Last week, the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) released a Solicitation for Offers for the development of the Big K Site. A Solicitation for Offers (SFO) is essentially the same as a Request for Proposals (RFP), an equally bureaucratic but slightly more familiar term.
The first Agency Goal listed in the solicitation is, “Consistency with
the recommendations
of the Big K Community Advisory Group.” The Community Advisory Group was guided
by two relatively conservative DHCD-commissioned market studies (housing
& commercial).
For the most part, the recommendations are straightforward and predictable:
• Desire mixed-use
project;
• Project that will
support/benefit the community;
• Prefer commercial
use over housing;
• Full-service
restaurant was top choice for retail; and
• Interest in having
cultural use / community garden on-site
In this case, the desired mix of uses appears to exclude residential. The
SFO states specifically that the Advisory Group recommends no housing at all.
However, the solicitation also gives weight to the Comprehensive
Plan, which values this type of metro-accessible site, located on a
commercial corridor, as an opportunity for higher density mixed-use development
that does include housing. More importantly, adding households within walking
distance of this site will increase the
demand for retail goods and services, raising the feasibility of the
project’s commercial component.
Physically, the site has some constraints, though none are
insurmountable. DHCD only owns four of the five properties on the block. The
one that it does not control is currently operated as a used car lot. Prospective
developers could sweeten their offers by gaining control of the car lot and
proposing to pair it with the adjacent lot (2228 MLK) included in the
solicitation that contains a historic single family home approved
to be razed (Solution 1, below).
The Big K liquor store on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Ave and
Morris Rd (2252 MLK) lies outside of the Historic District, but considering the
historic nature of the overall site and the community’s desire for
preservation, it may be wise for a developer to save as much of the building as
possible. With that said, there is still plenty of room for the structure to
grow up and out (Solution 2), and
even laterally behind the adjacent homes (Solution
3).
The two remaining detached, single family homes (2234 and 2238 MLK) are
located smack in the middle of their respective lots and must be preserved. But
why not move them up to the lot line (Solution
4)? If the additional density gained justifies the cost, this may be an
option worth exploring.
Ultimately, what gets built at the Big K will depend on the creativity
of the development teams that respond to the solicitation, particularly in
their ability to lure commercial tenants and make effective use of the
plentiful incentives available at this site. While DHCD does not explicitly
offer a subsidy beyond, presumably, selling the property for less than the
appraised value, the project may be able to take advantage of Historic
Tax Credits, New
Markets Tax Credits, and/or Tax
Increment Financing. Plus, if a high quality proposal is received and
championed by residents of Anacostia, the Mayor and Council may be able to find
a way to make it work financially via grants or tax abatement.
Here’s to hoping the Big K gets some visionary responses, and why
wouldn’t it? Developers, architects, and preservationists should be drooling
over the opportunity to be able to say that their project triggered the revitalization
of Historic Anacostia.