671 Units + a Waterfront Park: A First Look at the Big Plans Next to Nats Park

• May 10th

by Nena Perry-Brown

Nearly ten years ago, the public got wind of development plans slated for the DC Water headquarters site in the neighborhood not yet known as Navy Yard. Now, new plans have been unveiled.

Brookfield Properties previewed a development proposal on Monday evening for four parcels near First Street and N Place SE (map) at The Yards, formerly approved for 600 residential units, an expanded Diamond Teague Park, up to 50,000 square feet of retail and a 16-screen movie theater.

The developer has now changed those plans, and will move forward with a second-stage planned unit development (PUD) for three of the parcels, delivering 671 residential units, 40,000-49,000 square feet of retail, and a larger iteration of the park.

Building G1, designed by STUDIOS Architecture, will deliver 428 units above up to 25,000 square feet of retail, along with 130-240 parking spaces across two below-grade levels. Building G2, designed by Hickok Cole, will deliver 243 units above 24,000 square feet of retail, along with 108 parking spaces. 

The amount of affordable housing will increase from 8% to 30% of the residential space, courtesy of the District's ownership of the land, affordable to households earning up to 30% and 60% of area median income (AMI) rather than 80% of AMI. The retail along an extended Yards Place will include incubator and makerspace rented at below-market rates to small and local businesses, meant to create a pipeline for growth into larger retail spaces within The Yards. 

The centerpiece of the new plans may be a larger and more activated Diamond Teague Park along the river, which will host concerts, exercise classes and other free public events. The park will have a stage-like pavilion and an area with stone seating that provides direct access to the Anacostia Waterfront, termed the "Get Down".

The Menkiti Group is also on the development team and SCAPE is the landscape architect. The team plans to file their PUD applications by the end of the month. Additional renderings are below.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/671-units-a-waterfront-park-a-first-look-at-big-plans-next-to-nats-park/19630.