Four Points Files Plan For 66-Unit Project on Site of Shaw Church

• March 30, 2016
• 8 Comments

by UrbanTurf Staff

Rendering for development at 810 O Street NW

A development group led by Four Points filed a planned unit development (PUD) for a 66-unit residential project with 7,000 square feet of retail at 810 O Street NW on Wednesday. The development will take the place of the Scripture Cathedral Church, which sold for $10.5 million several years ago.

The units will be mostly flats, with some two-story townhouse-style layouts mixed in. The two-story units would have dramatic double-height windows. Unlike many of the new projects on the boards for the District, the development will have a two-level, underground parking garage with 68 parking spaces. Gensler is the project architect.

The development received unanimous approval from the Historic Preservation Review Board in April 2015 shortly after receiving support from the local ANC.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/four_points_files_plan_for_66-unit_project_in_shaw/11046

8 Comments

1. Nathaniel Martin said at 8:16 pm on Wednesday March 30, 2016:
   Gensler did this? A firm that has designed slickly modern buildings and interiors all over the world, and they give DC another dull brick-and-glass box? How disappointing.

1. Jay said at 10:52 pm on Wednesday March 30, 2016:
   I think it looks great. We need less glass, modern boxes and more red brick with molding and detail. Something that can withstand the test of time. Anyone can design these boring glass structures that already are beginning to looked dated after just a few years.

1. Fried Green Tomatoes said at 1:18 pm on Thursday March 31, 2016:
   I second Jay. This building is great. Unassuming buildings respect their context, and I like the recent trend of architecturally nondescript buildings that contribute to the human scale of their neighborhoods. DC does it better than most other American cities.

1. William Duncan said at 3:11 pm on Thursday March 31, 2016:
   I just wonder what is going to happen to the people who attend church there.

1. CO said at 5:39 pm on Thursday March 31, 2016:
   @William 10:11am: As noted in the original WaPo piece about the sale from 2013, most of the church's members were already coming in from the suburbs and they have since relocated to Landover. The church building at 9th & O has been out of use for a little while now. I'm interested in what will happen to the large surface parking lot directly to the east of this lot on O & 8th -- I believe it was shared for a long time between Scripture Cathedral and Immaculate Conception around the corner, but it never even seems to be half-full now.

1. Brett said at 5:45 pm on Thursday March 31, 2016:
   I agree with Jay, and this is a rare occasion that I somewhat like a new condo building being built in DC, and probably the only time I've ever lauded a Gensler design.

1. skidrowedc@gmail.com said at 9:29 pm on Thursday March 31, 2016:
   Nathaniel Martin - recall that Phil Esocoff sold his firm to Gensler last year. This design obviously is his -- it's got so many of his trademark elements such as offset double-story window groupings, fairly elaborate metalwork, mostly brick walls with "punched" openings, etc. This doesn't look like an especially notable Esocoff design, which is too bad. Maybe the metalwork (which one can't really read in the rendering) will be more characteristic and distinctive. It is, certainly, a huge departure for Gensler, whose signature is a sort of practical minimalism, flawlessly executed. Those of us who hoped that the Gensler-Esocoff combination might freshen both sides have to be disappointed at this. It's perfectly nice--as we can see from the complimentary comments of the modernism-haters who often comment on UrbanTurf--but it's not fresh.

1. Brett said at 4:01 pm on Friday April 1, 2016:
   @skidrowedc Thanks for that insight. I thought it was odd that I kinda liked a Gensler design.