Posts about AFRH

Historic

Then and Now: Homes near AFRH

by Kent Boese   •   April 23, 2010 4:00 pm

This row of homes on Park Road east of Georgia Avenue has certainly seen some changes over the years. They were designed in 1908 by architect N. T. Haller for builder Percy H. Russell. When they were completed Georgia Avenue was still named Brightwood Avenue, Park Morton (now behind and next to the row) wouldn't be built for another 53 years, and the Soldiers' Home (now the Armed Forces Retirement Home) was still open to the public.

In fact, the Soldiers' Home was considered a major selling feature of these homes. The real estate ad offering these homes to the public stated that one of their many advantages was "one of the most beautiful parks in the world — SOLDIERS' HOME — containing over 500 acres of land, which is yours without the care or expense of paying taxes, if you are "LUCKY" enough to own one of these houses."

Historic

Then and Now: Eagle Gate, U.S. Soldiers' Home

by Kent Boese   •   March 18, 2010 4:00 pm

Even though the Eagle Gate — located at Rock Creek Church Road & Upshur — is clearly recognizable today, there is no mistaking that its has undergone some changes over the years.

The most noticeable may be the absence of the iron archway and electric light that once illuminated the gate. More subtle, but still obvious is the moving of the piers which originally defined a narrower gate with side pedestrian gates. Though these elements are still present, they've been reconfigured to accommodate modern vehicles.

Another significant change, though not present in these photos, is the absence of the street car line that once served this location.

Public Spaces

North Capitol study recommends parkway and boulevard

by David Alpert   •   January 8, 2010 1:54 pm

The North Capitol Street study has released a set of recommendations, WashCycle notes.

North Capitol Street has gradually evolved into more of a freeway over time, including a 19-acre cloverleaf interchange where it meets Irving Street, which the report calls "an anomaly" in DC. But the surrounding neighborhoods are growing, and the street abuts properties planned for development, including the McMillan Sand Filtration Site and the edge of the Armed Forces Retirement Home.

Right now, the freeway character makes the street "a barrier" to any users except for automobiles traveling between the neighborhoods. To the south, the report writes, "where North Capitol joins the more typical urban fabric of the city, the street should fill the role of a symbolic entry to the Capital, but largely fails because of the poor streetscape conditions and unwelcoming pedestrian environment: gaps in the sidewalk network, little or no street furnishings, sparse and inconsistent street trees, chain-link fence, and overscaled, highway-style "cobrahead" light fixtures that leave sidewalks dimly lit."

The study recommends a "parkway" character for the segment north of Irving Street, similar to Rock Creek Parkway with a wide hiker-biker trail along side (hopefully wider and less windy than Rock Creek's), and an "urban boulevard" to the south, with a median, better sidewalks and lighting, and furniture and street trees similar to DC's other axial boulevards.

Public Spaces

Build a circle at North Capitol and Irving

by David Alpert   •   May 5, 2009 1:12 pm

DC and federal officials and a team of consultants have created three options for redesigning the cloverleaf interchange at the intersection of North Capitol and Irving Streets. Dubbed the "Memorial in the Park," "Center of Centers," and "Four Corners," each continues the grade separation of east-west and north-south traffic while also trying to create a more hospitable area for people.

The interchange is DC's only traditional freeway cloverleaf interchange, occupying about 19 acres in what is becoming a more urban, more walkable part of the city. The adjacent Armed Forces Retirement Home plans to develop its southeastern corner, adjacent to the cloverleaf, into mixed-use buildings to fund its ongoing operations. Catholic University is growing, and the nearby McMillan Sand Filtration site will become a new neighborhood of its own as well.

The interchange is part of a short freeway piece of North Capitol between more urban segments to the north and south. It encourages high-speed traffic and discourages pedestrians and bicyclists. It generates a large "dead zone" in the surrounding bus network. And it creates inaccessible empty space instead of more valuable parkland that people can actually use.

