The DuponT CurrenT
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Vol. XV, No. 51
Serving Dupont Circle, Kalorama, Adams Morgan & Logan Circle
Committee adds Ward 2 park funds
BIKE TO WORK DAY
■ Recreation: Stead Rec
Center sees money sooner By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
Two Ward 2 recreation facilities could see significant improvements earlier than expected after a D.C. Council committee revised Mayor Muriel Bowser’s budget proposal last Thursday.
The Committee on Transportation and the Environment, which oversees the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation, moved up funding for renovations to Stead Recreation Center and added money for the Foggy Bottom Dog and Tot Park. The committee adopted its budget markup on May 18, and the full council is due to vote on a finalized budget early next month. For Stead, 1625 P St. NW, the
mayor’s April budget proposal allocated $1 million for designing an expansion of the rec center in fiscal year 2020; $7 million to begin construction in 2021; and $3 million for final construction in 2022. But the park’s friends group and other neighborhood leaders urged the council earlier this month to fast-track those funds. Advocates say the dilapidated, cramped structure doesn’t have See Stead/Page 5
Dupont seeks taker for free row houses By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
Brian Kapur/The Current
The DowntownDC Business Improvement District, Commuter Connections and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association celebrated bicycling as a clean, fun, and healthy way to get to work on Friday. Freedom Plaza hosted music, free food, vendors and an appearance by Mayor Muriel Bowser, who cycled to attend the event.
Earlier this year, Dupont Circle resident Lance Salonia was disappointed to see that two narrow row homes in his neighborhood were set to be razed. The houses sit across the street from the southern boundary of the locally protected Dupont Circle Historic District, which means developers don’t need to secure preservation board approval before altering them. Then an idea struck him — What if the existing two-story buildings didn’t need to be destroyed in order to make way for a new project there? The result is an unusual arrangement, which observers agree is extremely rare, especially in the tight confines of D.C.’s residential streets. The developer J Street Cos. has teamed with Salonia and his fellow Dupont Circle Citizens Association members See Houses/Page 5
Brian Kapur/The Current
J Street Cos. is offering the homes at 2126 and 2128 N St. NW to anyone willing to relocate them at their own expense.
Heating plant design secures Fine Arts nod
Wegmans to anchor project at old Fannie Mae property
By BRADY HOLT
■ Business: Grocer would
Current Staff Writer
Georgetown’s West Heating Plant project won conceptual approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts last Thursday, a surprising reversal of objections from the subordinate Old Georgetown Board. The project envisions demolishing most of the vacant 1948 industrial building at 29th and K streets NW to construct a luxury condo building with about 60 residential units. The proposed design emulates the heating plant’s shape, but a dressier facade would provide windows for the residences. The Old Georgetown Board last month rejected the plans as insufficiently respectful of the historically protected building, but the development team successfully appealed to the Fine Arts Commission. Commission secretary Tom Luebke said the pro-
open in late 2021 at earliest By MARK LIEBERMAN Current Staff Writer
Rendering courtesy of the Levy Group
The project will replace the long-vacant heating plant with a condo building and a public park.
posal presents “kind of a funny hybrid” between reconstructing a historic building and starting from scratch. Presented with such a design, he said, the Old Georgetown Board and Commission of Fine Arts went in opposite directions: The former sought a closer reflection of the existing structure, and the latSee Plant/Page 3
The much-anticipated redevelopment of the Fannie Mae headquarters at 3900 Wisconsin Ave. NW will be anchored by the District’s first Wegmans supermarket, the project team announced this week. Other details are also emerging on plans for a robust project with diverse retail, residential units and a sizable community space on the
existing front lawn. Roadside Development purchased the site, located a few blocks south of the Tenleytown Metro station, for $90 million in December and has been working with surrounding communities since then on ambitious plans for the site, occupied since 1958 by Fannie Mae. On Sunday night, Roadside confirmed widely circulated rumors of an 80,000-square-foot Wegmans grocery store on the existing building’s lower level, with an entrance at the rear of the property. The rest of the site will See School/Page 3
DIGEST
REAL ESTATE
SHERWOOD
INDEX
Comprehensive Plan
Japan-inspired home
Security envy
Calendar/14 Classifieds/22 District Digest/4 Dupont Circle Citizen/9 In Your Neighborhood/12
City extends deadline on proposed amendments amid community pressure / Page 4
Mid-century modern property in Chevy Chase blurs its indoor, outdoor spaces / Page 11
For official D.C., traffic-stopping motorcades are a must-have in many quarters / Page 6
Opinion/6 Police Report/8 Real Estate/11 School Dispatches/13 Service Directory/20
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