The site along Rhode Island Avenue NE that houses a Big Lots and Forman Mills may eventually house a brand new 1,600-unit mixed-use development that will not only add housing to Washington, D.C.’s Edgewood neighborhood, but also pedestrian and cycling improvements.
With the seven-building Rhode Island Center project, developer MRP Realty plans to provide two new Capital Bikeshare docks, new stairways constructed up to Edgewood Commons, and improvements to the Metropolitan Branch Trail, reported Greater Greater Washington. The developer will also provide residents $225 in incentives towards alternative transportation options.
Greater Greater Washington further reported:
"Connections to the MBT are a big part of the Rhode Island Center proposal. The central artery through the project will stretch from 4th Street NE to a new plaza where the trail and bridge to the Rhode Island Ave station meet, and include a new protected bike lane."
Approximately 128 affordable units are planned for the project. According to Greater Greater Washington, commissioners from ANC 5E have stated that they will not support the development unless the developer nearly doubles the number of affordable units for households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income.
The multi-phase project is slated to deliver by 2019. The developer filed the planned unit development for the project in June 2015.