Neighbors Express Concern at Hurt Home Meeting

Last night in the wee but beautiful Renwick Chapel, members of the neighborhood came to hear a presentation from Argos Group to redevelop the historic Hurt Home into high end condos. While the plans are at an early stage (the city hasn’t even officially chosen them for the project, although there are no other candidates) they were clear enough to draw sharp protests from the audience.

The Plan’s Basics

The current plan calls for the construction of 41 units in the development. These units would be spread across the existing historic structure and a new wing that would be built off the back of the main building (the standing modern addition would be torn down).

A little less than half the units would be constructed in the historic building, the rest would be built in the new wing. According to the project’s presenter, Argos president Gilbertos Cardenas, the development would set aside roughly five units for below-market rates. Because of the building’s historic role as a home for the blind, Argos has reached out to the DC Council of the Blind to develop units specifically for blind residents. Cardenas also mentioned the possibility of workforce housing for D.C. police or firefighters.

The project has already changed shape a bit. Originally it was 46 units with 36 parking spots. The current plans are for 41 units and 41 parking spots (more on that below). The size of the units would skew much larger than normal DC apartments. According to the presentation:

• 11 would be 3 bedroom apartments (roughly 1300 square feet)
• 23 would be 2 bedroom apartments (roughly 1100 square feet)
• 7 would be 1 bedroom (no size mentioned)

Cardenas estimated that very roughly speaking, the units would cost 250-280 per square foot for the below market units and 500-600 for the market rate apartments. That would mean the below market rate apartments would be roughly $275,000 – $300,000 and the market rate apartments would be around $700,000 – $800,000.

The Concerns

As with any development project in Georgetown the be-all-end-all issue is parking. The plans as presented include a one off-street parking spot per unit ratio. This concerns the neighbors who believe that the owners of these apartments will bring more than one car per unit. Unlike most of the other corners of Georgetown, this neighborhood actually doesn’t face a huge parking crunch (GM lives there and rarely has to park more than a block away from his home). And the neighbors would like to keep it that way.

So on the one hand, neighbors are insisting on more off street parking, but on the other hand, having so much off-street parking creates its own problems.

For instance, many neighbors are greatly concerned about the amount of traffic that would be created by the huge off-street parking lot. The plans call for there to be one parking lot underneath the building’s addition and one surface parking lot on the east side. All the cars would enter and leave via the alley way on the west side of the building.

This would undoubtedly increase the traffic in that alleyway and residents fear it could possibly create back ups on R St. during peak times (GM’s a little doubtful about that. There is rarely much if any congestion created by the gigantic surface parking lot on Q St. just west of the Dumbarton Bridge despite the fact that so many cars use it and Q St. traffic is heavy.)

Moreover, having so much off-street parking means using up a large portion of the property’s open space for asphalt and the storage of cars (roughly half the 41 parking spaces would be outside). This would be a huge waste of a beautiful backyard. As GM himself stated during the meeting, the neighborhood won a long fight against Marc Teren to protect the open space of the Friendly Estate, why should the HPRB treat the Hurt Home any differently?

The Reality

The city wants to get this property off its hands. The representatives of the Deputy Mayor’s office stated that their primary goal is to make sure the historic building is brought back to its former glory. For that reason they said they are flexible on the price. That is key because the lower the price goes, the fewer the number of units Argos needs to construct to recoup the rehabilitation costs.

The clear message from the community was that the city and the developer should try to significantly lower the number of units. The community would probably be most happy if there were no addition off the back at all and that the total number of units were closer to 20. That seems unlikely, but you never know.

It is still very early in the process. Argos and the Deputy Mayor’s representative already indicated by the end of the meeting that they recognized that the 41 number would have to come down even more. Whether they can get it down to a number acceptable to the neighborhood is still unclear. Adding to the uncertainty is the fact that the lease to the Jackson Arts Studio comes up in 2013, and there is no guarantee it would be renewed.

Long story short: stay tuned…