want to press for the importance of general enhancements / redesign, contact Graham’s office. I am sure we will have a meeting devoted to this park at some point in 2008.
(5) There was a lot of discussion about the recent, unprecedented crime wave. Gangs are in large part responsible. We discussed what police / the city are doing, and should be doing, to combat this crime wave, including gang-related initiatives (similar to others that have worked in the past), engaging area youth in more constructive pasttimes, citizen vigilance in calling 911 to report suspicious activity, insuring that police officers actually leave vehicles to patrol rather than just sit at one corner all night, installing more effective crime cameras. Until the crime subsides, nothing else planned for Columbia Heights will have much of an impact on making the neighborhood more attractive.
(6) We discussed the public realm plan. Unfortunately there is not yet an exact date for implementation of the Columbia Heights public realm plan, but construction should begin sometime after DCUSA opens in March (apparently the idea is to not have too much disruption at once). We encouraged as many green features as possible to be incorporated, as 14th street as currently constructed (which we were told is actually not the final layout) is devoid of any sort of trees or greenery.