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A new McMillan plan
Supermarket, housing, parkland proposed
(Published August 9, 2004)

By KATHRYN SINZINGER
Staff Writer

A $400-million housing and retail project – including a 50,000-square-foot Harris Teeter supermarket – is being proposed for the long-fallow McMillan Reservoir sand filtration site along North Capitol Street.

The unsolicited proposal to develop the city-owned, 25-acre site was submitted July 28 to the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development by Northern Virginia developer Greenvest L.C., in partnership with several D.C.-based firms.

City officials recently acknowledged that they are preparing to formally solicit development proposals this fall for the historic site, two years after a series of community meetings found wide disagreement over what kind of development, if any, would be acceptable to neighboring residents.

In 2002, the site – designated in 1991 as a D.C. Historic Landmark – was included among the D.C. Preservation League’s "Most Endangered Places" in the District due to development pressures.

Chris Bender, a spokesman for Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Planning Eric Price, said city officials have not yet decided how they will deal with the proposal in light of their plans to competitively bid the site.

"This developer knows an RFP (request for proposals) is being prepared," Bender said. "I think this [plan] will be reviewed and then we’ll decide what to do."

Linda Erbs, vice president of Greenvest L.C., told The Common Denominator that the development team is "ready to go" if the property can be acquired from the D.C. government. The construction timetable calls for groundbreaking next spring, with condominiums and retail stores ready for occupancy 12 to 15 months later.

Bowing to community desires to dedicate at least part of the historic site to parkland, Erbs said about half of the land would remain as open space under her company’s proposal. The plan includes 100,000 square feet of retail space, a total of about 1,100 housing units, a 15,000-square-foot community center and 80,000 square feet devoted to cultural and arts uses.

Erbs said officials from Harris Teeter, a North Carolina-based supermarket chain that has built five stores in Northern Virginia, have signed a letter of intent to locate one of their stores at North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue NW as the anchor tenant of the envisioned new retail corridor. Other retail stores would be located along Michigan Avenue, between North Capitol and First Street NW, on the ground floor of high-rise condominium buildings.

The proposal also includes construction of mid-rise condominium buildings on First Street NW and 37 townhouses on Channing Street NW, facing existing townhouses in the block between North Capitol and First streets.

No rental housing is envisioned for the McMillan site as part of the plan.

Erbs said the development team is "not asking for any public financing" for the project, although she said she was unable to immediately respond to inquiries about whether any tax breaks were being sought for the project.

In addition to Greenvest, the development team includes Dickie Carter of Urban Service Systems, Pam Bundy of Bundy Development Corp., Greenfield Partners, Adrian Washington of Neighborhood Development Co., Alvin McNeal of The McNeal Group, Henry Gilford of Gilford Corp., Delon Hampton of Delon Hampton & Associates, Maureen Dwyer of Shaw Pittman, Manna Community Development Corp. and Sharon Robinson of Robinson Associates Companies LLC. The project architects are Matthew Bell of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects and Paul Devrouax of Devrouax and Purnell Artchitects.

Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator