After months of mediation, H-Street Corridor residents and neighborhood advocates are close to reaching an agreement with developer Dreyfus about construction of a large complex that would be the first major project to contend with H Street’s recently adopted zoning and design guidelines.
The Louis Dreyfus Property Group’s Capitol Place project, a mixed-use development planned for H Street between Second and Third Streets Northeast, inflamed residents in 2005 when the developer applied for zoning changes to allow them to build a 433,000 square foot structure that would reach 110 feet in height on one corner.
The project abuts groups of rowhouses that date back to the 19th century.
“The sheer height that was being proposed next to a series of 25-foot high rowhouses was very imposing,” said Alan Kimber, a Commissioner with Advisory Neighborhood Commissions 6C, whose district includes the property.
Further complicating Dreyfus’s application is a zoning overlay the District adopted for the H Street corridor in 2006. While the overlay is intended to foster development by allowing for increased density and providing developers incentives to build retail space and other community priorities, it also lays out broad design guidelines developers must follow to preserve the look of the neighborhood.
“This was the first development before the zoning commission that applied to all of those provisions, so we all wanted to get it right,” Kimber said. The community deemed Dreyfus’s design too modern.
With so much disagreement and much room for interpretation of the guidelines, D.C. Office of Planning director Harriet Tregoning urged Dreyfus to postpone a May zoning hearing and took the unusual step of setting up mediation between the developer and the residents. After more than four months of mediation, Dreyfus’s new plan for a 389,000 square foot building, which it presented at a zoning commission hearing on Monday, has the qualified support of the ANC and most other community groups.
“Do we wish we had more? Sure,” said Sean Cahill, vice president of development for Dreyfus. “But we are comfortable with the plan as it now stands. We feel the mediation process actually helped us produce a better design.” The zoning commission is set to consider the project for approval on Nov. 19th, after further input from interested parties.
