I am super late on sharing information from the June neighborhood development community meeting, held by the Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association Development Task Force on June 17, 2025. On the agenda for discussion were the Art Place at Fort Totten and the Fort Totten Square developments. Representatives for Fort Totten Square asked to delay their presentation to the community until July so we heard from only representatives of Art Place at Fort Totten.

See Art Place Presentation to LRCA Development Task Force (June 2025)

Paul Tummonds, land use counsel for the Cafritz Foundation (developer of Art Place), introduced Nora Riesenberg who is working with the Foundation on a new kids space pop up project in the former interim library space. If you have not already, please take the survey to share ideas about what you would like to see in the pop up space for kids. (Don’t worry if you have not attended any of the pop ups mentioned in the survey; you can still share ideas).

Art Sparks!

Mr. Tummonds shared that the Foundation planned to launch a new Art Sparks! project. That has been up for a few weeks now.

In this post, we shared information from the Foundation’s request for extension of time, about the plans for the new fence with art as well as light pole banners around the property. The light pole banners went up a few weeks before the fence.

Retail & Other Updates

• Menomale & Urban Garden Brewery will be opening along South Dakota in Phase 1. Both are working on interior plans for permit and construction.
• There is still space in Phase 1 for more restaurants, so more may be coming.
• DC Dental Studio, a general dentistry practice, has a lease for space on second floor near corner of South Dakota & Galloway. (I met the dentist at the author talk a week or so ago. She said that construction permits took a little longer than anticipated but she is still hoping to open this year. Her practice serves primarily adults).
• Social Justice School anticipates starting construction on the warehouse building on Kennedy in late July, expecting 11 months for construction.
• The Foundation continues to negotiate with a children’s museum for the space behind Aldi.
• The Foundation continues to have interest in having an entertainment component for Phase 2 (the phase between Ingraham & Kennedy).
• The Foundation continues to seek financing for the housing component for Phase 2. When that is secured, construction will resume.

Keith Sellars, task force co-chair who organized the meeting, suggested that the developer refresh the window signage along South Dakota with “Coming XXXX” signs so that passersby know what is coming in those spaces. (Interestingly enough, a city official on a walking tour a couple of weeks later made the same suggestion). Menomale and Urban Garden Brewery are listed as coming soon on the Art Place website.

Another resident suggested that the developer put updates on the website much in the same way that they used to provide construction updates. No need for weekly updates, but proactively sharing regular updates would be a good idea.

Trash cans

Residents had previously requested that the developer install trash cans near the corner of South Dakota & Kennedy by Aldi. Mr. Tummonds stated those should be coming this month.

EV Charging Stations

A resident shared a need for EV charging stations in the neighborhood. The developer is required to have charging stations for Phase 2. In one filing, the developer indicated that the underground garage on Kennedy has 500 spaces, so theoretically, seems there should be 10 charging stations.

Kennedy Street Lot

I had previously asked the developer to finish cleaning up the lot on Kennedy Street where there is still construction and demo debris and overgrown vegetation along the fence line. I asked if they would consider putting in an interim use on that lot while they wait to resume construction on Phase 2. For example, could they put in a temporary dog run considering there is supposed to be a dog run in Phase 2 as a community benefit. It will take more than a minute for construction to resume so it would be nice to at least have a better looking lot and something in place that could easily be removed in a year or two when construction resumes. The lot was used for construction staging. Sounded like there is reluctance to put something temporary there.

Other things people mentioned:

• Request for coffee shop
• Suggestion to utilize the platform in Phase 2 for holiday tree
• Suggestion to have food trucks on Friday and Saturday evenings
• Suggestion to organize a farmers market

The presentation ended with information about the weekly summer concert series and the children’s festival series.