University officials put forward $200,000 worth of community amenities at a zoning board hearing Thursday, looking to appease neighbors concerned with plans to build an 11-story office complex along Pennsylvania Avenue.
The outlined proposal for the sleek 250,000-square-foot building includes $100,000 apiece for a real-time Metro information board and office space for a neighborhood elderly support program. But the West End Citizens Association and the Foggy Bottom Association said the proposal was not enough for a project that would raze seven properties on the block.
WECA secretary Barbara Kahlow pointed out that the package was less than that offered by the Renaissance Hotel on New Hampshire Avenue, which gave more than
$400,000 in community perks, Kahlow said.
Senior Associate Vice President for Operations Alicia Knight said at the meeting that the amenities would actually add up to over $4 million, and would include seven units of affordable housing on F Street across from South Hall, ground retail, sustainable LEED features and a new streetscape.
The housing would include family-size townhouse units along F Street between FoBoGro and the Sigma Chi Fraternity house.
Patrick Kennedy, a junior and director for the Foggy Bottom Association, also said the proposal was insufficient, claiming that the inclusion of tenants such as drug stores and chain restaurants would take away from the community’s uniqueness.
“Nobody regales their peers at an alumni event 20 years after graduation with memories of eating at the Foggy Bottom T.G.I. Friday’s. It’s places like Froggy Bottom, Mehran, Thai Place and Panda Cafe that are uniquely GW and unique to the neighborhood, and there have been tons of places like that in those row houses over the years,” Kennedy said following the hearing.
Knight said after the meeting that the University is committed to “furthering small, locally owned businesses at various locations on its Foggy Bottom campus.” She pointed specifically to the Science and Engineering Hall, which will feature retail on its lower levels.
The new office complex will include more than 6,600 square feet of retail, Knight said, though more specifics have not yet been settled. It will replace four restaurants that will either shutter or relocate before 2014.
Jacob Thayer, a senior and president of the Residence Hall Association, said 58 students wrote letters supporting the proposed designs. Thayer was one of four students who testified at the hearing, in addition to members of construction advocacy group Campaign GW, who also attended.
Sophomore Madeline Louden testified in favor of the project, mentioning that the sustainable measures planned for the complex will help GW at a time in which sustainability rankings are increasing in importance.
“I believe it will greatly enhance the Foggy Bottom and West End community, just as Square 54 did,” Louden said, citing The Avenue, which opened last year.
Just hours before the meeting, the University submitted changes to the commission, which included a new agreement reached with the President Condominium concerning the alleyway that extends out onto I Street past the residential building – a point of contention over the last month due to noise and health concerns.
The University and the President Condominium Board agreed that GW would widen the alleyway for the increased incoming and outgoing traffic. The alley will lead to a parking garage and loading dock attached to the building’s rear.
Vice-chair of the Zoning Commission Marcie Cohen said the increase in parking spaces from 41 spaces to 154 spaces would intensify traffic. She also said the University should encourage the use of public transportation.
Jani Milanovich, who helped conduct a traffic survey of the area, said the project is required to have 134 parking spots. She added that the building needed the spots in order to remain competitive, and said the plan was on track with other buildings of the same size.
The zoning board will hold another open meeting on Jan. 14, 2013, before the University can start work on the complex.
At the Student Association’s meeting Monday, the group raised a bill to oppose Square 75A plans, citing a need to keep GW property for student use. The bill, which was presented in front of Knight, was defeated with eight in favor, nine opposed and 10 students choosing not to vote.
I want to know why there is not a memorial plaque marking the site of Mr. Henry’s (R.I.P)
If the University actually meets the “demands” of the neighbors…will they actually agree or just find something else to delay the project even more? If they will actually see the project through, fine, give them what they want. If not, then my theory stands true…they will always complain no matter what GW does to try and appease them.
You’re right, even the best intentioned students don’t understand how the neighborhood has evolved over the years. I doubt any current Hatchet writer has any clue about Mr Henrys. It hit me once I moved out of the dorms and GW owned town houses and had to live at the real rental/ownership price. Then I knew why the residents had objections to some of the University’s policies. Not saying it’s all bad, but there are real repercussions for residents who aren’t among the student population.
