By Carol Buckley
April 15, 2009
Redevelopment bids are in for 11 shuttered D.C. Public Schools facilities, and two Northwest sites attracted several bids each. The former Stevens Elementary at 1050 21st St. was among the most popular, with nine bids, and the old Grimke Elementary School at 1925 Vermont Ave. received three.
Although many in the West End-Foggy Bottom neighborhood, including the advisory neighborhood commissioners, wanted Stevens to reopen as a school, there is no school listed among the bidders who submitted plans to the city by the March 27 deadline.
Proposed uses are varied and include offices, residences and a nonprofit center to house and train formerly homeless and incarcerated men to rejoin the workforce.
The program — Ready, Willing & Working — was developed by the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District and currently employs 13 men in Capitol Hill. If the program acquires the Stevens site, 100 to 200 men — depending on funds — would be housed there for up to 14 months, said the Capitol Hill group’s executive director, Patty Brosmer.
“It’s not a shelter — it’s really an anti-shelter,” Brosmer said. Participants in the program, which is based on a model developed in New York City, would work for revenue-producing businesses, which may include maintenance and food service, Brosmer said.
She predicted the city will be attracted to such a use, because although the group would pay only $1 a year in rent, the program would save the city money in social services. What’s more, she said, the program would likely remain in the site for only five to 10 years, allowing the city to redevelop the school later in a potentially healthier economic climate.
Other bidders say they don’t need to wait for the national economy to recover — they’ve got cash in their pockets now.
The locally based Neighborhood Development Co. has partnered with Chicago-based behemoth Equity Residential to propose converting the circa-1868 building to condominiums. “Our partner has a lot of money in the bank,” said Adrian Washington, Neighborhood’s president. That backing, he predicted, will be attractive to city officials.
Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans has expressed his desire to see the site used for residences. Washington’s offer would yield approximately 200 units, some on the upper floor of the school (“It’ll be a funky, adaptive reuse,” he said of the loft-style units in the historic building) and the bulk in a condo tower to be constructed alongside. Most units would be market-rate, said Washington, but 8 to 10 percent would be designated affordable for those earning 60 to 80 percent of the area’s median income.
Robert Holland of Holland Development Group, which teamed with a few other developers to submit a proposal for the Stevens site, typically focuses on residential and hotel projects. But right now, he said, “getting financing on residential is very difficult.” As a result, Holland and his partners are proposing to convert the school into office space.
D.C.-based developer Akridge is also proposing an office development. Firm spokesperson Mary Margaret Plumridge said preservation of the landmarked building is a priority, and partners like architectural firm Martinez & Johnson have been selected with preservation experience in mind. Akridge proposes to build on top of the school’s playground.
Both Holland’s and Akridge’s proposals include potential redevelopment of the Humane Society of the United States’ L Street offices near Stevens. “How we would participate will be negotiated,” said Tom Wade, the society’s chief financial officer, who added that decisions would follow “what makes sense financially. ... With prominent real estate, you have to be aware of the value scenario,” he said. Wade said it’s possible the society might not occupy the site after redevelopment.
Those who want Stevens to be a school again may feel some envy for the neighbors of the former Grimke Elementary, whose three bids include two schools: Capital City Charter School and Meridian Public Charter School.
But residents have expressed reservations about adding another school to the neighborhood.
The Westminster Neighborhood Association earlier this year supported a set of goals that prioritized “low- to medium-impact uses” in the 46,100-square-foot building.
They suggested office, retail or residential uses as possibilities, and recommended that if a school takes possession of the site, its enrollment should be capped at 200 students.
Meridian now serves 550 students, and Capital City has 244 students.
The three bids for the circa-1937 building show one name popping up twice: the African American Civil War Museum, now squeezed in its current space at 1200 U St., according to museum director Frank Smith.
Smith’s partners for the two alternative proposals are the Meridian School and architectural firm Torti Gallas. If awarded the bid, Torti Gallas would close its Maryland office and move 100 employees to the Grimke site. The museum and Meridian have partnered in a previous bid for Grimke, but the city rejected it. This time around, Smith said, the museum has been “more involved” with the architectural firm. Torti Gallas reserved space in the proposal for the museum before Smith even asked for it, he said.
But Smith said he’ll be pleased if the city picks either of the proposals with his museum’s name on it. “We’re prepared to go either way,” he said. “We’re all sitting here with our fingers crossed.”