Posts about Tenleytown

Development

Moving AU law school could revitalize Tenleytown

by Neil Flanagan • May 26, 2010 2:06 pm

American University is developing their 2011 campus plan, which will guide growth for the next decade. In effect, the plan is also an understanding between the neighborhood and the university about what the part of the city they share should look like in 2020... and 2060.

Tenley campus from Wisconsin Ave.

In addition to some new buildings on campus AU proposes two major changes: First, the university would erect several buildings on some underused parking lots near campus, which I'll discuss in a later article. The second proposal would relocate the growing Washington College of Law to the Tenley Campus, a facility between Yuma and Warren streets on Wisconsin Avenue at Tenley Circle.

In the abstract, the relocation should benefit the neighborhood and bring more life to the southern part of Tenleytown. The current location of the school is in an autocentric and distant office park on Massachusetts Avenue, a poor location for a professional campus. However, whether the new building benefits or burdens the community will depend on the quality of its execution and the policies with which the administration operates the school.

Currently, around 800 students live on the Tenley Campus, most of them taking part in the Washington Semester program. They occupy a buildings built for the former Immaculata School, which American purchased in 1987. A handful of those structures are designated landmarks, which AU will preserve; others are forgettable midcentury structures, which AU will demolish to handle the law school's 2,500 students and faculty.

The site has tremendous potential to make Upper Northwest more walkable and more sustainable. Moving the law school closer to the Tenleytown-AU metro station will reduce the net amount of traffic along Nebraska and Massachusetts Avenues. To get to the current law school building, students and faculty can either drive to the generous parking garage, or take the AU shuttle from Tenleytown.

That access to the Tenleytown metro is especially important to these law students, because most live outside the neighborhood and merely commute in for the school day. Likewise, the Immaculata campus sits right on several bus lines — and a potential streetcar line — that will receive efficiency improvements through TIGER Grants.

As a side benefit, the new school would put more foot traffic along the southern block of Tenleytown's retail area. The current shuttle buses isolates students from neighbors; the three-block walk down Wisconsin would put them face-to face on the main strip. The steady stream of students and faculty would patronize stores and restaurants and justify streetscape improvements that will make Tenleytown nicer for everyone.

On Nebraska Avenue, a well-designed campus would significantly improve the urban architecture of one of DC's monumental boulevards. Against the other streets, a good architect would be able to make the building disappear into the trees that line the perimeter of the campus. Because the university has no plans or even a design architect yet, the possibilities for integrating the school into the neighborhood are vast. The campus plan is the right opportunity to ask for them.

For all of the potential benefits, the College of Law could still hurt the neighborhood. American could ask for an introverted suburban campus and receive an eyesore and a traffic nightmare. The negotiation between the ANC and the university administration will allow for specific terms of approval to be stated. Design guidelines, operations requirements, and community benefits can be spelled out ahead of time to ensure that both sides gain from the construction and trust is not broken.

American University's plan is good at first glance. Whether it is good for the next fifty years will depend on how well residents and the university work together to make a lasting improvement to the city.

Cross posted on цarьchitect.

24 comments — Share	— tags: AU, DC, development, historic preservation, Tenleytown

Tenleytown: 60 years of anti: Last year's battle over the Tenleytown library and a potential public-private partnership wasn't Tenleytown's first fight over that library. Back in the 1950s, residents opposed building the library in the first place. (Цarьchitect) (Comment · Share)

Anti-density of the week: This week's residents arguing proposed development will destroy their neighborhood are in Tenleytown, where AU's campus plan proposes more density and more students (huge PDF) which some Tenleytowners abhor. (Current) (Comment · Share)

What happens in a storm: A Columbia man stole a front loader to plow neighbors' driveways, and he wasn't the only one (Baltimore Sun) ... One Prince George's resident threatened a plow driver for not plowing his street yet (Post) ... Some shoppers found the Tenleytown Safeway open but unstaffed during the last storm, and a few took items and left money or IOUs; those who left IOUs will be getting a bill. (Post) (Comment · Share)

Public Spaces

Tenleytowners digging each other out

by Neil Flanagan • February 10, 2010 8:44 am

Like most Washingtonians, I'm sick of trudging over the snow. I'm especially tired of walking over increasingly icy sidewalks that should have been shoveled by the adjacent property owners. It is, after all, required by law that all sidewalks be cleared within eight hours of final snowfall.

