Apartments, Amphitheaters, and Dave Chapelle: The Revised Proposals For DC's Reeves Center

• January 26th 2023

by UrbanTurf Staff

There are two new proposals to redevelop DC's Reeves Center at 14th and U Streets NW that are only slightly different from the proposals submitted to the city for the same site about two years ago. 

On Thursday, Reeves CMC Ventures and Legacy Community Partners presented their new visions. These two teams submitted proposals to the city back in April 2021, but DC canceled the first Request for Proposals (RFP) about a month ago, and released a new RFP, coupled with equity goals to increase participation of Black and brown entities in the project. The new RFP also did not include a requirement to manage or move certain technology infrastructure that currently exists at the Reeves Center. 

Below, UrbanTurf outlines the two new proposals. 

---

322 Apartments, Marion Barry Amphitheater and a Dave Chapelle Comedy Club

The first proposal is from Reeves CMC Ventures, a group that includes MRP Realty, Capri Investment Group and CSG Urban Partners. This development team proposes 108,000 square feet of new Class A office space for the NAACP and DC agencies, a 24,000 square foot plaza, 322 mixed-income apartments, and a 116-key hotel. The retail space will include a restaurant from Top Chef participant Carla Hall, a comedy club from Dave Chapelle, and an amphitheater named after Marion Barry. A 17,000 public plaza would be named for Frederick Douglass, and the project will provide space for The Alvin Ailey School, the Viva School of Dance and the Washington Jazz Arts Institute. The architects for this proposal are PGN Architects and Michael Marshall Design. 

---

246 Apartments, 180-Room Moxy Hotel and Marion Barry Square 

The second proposal from Legacy Community Partners, includes 14 development teams and investors led by Dantes Partners and Menkiti Group. This project would build a new Reeves Center with space split between the NAACP and DC agencies. There would be a 246-unit mixed-income apartment building called The Barry and a 47-townhome community called The Zora. A 180-room Moxy hotel would also be on-site with space for the DC-based Songbyrd Music House. Marion Barry Square would be a public plaza with space for an amphitheater, an 8,500 square-foot food hall, and a farmers market. Parts of the retail space would be dedicated to DC Central Kitchen. Soto Architecture is the lead designer on the proposal. 

---

At the meeting on Thursday night, Patrick Smith of DC's Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development said that a development team could be chosen in the coming month. 

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/apartments_food_hall_a_dave_chapelle_comedy_club_the_revised_proposals_for_/20555.