The NorThwesT CurreNT
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Vol. XLIX, No. 11
Serving Chevy Chase, Colonial Village, Shepherd Park, Brightwood, Crestwood, Petworth & 16th Street Heights
HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY
Woodley hotel site eyed for changes ■ Development: Firm hopes
to redevelop Wardman Park By CUNEYT DIL
Current Correspondent
Developer JBG aims to demolish the Washington Marriott Wardman Park hotel to build 500,000 square feet of residential units within two new buildings at the expansive Wardman Park complex
in Woodley Park, along with commercial space and a new park. The 16-acre property includes the hotel; the historic Wardman Tower, which is currently being converted into 32 luxury condos; and an apartment building. Under preliminary long-term plans presented to the community last week, JBG envisions constructing a six-to-eight story residential building at the northern edge of the property, on the corner of
Woodley Road and 27th Street NW. To its south, the project would raze the Marriott hotel, at 2660 Woodley Road, to make way for a second residential building. A new park would also be added, with the two new residential buildings bounding it north and south. The proposal, which JBG’s development team presented at a Woodley Park Community Association meeting last Thursday, repSee Wardman/Page 10
Pepco work hits Tenleytown businesses By BRADY HOLT Current Staff Writer
Brian Kapur/The Current
Sunday afternoon’s 45th annual St. Patrick’s Parade of Washington, D.C., featured a variety of floats, marching bands, traditional pipe bands, Irish dancers and military processions along Constitution Avenue NW.
Along upper Wisconsin Avenue NW, business owners have been periodically losing their street parking due to a Pepco project to install a new underground feeder. The disruption to the southbound lanes has slammed numerous businesses, with some reporting sales drops as high as 50 percent. But the effects have been the worst on the avenue’s 4900 block, where extra underground obstructions have forced Pepco to spend more than two months between Ellicott and Fessenden streets. The block will get a reprieve of roughly three weeks — Pepco is currently refilling its trench and temporarily repaving the parking lane, which is slated to wrap up today — before work resumes for another six weeks. Crews typically work from 9:30 a.m. to See Pepco/Page 5
Brian Kapur/The Current
When work is underway, Wisconsin Avenue NW loses parking spaces that nearby businesses say many of their customers rely on.
Environmental festival features local filmmaker
Mount Vernon campus gate faces challenge from ANC
By MARK LIEBERMAN
■ Zoning: Residents object to
Current Staff Writer
Brothers Lance and Brandon Kramer spent their childhood making “movies” — sometimes involving one brother playing a video store owner and the other a potential customer — with their parents’ camera. Neither could have guessed they’d still be behind the camera, albeit with more serious projects, several decades later. “We, from that young age, have always loved telling stories through video and film,” Lance Kramer said. “As young kids, neither of us imagined that it was possible to do that as a career.” But for the Kramers, it was possible. Their first feature film together, directed by Brandon and produced by Lance, will screen twice at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital: on
reduced access to GWU site By MARK LIEBERMAN Courtesy of Meridian Hill Pictures
Director Brandon Kramer (right) filmed the new documentary “City of Trees” from 2010 to 2012, featuring the nonprofit Washington Parks & People.
March 16 at 7 p.m. at the Carnegie Institute for Science, 1530 P St. NW, and on March 23 at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. Produced over a period of nearly five years including shooting and editing, the 76-minute docuSee Festival/Page 16
Current Staff Writer
Palisades/Foxhall neighborhood leaders are appealing a zoning decision that allows what they believe is a violation of George Washington University’s campus plan by blocking public access to the Mount Vernon Campus. At issue is the recently built northern entrance gate to the Mount Vernon Campus, located on W Street NW between Foxhall
Road and 46th Street. As the university describes it, the gate currently offers entry access for emergency vehicles as well as to students, staff and neighbors who have received prior permission. Stephen Gardner, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3D member who initiated the zoning appeal, says George Washington in its campus plan represented the gate as offering open public access to pedestrians. However, that’s not the way it worked out, he said. The gate is currently closed to pedestrians — Gardner likened it to a “military fortress” that See Campus/Page 18
NEWS
SPORTS
SHERWOOD
INDEX
Rubio wins D.C.
Ready to soar
Lotto winner
Calendar/22 Classifieds/29 District Digest/2 Exhibits/23 In Your Neighborhood/6 Opinion/8
Days before his withdrawal, GOP candidate prevails in local presidential primary / Page 3
National Cathedral softball team hopes to return to ISL glory after a rebuilding year in 2015 / Page 11
Newly commissioned study judges D.C. Lottery to be among the nation’s best-run / Page 8
Police Report/4 Real Estate/15 School Dispatches/13 Service Directory/27 Sports/11 Week Ahead/3
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