Only Built For Three-Bedrooms: Brookland Church Conversion Prioritizes Family-Sized Units

• November 3rd 2021

by Nena Perry-Brown

A Brookland church has more development plans in the works.

New Macedonia Baptist Church has applied for a zoning variance to convert the church building at 3200 22nd Street NE (map) into a nine-unit residential development. And it would entirely be made up of three-bedroom units. 

Because the site is zoned R-1-B for detached housing, a variance is needed for multi-family use. Per the application, a multi-family conversion is preferable and more cost-effective than the church being converted into a 10,000-plus square-foot single-family house. The adaptive reuse would require interior demolition and some exterior demolition to add more windows. 

The application cites the combination of Covid restrictions, declining attendance and the small size of the building as reasoning why the church is selling its property. Developer Ian Ruel is the contract purchaser of the property and Square 134 Architects is the designer.

The church also filed a map amendment application recently for the parking lot adjacent to this building in hopes of setting the site up for a moderate-density mixed-use development. According to the ANC Commissioner who represents this single-member district, the parking lot is expected to house a 40-unit development with a small amount of ground-floor retail.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/only-three-bedrooms-brookland-church-conversion/18905.