Guest Post

ANC-5A SMD 5A-08

Community Meeting Wrapup

On Thursday evening, May 16, ANC 5A-08 Commissioner Angel Alston held her first SMD 5A-08 Community Meeting of 2013 at the Backus Campus of UDC’s Community College. The meeting included a report from Officer Lucas on police activity in the Fourth District, plus information on the following topics.

Fort Totten Park

Due to years of foot traffic, unauthorized dirt-path shortcuts to the Metrorail Station have developed in Fort Totten Park, between Gallatin and Galloway Streets NE.

As a result of several recent meetings that Commissioner Alston had with the National Park Service (NPS) and other stakeholders, the NPS began improving the safety and security of the paths on Friday, May 17. Overgrown shrubbery is being trimmed, and the portable flood lights will be repaired.

Cafritz’s ArtPlace at Fort Totten Project

Background Information: The ArtPlace at Fort Totten Planned Unit Development (PUD) is a multi-building, multi-phase construction project that includes rental apartments, retail space, and cultural facilities on 16+ acres. The ArtPlace Project will be built over a period of several years on the west side of South Dakota Ave., NE, near the Fort Totten metrorail station.

Since the 1950’s, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation has owned the land on which the ArtPlace Project will be built. The Foundation is a private, independent non-profit organization, and its overall mission is to improve the quality of life for residents of the Washington, DC, area.

The ArtPlace Project has been in the planning stages for years; the DC Zoning Commission first approved it in 2009.

Presenters for Cafritz: Several representatives for the ArtPlace Project attended the SMD 5A-08 Community Meeting to discuss the status of “Building A,” the first to be constructed in the multi-year ArtPlace Project. Presenters included Dennis Hughes, from the law firm Holland and Knight, and architects from the Washington, DC-based architectural firm Shalom Baranes Associates.

Pre-Construction for Building A: Five Riggs Plaza Apartment buildings (50+ years-old) that occupied part of the site for Building A have already been demolished. Mr. Hughes said that the construction of Building A is currently “out for bid by general contractors.”

Regarding the schedule for the next phase of the project, Mr. Hughes said that work on Building B will not begin until Building A construction is “well underway.”

Mr. Hughes said that he is not at liberty to discuss potential stores and businesses that might use Building A. Confidential occupancy negotiations are in-progress for the retail components of the building.

Public-Space Plan In-Progress: Mr. Hughes and the other ArtPlace Project representatives gave a presentation on the landscape plans for the perimeter streetscape of ArtPlace Building A. They said that Cafritz has submitted the Public-Space Plan for Building A for discussion at DDOT’s Public-Space Committee Meeting on Thursday, June 27th, 2013.

The Public Space Committee meets monthly to review requests for the use and occupancy of the public right-of-way, ensuring that those areas conform to DC’s public-space laws and engineering standards.

Public Space Committee meetings are open to the public; DDOT encourages citizens to attend.

For More Information

To see the ArtPlace Project documents online, go to the DCOZ link below. Also, reference copies of some of the ArtPlace Project documents are on view at the Lamond-Riggs Library.

For ArtPlace Project documents on the DCOZ website, go to:

http://app.dcoz.dc.gov/content/search/Search.aspx

In the “Search By” list, select “ZC or BZA Case Number.” In the “Search Term” box, enter: 06-10.

Note that as of this writing, the ArtPlace at Fort Totten project website is content free–that is, a blank white screen.