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At one time, D.C. Commissioner Peter May described one developer’s plans for redeveloping a certain Northeast residential building as “a waste of our time.” The residents of the building were even up in arms over the plans, filing a lawsuit against the owner. Since then, the developer has cut down the size of the planned redevelopment, though only slightly. Despite the contentiousness of the project, the Zoning Commission unanimously approved the second-stage planned-unit development application this Monday.
The project is the planned redevelopment of Brentwood’s Brookland Manor Apartments and Brentwood Village Shopping Center, owned by Mid-City Financial Corp.
The Washington Business Journal reported that this approval will allow Mid-City’s first phase of the project to move forward with plans for a 131-unit building and a 200-unit affordable building for seniors.
The full 20-acre project, which is located about a half mile from the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station, plans for 1,760 residential units and 181,000 square feet of retail. At least 22 percent of the units will be for households making below 50 percent of the area median income. There will also be 1,590 parking spaces.
Originally, plans called for 2,235 units with 424 affordable apartments and 12 affordable for-sale townhouses. After the project was deemed “too intense” with eight blocks of new development planned, Mid-City scaled down the project by 20 percent in 2015.
Current residents will be able to return to the complex at affordable rents, but the new units will mostly include one- and two-bedroom units. All four-and five-bedroom apartments will be removed. The Washington Business Journal reported that Mid-City anticipates around a dozen residents being displaced. A class action complaint filed in August 2016 says that nearly 150 families will actually be displaced.
• Mid-City's 1,700-unit Brookland Manor overhaul can finally move forward [Washington Business Journal]