Posts about Eastern Market

Some say that there won't be enough room for the flea market in the planned plaza along C Street, but Garber notes that closing 7th Street on weekends would create plenty of room. Another recent change placed a daycare at a prominent corner instead of retail. It would be better to locate the daycare elsewhere as long as it doesn't reduce affordable housing.

Here is Garber's letter:

Dear Chairman Hood and Members of the Zoning Commission:

I am writing in support of the Stanton-EastBanc development team's Hine School redevelopment project. Please note that although I serve as the Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for the Navy Yard neighborhood and as the Vice Chair of ANC 6D, my comments here are not meant to represent the opinions of my entire ANC.

I have been a regular visitor to Eastern Market my entire life; I have been following this redevelopment process closely since the school was closed in 2007; and I currently live one mile southwest of the Hine School site. I engage with the site almost daily—whether shopping or dining nearby, swimming at the Rumsey Aquatic Center, working from the neighboring coffee shops, or visiting with friends and family in the adjoining neighbor­hood, and can confirm that as much as the Eastern Market area is an amenity and point of interest for those immediately adjacent to it, it is also an important place for people from all sides of Capitol Hill, the city, and the region.

Our goal for this redevelopment should be to create—through architectural and urban design, landscaping, tenanting, and programming—1) an atmosphere that will bolster our mutual affection for the immediate area, 2) a diversity of options in affordability, size, and type of residential, office, and retail spaces, 3) connections across the site that do not exist now, and 4) a place that will sensitively take advantage of its location above the Eastern Market Metro station to bring more residents and daytime employees to the neighborhood already flush with local retailers that will only be strengthened by the presence of additional customers brought in by this project.

Acknowledging that no one development or design proposal will meet everyone's individual or group ideas for what is most appropriate, I support Stanton-EastBanc'current proposal because it goes a long way to accomplish many of the diverse hopes for the site. Their proposal communicates architecturally with the surrounding neighborhood without inauthentically bowing to it, adds a significant amount of affordable housing in an area that increasingly needs it, reopens C Street SE across the site, and respects the scale of the existing neighborhood while adding appropriate new density to a transit-accessible location.

I remain concerned about some recently-altered elements of the project. First, I believe it is short-sighted to use the corner retail space at 8th and D Streets SE as a day care center. That space would be put to better use as a vibrant retail corner that, as such, would go a long way to visually connect retail activity on the north and south sides of Pennsylvania Avenue SE. The day care center would be more appropriately located somewhere on or off the site with less retail potential. Any relocation of the day care center within the site should also stear clear of space currently promised for use as affordable housing.

Second, although I understand that the removal of the penthouse level of the office building at the corner of 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE was in response to concerns that the building was too large, a new problem has emerged from its removal: there is no longer any graceful transition between the top of the building and the sky. What was a tiered structure has been left as a box, and I am confident that more can be done to gracefully break up or distinguish elements of the massing while retaining or sensitively adding to the building's existing square footage.

I would also like to speak to the concern that this redevelopment, as proposed, will reduce general open space as well as the size of the weekend flea market currently located at Eastern Market and on the Hine School parking lot. I would like to add my support to the idea of closing 7th Street SE between C Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE for use by the flea market on weekends, and point out that—although currently underutilized in its present state—the Eastern Market Metro Plaza is a sizable neighborhood amenity immediately adjacent to the Hine School that could be designed and programmed for a variety of uses.

Again, I support Stanton-EastBanc's plans for the redevelopment of the Hine School. I know they are working hard, alongside ANC 6B and neighborhood organizations, to plan a project that will be a benefit to the neighborhood and the city. The inclusion of affordable housing and the reopening of C Street SE exemplify the kinds of community benefits expected from a Planned Unit Development and public land disposition. I am confident that their proposal will only bolster our affection for the site, and will finally bring a sense of completion to a place that has been—save for weekend market functions that can be redistributed across the site and surrounding streets—an economic and visual hole for too long.

Without its august associations with its namesake and its designer, the MLK Library would have been demolished or gutted during the last real estate boom. That would never happen to the Old City Library, regardless of its historical merit as one of Andrew Carnegie's.

That building endures because there is something attractive and innately human in its scale. It elicits a sense of reverence and respect appropriate for its purpose. One cannot say the same for the MLK Library or the projects designed by TEN Arquitectos.

Of the West End project, Weber approvingly writes the viewer perceives the structure as a "pixilated glass amoeba," which is nearly as good a simile as that used by an architect who once appeared before ANC 6C who described his project as "two tectonic plates colliding." The Glass Amoeba overhangs the public space—an expedient trick that is about maximizing profit rather than design.

It reminds me of the J. Edgar Hoover Building. It's mass looms above the pedestrian, which always gives me a sense of unease as I walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. What they lack in an architectural idiom grounding them within an historic setting, neighboring architectural blunders aside, they make up for in shock value. They are stunning, but so is much of pop culture and neither will stand the test of time.

There are very few examples in DC where "new" (post-World War II) traditional design is done well. The Ronald Reagan building approaches it. The Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building alludes to it.

But in the wrong hands traditional architecture becomes kitsch. Some of the most vocal opponents of the current Amy Weinstein design for the Hine School site are neighbors that live in the 300 block of 8th Street SE, an example of 1970-ish infill where misapplication of traditional form is on display.

Turn the corner at 8th and C Street, SE and it continues, complete with curb cuts and garage entrances the degrade the pedestrian experience. Were these structures to be subjected to design review today, they would not be permitted.

