Second Stage PUD Filed for Waterfront Station NE Parcel

A few months after PN Hoffman made a presentation at a monthly ANC meeting about their plans for their Waterfront Station parcel located north of CVS at 1000 4th Street, they have filed a second stage PUD application. The number of units have changed to 456 total units, with 30% of the total set aside as affordable housing for 30% and 50% of Area Median Income (AMI). For the first 50 years of the ground lease that PN Hoffman will have with the city, the affordable units will be split 50-50 between the 30% and 50% AMI levels. After the first 50 years, the split will change to 25-75 in favor of units at 50% of AMI. There will be 214 garage spaces, 161 long-term bike parking spaces, and 14 bike racks. Parking and loading will be off Wesley Place.  

While the amount of retail planned at the development remains at 29,182 SF, the planned cultural use will change. Last week, it was announced on DC Theatre Scene that the Forum Theater closed suddenly – this was the Silver Spring-based theater company that was expected to come to Waterfront Station. PN Hoffman is apparently in negotiations with the Washington Improv Theater to move from 14th Street NW near U Street to Southwest. Rounding out the retail will be space for two restaurants along 4th Street (a diner has been identified previously as the intended tenant) and space for AppleTree to operate a pre-K school along the private drive to be located on the north end of the development, near the SW Branch library. A 3,000-SF play area will be built for AppleTree use on the northeast corner of the site during school hours and general community use at certain times outside of school hours. At one time, AppleTree would be relocated from its temporary trailers at Jefferson Academy to the Wharf, but apparently PN Hoffman has found another place for them. Although there is a playground nearby at 3rd and I streets, the two play areas will target different age groups. 

According to the PUD application, construction is expected to begin on 1000 4th Street in Q1 2020 and deliver in Q3 2022. 

Speaking of PN Hoffman developments, the Washington Business Journal reports that The Banks apartment project under construction at 7th and I streets will have The Goddard School, a private preschool and daycare as its retail tenant in a 7,700 SF space.  The Banks is scheduled to open by this fall.

Renderings courtesy of Torti Gallas Urban

AppleTree Trailers Arrive at Jefferson

Trailers have been set up on the abandoned tennis courts, located at 7th and I streets at Jefferson Academy to accommodate classrooms for AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School and utility work is underway. It was reported back in April that the charter school would have to close its two Southwest campuses at Amidon-Bowen and Riverside Baptist Church. AppleTree was looking for a temporary home until their new space is ready at The Wharf in 2017, so ANC 6D commissioner Stacy Cloyd wrote a resolution that was unanimously approved to urge the District government to allow the charter school to place a temporary trailer on the abandoned tennis courts at Jefferson Academy, located across the street from Riverside. A complication in the idea to put trailers in the tennis courts is that Jefferson Academy is scheduled to begin a modernization program in 2016, so Principal Natalie Gordon’s support for allowing the trailers there was conditioned that their presence not interfere with, or delay for any reason, the planned modernization of Jefferson. Some restoration work was recently done to the cupola of Jefferson, which is now illuminated at night and more work will be done on the campus starting in 2016. 

Is AppleTree Vacating Southwest?

Currently, two out of seven AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School campuses are located in Southwest, serving nearly 80 three and four year-olds with a significant percentage of students being Southwest residents. After the end of this school year, though, both of those campuses will close. The Amidon-Bowen campus at 4th and I streets, in addition to the Riverside Baptist Church campus, located at 7th Street and Maine Avenue, will be closing. The charter school has been at Amidon-Bowen since 2008 and Riverside Baptist Church since 2005. AppleTree needs to leave Amidon-Bowen because there is demand for classroom space for DCPS children since enrollment is up at the school and Riverside Baptist Church may be redeveloped similar to St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church a block away. 

Riverside Baptist Church

In order to help AppleTree maintain a presence in Southwest, ANC 6D Commissioner Stacy Cloyd authored a resolution to urge the District government to allow the charter school to place a temporary trailer on the abandoned tennis courts at Jefferson Academy, located across the street from Riverside. A second set of tennis courts on the northwestern part of Jefferson’s grounds at 9th and G streets were renovated in 2012 thanks to the Washington Kastles Mylar World Team Tennis organization. There would be four modular classrooms to serve up to 40 children in the trailer. There is insufficient space currently inside Jefferson to house AppleTree since the Edgewood/Brookland Family Support Collaborative is opening a satellite office in the school building. The Collaborative currently has an office at St. Augustine’s, but the church building will be closing in June to make way for The Wharf project. 

