DC Releases an RFP for Portion of St. Elizabeths

• July 2nd 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

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While construction on the Sports & Entertainment Arena nears completion, the city looks to get the ball rolling on other parts of the St. Elizabeths campus.

Last month, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the 4.29-acre Parcel 15 at 1100 Alabama Avenue SE (map). The site is just to the south of the sports complex and to the northwest of the Congress Heights Metro station; it can accommodate just under 375,000 square feet of by-right mixed-use development.

The 183-acre St. Elizabeths campus redevelopment is slated to provide a new home for the Department of Homeland Security on the west side of campus along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE and up to 1,300 residential units, 700,000 square feet of commercial space and 450,000 square feet of "innovation space" on the east side. An RFP for the three acres at Parcel 13 is also upcoming; on the other side of the Metro station, Redbrick is developing townhouses that could be completed as early as next year.

For Parcel 15, some residential is required, including affordable units, but the city is also angling to get some Class A office with ground-floor retail, at least one level of underground parking and some open space. A hotel component is also possible.

The site houses two non-contributing historic buildings that can either be retrofit or demolished depending on the applicants' preferences. Among the items that would earn applicants more points are letters of intent from potential tenants, a pedestrian promenade from the Metro and community benefits that could include employment training and some element of "food access" (although this site is one of the few in Ward 8 that is roughly a half-mile from a grocery store).

Responses are due July 27th; a development team is expected to be selected in October.

Correction: The Sports & Entertainment Arena is an Events DC venue; Monumental is a tenant.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc-releases-an-rfp-for-portion-of-st-elizabeths/14183.