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| | | Commission declines to endorse specific Hine project | | July 01, 2009 | | | | Staff Writer | | At their latest meeting, Southeast Capitol Hill advisory neighborhood commissioners skipped selecting a favorite from the four development proposals for the former Hine Middle School site. Instead, they unanimously voted to recommend criteria for city officials to use when asking some developers to submit “best and final” proposals.
The city was supposed to narrow its list to two or three developers this week, but by press time it had not released the names of developers it would ask for final offers.
Neighborhood commission chair David Garrison, who proposed the criteria, said he was surprised none of the commissioners moved to endorse a single project for the prime real estate located catty-corner to Eastern Market on Pennsylvania Avenue SE, between 7th and 8th streets. Asked if the commission would ever hold a vote on particular proposals, he said, “I guess not.”
The Capitol Hill Restoration Society recently deemed the Stanton Development/EastBanc proposal its favorite. But the 65-member Eastern Market Metro Citizens Association voted nearly unanimously to support the StreetSense/DSF proposal. Another group, of eight families who live on the 300 block of 8th Street known as Eyes on Hine, has also picked StreetSense as its favorite.
Those who stood up to speak at the neighborhood commission’s Tuesday meeting nearly evenly split their support between Hill-based Stanton Development/EastBanc and StreetSense/DSF. Another handful spoke about their desires for the development but did not indicate their preferred developer.
The conceptual drawings of the Stanton and StreetSense developments seem to contrast greatly. The Stanton project appears to be a glass-and-brick concoction, and at 427,000 square feet, it is by far the largest of the four proposals the city is still considering. At 305,000 square feet, the StreetSense plan is the smallest, and its proposed facades resemble the historic fronts of many Hill homes. But both proposals include plans for boutique hotels, flea market space, a reopened C Street, some form of affordable housing and a mix of retail and office space for nonprofit groups.
Stanton supporters cited the numerous buildings the developer has already built on the Hill, including ones right next door to the Hine site. They also praised its emphasis on office space that would bring workers to shop in the area, its promise to provide aging-in-place housing, and its commitment to build central office and practice space for the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
“The fact that Stanton provides more affordable housing to me speaks to the issue that we’re going to have diversity and a good mixture,” said Dale Lowery, a 25-year Hill resident. “All of the buildings have a nice feel. They feel like they belong; they’re not necessarily cookie-cutter historic motifs.”
StreetSense supporters pointed to the proposal's scale and design, as well as the company's commitment to bring an 80-room Kimpton hotel to the site. They also lauded a promise from the Tiger Woods Foundation to locate youth-oriented programs in the development. The developer has also emphasized that the project is already fully financed.
“It adds fresh thinking and fresh blood to this neighborhood. Stanton has done some excellent work, but I think it’s time for some new blood, new thinking, a new approach,” said Derek Farwagi, a representative of Eyes on Hine.
The two other projects city officials are still considering — Seven Penn Partners and the National Leadership Campus — drew little discussion at the commission meeting.
In the criteria they agreed on, commissioners highlighted what they deem important priorities for the city to consider when it selects the final proposal:
• reopening C Street SE between 7th and 8th streets on weekdays, subject to a traffic study that shows the reopening would not negatively impact the neighborhood;
• including “sufficient, flexible” space for the weekend flea market; providing at least half a parking space for every residential unit and “sufficient” public spaces;
• including a mix of office, retail and residential spaces, with at least 10 percent of the residential units reserved for affordable housing and a “significant number” reserved for aging-in-place housing;
• emphasizing “local-serving retail”;
• ensuring that the chosen developer uses green-building techniques and seeks the highest level of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification;
• banning commercial activity on 8th Street, including entrances to parking or loading docks;
• requiring that the development’s design blend in with the Capitol Hill Historic District “to the extent possible"; and
• restricting the development’s height to 60 feet on Pennsylvania Avenue, 50 feet on 7th Street and 40 feet on 8th and C streets.
The commissioners also said that if the city chooses a proposal that includes a hotel, it should be limited to no more than 20 percent of the development. The city should also retain ownership of the site, leasing it to the chosen developer with a 99-year ground lease, they said. And the city should require the developer to maintain “structured, consistent consultation with the Capitol Hill community throughout the project.”
The developers the city asks to submit “best and final” offers will have two to four weeks to respond with their final proposals, said project manager Jose Sousa. Those proposals likely will not go through another public process, said commission chair Garrison.
The developer must then go through a long negotiation with the deputy mayor’s office and a planned-unit development process with the Zoning Commission because the land is currently zoned only for four-story residential buildings. The project must also pass muster with various other regulatory boards.
Though the office has said it plans to choose a winning bid by August, Sousa said the groundbreaking won't occur until the middle of 2011. All four groups agreed it would take about 18 to 20 months to build out the site.
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