Author Archives: nextstoprp

Local retail and Walmart

Posted by nextstoprp in Fort Totten Square and tagged with , ,

The Washington Post has an article about Walmart’s solicitation for local businesses to co-locate with the Georgia Ave. Walmart, which lies approximately 1.5 miles from the Walmart planned for Riggs Park.  Walmart’s spokesperson Steve Restivo stated that if the retailer cannot find sufficient local businesses to occupy one or two spaces for lease, it will find a national chain.  Links to the square footage and design of the space are provided within the article.  It will be noteworthy to see which local business, if any, ends up leasing space at the Georgia Ave Walmart.

In community meetings with respect to the Walmart planned as an anchor for Fort Totten Square in Riggs Park, Walmart representatives have stated that they would be open to providing space to a local business.  It was unclear at the time (and still unclear now) precisely where that space would be–whether in the interior of the store with no access to the frontage along the street or whether there would be signage on the street promoting the interior tenant.  A point has been raised about making sure the design would accommodate a local business by providing adequate street frontage.  Construction continues apace and full financing for Fort Totten Square has been secured.

Now’s a good time to revisit the design as JBG & Lowe reach out to retailers to fill out FTS and continue discussions with the city to secure the south site to begin work there.  The Lamond Riggs Citizens Association has certainly made local retail a priority in discussions with JBG, Lowe, & Walmart.  Let’s hope local and aspiring business owners will be ready to take advantage of an opportunity to open up shop in 2015.

Site selected for new Brookland middle school

Posted by nextstoprp in Uncategorized and tagged with

DGS held a community meeting on April 20 to provide updates about the final site selection for the new Brookland foreign language and arts middle school to serve Ward 5.  DGS originally presented a few options for locating the school in close proximity to Turkey Thicket Rec Center.  DGS has now decided to build on the site of the old Brookland Elementary School.  Currently, the plan is for the school to be built in time for the 2014-2015 school year.  The presentation and FAQs provided by DGS can be viewed here and here.

DPR hiring summer lifeguards and other positions

DC’s Department of Parks & Recreation (DPR) is hiring summer staff for aquatics, camp, operations, and headquarters positions.  The agency is hosting Aquatic One Stop Fairs for lifeguard and other pool positions, including an upcoming fair at Turkey Thicket Aquatic Center on May 5 and June 2 and a fair at Takoma Aquatic Center on May 18 (see flyer here for complete list of all fair locations, dates, & time; application requirements; and other information).

For a complete list of all DPR summer job descriptions and instructions on how to apply, see DPR’s website here.

Become a Muralist Apprentice

Youth ages 14-23, EARN up to $125 per Day! Words Beats & Life (WBL) is looking for young artists (14-23) to work alongside Lead Artists, gaining professional experience creating murals and contributing to the community through art. Young Artists (14-23) interested in being apprentices must attend a MuralsDC INFORMATIONAL SESSION.  Words Beats & Life (WBL) offers Hip Hop and arts-based educational programming for youth and young adults in DC. EARN UP TO $125 per day! Email MuralsDC@wblinc.org for more information.

Washington City Paper sponsoring at-large debate April 15

Posted by nextstoprp in Council and tagged with ,

Washington City Paper is sponsoring a debate for the vacant at-large city council seat at Black Cat (1811 14th St. NW) on Monday, April 15, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm.  Send questions to lldebate@washingtoncitypaper.com or tweet them using hashtag #LooseLips between now and April 15.  The moderators will be Loose Lips reporter Alan Suderman, NBC4’s Tom Sherwood, and Washington Examiner columnist Jonetta Rose Barras.  The special election takes place April 23.

Ward 5 budget townhall April 10 & Lamond Riggs neighborhood library

Posted by nextstoprp in Cafritz Art Place at Fort Totten, Council, Lamond Riggs Library and tagged with , , ,

Mayor Gray will host a budget townhall with a focus on Ward 5 on April 10, 2013 at Luke C. Moore Academy (1001 Monroe St. NE) at 6:30 pm.  In his press release on the mayor’s budget, Councilmember McDuffie said that he would like to see money allocated for the modernization of Lamond Riggs library.  The mayor’s proposed budget does not include any money for modernizing Lamond Riggs library, but it does provide money so that all DC public libraries will be open 7 days per week.

