Monday, September 5, 2011

188 New Apartments Coming to Good Hope Road

The Washington Post just broke the news that Chapman Development - the same company that developed the Grays at Pennsvania Avenue (AKA the Yes! Organic Market building) has purchased Murphey's Auto Body Shop and (you may want to sit down for this) plans to develop 188 apartments (by right, without zoning changes) on the site, along with 25-30,000 square feet of ground floor retail. As a comparison, the Yes! Organic building is only 118 units.



The site, located between 17th and 18th Streets on Good Hope Road, sits across the street from the Anacostia UPO and Bread for the City, and is just one building down from the Anacostia Neighborhood Library.

Yes, folks, development is finally hitting Good Hope Road (!!!), which has so much potential as it is bookended by the heart of Historic Anacostia and the more affluent and also-redeveloping Hillcrest neighborhood.



My first thoughts:

(1) This will be a precedent-setting development for the neighborhood. Because it is the first large-scale redevelopment in this part of the neighborhood, it it will set the bar for design and quality. It is hugely important that the neighborhood make known that we will accept nothing less than excellent.

(2) The article mentions that the developer might build it out as a senior-living building. Is this something the neighborhood wants or needs more of? If so/not, this needs to be made clear.

(3) As you can see, there are a lof of above-ground wires on this section of Good Hope. Some communities in the DC area have specified that with new development, wires should be undergrounded. Is this something the neighborhood wants to pursue/ask for?

Read the article in its entirety HERE.

1 comment:

Min. Sandria Coombs said...

Thank God...It's about time! I pray that it will be for seniors. I've lived in this area for 28 years, and now trying to find senior housing in this area.