Old Friendship Baptist Church Grounds to be Used for Baseball

While redevelopment of the Old Friendship Baptist Church site at Delaware Avenue and H Street is on hold, the owner has leased the grounds to the Batter Up Foundation for use by DC RBI as a bullpen, batting cage, and storage space. The Batter Up Foundation is a non-profit organization affiliated with Major League Baseball that helps to bring baseball to inner-city youth in several cities across the country.

The grounds of the church are being set up as a batting cage, bullpen, and storage.

Next door to the church at Randall Recreation Center, the local DC Junior RBI Little League team has been practicing for the past couple of months at the ball field. Even though some of the 14 kids on the team are local Southwesters and attend Jefferson Middle School, this is the first season that the team has been practicing in Southwest. Coach Andrew Williamson, who is in his fourth year of coaching with DC RBI, said that DC RBI draws kids from Wards 5, 6, 7, and 8 and the Randall Rec Center ball field is ideal since it's centrally located, lighted, and easy to get to for the players. The Randall field has been underutilized by youth - the only people using it previously has been adult softball teams. Coach Andrew says DC RBI has been working with DPR, King-Greenleaf Recreation Center, and community leaders to bring the team to Randall. "We want people to know that kids here have an interest in baseball," said Williamson.

The ball field at Randall Recreation Center is behind the church.

Practice is held twice a week (Monday and Wednesday evenings) from 6:30 - 8:30pm. The first game of the season will be this Saturday, but the team plays their games at a little league field east of the Anacostia. The team mostly plays against other teams in DC, but also a few in Virginia and Maryland.

This isn't the first site in Southwest that has temporary uses on it while development has been delayed. Besides the parking lots along South Capitol Street, St. Matthew's has used their site at Delaware Avenue and M Street as a Christmas tree lot and community garden, and the northwest parcel at Waterfront Station has been used as a field for Ultimate Frisbee.

The Washington Business Journal also has a story on DC RBI's lease, and mentions in its article that Washington Parks and People will also lease part of the grounds for use as an urban agricultural site.

Playing Catch-Up on News and Whatnot

- In an issue of Real Estate Bisnow last week, there was a story about the progress at Arena Stage. Nothing really new here, but it's a good opportunity to mention that at last month's SWNA meeting, it was announced that there will be a black-tie grand opening gala on October 25, 2010 for the expanded theater complex. The day before, which will be a Sunday, there will be a community day homecoming event that is open to the public and will result in the closure of 6th Street in front of the theater. Next year will be the 60th anniversary of Arena Stage, which makes the planned celebrations surrounding the reopening of the theater that much more special.

- I wasn't able to make it to last week's ANC 6D meeting, but Commissioner Sobelsohn passes word that the ANC voted 6-1 to drop their protest of Safeway's petition to obtain a Class B liquor license for their new store at Waterfront Station. If approved by the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ARBA), Safeway will be allowed to sell wine and beer at their new store

- Last Wednesday, the Washington Business Journal had an article about how Patriots Plaza lost out on a potential lease with a federal tenant. Instead of moving to Patriots Plaza or other buildings around town, the IRS will move to a building in NoMa just north of Union Station.

- Last week, the Zoning Commission approved a request to extend the PUD for the old Friendship Baptist Church site at 700 Delaware Avenue after the ANC approved it in November. Developer Steve Tanner plans to convert the historic church into office space and construct a small residential building adjacent to it. The site’s redevelopment hinges on what will eventually happen at the neighboring Randall School site, where the Corcoran is looking for a developer partner to re-purpose the school building as a college and construct apartments behind the building.

South(west) Beach?

In today’s Washington Business Journal (subscribers only) there’s an article about how vacant spaces in DC are being utilized creatively for temporary uses. Due to the recession, vacant sites have been popping up all over the city since developers are having difficulty getting financing. Some examples of temporary uses mentioned in the article include the Bullpen near Nationals Park in Near SE and the summer stadium for the Washington Kastles tennis team at the Old Convention Center site downtown. At the end of the article, D.C. Office of Planning director Harriet Tregoning mentions a use for the Southwest Waterfront (which isn’t exactly vacant). From the article:

Tregoning also has ideas for PN Hoffman’s 30-plus acre Southwest waterfront: “Considering what it is, it really gets very little use. What if we put a beach there? With umbrellas. I mean, I wouldn’t be encouraging people to swim in the Anacostia, you know, but a place to hang out, catch a little sun, relax. It could be fabulous.”

