Meeting on West Heating Plant this Wednesday

This Wednesday at 7:00 pm at the Georgetown Public Library on R St., the esteemed architects David Adjaye and Laura Olin will present an update on their plans for the West Heating Plant property. This meeting was originally supposed to take place back in October but was delayed due to Adjaye falling ill.

Not much has changed about the situation so here is what GM wrote back in October:

When last we heard publicly about these plans, this is what famed architect David Adjaye drew up for the project:

It would involve taking down almost all of the building, leaving just the 29th st. facade. The bulk of the current building, however, would largely be replicated in the new building. A park would be created on the south part of the lot.

Since that time several things have occurred. One group of preservationists challenged that the shape of the building demands razing. The developers, led by Levy Group and the Four Seasons, obviously disagreed. An independent review was performed. Then there was a bit of a fight between competing reports: one advocating for total raze, minus the west facade, the other calling just for localized repair. We’re still a long way from the Old Georgetown Board making a decision (which, really, would likely only be the first of many boards that will end up reviewing this project).

That whole review process has been somewhat held up by a separate process: the landmark application led by the DC Preservation League. That effort earned the support of the staff of the DC Historic Preservation Office. But it failed to sway the Historic Preservation Review Board in April. That leaves the raze application outstanding.

Interestingly, during one of the Old Georgetown Board meetings on the property, one of the board members suggested the developers consider tearing down the entire building and starting from scratch. GM believes that so long as any part of the old building remains, like a vestigial brick wall, then the developers could build back up to the original building envelope, which is otherwise way more than the zoning would allow.

So it will be interesting to see what plans they present next week. We’ll see…