A six-story residential-retail building is coming to 3619 Georgia Avenue NW, in Park View, but probably not until 2016. The co-developers, The Warrenton Group and Mrs. Elmira Gwynn, are in the process of finalizing financing for the project on land owned by Mrs. Gwynn.
Last month, the District’s Board of Zoning Adjustment approved the developers’ request to provide zero off-street parking spaces. David Haresign, of Bonstra/Haresign Architects, said the lot is shallow, with not much depth from Georgia Avenue, “meaning we couldn’t fit in the 14 parking spaces that would have been required.”
Haresign said the developers still have to go through the design process and get a building permit. He expects construction to begin in late 2015 and to take a year.
A single-story retail building divided between two tenants—Lion's Den, a Caribbean restaurant, and a nail salon—currently occupies the lot at the corner of Princeton and Georgia Avenue NW, just south of the Petworth metro. That building will be demolished and replaced by the new construction. The future six-story building will have about 2,400 square-feet of ground-floor retail and five stories above for residential.
The residential portion will have 27 units, probably rental, but the developers have not ruled out the possibility of condominiums. The units will be a combination of one-bedrooms (some with dens) and two-bedrooms, from 500 to 850 square feet. There will also be two two-story duplexes.
In order to receive parking relief, the developers submitted an alternate transportation plan that includes bicycle parking spaces, a bicycle repair facility, garage share and an online posting of public transit options.
“We wanted to take a fresh look at residential buildings not only in Petworth but in Washington, D.C.,” Haresign said of a design that, because of the depth of the lot, emphasizes the building’s verticality.
Haresign said the Petworth neighborhood is an attractive one, with “lots of retail activity and a grocery store that was just built and opened” within walking distance of the project.