The study team developed three alternatives. One would reroute the roads to the southeast, creating a park space for a large memorial and giving the roads a "parkway" design. The park would be 7.5 acres, about the same size as Capitol Hill's Lincoln Park. It's also the most expensive of the four, likely costing $40-45 million.

The second option would build a circle with 2.6 acres of green space in the center, a little more than Dupont Circle's 2.3. Like Dupont, one roadway (Irving) would pass underneath, while the other (North Capitol) would use the circle along with turning movements. This would probably cost $37-41 million.

The third would divide the green space into four corner parks, with the larger two about the same size as the Navy Memorial at one acre. A ring road would let vehicles transfer between the two roads. This option is the cheapest, at an estimated $28-31 million. It'd also be possible to also leave out the ring of buildings, creating more empty space instead of stores and residences.

According to the study team, replacing the interchange with a simple at-grade intersection would require each roadway to have ten lanes, and even then cars would take longer to move through the intersection, not to mention the very long pedestrian crossing times.

DC should choose the circle design. It builds on the existing L'Enfant public space vocabulary of Washington. The well-designed circles mix public parks and vehicular movements in a generally pleasing balance. However, the circle actually be circular. An oval shape might help the cars move through the area a bit more quickly, but at the cost of some parkland. Also, encouraging cars to slow down through the area would improve this public space. A circle works fine for DC's existing circles, and would preserve the continuity across the city.

Public Spaces

Dinner links: development delays and bodily wastes

by David Alpert   •   February 17, 2009 5:04 pm

Staying retired, for now: Development at the Armed Forces Retirement Home is now on hold thanks to the bad economy. (Post via Bloomingdale, For Now)

Shady development seeing the light: The Mongtomery County Planning Board will hold a hearing on the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center on March 26th. (Gazette)

Isn't it fertilizer? Some residents of McLean Gardens and the surrounding area aren't sure a dog park can coexist with their community garden on Newark Street. (WTOP)

Radio? Is that like YouTube without pictures? Kojo Nnamdi discussed social networking today in light of the Maryland legislature's recent ban.

When boarding, please don't pee: Friends of friends of Transportation Examiner Katherine Hill pee on the Metro platforms. Really. Yuck.

Bricks or bricks? DDOT wants to know what you prefer for bricks around Eastern Market: "Holland Pavers" or cobblestone-esque bricks. (DCist)

Dead tree? Oh well: There's nobody to prune dying or dead trees, DC officials tell Life in Mount Vernon Square.

On the calendar: Tonight, DDOT is simultaneously presenting plans for 17th and 18th Street in Dupont and the 11th Street Bridges. In Alexandria, the Potomac Yards advisory group is discussing a potential Metro station. Tomorrow, DDOT will present plans to reopen Champlain Street under the Marie Reed Center in Adams Morgan.

Plus ça change: Last year, people in Ward 3 were debating free visitor parking passes; Council Chairman Vincent Gray was talking about parking on Poplar Point, and we looked at two options for South Capitol Street, of which DDOT ultimately picked the better one.

Public Spaces

North Capitol study plans "gateway", disappoints neighbors

by Patrick O'Malley   •   January 14, 2009 12:25 pm

The "North Capitol Street Urban Design & Transportation Study," sponsored by the Office of Planning, DDOT and NCPC, aims to to transform the freeway-like North Capitol street into an attractive gateway to DC from the north. At a public meeting last night, though, neighbors mostly heaped criticism OP for the narrow scope of the study and for their other frustrations with DC's land use and transportation decisionmaking.

The study focuses on the stretch of North Capitol Street between Hawaii Ave and Michigan Ave, where it passes by the Washington Hospital Center, the Armed Forces Retirement Home, and Catholic University. This stretch is currently a limited access freeway, with a prominent cloverleaf at the interchange between North Capitol and Irving Street. It's designed to funnel people downtown, but severely limits east-west connectivity. There are also no pedestrian, bicycle or transit facilities going north-south through this stretch. The freeway configuration is inhospitable to pedestrians and encourages unsafe driving. Traffic ought to move at city speeds rather than freeway speeds.

