WBJ: Land Purchase Means Hill East/Poplar Point Development Can Move Forward

• June 4th 2010

by Mark Wellborn

The Washington Business Journal has reported that the city will buy 12 acres near Andrews Air Force Base for use as a congressional mail sorting facility. This may seem like small-time news, but the tiny land purchase actually clears the way for the transfer of acreage on the Hill East waterfront to the city and means that the redevelopment of Hill East and Poplar Point can move forward.

From the WBJ:

The congressionally approved land transfer of Reservation 13, also known as Hill East, and of the 110-acre Poplar Point, was predicated on the District providing 12 acres to the Architect of the Capitol for use as a mail sorting facility. That condition has hung up the transfer for four years, hampering redevelopment of those two major sites.

But the architect and the District “have found a mutually agreeable site, located adjacent to Andrews Air Force Base, at the crossing of Suitland Parkway and I-495, in Prince George’s County,” Valerie Santos, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, wrote in a May 28 memo to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray. The facility was recently renamed Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility.

Now the exciting stuff begins: picking the team that will develop the site. In the running are a virtual who’s who of DC development: a team made up of Mosaic Urban Partners, Abdo Development, EYA Development, Jair Lynch Development Partners and William C. Smith and Co; and one made up of Franklin L. Haney Co. LLC, Donatelli Hill East LLC, Chapman Development, Combined Properties Inc., Banneker Ventures and Tudor Holdings.

A decision will be made in the coming weeks.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/wbj_land_purchase_means_hill_east_poplar_point_development_can_move_forward/2138.