A center that will bring health care facilities, a gym, and an educational space under one roof received zoning approval Feb. 12 and will proceed with construction soon.
The roughly $15 million center is being developed by District Development Group in partnership with the Israel Baptist Church and Israel Manor Inc., the church's community development arm.
"This is part of our mission that we have been working on for some time," says Pastor Rev. Dr. Morris L. Shearin, the church's leader and president/CEO of IMI. The project has been in the works for over a decade.
The zoning decision, which granted the project relief from minimum parking requirements, was the final step in the process. Now, as soon as the church's lenders release its funds, construction can begin on the 42,000-square-foot facility, Shearin says.
Two floors of the three-story building will be occupied by Unity Health, a primary health care agency that serves the underserved and underinsured in D.C., and which currently has a location one block away. Unity will move into the IMI building, and the top floor of the new building will be the church's multipurpose facility, Shearin says, where the public can access a gym, basketball court and educational space.
A groundbreaking date has not yet been set.
Rachel is the managing editor of Elevation D.C. She also covers tech, business and science for publications nationwide. She lives in Brookland.