See this message from Bates Area resident and architect Greg Upwall, who will be presenting, along with others, at tonight’s Bates Area Civic Association meeting.
Note that DMPED has not made a selection yet.
DMPED issued an RFEI (Request for Expressions of Interest) back in May for the development of the vacant parcel located at 1520 North Capitol Street (at the intersection of Bates and No. Capitol).
I am an architect based in the Shaw neighborhood and I live on Bates Street (203 Bates Street NW to be exact). I have teamed up with two local and conscientious developers, Urban Green and Flywheel Development. Together we developed a proposal for the site that we feel would be an asset to the neighborhood that would bring together truly affordable housing, green design, and community serving retail space for a local small business owner.
We are interested in working closely with the community in order to address concerns that residents may have.
Here’s our message about our project:
A partnership of Urban Green LLC (the project lead) and Flywheel Development. The project architect is Greg Upwall of Studio Upwall, who lives a block away on Bates Street. The ground floor level tenant would be a family-friendly restaurant created by Jaime Vargas, who is the owner of a Ward 5 business, San Antonio Grill, in Brookland.
With a total of four stories, the project will 100% affordable, with 15 studio and one bedroom units above the restaurant. The residential units will be affordable to households at 50 and 60% of the area median income. The project is also targeting Net Zero Energy performance — meaning it will produce as much power as it uses on an annual basis
Also, attached below is a handout that shows some renderings and key features of our proposal. I’m not sure how much information you would want to share with the community, but I think it would be great to put out the word that we are one of the response teams and that we are welcoming any feedback from the community at this time while the proposals are under review by DMPED.
best,
Greg
Greg Upwall, LEED AP
principal
Studio Upwall, PLLC
1353 U St. NW, Suite 201
Washington, DC 20009
c: 415.317.3272
Bates Area Civic Association 
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