Further, the nearby institutions (AFRH, WHA and CUA) generally focus inwards. Even the condominium and apartment communities off Michigan Ave have a very suburban design removed from the street grid.

The study team from EEK Architects acknowledged these issues hopes to turn North Capitol into a symbolic entryway into the downtown core from the north. They talked about creating civic spaces, establishing a unique identity, exploring alternatives to the cloverleaf, and creating a more urban, pedestrian-oriented and transit-supportive North Capitol Street. They are looking to East Capitol Street and Rock Creek Parkway for examples. Both move a lot of traffic but also create character for the area. This is only the beginning a 12-week study, so the presentation was sparse on specific details.

After the presentation, the discussion quickly devolved into complaints, and outright anger in some cases. Many neighbors had high hopes, based on the meeting announcement, that the study was going to look at the area as a whole, including the Brookland/CUA and Georgia Ave/Petworth Metro stations, potential for cross-town light rail service, bicycle lanes, and more. After badgering the officials, attendees realized that the study focuses very narrowly on the cloverleaf and won't address many of these larger issues.

Area residents also expressed clear frustration at the lack of communication between the OP and elected ANCs. Brooklanders, in particular, complained about communication. Much of this stems from their ongoing struggle with government agencies to bury the power lines along 12th Street. There are also 6 million square feet of proposed development in the area, currently in various stages of the planning process. This includes including CUA South Campus, the Armed Forces Retirement Home, the McMillan Plant, and Washington Hospital Center, among others.

With traffic already heavy around North Capitol, residents wanted to see a more comprehensive approach to these current problems. Otherwise, they're sure to get worse as these developments break ground.

Transit

How about a North Capitol Red Line branch?

by Paul Sieczkowski   •   January 4, 2009 10:50 am

Large mixed-use development projects at the McMillan Sand Filtration site and Armed Forces Retirement Home will add density and thousands of residential units to an area far from Metro. Current Bloomingdale residents are concerned about increased traffic, as the area is already a bottleneck, pinched between parks, universities and cemeteries that have severed the street grids. Upstart anti-McMillan development blog No Drilling at McMillan cites an old WMATA study stating that the Washington Hospital Center is the "most dense commuter destination not served by transit rail." Can we we add some transit serving this area?

Richard Layman suggests that DC should require these developers to pay into a fund for future transit enhancement, as Arlington County often does. Streetcars or priority bus corridors along the congested North Capitol Street are distinct and viable possibilities.

But maybe it's worth thinking bigger: how about heavy rail using the Red Line? The Northeast leg of the Red Line followed the railroad right of way rather than a path to maximize TOD, such as Georgia Avenue. Many residents of Brookland and Takoma strongly oppose development, and neither is among the top stations in ridership. What about a separate branch of the Red Line?

Alternating eastbound Red Line trains could split off after the New York Avenue station and service new stations before ultimately linking back up at Silver Spring. This would increase the coverage of Metro to DC residents and add TOD opportunities with minimal impact to travel times for suburban commuters headed downtown and to NoMa. In the long run, this segment could get its own service entirely as part of a possible Brown Line.

Top priorities for the North Capitol route include serving the new developments and the hospital, the commercial nodes of existing communities, preserving the Fort Totten Green Line transfer, and accessing areas with more opportunity for infill stations in the future. Along the existing Red Line track I also added a Kansas Avenue infill station, located in an area of light industrial that could be prime for TOD redevelopment.

Stations along this route could include:

• Bloomingdale: Rhode Island Ave at First Street NW
  
• McMillan: Michigan Ave at First Street NW
  
• AFRH: Irving Street NW at North Capitol Street
  
• Fort Totten: On parallel platform
  
• Brightwood: Missouri Ave at Georgia Ave NW

Future infill stations could go at commerical nodes like Kennedy Street at 3rd Street NW, Georgia Ave at Piney Branch NW, and Georgia Ave at Kalmia Road NW.

