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Minnesota Avenue parking garage is open
for service; DOES construction
continues to the left.
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A new four-level parking garage at the Minnesota Avenue metro station is complete, after more than three years of construction. The 333-space structure, a joint project of the District and the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority, opened on Nov. 16.
"We are proud to have overcome several obstacles and to finally open this facility with Metro," said Robin-Eve Jasper, director of the city's Department of Real-Estate Services. Metro operates the new garage, which replaces surface parking. New parking spaces are closer to the station entrance and served by a direct pedestrian walkway.
“In this area we have Metrorail and Metrobus, we have parking, and in the future, we will have office, retail and residential development,” said Gerald C. Francis, Metro's deputy general manager and chief operating officer. Francis called the $19-million garage part of a "truly transit oriented development."
The adjacent Department of Employment Services (DOES) headquarters -- with 229,000 square feet of offices and 8,000 square feet of ground-level retail -- is scheduled to open in fall 2010. The mixed-use “Phase II” development, abutting DOES, is slated to break ground in 2010. This Donatelli-Blue Skye development is to bring 40,000 square feet of retail and over 300 residences.
In addition, the District Department of Transportation will be reconstructing the Minnesota and Benning intersection, beginning in 2012.
“This project marks a major achievement for the District's revitalization of downtown Ward 7,” said Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. “This is the first of many exciting developments to come to fruition in this neighborhood.”
To the west, in the Parkside area, Victory Housing Inc. and Bank of America Community Development Corporation are slated to break ground on a 98-unit senior housing project in 2010. The Victory Square housing, at 600 Barnes St, NE, is expected to take about 18 months to complete. City Interests plans another 112 townhomes nearby.
One block to the east, the DC Public Library's new Benning Neighborhood Library is nearing completion. The two-story, 22,000 square-foot structure – designed by the Davis, Brody, Bond Aedas architecture firm – is being erected by Forrester Construction with an opening expected in spring 2010.
Also slated to open in 2010 is the 63,000 square-foot Deanwood Community Center and Library. Although in a different “development node,” the construction is just over a mile north of “Downtown Ward 7.” |
