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Phase I – including two new retail pavilions -- and Phase II re-developments planned for Penn Branch Shopping Center, corner of Pennsylvania and Branch avenues.

ICG Properties met with community members in late September to outline imminent changes in their Penn Branch Shopping Center. Land Disposition Agreements (LDAs) for the Strand Theatre – a retail/office project -- and the Minnesota-Benning “Phase II” (Donatelli/Blue Skye) residential/retail projects were passed by the DC Council on Oct. 6. Related community benefits agreements (CBAs) promise most of that the neighborhood hoped for in exchange. As these projects develop, so does the community voice for more, better -- or simply different -- benefits to each neighborhood.

Public Access Denied, Benefits in Negotiation
ANC 7D voted to support the Donatelli/Blue Skye project, conditional on preservation of right-of-way for future traffic infrastructure, once proposed for just west of the Minnesota-Benning intersection. Right-of-way was eliminated without any clear explanation.

Of the six councilmembers who participated in LDA mark-up sessions, only Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells asked that the ANC 7D's resolution be given “great weight” through specific responses.

“The response should include why,” Wells said at the Government Operations committee mark-up. “Is [the right-of-way] in the middle of the project? -- I understood that it was on the edge – What does it take away from the project?”

Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, who chairs Government Operations, said the developer had indicated that the land “as offered” was “what makes the deal.” Donatelli said, in the same forum, however: “We're not rigidly opposed to [the access road], but it would require coordination from DDOT.”

At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown told Wells that pursuing the access road would “kill the project,” later saying he hadn't discussed options with Donatelli. Brown also addressed the great weight concern by declaring, “The previous ANC approved whole project,” later clarifying: The previous 7D06 commissioner expressed support. (“Great weight” applies only to full-ANC resolutions.)

Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander mentioned during the Economic Development mark up, that preserving right-of-way would have removed 160 housing units from the 370-unit residential project. No report was offered regarding what options had been explored.

Cheryl Cort, of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, had testified on the infrastructure option and advocated for a permanent public good in exchange for land disposition. The Coalition, she said, was “deeply disappointed that the City gave away right-of-way for the future.”

Community members working on the CBA, however, “are very pleased with the vote,” Willette Seaward, chair of ANC 7D, emailed late on Oct. 6. “We are very grateful with the respect and consideration shown to the desires of this community by Councilmembers Kwame Brown and Yvette Alexander, and the Deputy Mayor's office. All of us wanted the project to move forward, and all of us wanted to ensure that there are clear and concrete benefits that will be returned to this community.”

Negotiations are on-going, Seaward reports, and the CBA so far includes commitment to traffic control/calming measures, a six-figure community fund, jobs and internships.

No community objections, meanwhile, were raised to the Strand Theatre LDA and related CBA.

Residences, Density and Affordability
From Deanwood to Penn Branch, development conversations focus on the interplay between residential and retail density: How many residents, with what level of disposable income, are needed to support a sit-down restaurant, for example?

The Oct. 6 legislation regarding Minnesota-Benning's “Phase II” requires 30% of the housing affordable at 60% of the area median income (AMI). This differs from the RFP – which included a more specific mix of affordable and market-rate housing – and the Economic Development committee report. It also differs from the “100% affordable” plan Donatelli presented last fall.

“Phase II” at Penn Branch is also meant to provide density needed to attract and support a greater variety of retail.

“We need the community's support for this,” says ICG's Stylianos Christofides, explaining that the new buildings – visible to the rear of the shopping center rendering -- will be crucial in courting retailers for the first re-development phase, which should be underway by early 2010, as well as the second. which is expected to enter the planning stages in two years.

“We have to be able to say to retailers: 'Here's what's coming! Locate here.'”

Penn Branch's Phase I remodels 29,000 sf for the District, which has agreed to remain a tenant; expands CVS to a 24-hour facility; replaces the existing central core with a grand staircase and new elevator; and brings two new retail pavilions (corners of the rendering) – to the center. Current tenants will remain during construction.

Dunkin' Donuts was mentioned as a possible new tenant. But one consistent message from community members was summed up by Tacha Coleman Parr: “All over town, the same five businesses come to every development. We need something different. We don't need a Dunkin' Donuts or a McDonalds, and we don't need another T-Mobile store. We're larger than that, and our ideas are better than that.”

“The community was having trouble understanding the retailer's perspective,” Christofides says. He double-checked the figures presented at the neighborhood meeting and found, indeed, 338 households within a quarter-mile of the center. But others note that 45,000 cars that pass through every day, so a quarter mile radius does not properly capture the wealth of that community or surrounding communities.

Neighbors are invited to share retails leads with Tom Papadopolous, 202-466-2200, and more general re-development concepts with councilmembers Alexander and Brown. Additional community meetings will also be held as Phase I and then Phase II develop. A more interactive website is also in the works.