Construction cranes could soon be towering above Interstate 395 in the District of Columbia.
The Louis Dreyfus Property Group is proposing to settle a long-running legal dispute between the D.C. government and developer Conrad Monts, ending seven years of litigation and moving forward on development above the “Center Leg Freeway” between E Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW. The settlement is “on the table,” said Robert Braunohler, regional vicepresident with Dreyfus, and it now requires the D.C. Council to dispose of the “air rights” above the highway.
Under the deal, which the D.C. Council could take up as soon as next week, the District would provide Dreyfus and partner The Jarvis Co. with the right to build over the freeway, while Dreyfus would deliver Monts a yet undisclosed monetary payment. Braunohler told a joint council panel Tuesday that the settlement “would resolve the dispute as to the status of the lease of the airspace over I-395 … and open the way for development to begin immediately.”
The District has wanted to build above I-395 since 1988, when then-Mayor Marion Barry turned over development rights to Monts. But myriad legal and market issues have since mired the plans, costing the District hundreds of millions in tax dollars and denying a critical development link between the Union Station and Capitol Hill neighborhoods.
The Fenty administration backed the deal, calling the settlement a “rare opportunity” to end “debilitating litigation” without spending tax dollars.
Also Tuesday, council members heard from developer EastBanc Inc. on its plans to develop around 24th and L streets NW.
The company is asking the city to give up three parcels in the area just north of George Washington University, valued at $21.5 million, in exchange for the construction of a new Engine Company One firehouse and a new West End Branch Library. EastBanc intends to build roughly 350 housing units.
“All of the conditions for a successful development now exist, and we should not hesitate to proceed,” Ward 2 Council Member Jack Evans said in support of EastBanc’s proposal.
