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Closed since 2007, the Eastern Boys and Girls Club will be
finally repurposed following a series of task force and
community meetings to be held throughout the year.
Photo by Hunter Gorinson
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It’s been nearly three years since the Eastern Branch Boys and Girls Club closed its doors and, while the sprawling 45,000 s.f. building was purchased by the District government this past summer, there’s been little information in the intervening months on just how and when the property will be put to use. That, however, is about to change now that a 13-member panel appointed by Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells to vet options for the site has delivered its initial findings in a six-page draft report.
“It's basically a summary of where we are at this stage and we're looking for marching orders so that [we] can go from here,” said Eastern Branch Task Force chairman and community activist Chuck Burger.
The task force’s report makes no concrete recommendations for future uses of the 73-year-old facility at 261 17th St. SE, instead focusing on what Burger calls “general starting points” for a series of community roundtables that are tentatively scheduled to begin later this month.
“One thing we did not want to do as a task force was to suggest any policy or direction it should go,” he said. “What we're looking at is where it could go, what are the deficiencies and what are the strengths of the building.”
Planning a Better (and Bigger) Center
In just under 2000 words, the report touches on everything from underserved demographics in the surrounding segment of Capitol Hill to comparable projects in the District and possible operational models. It also conveys two important points. First, the building -- provisionally re-titled “The Center” -- is to be devoted to community activities, rather than social services.
Second, given the cash-strapped state of the DC government, upgrading the building to 21st century standards is going require a significant amount of outside investment. The projected cost of just “bringing the building to habitable code” is $1.3 to $1.5 million. With the addition of amenities, like phone service and air conditioning, the reports states, that number could double.
"Every quarter the CFO is coming back to the city and telling us we're a couple hundred million dollars short of a balanced budget. There's not the cash lying around...to put a lot of money into this,” said Councilmember Wells’ Chief of Staff, Charles Allen. “It's going to take us looking for creative private/public partnerships. Everything is under consideration right now.”
To that end, the Councilmember’s office not only enlisted community members like Burger and reps from area non-profits for service on the task force, but a higher-up from Results Gym as well -- an organization with experience transforming city-owned property into for-profit enterprises and the kind of name recognition that could be boon to any new operations at the Center.
"We need someone that has staying power and a track record that shows financial strength. We're going to need some kind of major anchor group in there,” said Burger, noting that such a tenant will be key to making the task force’s vision of an all-inclusive community space capable of hosting a “larger established non-profit" in tandem with a bevy of “incubator level" groups a reality.
Several longstanding Hill operations of that smaller scale have already expressed interest in claiming space within the newly rehabbed Center, including former Boys and Girls Club tenant, the Bren-Car Dance School, and local advocacy group Neighbors United, which initially formed in 2007 with the intent of spearheading the club’s redevelopment on its own.
Nevertheless, the possibility of a commercial vendor buying into the Center -- and possibly overseeing a build-out of the property to specifically serve its own clientele -- remains a very real one.
"We don't really see one entity coming in and taking over 45,000 square feet,” said Burger.
Less than Ideal Conditions
Before any contracts are drawn up, however, the task force will first have to figure out how to rectify the increasingly dilapidated state of the Center, which Boys and Girls Club management had failed to properly maintain for nearly a decade prior to its closure.
“The thing that gets my goat is when I see these commercials on TV for the Boys and Girls Club and all that they do, and then I look at this building and see all that they didn't do,” said Francis Campbell, who in addition to serving on the task force is also the current chairman of Neighbors United and a commissioner with the ANC 6B.
Although the Center has a number of amenities, including a kitchen, basketball court and indoor swimming pool, few -- if any -- are in operable condition following years of insufficient maintenance.
“They didn't bother to do anything about it, didn't let anybody know...and just let [the building] go,” said Campbell.”
While there are no so-called “critical failures” within the building at present, Wells’ office and task force members both agree that the moldering complex could slide even further into ruin without swift action over the course of the coming year.
"I think the building costs more every day that goes by. That's why there's a sense of urgency, but we need to think through the different options,” said Allen.
The District government -- which only received its first set of keys to the building in mid-January -- will soon begin a structural evaluation of the facility. Meanwhile, the Eastern Branch Task Force and Councilmember Wells plan on holding the first public forum regarding the draft report by “March at the latest,” said Allen. In the interim, the task force’s findings can be reviewed in full on the councilmember’s website at www.tommywells.org. |
