The DuponT CurrenT
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Vol. XV, No. 43
Serving Dupont Circle, Kalorama, Adams Morgan & Logan Circle
Grimke School effort back on track
FRESH FINDS
■ Development: New team’s
plans resemble prior scheme By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
The Grimke School property in the U Street area is back on course for redevelopment with a new design team announced last week, after the previous developers backed out in late 2016.
The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development has tapped Community Three Development and Torti Gallas + Partners to reimagine the vacant building at 1923 Vermont Ave. NW for mixed use: 4,000 square feet of retail; 50 apartments, 30 percent of which will be classified as affordable; office space for the Torti Gallas headquarters, relocating from Silver Spring, Md.; an expanded space
for the African American Civil War Museum; and arts space from CulturalDC. However, CityDance, Step Afrika and Imagination Stage are no longer part of the Grimke plans; all three needed more space than the new development team and the city could offer. In the next month, the team will begin drafting legislation to secure approval from the D.C. See Grimke/Page 5
JBG may soon sell Wardman Park site By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
Susann Shin/The Current
Patisserie Poupon, a French bakery in Georgetown, is one of many vendors at the Freshfarm Dupont Circle Market, which begins expanded hours in April after opening later throughout the winter. The market is open Sundays from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., located along 20th Street NW between Massachusetts Avenue and Hillyer Place.
Controversial plans to redevelop Woodley Park’s Marriott Wardman Park Hotel and surrounding lawn have become more uncertain, as developer JBG is said to be amid negotiations with a prospective buyer for the site. An as-yet-unknown buyer is currently undergoing a 45-day due diligence period that could result in the sale of the entire property, which includes the hotel, The Woodley apartments and the Wardman Tower condos, according to Woodley Park advisory neighborhood commissioner Gwendolyn Bole. JBG declined to confirm a specific transaction, but a spokesperson told The Current that a “marketing process” for the site is underway. Bole, who has been in frequent contact with JBG for months, said it appears that neighborhood opposiSee Wardman/Page 9
Brian Kapur/The Current
Many Woodley Park residents have resisted plans to develop the site’s open lawn, a proposal that’s been on hold amid efforts to sell the property.
City plans more runoff control in Chevy Chase
Summer children’s program to add new Northwest sites
By BRADY HOLT
■ Recreation: Co-op builds
Current Staff Writer
Two years after completing a “green infrastructure” project around 33rd and Quesada streets NW, the D.C. Department of Transportation is returning to that area of Chevy Chase to further reduce stormwater runoff. Termed the Oregon Avenue Watershed Green Streets project, the effort will include some 30 locations in the northeastern section of the neighborhood — not on Oregon itself, which is the subject of its own reconstruction project, but along nearby streets. Preliminary site selections from the Transportation Department include two areas for permeable paving and a smattering of bioretention planters, essentially rain gardens that will be located mainly between the street and sidewalk. The permeable
on popular DPR program
Brian Kapur/Current file photo
Some residents question the effectiveness of existing “green infrastructure” in the Chevy Chase neighborhood that was constructed in 2014.
pavement areas selected so far are a block and a half of 33rd Street NW north from Rittenhouse Street — just beyond the District’s previous project in the area — and an alley paralleling Rittenhouse between 28th Street and Utah Avenue. The Department of Transportation is still in the early stages of design and site selection and will present more information in late April or early May, See Green/Page 3
By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
Last summer, Glover Park resident Young Kim set up a co-op program for 13 local children between 18 months and 4 years old, modeled after a similar D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation offering during the school year. The degree of interest was overwhelming, Kim said. “After I closed enrollment, I had a continuing stream of fami-
lies who wanted to find out if there was any space left,” Kim said. “I think it was then when I realized that this was a big problem in the community.” To address the high demand, Kim has tripled the size of the program in its second year. In addition to a group at last year’s location, Macomb Recreation Center at 3409 Macomb St. NW in Cleveland Park, families have the option of nearly identical programs at two other recreation centers: Hardy, at 4500 Q St. NW in the Palisades/Foxhall area, and Hamilton, at 1340 Hamilton St. See Summer/Page 5
SHERWOOD
EVENTS
SHOPPING & DINING
INDEX
Play ball
‘Speaking Layers’
Middle C milestone
Calendar/14 Classifieds/22 District Digest/2 Dupont Circle Citizen/7 Exhibits/15 In Your Neighborhood/12
The Nationals prepare for opening day as council plays hardball on police / Page 6
Susan Calloway Fine Arts exhibit to feature post-impressionist paintings by local artist / Page 15
Beloved Tenleytown music shop celebrates 15th anniversary over the weekend / Page 9
Opinion/6 Police Report/4 Real Estate/11 School Dispatches/19 Service Directory/20 Shopping & Dining/9
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