A D.C. developer is proposing to merge a new Tenley-Friendship public library with a six-story condominium complex on the grounds of Janney Elementary School in upper Northwest.
In addition to a new community library, which would replace the Tenley-Friendship branch closed since December 2004 for renovation, Roadside Development also is offering to construct an underground parking garage for school staff, library patrons and residents, and an addition to the increasingly cramped Janney School with space for four classrooms, a new school library and a gym.
In return Roadside wants the right to build about 100 condo units roughly 90 feet from the main school building, taking a piece of the soccer field in the process — which could be recovered by resodding the existing surface parking lot. The school grounds are located steps from the Tenleytown-AU Metro Station, a “tremendous location” for a mixed-use project, Roadside official Armond Spikell said.
“We’ve got this limited opportunity to introduce the idea, and so far the response from the library has been good, the response from the school has been good and we’re just starting to introduce the idea to the community,” Spikell said.
The library system has taken no position on the project, Executive Director Ginnie Cooper said Wednesday. The local Advisory Neighborhood Commission will hear the presentation next week.
“Conceptually I like the idea,” Ward 3 D.C. Council Member Mary Cheh said. “There’s a lot of advantages that could come out of a combined project that could bring us a new library, a modernized school and could benefit the residences there right next to the Metro stop.”
Community leaders, however, are skeptical.
“My initial reaction to it is, I’m wary of it,” said Martha Saccocio, president of Friends of Tenley-Friendship. “I would imagine there are ways it could work. I would also imagine there are ways it could be moderately disastrous.”
On its Web site, the Janney School explains why it needs more space and how this project might be the answer — if tax revenues generated by the condos are dedicated for school improvements. Janney’s enrollment is climbing; the gym doubles as the cafeteria; the auditorium is inadequate; and there are staff working out of “converted closets.”
