Sweet Mango Site in Petworth For Sale for $5 Million

• Feb 22nd 2019

by Nena Perry-Brown

Nearly four years ago, we learned of plans were proposed to replace the Sweet Mango Café across the street from Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro station with 21 condos in a mixed-use building. Now, it seems those plans have been shelved.

The property at 3701 New Hampshire Avenue NW (map) is currently on the market for $5 million. Rooney Properties and PGN Architects previously planned to replace the building with a 65 foot-tall, 21-unit condominium project with ground-floor retail and a potential recreation of the Chuck Brown mural. The Board of Zoning Adjustment granted a two-year time extension to those plans in November.

The time extension application cited rising construction costs and logistical issues with the site as the reason why development has not moved forward.

"The construction costs [sic] estimates for the Project have increased by more than 30 percent beyond the original construction forecasts," the application explains. "Such construction cost increases are further exacerbated by the physical site constraints at the Property, including its small and triangular shape and multiple street frontages (and the existing structures on site) that create significant and unusual construction complexities at the site."

Another logistical issue pertains to the proximity of the Metro station, putting the site within WMATA's "Zone of Influence" and necessitating additional review from WMATA in order to move forward.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/sweet-mango-site-is-for-sale-for-5-million/15021.