Jefferson Academy from Maine Avenue

This trailer would be temporary, since AppleTree will be moving to The Wharf once phase one is complete in 2017. The main logistical issue is, though, that Jefferson Academy is scheduled to begin a multimillion dollar modernization in 2016, which could place AppleTree in limbo for a year between when they would need to vacate Jefferson and when they could move to The Wharf. At one point, AppleTree was considering purchasing the former Southeastern University campus building, but now the Shakespeare Theatre Company is proposing an actors' campus for that site.

At the April meeting, the commissioners debated the issue and added amendments to the resolution, which would explicitly state that AppleTree would need to leave the tennis courts once Jefferson’s modernization begins and the school would need to report back to the community their exit plan for the trailers after one year. Other concerns the commissioners had about the plan included where students will be dropped off and picked up, as well as where they will recreate. 

Present at the meeting to support the plan were representatives from AppleTree as well as Principal Natalie Gordon from Jefferson Academy. While Principal Gordon was generally supportive of AppleTree’s plan, she expressed concern that the charter school’s presence in the tennis courts should not interfere with, or delay for any reason, the planned modernization of Jefferson. The modernization was already delayed once and Gordon does not want the project to be delayed for a second time. The resolution was passed unanimously by the commissioners.

Former SEU Campus Building Under Contract

It was reported in Capital Business today that The Shakespeare Theatre Co. has the former Southeastern University (SEU) campus at 6th and I streets under contract.  The campus has been vacant since The Graduate School USA absorbed SEU and the university lost its accreditation in 2009. At first, it was thought that The Graduate School USA would expand its L’Enfant Plaza campus to 6th and I streets, then it was announced in 2011 that the school would be the anchor tenant at The Wharf. Afterwards, the campus was put on the market. There were some suitors for the campus, including Apple Tree Early Learning Public Charter School, who wanted to renovate the building for a school, but that proposal never resulted in the sale of the building. It was announced publicly last week that The Graduate School USA had backed out of The Wharf deal due to federal government budget issues. 

The Capital Business article states that the Shakespeare Theatre Co. proposes an actors’ campus for the site, which would include actors’ housing, rehearsal space, and storage for costumes and set equipment.  It would not just serve as a campus for Shakespeare, but it could also serve other theater companies who have similar space challenges. From the article:

Neither Shakespeare nor Graduate School USA officials released the terms of the contract. [Chris] Jennings said he is in the early stages of determining how to finance his idea. Shakespeare could partner with a developer on a mixed-use project in which some of the market-rate housing helps pay for the artist and theater space. He also plans to approach D.C. officials about support the government may be able to provide.

The campus is slightly under one acre in size and is currently zoned as R-3, which allows matter-of-right development of single-family residential uses (detached, semi-detached, and row dwellings), churches, and public schools. Depending on what Shakespeare has planned, the campus may need to be rezoned. Next door to the campus is Amidon-Bowen Elementary school and row homes. Across the street is the SW Duck Pond. It is located two blocks north of Arena Stage and three blocks from the Waterfront Metro station.

AppleTree Exploring Bid to Buy Southeastern U. Building

A couple agenda items at last night's ANC 6D meeting dealt with Southeastern University, which closed its doors in August 2009. The first item was a resolution by Commissioner Sobelsohn to remove -SEU from the name of the Waterfront-SEU Metro station. The SEU campus and name was purchased by the GS Graduate School earlier this year. GS Graduate School has been mum on their plans for the building at 6th & I Street, but it appears that the school building may now be on the market. As a result, the ANC voted 3-0-1 to remove SEU from the Metro station name.

The second SEU-related item was that Jack McCarthy from AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School mentioned that the school is exploring the option of expanding its presence in Southwest by bidding on the SEU building. Currently, AppleTree does activities at Amidon-Bowen Elementary and Riverside Baptist Church locally, but does not have sufficient space to do all its programming. AppleTree also has a campus in Columbia Heights and Hill East. Cost estimates for renovating the SEU building for use by AppleTree is approximately $150/SF with about a third of the cost needed to upgrade building systems. Under the proposal offered by McCarthy, no floors would be added to the building, but some of the parking lot would be covered with playground equipment. AppleTree hopes to formally place their bid by mid-December and depending on the selection process, if the school is selected by GS Graduate School, McCarthy hopes to have some classrooms available by August 2011 when the new school year begins. After some discussion by the Commissioners and positive audience comments about the SEU building remaining a school under this proposal, the ANC voted 5-0-1 to support AppleTree's bid.