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Articles
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| Northeast residents get preview of H Street Connection redevelopment plans |
VOICE writes, "by Ben Weinstein
This week, the owner of H Street Connection presented new design possibilities for the often-maligned shopping plaza.
All three design schemes centered on a nine-story residential building with ground-floor retail to replace the park-and-shop-style plaza that sits on the south side of H Street NE between 8th and 10th streets.
“Everyone would like to see that site redeveloped,” said Drew Ronneberg, chair of the Northeast Capitol Hill advisory neighborhood commission’s economic development committee. "
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Gary Rappaport, owner of the site, said the city approached him to redevelop the site, and that the plans presented Nov. 27 are preliminary. “We’re at the beginning of the process,” he said.
Architecture firm Torti Gallas and Partners-CHK Inc. is designing the proposed planned-unit development -- a zoning classification that allows increased height and density in exchange for specified design standards and community benefits and amenities.
Residents raised several concerns about the project, saying it might overshadow surrounding row houses or be out of character with the neighborhood.
John Torti said the building will be tall in the center but step down on the edges to blend into the lower surrounding buildings. “I think we understand neighborhoods,” Torti said.
Torti said his firm has designed projects around the city, including the Ellington on 14th Street NW and City Vista near Mount Vernon Square.
Anwar Saleem, head of H Street Main Street, said getting more people, or the “critical mass” needed to support businesses on the corridor, justifies allowing increased height and density. “Or you’re just going to have a nice-looking ghost town” without large residential developments on the east end of H Street, he said.
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Posted on Dec 02, 2007 13:54pm.
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