The Northwest Current
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Vol. L, No. 41
Serving Communities in Northwest Washington Since 1967
ANC backs Fannie Mae landmark
FRESH TOOLS
■ Preservation: Project to
retain original 1958 building
By GRACE BIRD Current Staff Writer
Key portions of 3900 Wisconsin Ave. NW are on track to become a D.C. landmark amid the parcel’s large-scale redevelopment, joining some 600 other historically significant individual
properties across the District. Roadside Development, which purchased the property from Fannie Mae last year, is requesting the landmark status. On Monday, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3C (Cleveland Park, Massachusetts Avenue Heights, Woodley Park) backed the developer’s application to the Historic Preservation Review Board. Roadside intends to redevelop the former Fannie Mae headquar-
ters site with six new buildings standing up to eight stories high and two public amenities: a garden and a town square. A Wegmans supermarket is among the planned retail tenants of the mixed-use development. The project calls for retaining the property’s main red-brick building and its expansive front lawn. That building, completed in 1958, was designed by local archiSee Fannie Mae/Page 2
Assisted-living center planned in Tenley By CUNEYT DIL
Current Correspondent
Sunrise Senior Living hopes to construct a fourstory assisted-living center off Tenley Circle, teaming up with Wisconsin Avenue Baptist Church to build a new house of worship and a care facility on the church’s 3920 Alton Place NW lot. Philip Kroskin, senior vice president at Sunrise, presented project plans at last Thursday’s meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3E (Friendship Heights, Tenleytown), where several residents offered vehement opposition. Kroskin said Sunrise will ask the Board of Zoning Adjustment for zoning relief to build four stories on the lot — the source of most of the complaints from residents. The site is zoned for single-family detached dwellings. ANC 3E members expressed some early worries, too. See Sunrise/Page 7
Brian Kapur/The Current
The annual Peirce Mill Heritage Day on Saturday in Rock Creek Park included a blacksmith as well as weaving and quilting demonstrations, a carpenter, bluegrass music, a cider press, a corn sheller and hands-on children’s crafts.
Brian Kapur/The Current
The existing Wisconsin Avenue Baptist Church building has an extensive lawn along Tenley Circle and Nebraska Avenue.
Zoning panel reviews GWU office proposal
Trader Joe’s pitches alcohol plans for Glover Park store
By GRACE BIRD
By GRACE BIRD
Current Staff Writer
Current Staff Writer
George Washington University’s plan to build an 11-story office building at 2100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW is moving forward amid broad — though not universal — support from community members and District agencies. The project went before the Zoning Commission for a public hearing last Thursday, with endorsements from the D.C. Office of Planning, the D.C. Department of Transportation, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2A (Foggy Bottom, West End) and the Foggy Bottom Association. However, the West End Citizens Association opposed the project, citing concerns about transportation and the building’s height, which would reach 130 feet plus a 20-foot-tall penthouse.
The Glover Park community offered widespread support for a new Trader Joe’s store there, after the grocery chain confirmed longswirling rumors that it would occupy the ground level of a new development at 2101 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Last month, Trader Joe’s applied for a license to sell beer and wine, as well as alcohol tastings, at its new Glover Park store. Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3B (Glover Park, Cathedral Heights) discussed the plans at an
Rendering courtesy of George Washington University
The new project is slated to replace an existing office building and university administrative space at 2100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
The planned 453,562-square-foot office building, designed with a striking curved glass exterior, is a joint venture between development firm Boston Properties and the university, intended as a revenue generator for the school. Boston Properties secured a ground lease on the university-owned property and is See GWU/Page 2
Oct. 12 meeting, in advance of a planned vote on the application next month. The new Trader Joe’s will be part of The Glover House, a development that’s under construction now at the old Holiday Inn property. The building will be completed in 2019, though Perry Zettersten, regional vice president of Trader Joe’s, told residents that the grocery’s opening date isn’t yet available. Once the store opens, Trader Joe’s plans to sell alcohol during its full operating hours, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. Aside from See Grocery/Page 7
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