Proposals for Shaw's Parcel 42: The Results

• November 19th 2012

by Shilpi Paul

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Last Thursday, UrbanTurf outlined the six proposals competing for the redevelopment of Parcel 42, a plot of land in Shaw at the intersection of 7th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NW (map). The city wants to see a mixed-use, community-friendly project at the address, which is vacant but very close to several exciting development projects: Progression Place is around the corner, and the revamped Howard Theater and burgeoning restaurant district surrounding it is just a few blocks away.

We polled readers on their favorites and got a huge response, with over 1,676 total votes being cast.

So, what do readers want?

The winning proposal was United House of Prayer’s 50-unit apartment building with a community garden. However, late Friday, we received word that the United House of Prayer had solicited votes for the poll via a mass email to their wider congregation, which stretches as far as California (we got a call from someone on the West Coast wondering why she was being asked to vote on this topic). While the plan may have won the poll without this solicitation, we wanted to share what we learned. Of course, informal polls of this nature are always unscientific, and we will never know whose social networks were tapped to solicit votes.

Coming in a respectable second place was the plan from Neighborhood Development Corporation (NDC), which proposed 81 or 90 units and a Yes! Organic market. NDC’s signed commitment from Yes! may have been appealing to neighbors.

The third most popular option was the plan with the largest amount of public space: the Four Points/Warrenton Group’s proposal, which calls for 96 residential units ranging from townhouses to lofts, and a large public staircase and courtyard.

The fourth most voted for option was the 100-unit residential building with ground-floor retail and several liv-work spaces from POUNDS Properties and Jubilee Housing. 40 percent of the units in this project would be affordable.

The city will be choosing their own favorite in the coming months; we’ll keep you updated as the project progresses.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/proposals_for_shaws_parcel_42_the_winner_is/6315.