A new neighborhood rises east of the river. Is it a sign of change, or more of the same?
An entirely new neighborhood is rising just a minute’s walk from the Anacostia Metro station. Nearly two dozen townhomes and apartments have sprouted at Sheridan Station, where public housing will become a mixed-income community. But will it be an economic catalyst for the community, or a new face for the area’s existing struggles?
A view of Sheridan Station rising from the hillside across Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE. Photos by the author.
When it first broke ground more than 4 years ago, Sheridan Station was supposed to have 344 units, equally split between market-rate homes for sale and rentals for low-income households. But in the fall of 2012, developer William C. Smith asked to reduce the ratio of for-sale homes to 25%, arguing that potential buyers would have trouble securing mortgages.
Today, 327 homes are planned for Sheridan Station, just 80 of which will be for sale with the rest for rent. Of the remaining 247 units, 200 will be affordable, and 100 are set aside for households on the public housing waiting list. Priority will go to residents of Sheridan Terrace, which used to occupy the site, and Barry Farm next door, which will be redeveloped in 2016.
New residents are hopeful, but anxious
James grew up in the neighborhood and lived in Sheridan Terrace, the public housing complex that predates Sheridan Station, in the 1980s. The units were falling apart. “I came home one day from work and the ceiling was on the floor,” he said. Hazardous building conditions and street crime precipitated the departure of hundreds of families.
James, a resident of Sheridan Station, has been watching the quick rise of an entirely new neighborhood yards from the Anacostia Metro station. Photos by the author.
I ran into James, who is wheelchair-bound, while recently surveying Sheridan Road. When housing became available in the first phase of Sheridan Station, he was able to secure a unit due to his sister’s network.
“I’ve been coming out here everyday just to watch,” James said. “It’s about time they started. They never said why it took so long to begin. They blamed the weather. People began putting pressure on them and asking questions. There’s more demand for housing than there is supply. This looks like it is decent housing.” He pointed out a building and said once completed he would be moving to the first floor.
Market-rate homeowners are excited about the development too. Darin Tuggle, an attorney for the Department of Housing and Urban Development Chris Miller, a 29-year-old business consultant, saw the signage for Sheridan Station on Suitland Parkway while commuting from Upper Marlboro. “When I decided to purchase a home, I looked at various neighborhoods but the rapid rise in prices in more ‘trendy’ neighborhoods priced me out,” he says. Sheridan Station won him over with the proximity to Metro and the views of downtown DC.
“After moving in, I switched from driving to work to taking the Metro,” he says. “The commute has been a big quality of life upgrade for me.”
Tuggle says he loves the “great urban neighborhood vibe and look” of the street where his new home is. “We are a microcosm of the city, young, less young, professional, artistic, black, white, Hispanic, foreign-born, single, couples, inter-racial,” he says. Miller looks forward to the area becoming more walkable and getting a grocery store.
But there’s been some tension between new residents and those who already lived in the area. Miller says kids have smashed his house windows three times, while neighbors have had their cars vandalized. “These incidents of vandalism can be attributed to some of the tension that existing members of the community feel towards the new development,” says Tuggle.
Is this a sign of change, or more of the same?
Sheridan Station serves as a preview of future development east of the river, from the reconstruction of Barry Farm to Skyland Town Center, the 11th Street Bridge Park, and Saint Elizabeths East Campus. But in contrast to the splashy opening of Sheridan’s first phase, the groundbreaking and construction of Sheridan’s second and third phases have gone on quietly. At a press conference earlier this month, Mayor Gray highlighted his outgoing administration’s commitment to developing affordable housing, but did not mention Sheridan Station.
William C. Smith’s uneven promotion of for-sale units led homeowners to speculate that the development’s initial goals would never happen. “I had to look for Sheridan Station; it didn’t look for me,” says Tuggle, noting that he’d received ads for other new developments in the area, like Arts District Hyattsville and Dakota Crossing.
He and other homeowners only found out recently there were only 20 homes for sale in the development’s last phase, with the rest being rentals. “[My neighbors] had advised friends and associates that there would be a lot more opportunities to buy in the last phase,” he says.
Furthermore, many public housing tenants I’ve spoken with express a fear that when the new buildings are filled with disparate families from various public housing developments, long-standing feuds, similar to the Hatfields and McCoys, may erupt.
Although private investment has hesitated to cross the Anacostia River, long-term residents point to developments like this, as well as the new schools and recreation centers that have been built recently, as infallible evidence of “the Plan,” which seeks to make the area attractive to a new demographic who will displace them. But Sheridan Station and its inability to deliver a mixed-income neighborhood as first promised illustrates the tenuousness of the “new Ward 8,” as Councilmember Marion Barry calls it.
The need for tenant and workforce housing in Ward 8 is overwhelming. Despite Sheridan Station’s success in attracting affluent professionals, the continued concentration and retrenchment of disadvantaged people in this area has the potential to suppress the economy of communities east of the river for yet another generation.