City Paper Story - an explication

Following is a posting that appears on the City Paper site. There are many interesting details that betray the developers emphasis on maximizing square footage and falsely suggesting the developer has any control over which types of business will appear after the developer disappears. Comments are numbered and appear in red.



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A Bit More on the McMillan Sand Filtration Site

Posted by Ruth Samuelson on Dec. 17, 2008, at 5:50 pm

An artistic rendering of the amphitheater at the McMillan site.

1) The developer is required to keep some of the towers, so the tower space and that immediately surrounding are counted as open space, despite how useless this space is regarding recreation. Any other city would insist on making running trails or bike trails, or sport fields or gardens. Because the developer is in control, maximizing profits and square footage are the highest priority. That is why there is only one cross street, which will quadruple traffic on Channing, and that is why 'open space' includes the towers, which they are required to preserve anyway.

I wanted to post a few more details about the McMillan site plans presented on Saturday.

(For those that don’t know, the McMillan Sand Filtration site is 25-acre parcel of land at the corner of North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue, Northwest. A water filtration plant operated there until the late 1980s. Now, a development team is looking to turn the area into a mixed-use community including up to 1,200 units of “mixed-income and multi-generational” housing.) So here are some more elements of the design scheme:

• The land use plan shows several residential buildings with three to four floors up to buildings with five to eight floors.

2) Residential buildings that are four stories high? Just how many low-income units are intended for this project? I have nothing against low-income housing, I just think this neighborhood is already shouldering enough of the city's burden. Let's see Georgetown and upper Northwest take on more responsibility.

• There’s plans for a public amphitheater close to the corner of First Street and Michigan Avenue.

3) Why not a garden? How much will this ampitheater be used? By whom? Who will manage it? Is there really a demand for an ampitheater? If the developer had put a nickel into hiring someone that knew something about designs, the audience of the ampitheater would be able to see the reservoir rather than sitting in a hole next to First Street.  The reservoir is a unique vista offering stunning sunsets.  My 15 year-old nephew would come up with a design that allowed views of the reservoir from public space on the McMillan property.  How about a raised pedestrian foot bridge to join Children's, the reservoir and the site?  That would provide views of the reservoir and the City.  But, it would take time, and the developer has no interest in delaying erection of the eight-story office buildings.  By the way, how long will it take the skateboarders and bums to deface the "ampitheater"?

• A merchandising plan calls for three types of retail on the northern end of the community by the corner of North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue: Restaurant/Food & Beverage, Neighborhood Goods and Services, and Grocery.
• The merchandising plan lists some possible restaurants and businesses that the developers would like to conceivably see in the community. Some of those listed under “Restaurant/Food & Beverage”: Ray’s the Steaks, Cactus Cantina, Sala Thai, Busboys and Poets, and Ceviche. The merchandising plan also names Neighborhood Goods & Services: CVS, Griffin Cycle, Logan Hardware, Sports Zone. Additionally, there’s space for a grocery store. I asked Aakash Thakkar, Vice President of Development at EYA, to further explain the meaning of this list, and how it was compiled. Were these businesses that his development team intended to reach out to, or just ideas—or a mix? Here’s what he said: “Some of the restaurants, our team has relationships with.” However, no one is signed up now, and they won’t be approached for quite some time. “[The names] are concepts, ideas, and we will pursue them at the appropriate time.” The first tenant to be signed on would likely be the grocery store, and hopefully that would happen within six to nine months.

This is the where the rubber hits the road. All of this talk about sushi restaurants and a Trader Joe's is complete propoganda. The developer has NO control over who pay rents here. This community is fragile. It is possible that enough people have invested enough to make Bloomingdale a more attractive place to live and that our crime walks and efforts to keep our streets and alleys clean will contribute to a neighborhood that is safe and attractive to new homebuyers. It is also possible that adding hundreds of low-income housing units will tip the current balance towards more crime, vagrancy, and dirty streets. For this developer to dangle sexy fantasy retail in order to sell low-income housing and massive development is evidence of the developer saying whatever it takes to sell this project. This is public space. This neighborhood should wake up and get involved. The developer will disappear after this is done and will not have to deal with traffic jams, loiterers, and check-cashing stores. We will.