Van Ness Days Inn Could Become Mixed-Income Development With Retail

• October 19th

by Ashley Hopko

There are a few new details regarding redevelopment of the Van Ness Days Inn.

Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners is under contract to purchase three lots at 4400 Connecticut Avenue NW (map) including the Days Inn hotel, and the firm said at an ANC 3C meeting this week that early plans for the site include mixed-income housing, ground-floor retail, and an underground parking garage.

At the Tuesday evening meeting, Jair Lynch representative Kaleena Lee said that the alley that runs behind the hotel perpendicular to Yuma Street will likely need to be temporarily closed to allow for construction of the underground garage and an overhead bridge. Once complete, the bridge would be large enough to accommodate normal traffic in the alley. 

“On paper, it would be a conversion of public space to private space, but in reality, its final use would be a fully public use alley as it is now,” Lee said. She added that it would allow the developer to include amenities and other courtyard space for the new project. 

Though the closure would be temporary, local business owners worry about how it would affect their day-to-day operations.

“Being a business that uses the alley I do have concerns with this,” Brett Vago, owner of ZIPS dry cleaners, said. 

“I’m not going lie it will be impactful, but there are ways we can work through it,” Lee said, referencing a proposal to restrict but not fully close the alley during construction, so people would still be able to pass through. 

Jair Lynch said that it would connect with business owners and stakeholders on the block and explore ways to reduce the impacts of the construction. ANC 3C is expected to consider the development plans again in November. 

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/new_development_promises_mixed-_income_housing_and_parking_garage/20215.