New glassy office building in Foggy Bottom set to begin construction by 2019

With construction expected to start at the end of 2019 and a delivery slated for early 2022, development firm Boston Properties and the George Washington University are planning an 11-story, 453,562-square-foot office building with ground-floor retail at 2100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

A preliminary vote on the Foggy Bottom project’s application will be held at the Zoning Commission’s November 27 meeting. While the project has been endorsed by the D.C. Office of Planning, the D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT), ANC 2A, and the Foggy Bottom Association, the West End Citizens Association has shown disapproval over the project, according to Current Newspapers.

“130 feet would be a terrible precedent. It would change the scale of that part of Foggy Bottom,” said Barbara Kahlow of the West End Citizens Association.

If approved, the planned building will replace two eight-story office buildings, including the University’s Rice Hall, which is expected to close by December 2018. In order to be constructed, the project will need an amendment to George Washington University’s 20-year campus plan as well as relief for additional density through the city’s Planned Unit Development process.

Current Newspapers further reported:

“To offset the impacts of the zoning flexibility, the project team must provide a package of community benefits; these include improvements to the adjacent streetscape, the provision of retail space, and a contribution to affordable housing ... Additionally, applicants have pledged to donate $8,077,000 to the city’s Housing Production Trust Fund.”

Some of the other benefits that the new building will have include covered bicycle parking, a bike lane in the parking garage, bicycle repair shop, six electric car charging stations, and either two car-share spaces or $25,000 toward Capital Bikeshare memberships for tenants of the building.

A few streetscape improvements will also occur in order to better deal with increased traffic. There will be a new traffic signal installed, a relocated bus shelter, and $350,000 contributed to WMATA for accessibility and capacity improvements to the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro station.

• Zoning Commission reviews GWU’s planned 11-story office building [Current Newspapers]