CFA approves Georgetown’s West Heating Plant redevelopment

Planning for the redevelopment of Georgetown’s West Heating Plant has hit many snags since it was first conceived in 2013, but it looks like the project has finally found some approval. The Georgetown Metropolitan reported that the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) approved the concept only a few weeks after the Old Georgetown Board rejected the plans.

Plans call for demolishing all or parts of the dormant industrial site, located at 2900 K Street NW, and building a six-story, 60-unit condo building with an adjacent public park. The proposal also plans on replacing the existing skin of the building facades with more windows and expanding several side doors.

Before groundbreaking can begin, the developer behind the project will have to get approval from the Historic Preservation Review Board and the Mayor’s Agent for Historic Preservation.

Past criticisms on the project include that it is “not in the community’s interest [and] is not in fact buildable,” according to Richard Levy of the Levy Group in an interview with The Current.

Another critic of the proposal, Jim Wilcox of ANC 2E, said that the project violates the D.C. Comprehensive Plan. It also allegedly jeopardizes a sewer line underneath the existing building.

There is no set delivery date for the project just yet.

• West Heating Plant Design Wins CFA Approval [The Georgetown Metropolitan]

• Georgetown’s West Heating Plant redevelopment hits a snag [Curbed DC]