Gold's Gym on Connecticut Avenue did not clear a path for 3 days.

But rather than complain, shame them in a listserv they'll never read, demand government assistance, or report them to the government, some Tenleytowners are going to just clear the snow for the public good. In doing so, we will make the area safer for residents and name the businesses that failed in their legal and civic responsibility.

Jon Bender and I are organizing the First Tenleytown Volunteer Snow Removal Battalion. At ~~4 pm this afternoon~~ 3 pm tomorrow, we will go forth from the Tenleytown Metro entrance to destroy the slush piles. We will clear paths through sidewalks swamped by plowed snow, unusable bus stops, several elderly residents, and even a few frontages untouched by those responsible for them.

To prevent any businesses from taking advantage of our labor, we will post "You're Welcome" posters on the windows of miscreants and publish names and photographs of them online. I hope that residents will participate in a brief boycott of listed organizations.

Finally, at the end of the event we will have a huge snowball fight. The location is yet to be determined, but it will probably happen in Fort Reno Park.

There is a Facebook page for the event, the Tenleytown Insurrectional Snow Cleanup and Snowball Fight, and you can read the genesis of the idea on the Tenleytown listserv.

Other neighborhoods. Rather than suffering through another few days of slush and ice, it would be a testament to the strength of DC communities to dig out together for each others' benefit. You can even use our shaming sign (PDF).

Stay tuned for a followup post tomorrow.

Update: Due to the ongoing blizzard, this event has been rescheduled for 3 pm tomorrow (Thursday).

36 comments — Share	— tags: DC, sidewalks, snow, Tenleytown

Streetcars on Wisconsin?: Wisconsin Avenue residents led by GGW contributor Ben Thielen are pushing for streetcars from Georgetown to Tenleytown, and created a Facebook page to rally supporters. (NBCWashington, Ben) (Comment · Share)

Safeway taking another way: According to the Tenleytown ANC, Safeway has asked to postpone their redevelopment application. Are they rethinking the plan to create something more urban-friendly as neighbors are asking, or are they just going to leave the store as is? (Ward3DC) (Comment · Share)

Development

Tenleytown Safeway plan shows no signs of improving

by Neil Flanagan • December 16, 2009 2:11 pm

After the heated debate at the November ANC 3E meeting, you might have expected an even fiercer confrontation this past Thursday. There were even promises of it.

Please buy your latte inside.

But it wasn't. Instead, anger gave way to dismay at the lack of substantial improvements in the plans. While Safeway's regional real estate manager Avis Black attended the meeting, she entrusted the presentation to Brian O'Looney of Torti Gallas. He explained their efforts to make the bulk of the structure as unobtrusive as possible without sacrificing the program of the store.

Yet, that program, the functional concept of the store, is precisely the problem. The grocery store, and all its subsidiary stores, such as a Starbucks, would face inward, contained in one enormous envelope with a unitary entrance instead of creating smaller stores facing outward.

Out front, it became clear that Safeway did not want to remove a slip lane between Wisconsin and 42nd St. because they intend to use it for cars to idle while drivers pick up groceries. A reconfigured intersection would be safer for pedestrians, produce a better pocket park, and reduce the amount of speeding on 42nd, but it was not appealing to Safeway.

Unfortunately, critics of the store could not put up a consistent front, going off on tangents about a number of minor elements, some of which were created by other halfhearted concessions. Whose interests does the store need to address? Some residents want a smaller store. One teacher at the adjacent Georgetown Day School objected to Safeway's decision to move the controversial rear walkway, which ran from the school to the store entrance, inside the garage. "We are neighbors too," he said.

