Redevelopment Plans Filed For Park View’s Bruce Monroe Park

• May 17, 2016
• 4 Comments

by Nena Perry-Brown

The view from the southeast corner of Georgia Avenue and Columbia Road.

The redevelopment of Bruce Monroe Park in DC’s Park View neighborhood has been watched with interest in recent years. Now, the development team led by Park View Community Partners (The Community Builders and Dantes Partners) and architect Torti Gallas Urban has filed an application with the Zoning Commission to deliver a mixed-use, mixed-income development to the site.

The approximately 77,531 square-foot site, wedged between Irving Street, Georgia Avenue, and Columbia Road NW (map), will be redeveloped with an 189-unit apartment building, a 76-unit senior citizen apartment building, and 8 three-bedroom townhomes.

A new park will be constructed immediately south of the project, which will include a playground, community space and garden, a basketball court, and a dog park. To help alleviate the increased density, a private street will be built between Irving Street and Columbia Road, also providing access to the 99 underground residential parking spaces and bike storage room.

The view from the northeast corner of Georgia Avenue and Irving Street.

The 189-unit apartment building will front Georgia Avenue and contain a community-serving amenity on the ground floor. Meanwhile, the entrance to the senior residences will be at the corner of Irving and the new private street. The new project will incorporate 94 off-site replacement public housing units for current residents of the Park Morton public housing complex and expedite the redevelopment of Park Morton itself.

Of the remaining units, 108 will be set aside for households earning up to 60 percent area median income and 71 will be market-rate.

All of the buildings will be LEED Gold-certified and will have a white and grey brick color scheme, differentiated by architectural styles. The apartment building will have large bay windows and glazing on the corner, while the senior building will be stepped down gradually along Irving Street. The townhouses will be similar to the rowhouses already prevalent in the surrounding neighborhood.

A lot of uproar has accompanied the planned redevelopment of the site, as neighboring residents have become accustomed to Bruce Monroe Community Park over the five years since its construction. As the Washington Post reported last year, while the site was always intended to be incorporated into the planned redevelopment of the Park Morton public housing complex, the prospect of losing a beloved (albeit temporary) public amenity doesn’t sit well with many in the area.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/bruce_monroe_redevelopment_moves_forward_with_pud_application/11241

4 Comments

1. cohiresident said at 1:54 am on Wednesday May 18, 2016:
   As someone who gardens in the park currently, I am open to the idea of re-developing the property. However, this design is so far off from anything else in the surrounding area. It would be a tragedy of epic proportions to have this ugly monstrosity sticking out like a sore thumb in a neighborhood full of character

1. ParkViewDude said at 1:36 pm on Wednesday May 18, 2016:
   I am all for this project going in. There are several other smaller projects along Georgia Ave. this will not stick out like a sore thumb in 4 years. Only question - will the new development have any ground floor retail? Would be great to add to the communities amenity base.

1. Fried Green Tomatoes said at 1:55 pm on Wednesday May 18, 2016:
   It won't be a sore thumb once more development goes up in the area. Either we tolerate greater density, or we fail as a community.

1. SMC_DC said at 6:51 pm on Wednesday May 18, 2016:
   This would absolutely stick out as the area is zoned C-2-A which allows matter of right development to a maximum height of fifty (50) feet. From the rendering, this is between 9-10 stories above grade which puts a majority of the development in the C-2-C/C-3-C/C-4/R-5 category of 90+ feet of height which is a minimum of 3 stories above anything else on Georgia Ave. While it is a commercial corridor, this will be by FAR the largest build in the area, with no other zoning along Georgia Ave's entire length that allows this height. As an immediately impacted neighbor (100ft from the proposed site) I'm not against development, but you are mistaken if you think that such a massive structure will not completely and permanently change the dynamic of this predominantly residential neighborhood.