Lots of movement in the neighborhood development pipeline. Let’s take a look.

Fort Totten Square

Fort Totten Square, a mixed-use development by JBG Companies and Lowe Enterprises consisting of approximately 345 apartments atop ground floor retail, officially opened in 2015 on Riggs Road NE between 3rd Street and Chillum Place. While the 117,000 square foot Walmart anchor opened in October 2015, ancillary tenants Subway, Five Guys, and Petco all opened near the corner of Chillum Place and Riggs Road NE in 2016.

We still anticipate that a local coffee shop will occupy the space at 3rd Street and Riggs Road, but it looks like we will have to wait until 2017 for that. We have our fingers crossed and look forward to supporting what we believe will be a great addition to the neighborhood.

Art Place at Fort Totten

Construction continues on this multi-phase mixed-use development by Cafritz Enterprises along South Dakota Avenue NE between Galloway Street and Kennedy Street. According to the project page on leasing agent HR Retail’s website, the first phase of the project will open in May 2017. The first phase will consist of approximately 520 apartments atop approximately 100,000 square feet of ground floor retail, with around 141 units set aside for seniors and the tenants of the Riggs Plaza apartments. Relocation of the Riggs Plaza tenants is expected to begin in April 2017.

X-Sport Fitness anchors the project. Other leased tenants include T-Mobile, a pharmacy, and Shining Stars Pediatric Dentist. Lots of retail space remains available for lease as of this writing. Early design plans included space for up to three restaurants. No word on any restaurant tenants just yet though.

The project permanently closed Hamilton Street NE west of South Dakota Avenue. An extension of Ingraham Street NE to the west of South Dakota Avenue still needs to be constructed.

One great aspect of this project is that power to the site will be provided underground. No more butchered trees, so we should enjoy a nice tree canopy along South Dakota Avenue in the future.

Explore! Children’s Museum

We are excited to add the Explore! Children’s Museum of Washington DC to our neighborhood development pipeline this year. One big draw of the Art Place at Fort Totten development is that a children’s museum is planned for the development. While the exact location and timeframe for construction are still open questions, we were excited to see the ball get rolling on plans for the museum.

This year, Explore! museum staff opened an office in the neighborhood and held a Fall Fun Fest and Winter Wonder Fest in their museum hub at 5455 3rd Street NE to introduce themselves to the neighborhood and get feedback on their plans for the museum. Snowflake painting, DIY snow globes, DIY bird feeders, masks, music, and storytelling were just a few of the fun activities that drew families from not just the neighborhood, but from across the metro area. We look forward to having a true destination spot in the neighborhood.

The museum plans to open a pop-up location in the National Portrait Gallery in late January 2017. The next neighborhood event will take place on April 1, 2017.

Fort Totten Metro Donatelli Development

Metro issued a request for proposals to develop the long-term parking lot at Fort Totten metro station way back in 2014. The agency selected Donatelli Development’s proposal to build 345 rental apartments, 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail, and a parking garage to replace the surface parking lot. According to Donatelli’s website and Metro’s term sheet with Donatelli, construction on this project will begin in 2017.

Fort Totten South

Also known as Fort Totten Square Phase II, plans for Fort Totten South (pdf) are moving steadily. JBG has teamed up with EYA to build a mixed-use development with approximately 26,000 square feet of retail and 170 to 180 mostly back-to-back townhomes atop a retail podium on the southeast corner of Riggs Road and South Dakota Avenue NE.

Early design plans show one- to two-bedroom loft-style homes fronting South Dakota Avenue with ground floor retail fronting Riggs Road and stacked two- to four-bedroom townhomes above the retail podium. A minimum of 29 of the homes will be set aside as affordable dwelling units and the developers have committed to set aside 5,000 square feet of the retail for a local retailer. A parking garage will sit behind the homes.

The DC Council recently recommended approval of the sale of District-owned property for the project. The developers will start removing trees from the site in January 2017. Current timeline anticipates construction starting in late 2018.

That wraps up our year-end neighborhood development report. Lots to look forward to in 2017. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.