Congress Heights on the Rise

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It's official: Luxury hotel goes to NW. Off-site "affordable" housing to come to Anacostia.

Coming soon to NW: A luxury hotel,  branded residences and a dog spa!

You might recall CHotR touching on this a few months ago and if you recall The Advoc8te (and many of my Ward 8 neighbors) was none to happy about the proposal's suggestion that while the hotel, branded residences, and the dog spa were proposed for the NW site --  the "affordable" housing piece (which is required by law) would go off-site to Anacostia. We know now the income caps for those  "affordable" units in Anacostia will be at 40-60% of the AMI.

In case you were counting this will be the FOURTH income capped  large- scale housing project that is planned for the Anacostia neighborhood.

Coming to Anacostia behind 2100 MLK Ave SE: More "affordable" housing


Including the link to the Washington Business Journal article by Michael Neibauer along with an excerpt.

Excerpt:
The District has selected the  PeeblesCorp. and the Walker Group to redevelop the D.C.-owned parcel at Fifth and Eye streets NW into a hotel and branded residences.  
The team, which also includes WDG Architecture, MacFarlane Partners and Standard Group, proposed a 13-story, 198-key hotel from Standard International and 59 market-rate residences for the 21,000-square-foot Mount Vernon Triangle lot at 901 Fifth St. NW, plus 100 affordable units off-site to those earning 60 percent or less of the area median income.
AND...
“The building Mr.  Peebles’ has proposed for Anacostia would not be low-income housing, but a mixed-income development,”  Corson wrote. “It would be a 200 unit building, with 100 units at market rate and 100 units available to residents at 40-60% [area median income]. The development would be built upon an empty lot which Mr.  Peebles already owns. Ours is the only proposal for 5th and I, NW that includes a component in Anacostia.”  
The vacant lot, D.C. officials say, is located on V Street SE adjacent to the office building at 2100  Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE. It appears to be the office building's parking lot. Also, per the city, the Anacostia plan calls for 61 units at 60 percent of AMI.
In his email,  Corson went on to say that  Peebles “has long been dedicated to the Anacostia community and believes this development would be an asset for Anacostia — creating new housing for residents and putting a vacant lot to good use.”
The Advoc8te is interested in hearing from east of the river residents on this proposal:


  • What do you think of splitting off the affordable housing piece to east of the river? 
  • Do you feel that Anacostia has enough "affordable" rental housing already? 
  • Does east of the river need more income capped housing or should the focus be on moving renters to homeowners? 
  • Does east of the river have an affordable housing (rental or homeowner) problem or are we being used to solved the west of the river affordable housing problem?
  • Should "affordable" housing be located in wealthy neighborhoods where low-income renters are being "pushed out" or to low-income neighborhoods were the cost of land is cheaper? 


And most importantly: "Do you believe that economic development and financial prosperity is really intended for east of the river?"