Posts by Jaime Fearer

Retail

Thinking inside the box: Reusing Ward 5's empty big boxes

by Jaime Fearer   •   April 2, 2009 4:06 pm

Julia Christensen has become the authority on adaptive community reuse of empty big box stores with her 6-year project and now recent book, Big Box Reuse. Empty stores have transformed into community centers, museums, charter schools, markets, and more. While Christensen's project focuses primarily on the suburban landscape, we are dealing with a similar loss in DC's northeastern Ward 5.

This past November, National Wholesale Liquidators, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In little over a month we had two empty big boxes less than two miles apart: one at 514 Rhode Island Avenue NE in the Rhode Island Avenue Center, and the other in the Hechinger Mall at 1600 Benning Road NE. Conversations over what should next fill the space have erupted and died down many times since on neighborhood email lists.

Many residents suggested filling the dead space with higher-end retail, including the ever-elusive Trader Joe's or Harris Teeter. However, Safeways already anchor both suburban-style strip malls. While the NWL on Rhode Island Avenue replaced the Ames department store (which took over Zayre's) when it left the mall during that company's death throes, we are currently in the midst of a recession. That makes the prospect of finding another big box retailer to fill 60,000+ square feet two times over in DC almost certainly impossible.

Ryan Avent, in response to Jebediah Reed's interview with Christensen on the Infrastructuralist, envisions creating a dense, mixed-use neighborhood in place of dying strip malls. This fits with recent literature on "retrofitting" or "recycling" suburbs and is, in fact an integral part of the THINK Rhode Island Avenue Great Streets Initiative. But that project has just begun and is on an extended timeline. What do we do in the interim?

Edgewood's ANC-5C08 Commissioner Marshall Phillips has seen the Rhode Island Avenue Center transition over the years, and he began thinking outside the box before he'd even heard of the big box reuse movement. At the March 17 ANC-5C monthly meeting, Phillips took the floor during the Commission's "Workshop on Infrastructure Issues" and spoke from the heart of his desire to work out a deal between property manager Vanguard Realty and the DC government to fill the dark space with community services, perhaps a combination of CSOSA, an MPD-5D substation, and a larger space for the overcrowded Brentwood DMV. The DMV is constantly overwhelmed, yet Mayor Fenty is proposing to close it in his new budget.

Phillips would like to see community services rent the space for approximately 7 years. That's enough time for the economy to rebound and the Rhode Island Avenue Great Streets to hopefully move from planning to the beginning stages of inception. Currently, Vanguard is looking for a retail tenant to sign a 30-year lease. H&R Retail manages the Hechinger Mall, and is likely looking for similar terms. Neither site is listed in the Washington, DC Economic Partnership database, though I'm not sure that would necessarily help right now.

Communities across the country are, in varying ways, reclaiming private space for public benefits. This movement, suburban in its genesis and at first glance contrary to New Urbanist ideas, sets a great precedent for what we can do with existing infrastructure here in DC, even if not ideal or urban in its form. I commend Commissioner Phillips on his vision, and hope both the community and the District government are able to work together to reopen these dark spaces as soon as possible.

Parking

Saint Elizabeths: reuse or abuse?

by Jaime Fearer   •   December 10, 2008 1:01 pm

In mid-November, I attended the second St. Elizabeths West Campus walking tour hosted by the DC Preservation League (DCPL). Founded in 1852 as the Government Hospital for the Insane at the urging of social reformer Dorothea Dix and its first Superintendent, Charles H. Nichols, St. Elizabeths' entire campus was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990, named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "Eleven Most Endangered" List in 2002, and placed on the DC Inventory of Historic Sites in 2005. In 2008, DCPL named the West Campus as one of DC's Most Endangered Places.

The East Campus, now under District control, continues to operate as a hospital, and DC recently finalized a framework plan for redeveloping the site. Meanwhile, the West Campus was essentially abandoned in 1987. In 1999, Mayor Anthony Williams suggested moving UDC to the West Campus. In hindsight, and in my opinion, this proposal would have proven beneficial to both UDC and Anacostia. After all, the Center Building was designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, the fourth Architect of the Capitol and designer of the Capitol Dome. The Main Building—its three-story columns facing a sprawling quad—was designed by the Boston firm of Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge, architects of the Stanford University campus.

Outrage over the proposal, fostered primarily by accusations of racial insensitivity, killed the idea (at least on an official level) and the land was transferred to the federal government in 2004. Shortly after, GSA began shoring up the buildings with red plywood. GSA cut off public access to "The Point"—with the best views in the city across DC and into Virginia—and a cross-shaped Civil War cemetery. They will remain inaccessible to the public if the Department of Homeland Security moves forward with its plans to build up to an additional 4.5 million square feet of office space and 1.5 million square feet of parking to serve up to 26,000 DHS employees.

DCPL and community members are pushing for "a re-use incorporating rehabilitation of historic structures and landscapes, sensitive new construction, and public access to The Point." Will future generations of residents get to enjoy this site, its buildings and its views, or will Saint Elizabeths West turn into another giant missed opportunity for DC?

Bicycling

Support the Bicycle Safety Enhancement Act

by Jaime Fearer   •   November 13, 2008 11:08 am

Jaime Fearer has now joined the GGW contributor team! Jaime recently moved to Logan/Shaw after 3 years in the Northeast neighborhood of Woodridge, where she ran the blog Stop, Blog and Roll. Please welcome Jaime!

After Alice Swanson was struck and killed while riding her bike to work on July 8, bicyclists across the region have been clamoring for enforcement of seemingly basic safety standards. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association / WABA has dedicated much of its time in the past few months working with the DC Council to draft legislation. In October, Councilmember Jim Graham, chair of the DC Council's Public Works and Environment Committee, introduced the Bicycle Safety Enhancement Act of 2008. The bill includes:

1. A requirement that blind spot mirrors be installed on all DC owned heavy duty vehicles
   
2. New bicyclist and pedestrian awareness training for DC heavy vehicle operators
   
3. A requirement that motorists give three feet of space when passing cyclists
   
4. A fine for the use of restricted lanes (bus/bike lanes or bike lanes) by unauthorized vehicles

Bicycle advocate Joe Mizerek has even created bike jerseys to promote the importance of passing cyclists with three feet of space. That's already the law in many states, and hopefully DC will soon join them.

The Council will hold a hearing tomorrow (Friday, November 14th) at 2 pm. WABA, Matthew Yglesias, and countless others urge you to express your support for the Bicycle Safety Enhancement Act. If you can testify in person (which makes by far the most impact), email or call Maria Angelica Puig-Monsen at 202-724-8195 or mpuigmonsen@dccouncil.us today.

If you can't testify, please send your Councilmember a letter via WABA's action alert site. I sent one to my Councilmember, Jack Evans of Ward 2, and within minutes I received a confirmation from his office. You can also send written statements to Puig-Monsen

Please take a few minutes today to show your support for this long overdue legislation!