MRP Wins Bid to Develop 965 Florida Avenue

• July 30th 2013

by UrbanTurf Staff

The Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development has made its decision as to who will redevelop a sought-after Florida Avenue NW parcel.

The city gave the go-ahead to the team made up of MRP Realty, Ellis Development Group and Fundrise to develop 965 Florida Avenue NW (map), the Washington Business Journal is reporting. The initial plans that the team has in mind for the site include a 370,000 square-foot mixed-use building with a residential component and a market made up of stores and small grocers on the ground-level.

The MRP-led team was going up against a mixed-use proposal from the team of JBG, Gragg & Associates and Moddie Turay Comapany. The plans for the JBG proposal included a 125-room hotel, 70,000 square feet of office space targeted at creative and local uses, a previously-reported Harris Teeter, a 100-unit condo development with 22 affordable units, 250 apartments, 200 micro units and the W Street extension, a large outdoor plaza.

The decision to go with the MRP proposal hinged at least partially on that proposal’s plan to create more affordable housing, a point that JBG takes issue with.

“The JBG/Gragg proposed plan actually provided 22 more affordable housing units than proposed by the MPR/Ellis plan, for a total of 80 affordable units,” JBG’s James Nozar wrote in an email to UrbanTurf. “It goes without saying that we are very disappointed in the city’s decision given our tremendous investment in this proposal and in the surrounding area.”

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/mrp_wins_bid_to_develop_965_florida_avenue/7393.