Some European cities have turned their riverfronts into temporary beaches during the summer, including Paris and Prague, but would this work in DC? Besides the SW Waterfront, there are several vacant lots in the neighborhood that could host temporary uses (not a beach, though). Along South Capitol Street, a major gateway to the core of the city, there are vacant lots galore, including Camden’s 1345 South Capitol Street site (a vacant field), Vornado’s site surrounding the 7 Eleven at South Capitol & M Street (a parking lot), and the Ruben Companies’ 1001 - 1101 South Capitol Street (more parking lots). Aside from the lots on South Capitol Street, there’s the Randall School site, the old Friendship Baptist Church, the old First District HQ, Southeastern University, the Market Inn…the list goes on and on. However, there are examples of other sites that have been used for temporary purposes. For instance, the St. Matthews site on M Street became a Christmas tree lot last year and Pastor Huber has plans to create a community garden next spring until the new church and housing can be built. Also, Artomatic used the old Waterside Mall before it was torn down. Hopefully the economy starts to pick up soon so some of these vacant sites can get built, but in the meantime, some creative uses can be found for the plethora of empty spaces we have in Southwest. What temporary uses would you suggest for some of these vacant sites?

ANC Votes to Approve Extension of Old Friendship Baptist Church Redevelopment

I wasn't able to attend last night's ANC 6D meeting, but the developer of the Old Friendship Baptist Church site on Delaware Avenue & H Street tells Southwest...TLQTC that the ANC unanimously approved a request to allow a two-year extension of the Planned Unit Development (PUD) for the project that the developer has pending with the Zoning Commission. The Zoning Commission will make a decision on the extension request at their December 14th meeting. Steve Tanner, the developer of the project, plans to convert the 100+ year-old church into office space and construct a residential building with condos. Delays with the Corcoran's neighboring Randall School project (see post from last November), as well as the state of the economy, helped the developer obtain approval from the ANC. However, Tanner says that the Corcoran is working on a contract with a new developer for their Randall School site. Several stalled development projects around the city have applied for 2-year extensions in recent months, the nearest one to SW is the RiverFront on the Anacostia site in Near SE. As a condition of the ANC's approval, the developer will need to pay to clean up the Randall Park baseball fields each month once he applies for a building permit. Above is a rendering of the site - the white church is the existing building and the Shalom Baranes-designed 7-story residential addition is at the rear of the church (rendering courtesy of Steve Tanner).

Delays and Progress in the Neighborhood

In today's Washington Post, there's an article describing the slowdown in construction around the Washington metro area due to the credit crunch. The Randall School project is mentioned in the article. From the article: "A half-mile from the ballpark, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and developer Monument Realty intended to turn what was once a public school and then a homeless shelter into an art school and apartments. But Monument withdrew in August, as its equity partner, Lehman Brothers, collapsed, leaving Corcoran to find another developer." Southwest...TLQTC reported on this story back in November. Another victim of the delay at Randall School is the old Friendship Baptist Church site (AKA Square 643) at 734 1st Street (H Street & Delaware Avenue). Developer Steve Tanner has plans to renovate the historic church into office space and build a residential component behind the church, which has been in the works since at least 2003. The timing of delivery, though, is dependent on the completion of the Randall School project. Now that the Randall School is delayed, Tanner will have to wait to see who will be the new developer partner of the Corcoran. The old Friendship Baptist Church is over 100 years old and was one of the few structures saved when Southwest was razed during urban renewal in the 1950s. According to the Cultural Tourism DC website: "In December 1902 the congregation dedicated a new church at 734 First Street, SW (at H Street). The eclectic Victorian style structure, built by James A. Boyce over a 12-year period, had Romanesque, Gothic Revival, and Queen Anne elements. A name change -- to Friendship Baptist – in June 1905 followed the congregation’s move...In September 1965 it celebrated its 90th anniversary and dedicated a new building at 900 Delaware Avenue, SW. The old Friendship Baptist Church at 734 First Street, SW, was designated a DC Historic Site on May 27, 2004." A rendering of the site is above - the white church is the existing building and the Shalom Baranes-designed 7-story residential addition is at the rear of the church (rendering courtesy of Steve Tanner).

At least one major Southwest project is moving ahead. Waterfront Station received construction financing in September to build the two new office buildings as a part of phase one of development, but the fate of the adaptive reuse of the old EPA towers to residential is unclear.

The rendering above is the metro plaza in front of the new SW Safeway under construction at Waterfront Station, courtesy of Vornado.