Sorg and Roadside Get the Go-Ahead to Redevelop Former U Street School (Again)

• April 14th 2015

by Lark Turner

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Sorg Architects and Roadside Development will officially redevelop the Grimke School after a review by Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Sorg and Roadside were selected to develop the site at 1925 Vermont Avenue NW (map) in December. The selection was one of the last official acts made by former Mayor Vince Gray. Bowser put several of Gray’s down-to-the-wire awarded contracts on hold, including Grimke’s, when she took office.

As the City Paper noted on Monday, Sorg’s is the first of those contracts put on hold to survive Bowser’s review.

That’s likely because the review resulted in an increase in the number of affordable development units. The project will include 13 affordable housing units, in compliance with a new affordable housing law.

Because Sorg owns an office building adjacent to the Grimke property, its redevelopment scenario is a bit more involved than the others. It will include:

• A mixed-use addition fronting U Street west of 9 1/2 Street, with 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, Sorg’s second-floor office space and about 20 residential units;
• An adjacent 70-foot tall new building, to be built on the parking lot east of 9 1/2 Street, with 3,300 square feet of ground-floor retail and 35 units, 13 of which will be affordable;
• Seven new townhomes on 9 1/2 Street, where Grimke’s gym now sits;
• A redeveloped Grimke School, which will include office space and the African American Civil War Museum.

Here is a map with more details on Sorg’s plans for the site:

An earlier version of this post incorrectly named JBG as a part-developer of the project. Roadside is the sole developer. The post has been corrected.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/sorg_roadside_get_the_go-ahead_to_redevelop_grimke_again/9762.