Three And a Half Years Later, Developer Takes New Route For Superfresh Redevelopment in AU Park

• May 10th 2019

by Nena Perry-Brown

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With the redevelopment of the former Superfresh grocery site in Spring Valley still up in the air after 3.5 years, the development team is taking a new route.

Valor Development has filed a planned-unit development (PUD) application to construct a 214-unit mixed-use building and five townhouses at 4330 48th Street NW (map). As most recently proposed, the development would still include a 16,584 square-foot MOM's Organic Market grocery store, 1,614 additional square feet of retail and 370 parking spaces. The project had been in the voluntary design review application process over the past two years, until a Zoning Commission hearing earlier this year ended with the commissioners seeking clarity on whether the process was applicable (or even a necessary option).

Roughly 29 of the 219 residential units will be affordable to households earning up to 50 or 60 percent of median family income; 31 of the apartments and all of the townhouses will be three-bedrooms. For the first year of the project, the developer would provide free shuttles to and from the Tenleytown Metro station for residents, four hours per day. Valor is seeking relief to add indoor/outdoor penthouse levels to four of the townhouses, as well as flexibility with the final unit count and various design elements.

The development still faces an uphill battle in gaining the support of many vocal community members, as was evident at an ANC 3E meeting last month when the development team explained the reasoning for filing the PUD application. Some attendees stated they would prefer a different commercial use other than a grocery store, with a few even suggesting a food hall for the site. The PUD application requests that at least 13,000 square feet of the site be dedicated to a grocery store for at least ten years, a requirement one meeting attendee implied was a condition from American University to secure the school's participation in the development. Valor representatives stated they could not confirm whether this claim was valid.

Other attendees and ANC commissioners expressed a preference for more outdoor space, even citing the previous design where two residential buildings were proposed on either side of the Windom Place-referencing "Windom Walk". Despite this, the plans submitted with the PUD application are virtually identical to those proposed in the design review.

A zoning hearing for the PUD has not yet been scheduled; the Commission will hold a hearing on the design review rules at the end of the month.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/while-zoning-commission-reconsiders-design-review-process-valor-files-pud-f/15379.