The D.C. government is seeking a development partner for the Hill East Waterfront, a crucial move in redeveloping the site along the Anacostia River into a 5-million-square-foot mixed-use neighborhood.
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced yesterday that the District has issued a Request for Expressions of Interest to attract a developer for the $1.3 billion project.
The D.C. government described what it wanted for the 60-acre plot in a 2002 Hill East Master Plan.
The now vacant Reservation 13 would be converted into a neighborhood of “tree-lined streets, recreational trails, an attractive monument circle, a beautified Metro station, new ’green roof’ construction and the extension of Massachusetts Avenue all the way to the waterfront,” according to the master plan.
The site would accommodate nearly 800 housing units, 35,000 square feet of retail space and new primary health care facilities if it is completed as planned.
“Hill East is the last major piece of the District’s ambitious Anacostia Waterfront Initiative,” Mr. Fenty said. “This is an incredible opportunity to reconnect the Capitol Hill neighborhoods to the Anacostia River.”
Developers who win the contract are supposed to follow green building and sustainable development standards in transforming the former D.C. General Hospital campus and 50 acres of surrounding land.
The design for stormwater management is based on the U.S. Green Building Council’s best practices for low-impact development.
Redevelopment of the site already has started under the guidance of the District’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. It is expected to take at least 10 years.
A plaza area completed this month is scheduled to become part of a village square above the Stadium-Armory Metrorail station. Other work is continuing to extend Massachusetts Avenue.
D.C. government officials say several development firms expressed an interest in building the Hill East Waterfront project at an Urban Land Institute Green Conference in North Carolina last month.
In other news …
c Homes in the District held their value well in the past year, but more Maryland homeowners than the U.S. average faced foreclosure, according to last month’s report from the Internet-based real estate information firm RealtyTrac.
Virginia homes did slightly better than average in avoiding foreclosure.
The foreclosure rate last month reached the highest level since RealtyTrac started monitoring the figures in 2005, rising 65 percent from one year earlier.
Nationwide, one if every 519 homes was in some stage of foreclosure last month. In the District, one in every 1,000 homes was being foreclosed upon; one in 618 in Virginia and one in 380 in Maryland.
c The “Parcel B” portion of the old Washington Convention Center site would be used for a 400-room hotel and 100,000 square feet of retail under a plan the D.C. government announced this week.
The site, bounded by New York Avenue, Ninth Street and a section of 10th Street, is planned for redevelopment. Developer Hines-Archstone-Smith won the contract to redevelop Parcel B. The same firm is redeveloping the southern part of the site.
• Property Lines runs on Thursdays. Call Tom Ramstack at 202/636-3180 or e-mail tram
stack@washingtontimes.com.
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