SB-Urban's Blagden Alley Project Delayed Again

• January 27th 2015

by Lark Turner

SB-Urban has a new challenge to its proposed no-parking micro-unit development on Blagden Alley.

The design, which has cleared hurdles at the Historic Preservation Review Board and seemed poised for a go-ahead on Tuesday, was instead delayed when a group of neighbors showed up to contest the project’s lack of parking in front of the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA). BZA Chairman Lloyd Jordan, citing the project’s previous public meetings, initially denied the group’s application for party status and would not allow them to submit supplementary material rebutting SB-Urban’s claims that the project won’t have an impact on parking congestion in Shaw. He relented after angry neighbors spoke passionately about their opposition to the project.

The neighbors said the developers could easily build parking underneath the development. SB-Urban disputes that.

The 121-unit building is proposed for 90 and 91 Blagden Alley (map). Residences would be micro-units split into two buildings connected by an open pedestrian bridge over the alleyway. SB-Urban has changed the project’s address to ensure that the building residents would not be technically eligible for Residential Parking Permits and proposed several methods intended to mitigate residents’ need for a car, including providing free car and bike share memberships and installing a Capital Bikeshare station.

The company is at work on a similar project in the Patterson Mansion on Dupont Circle, also with no parking, and a third with little parking for the Latham Hotel in Georgetown. All three projects will consist exclusively of furnished, rental micro-units.

As we reported in December, the Office of Planning, the District Department of Transportation and ANC 2F have supported the plan, but zoning board members previously seemed concerned that the ANC’s support came in a split 4-3 vote.

Jordan told SB-Urban to submit documents formally refuting the neighbors’ claims in preparation for another hearing about the project.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/sb-urbans_blagden_alley_project_delayed_again/9455.