And beyond that, how about the residents of a few blocks away — or the region? Safeway entered into a public debate as part of the Planned Unit Development process, and at some point has to address public benefits. Safeway has tried to reduce the impact on adjacent neighbors. However, the store needs to take into consideration public issues, like regional planning, street life, and future growth in the area. A beautiful wall like the one to be built along 42nd is still just a wall. With the currently proposed monolithic store, Safeway cannot be urban.

What did appear was a conclusive sense that dialogue had failed between neighbors and the store. Safeway had made no promises and now promised even less. The neighbors in attendance seemed to not expect any changes. The potential for mixed use and sustainable neighborhood design gets lost, unless Safeway reconsiders their plans or the zoning commission rejects them. The site has much potential, but Safeway is choosing to squander that.

Crossposted at цarьchitect.

30 comments — Share	— tags: DC, development, Tenleytown, Tenleytown Safeway

Tenleytown Safeway too suburban: The large, suburban parking lot behind the proposed Tenleytown Safeway was one of the resident objections raised at last month's ANC meeting. Also, while the plan has stores along 42nd Street, they will face the inside of the store. ANC members also suggested adding some housing above and possibly townhouses in the rear. (Цarьchitect) (Comment · Share)

Development

Georgetown, Tenleytown post offices good opportunities for Smart Growth

by Ben Thielen • November 16, 2009 1:44 pm

The Postal Service wants to convert a single-use post office into mixed-use development in Georgetown. They should extend that idea to their Tenleytown branch as well.

Georgetown post office. Photo by joseph a.

Our society has been shifting communication towards electronic media such as email, relying more on parcel services such as FedEx and UPS. That has created challenges for the Postal Service. This also creates an opportunity, however, to reuse USPS facilities that are no longer necessary because of reduced demand for mail service.

This past summer, the Postal Service announced that it is considering closing nearly seven hundred post offices nationwide. Instead of closing their Georgetown office, the Postal Service wants to sell its valuable property on 31st Street while still maintaining operations on the first floor of the two-story building. EastBanc plans to convert the basement and second floors of the Post Office building into condos, and later hopes to build town homes on what is currently a surface parking lot next to the historic stone building.

This proposal is very sensible for an agency that is struggling with declining customer demand. It lets the Postal Service maintain a branch in the community while leveraging its valuable real estate to gain much needed revenue.

The Georgetown location isn't the only opportunity for the Postal Service to partner with developers to rebuild its facilities and better utilize its property in walkable areas. Redeveloping the Friendship Station post office at 4005 Wisconsin Avenue, which is actually in Tenleytown, would greatly enhance Smart Growth along the Wisconsin Avenue corridor. The current Post Office consists of a surface parking lot and a one-story building that has a largely walled-off front along Wisconsin Avenue.

The buildings surrounding this post office on Wisconsin Avenue are moderately dense. Directly north on Wisconsin Avenue is a five-story residential building. Across the street and a bit north is a garish postmodern office building set back from the street and mostly walled off to surrounding pedestrian traffic. Immediately across the street on the western side of Wisconsin Avenue from the post office is a five-story office building with retail on the first floor. Fannie Mae's suburban-style headquarters and Sidwell Friends school are located to the south.

Left: area around the post office from Bing Maps.
Right: The post office. Image from Google Street View.

As with the Georgetown Post Office, USPS should seek a private developer for this facility that would allow the Postal Service to better utilize a valuable property that is just slightly over a half-mile from the Tenley metro station. A new residential building could be built that eliminates the surface parking lot on the north side of the parcel while maintaining the presence of the Post Office on the first floor of the new mixed-use property. Such creative partnerships are being used to rebuild the fire station in Southwest and potentially provide new police and fire stations in the West End.

The proposed Giant project and a Safeway in Tenley that actually utilizes the great potential of two nearby metro stations will significantly improve the Wisconsin Avenue corridor. Providing new housing for the neighborhood while maintaining the presence of this Post Office will also greatly enhance Tenleytown.