I remember stopping by Froggy in the typical middle school trip to the capital. I could not imagine how important it would become to me once in college. A large part of my GW experience is characterized by Mondays at Froggy for pizza or dinner with friends in their basement. It is a token of the university, mentioned in several commencement speeches. Where will GW students find an affordable, local, authentic place to eat and bond if it is torn down? I doubt GW has not put provisions in that would allow local businesses like Froggy and Thai place to afford 1/4 of the rent they will charge.
GW spends hundreds of thousands on the “student experience” through the CSE. Local business make that “experience” happen. People are not going to be proud, remember fondly, or cherish their time at Fridays or CVS to the extent that they will value something that is uniquely ours. They will never forget their first date at Froggy, the night time Manush run, or the GW Deli, etc. If GW omits that and replaces it with their current proposal, ignoring both the cultural and architectural heritage, they will lose all these elements that make the “GW experience.” What is the effect for students? We will have less choice, more expensive options, and a complete deletion of something as unique to GW as the hippo.
Change is bound to happen and leaving things with the status quo is not always the right way to go forward. I advocate in favor of being conscious of the implications of your actions and going about change in the responsible way. I do not agree with the measures GW is taking. I would suggest that GW does not take the cheap route and invests more in the community, keeps the local businesses, and maintains the town house fronts. I also suggest maintaining the same rent price for the business that make the “GW Experience” happen. This will help them continue to be part of the GW cultural heritage.
(1994 or so) Hell, I remember dates at MR. HENRY’S! And Milo’s (the upstairs of today’s Froggy Bottom) and the old Froggy Bottom, which was only in the basement. It was a dark place with tables and a jukebox.
Milo’s was great, Italian-American food, like pizza, pasta, etc, and a GREAT pizza bar where you could have a bunch of different kinds of slices. At some point (’96 maybe?), the owners sold it, and Froggy Bottom took over the whole space. At one point they hosted infamous all you can drink for $15 nights with a DJ. Not as epic as Flick’s but still.
Henry’s was an experience for sure. We used to say the only ID you needed to get in was “a picture of a dead president”- cash. Pitchers of Bud, Coors Light, bottles of Bud and Bud Lite and MGD, Zima for the girls, and mixed drinks which I never had there. My dad instilled some kind of thing in me where he said if you’re in a crummy bar, drink nothing but beer. Food ACTUALLY wasn’t bad there, they’d cook it next door at Treviso. For a while some friends & I had a Thursday night dinner thing going, pitchers of beer, burgers and/or wings. Crummy fake leather booths, maroon velvet wallpaper, classic paintings of naked ladies- yeah it looked like a whorehouse. Also had a tinny jukebox, although I remember the songs to be fairly contemporary. I say it closed about November 1995. Then it tried to reopen as a “dance club”, and finally, a secret speakeasy upstairs about 1996 that no way could have been legitimate.
Who were the architects? I’m curious about the glum-faced fellow in the photograph. Not exactly putting his best foot forward.
Bud,
I hear you on that stuff, but things change. Mr Days was kept in business by GW students, same as Flicks and Odds (whatever you want to call them) along with Tequila Grill (Mo owns a few Panera Breads now) and countless other places through the years. I never even came close to feeling that Froggy Bottom was iconic in the slightest sense, but it’ll be a shame to see the store fronts give way to more GW buildings.
The new Foggy Bottom Grocery is the biggest sham, I always thought it used to be a nice mom and pop store that wouldn’t even charge you if you were a student and low on cash. Plus Bella Pizza has yet to be replicated, in my opinion.
Oh well, I’ll let the Hatchet writers figure out the answers
Went to all those places. Holy shit, Bella Pizza. That was a good place too. Too bad that guy couldn’t relocate. Some kind of lease dispute in the Foggy Bottom Grocery building.
Why is The Hatchet so lazy that it doesm’t publish a photo of what the new comstruction would replace?
I hate this all.
This would have been a great place for me to slay freshman back when I was in school.
froggy, mehran and thai place do more for GW than administrators ever will