What's the best way to serve the cluster of McMillian, AFRH, and Washington Hospital Center? With the Hospital at the physical midpoint, one station to serve these three areas would be the least costly. However, the groups making the most trips would probably be, first, residents of the new communities, then hospital workers, retail customers of the new developments, and finally patients. Residents and retail customers would be more sensitive to long walks or shuttle buses, while workers are more likely to view a shuttle that connected the two nearby metro stations and circulated the hospital campus as an amenity.

This concept is admittedly off the cuff. I haven't vetted it rigorously by evaluating bus ridership and capital costs. Streetcars may be more cost-effective. However, while I do support streetcars across the city, I would also like to see us continue to expand heavy rail. This concept could extend the reach of heavy rail with minimal disruption to core capacity. I thought it was worth serving up in raw form for discussion. I welcome feedback and will work it into further refinement of this concept.

Public Spaces

A busy day for NCPC

by David Alpert   •   July 10, 2008 6:05 pm

This morning, the National Capital Planning Commission (the federal government's planning body for the DC area) released a great proposal for the future of the Federal area of the city. It calls for decking over not only the E Street Expressway but almost all of the "ramp spaghetti", creating space for new buildings east and northeast or the Kennedy Center and a park to the southeast connecting to the Lincoln Memorial.

In the Federal Triangle area, the report also suggests a "Federal walk" guiding tourists to notable works of art among the federal office buildings, a more usable public space at the currently-barren, raised Freedom Plaza around 13th and Pennsylvania, and redevelopment of the FBI building to include street-level retail and restaurants, matching the livelier streets around it.

It also repeats and extends some past NCPC ideas for Southwest, including decking over part of the Southwest Freeway near the Banneker Overlook and creating a new 10th Street Overlook nearby, burying the VRE tracks to restore Maryland Avenue, a canal across East Potomac Park, and redeveloping some of the less historic concrete buildings, especially the Forrestal Building which blocks a view from the Smithsonian Castle down to the Potomac River.

Here's the complete report. I'll analyze its recommendations in more detail next week. Meanwhile, you can read today's Post article.

NCPC also discussed the Armed Forces Retirement Home, which proposes to develop some parcels on the edge of its property to raise an endowment allowing it to provide for its retired veterans in the future. The plan is substantially the same as the one I reviewed previously, with a few small improvements.

Development

Pop the top or pack 'em in the back?

by David Alpert   •   April 23, 2008 7:05 pm

Few people argue with building in undeveloped areas like Near Southeast, with empty lots and where the few existing residents want more neighbors. But there are few of these sites. Most undeveloped land is in or next to an existing neighborhood. Where do we put housing?

Is it better to build new tall buildings near low-density neighborhoods, as has been proposed for the Armed Forces Retirement Home? Should two-story row houses grow to three, as often happens in non-historically designated neighborhoods like Bloomingdale or Petworth where the zoning allows it? Or should we fit more people in between the current housing, in alley dwellings?

In the recent discussion about inclusionary zoning, several people brought up alley dwellings. DC has a rich history of people living in alleys, but current zoning and codes don't allow them. Should we bring them back? Some people in the Low and Moderate Density zoning working group brought it up as a possible alternative to pop-ups. Some have suggested giving more local control, at the neighborhood or even block level, over certain zoning decisions. Should we let each block pick—allow taller new buildings on commercial streets, continue allowing pop-ups, or legalize alley units?

Alley dwellings have drawbacks, too. Right now, we use alleys for parking and loading. But when people live in the alleys, they can create pressure to build garages and loading areas right on the street to avoid impacting the alleys, like on the 14th and U project. Access for fire trucks can be a problem. What other issues do alley dwellings bring up? Would you prefer them to taller buildings in your neighborhood?