The Plan To Turn A Rock Creek Park Estate Into A Suburban-Style Pool and Tennis Club

• 11:46 AM EDT

by UrbanTurf Staff

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One of the more intriguing adaptive reuse proposals of the year has been pitched for Cleveland Park. 

A group of DC families has filed plans with DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) to convert Greystone, the 1913 manor house at 2325 Porter Street NW (map), into a members-only nonprofit community center with a pool, tennis courts, fitness facilities and a café. The Rock Creek Club is behind the proposal for the 3.27-acre estate, part of the Greystone Enclave historic landmark at the eastern edge of Cleveland Park — an area the filing notes lacks a public recreation center within a one-mile radius. Megan Downey Studio is designing the transformation.

"As a life-long Washingtonian who lives in Mt. Pleasant with my wife and two young boys, we’ve been looking for a casual 'third space' to be social and active with friends & family," Rock Creek Club President Adam Vitarello told UrbanTurf. "Along with dozens of other local families, we’re excited to turn Greystone Manor into a community asset that can be enjoyed by the surrounding neighborhood for generations."

Plans call for renovating the main house into lounge spaces, a café/bar, a library and co-working area, and an open studio for fitness classes and children's play, while the guest house would become a fitness center and the garage a pool house. The existing pool would be reconfigured as a lap pool with the possible addition of a kids' pool, cold plunge and/or hot tub, and the tennis court area would gain either a second court or padel courts. Membership would be capped, but open to any resident within one mile of the property or within ANC 3C; at least 80% of members must live in that area at any given time.

The proposal follows the recent sale of the property, which hit the market in April 2025 for the first time in three decades with a $10 million asking price. The price was later trimmed to $7.49 million, and the estate recently sold at that price. Notably, a 1999 covenant bars residential development beyond the estate's existing configuration — the result of an agreement that scuttled earlier subdivision plans — making the compound, already improved with a pool and tennis court, something of a one-of-a-kind candidate for the club concept.

The club is seeking approval under the zoning code's community center provision, which requires showing the use won't become objectionable due to noise or traffic. Proposed operating hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with amplified sound limited to roughly six special events per year and no lighting of the pool or courts. 

A transportation study from Wells + Associates is expected ahead of a public hearing, and any exterior changes will be subject to review by DC historic preservation officials and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_plan_to_turn_a_rock_creek_park_estate/24788.