Architecture can be a restorative act. When an architect takes cues from community and not her or his creative impulse, the design result can reconcile the built and natural environment, healing the mistakes of previous generations. I often think of what was lost—and what we were given—in the Southwest waterfront during the Great Society endeavors of the 1960s.

Architecture and urbanism in practice should seek to form a whole, to make something complete. Each element, be it a room, a house, a porch, a garden, a block, a neighborhood, or a city, provides transition and each element relies upon the previous.

This shared state of transition is the underlying principle of unity found in all things. It applies to cities, to ecosystems and agriculture, to art, to human systems of organization as bureaucratic and inefficient as Congress and to things as natural and enduring as families.

I think about this in the case of Hine School project at Eastern Market. I sympathize when I hear residents say they want something that is in keeping with the character of the neighborhood. Those parts of the Hill we love the most, we love for their "completeness."

Eastern Market is already "complete", not simply because of the attention Adolf Cluss gave to brick course and cornice (and, after the fire, the careful hands that restored it), but of the neighborhood that exists around it; the activity and personal connections formed through commerce and community across generations.

Paraphrasing architect Steven Mouzon: "If a building cannot be loved, it will not endure. And if does not endure, it is not sustainable." Progressive planners and some architects get this concept of sustainability. We demand it in our transportation systems, in our food systems. There is an interest in all things local. Why not in our buildings? Why is it that an architects practicing in the early 20th century understood this balance better than many practicing today?

Market Row: Samuelson described this presentation by Seven Penn Partners as looking like Bethesda, and that is more accurate than SPP might hope. Their plan would move the flea market to C Street, closing the street to car traffic on the weekends. A below ground garage would contain 350 parking spaces, two-thirds for the public and one-third for residents. An alley offset to the south would break up the site, though it wouldn't line up with the alley between 8th and 9th. A pedestrian walk from the alley to C Street offset to the west. In addition to residences and retail, they would include office space, a park along C and a courtyard. The biggest weakness is that, unlike the other two, they didn't mention any explicit tenants (except St. Colleta's for crafts) which makes is hard for people to imagine themselves going there.

Kimpton Hotel Anchor: The proposal from DSF/Street Sense/Menkiti Group presented a high end set of proposals with more specifics. One key element was the inclusion of an 80-room Kimpton Hotel and Spa on the corner of 7th and Penn. They had more specific numbers than others: 235 residential units, 40,000 sf of retail, 15,000 sf of private open space (including for-rent rooftop space). They plan to add a 35 foot wide sidewalk along 7th and to move the flea market there. Unlike Market Row, the only way to traverse the site is on an L-shaped alley from C to 8th that does align with the alley between 8th and 9th. They plan fewer than 350 parking spaces, though they didn't give a number, and think they can do it by doing a shared space analysis.

They said they would spruce up the currently sad triangle of open space at the northwest corner of 8th and Pennsylvania. They have commitment letters from Yes! Organic Market about moving down the block for a larger location, and with Busboys and Poets, who would provide a community room. For an added touch of class, they're bringing in Robert Wiedmaier, 2009 Rammy Chef of the Year, to do the cooking at the Kimpton. They would build below the maximum allowable building height and FAR "to keep the development consistent with the existing neighborhood." Finally, they'd also build a small park along C Street.

It was a strong entry, and probably the one most in line with New Urbanist principles. The quality of its design and the strong list of partners they've added make this one of my two favorites.

Stanton/Eastbanc: This is the homer choice. With Amy Weinstein and her husband Philip Esocoff as the prime architects, they bring in a team who knows the area, knows the history, and knows the neighborhood (though every group brought someone who could tell a story of living on the Hill). They spent significantly longer than the others promoting their experience and knowledge of the history of the area. Weinstein designed the addition to the building across 7th Street, a building on 7th just north of the Hine site and is designing the proposed Capitol Hill Town Square just south of the site. Knowledge and experience is definitely a strong suit for this team.

Despite their "emphasis on people"—they showed photos of Hill residents eating Al fresco and of the artistic bike rack on 7th—their proposal is most donut-like, without an alley or walk to traverse the site. It also has the greatest density. A large amount of space is set aside for the Shakespeare Theatre, which has office space down 8th, a rehearsal space across the street from that, and a prop storage area in Mt. Rainier; they would love to combine these into one location.

The plan includes a piazza on C Street, where the Shakespeare Theatre could do free performances, a sunken courtyard in the middle, and over two acres of green roof and roof gardens. Like Market Row, they'd place the flea market on C Street and close it to car traffic on weekends (as well as during 'special events' in the piazza). Other than the Shakespeare Theatre, the only other specific user mentioned was International Relief and Development, which would move into a large block of office space along 7th. The garage would have parking for 390 cars. They would pursue a LEED platinum rating. This group seemed the most prepared and gave the most information about the site and their plans. With their connections to the Hill, the project is almost theirs to lose, and at this point it's probably a two-horse race between the last two groups.

Overall, I felt they were all better proposals than what I expected to see, with three very strong ones.

Followup from David A: A group of neighbors, called the Eastern Market Metro Community Association, laid out five principles in advance, including accommodating the flea market, keeping the neighborhood's residential character, working with the community, and designing for people and bicycles rather than cars, including avoiding excessive parking. According to EMMCA organizer Thomas Riehle, the Stanton and Street Sense groups have been aggressively reaching out to neighbors, particularly Street Sense. Riehle says that Bozzutto, the lead developer in the Seven Penn group, "was actively hostile" to neighbors' outreach efforts, limiting the number of attendees at a meeting to 12 and insisting they had to check with the Mayor's office before scheduling anything. NLC was "the hardest to reach," routing EMMCA's outreach efforts to an assistant.