Updated  3/29/2013

The mayor’s proposed FY 2014 budget includes a line item for renovating the Lamond Riggs library (pdf), with full funding estimated at over $18 million.  It notes that the library is 45 years old and is energy inefficient.  The spec calls for the library to be substantially renovated “to create a new 21st century state-of-the-art LEED Silver Rated vacility.”  The budget includes zero FY 2014 funding for renovating the library, but includes proposed funding for FY 2015 & FY 2016.  It notes that Cafritz’s development (Art Place at Fort Totten) includes a spec in a (much) later phase to build a new library for the neighborhood as part of the Art Place development.  The document states DCPL is still involved in discussions with Cafritz about this.  An older budget timeline projected that the design for a renovated library would be completed by October 2011, with construction starting in Jan 2012 and completed by June 2018.  Of course none of those milestones was met and it’s unclear at this point if Cafritz’s proposal is the reason for the delay.

Site options for new Brookland middle school to serve Ward 5

Posted by nextstoprp in Education and tagged with ,

DC’s Department of General Services has proposed three site options for an arts-focused Ward 5 middle school in Brookland.  A few weeks ago, DGS proposed co-locating the middle school with Turkey Thicket rec center.  That idea was met with strong opposition.  Now, DGS has proposed three standalone site options, but the school would still be placed in close proximity to the rec center.  Visit the DGS Brookland middle school site to see a presentation on the options and a list of FAQs.  Embedded in the presentation is a link to let officials know what you think of the plans.

On a couple of Ward 5 listservs, there is still discussion about putting the middle school in a different location than Brookland (e.g. at UDC Community College Backus campus, which used to house a middle school), but it’s not clear if that is really a consideration at this point.

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Hanger Clinic (prosthetics and orthotics shop) opening near Fort Totten metro

Posted by nextstoprp in Uncategorized and tagged with

The signage is up for Hanger Clinic, filling out one of the long vacant commercial spaces near the 7-Eleven across from Fort Totten metro station.  Hanger Clinic is one of the nation’s largest providers of prothestics and orthotics.  Information about their products and services can be found here.  Certainly a welcome sign for the commercial space near the metro.

The Hampshires (6000 New Hampshire Ave NE) featured in Urbanturf

Posted by nextstoprp in 6000 New Hamphsire Ave PUD and tagged with ,

Urbanturf has a sponsor feature from Comstock on The Hampshires, the new housing community being developed in Riggs Park at 6000 New Hampshire Ave NE.  We’ve mainly reported on 6000 New Hampshire in the context of the PUD modification concerning the portion of the development sold to a second developer.  Upon completion, The Hampshires will have 38 detached homes and 73 townhouses surrounding open green space and a dog park.  Neighborhood representatives attended the grand opening of the detached homes in September.  Comstock starts construction on the townhomes this week.

Funny aside:  DC Urbanturf’s facebook post asks the question, “Do you know where that is?” in reference to Lamond Riggs.

March 27: Candidate forum for at-large city council seat

Posted by nextstoprp in Council and tagged with

A special election for the vacant at-large city council seat and a vote on a DC Charter Amendment for budget autonomy will be held on April 23, 2013.  The DC Federation of Civic Association is sponsoring a candidate forum on Wednesday, March 27, 2013, at 6:30 pm, at Eastern Senior High School (1700 East Capitol St. NE).  WJLA news reporter Sam Ford will moderate.

It’s official: Busboys & Poets going to Takoma (and Brookland)

Posted by nextstoprp in Neighborhood Development, Uncategorized and tagged with , , ,

This post has been updated

The Washington Post breaks the official news that Busboys & Poets owner has signed a lease to bring the restaurant to the new Carroll St. development in Takoma.  Also reported is that the owner is negotiating to open a sixth location in Brookland.

