Bates Area Civic Association

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1. Another off-topic post — back to the subject of the DC Council approval of the transfer of land to the development team for the New Communities Northwest One project.

   Looks like the Council approval for the land transfer won’t happen until after the Council’s summer break.

   D.C. Council to developers: See you this fall
   By Jonathan O’Connell, Staff Reporter

   Monday, July 13, 2009, 1:39pm EDT | Modified: Monday, July 13, 2009, 1:48pm
   http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/breaking_ground/2009/07/council_to_developers_see_you_in_the_fall.html

   Most real estate projects at this point require government support of some kind to move forward, but it doesn’t look like D.C. will be offering much before this fall.

   As we reported last week, five land deals were slated to go before the D.C. Council on July 14, but two council members have decided to pull the deals from the agenda.

   They included those for Chris Donatelli’s retail-residential project on Minnesota Avenue NE and the first phase of Northwest One, on North Capitol Street. All the deals are in areas that might have been classified as “emerging” before the recession; “stagnant” would be a better term now.

   To get things going, Mayor Adrian Fenty’s economic development team heavily subsidized each of the projects with property and cash, sometimes for more than half of the overall cost. Of particular urgency is Northwest One. The city tore down the blighted Temple Courts low-income housing complex on the site last year, and 188 families were given housing vouchers and relocated elsewhere in the region. Many of them would like to return, as a few told the council that last week, and the first phase would allow 59 families to do so. Three of the other projects are in Ward 7, east of the Anacostia River, which hasn’t seen major new development in decades.

   Cumulatively, the five deals add up to more than $300 million of development and 1,000 jobs, according to the mayor’s office. There is little doubt they would be approved if put before the entire council, which votes on legislation for the last time before summer recess Tuesday.

   But two councilmembers, Kwame Brown, D-At-large, and Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3, have decided the council ought to wait to act until the fall, holding the bills until then.

   The reason is unclear. Brown and Cheh have not argued that the projects don’t meet residents’ needs or aren’t a good use of the land or are simply too expensive. In their five-hour roundtable last week, they seemed very supportive. Cheh’s staff says more information is needed, although they do not say what information that is. Brown knows the projects in and out and says over and over again that he supports all of them (three are in his home Ward 7) but isn’t pushing them through now.

   Maybe Brown and Cheh feel that holding the bills displays to Fenty the importance of the legislative branch. But the message to developers, construction firms and to Temple Court residents is: We’re going to take our time.

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