This is semi-good news for Riggs Park (remember what we mentioned about being sandwiched between these two neighborhoods in this post).  Both Takoma and Brookland are sort of walkable (or certainly bikeable) from Riggs Park, so it looks like in a couple of years we’ll get to have our pick of two Busboys to patronize.

One instructive point from the article is owner Andy Shallal’s statement that he received emails from Takoma residents soliciting him to bring his restaurant to the neighborhood.  He said that he likes to go into areas that lack community gathering spaces, certainly an issue for Riggs Park.  As Fort Totten Square and Art Place at Fort Totten come online, it’s worth thinking about what kind of outreach, communication, organizing, and consensus building the community can do to really showcase the community we have here surrounding Fort Totten and to make sure we get the types of amenities we really want, so as not to be blindsided again like we were with the introduction of the big box store to come.

Fort Totten Square Construction Job Fair March 23, 2013

Posted by nextstoprp in Fort Totten Square and tagged with , ,

FORT TOTTEN SQUARE CONSTRUCTION JOB FAIR
SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 2013
9 AM – 12 PM
CORNER OF RIGGS ROAD AND 3RD STREET NE

Seeking construction workers with specific skills. The anticipated trades that will be at the Job Fair
include:

Mechanical
Electrical
Plumbing
Concrete
Rough Carpentry
Masonry
Roofing / Waterproofing

Participants are encouraged to bring a resume or other documentation of work experience.

Fort Totten Square is a mixed-use project currently under construction at 300 Riggs Road NE. When
completed, Fort Totten Square will include approximately 345 apartments and 130,000 square feet of
retail space, anchored by an urban-format Wal-Mart containing a large grocer and pharmacy.

For more information, please visit www.FortTottenNews.com.

Development news roundup: Children’s museum & anchor for Art Place at Fort Totten, a brewery in the neighborhood, and a rehabilitation facility for 6000 New Hampshire

Posted by nextstoprp in 6000 New Hamphsire Ave PUD, Cafritz Art Place at Fort Totten, Lamond Riggs Citizens Association, Neighborhood Development and tagged with , , ,

Lots of development news to report:

  • First up, community representatives held an initial meeting with consultants from the Cafritz team on the children’s museum component of Art Place at Fort Totten.  You may be wondering why we’re talking about the children’s museum component since we reported recently that Cafritz was still looking for an anchor to secure financing for the project.  Well, unofficially there may be an anchor in place (a possible anchor we listed in this post).  We haven’t gotten official word, but it makes more sense that they would schedule a meeting at this point for museum consultants to introduce themselves and solicit community input if there is an anchor on the horizon.  Look for more information in the future from the ANCs and the leadership of the Lamond Riggs Citizens Association and the North Michigan Park Civic Association.
  • The Totten Life blog brings us news of a brewery headed for Riggs Park with a link to a news release from DC Beer.  Hellbender Brewery is building out the space at 5788 2nd St. NE (not too far from Fort Totten Square and 3 Stars Brewing Company).  Just in case you’re curious, according to this release from DC Beer, the brewery is named for the hellbender, the largest salamander in North America.  The Hellbender team plans to use the salamander as a symbol of the team’s “‘environmentally safe brewery practices and waste disposal.'”  The team wants to work with local businesses and residents to make the neighborhood “a better place for everyone.”
  • The Office of Planning recently recommended approval of a modification to the PUD for 6000 New Hampshire Ave NE.  Recall this is the site of the new Comstock detached single family homes and townhomes.  The original developer sold his interest in the 2 other buildings on the property.  These buildings are zoned for residential use and the original PUD called for residential apartment buildings.  The current develper would like to modify the PUD to accommodate a rehabilitation center for mentally disabled adults in one of the buildings and reduce the number of apartments in the other building.  The ANC and LRCA (and other community groups) officially opposed the modification, outlining areas of concern.  The Office of Zoning held a hearing on the modification request on February 21, 2013.  The neighborhood groups and the ANC presented testimony on their areas of concern.  While it is almost certain Zoning will approve the modification, Zoning would like the developer and neighborhood groups to come to a consensus on the outstanding concerns and it appears that such a consensus can be reached.