D.C. Deal Could Get Schools, Libraries

Opposition from neighborhood groups has scuttled or complicated past efforts to launch such deals. Talk of adding condominiums to the sites of the Tenleytown and Anacostia libraries, for example, was denounced by activists and went nowhere in 2004. Even projects that did move forward -- the renovation of the historic Sumner School in the 1980s and construction of a new Oyster Bilingual Elementary in the 1990s -- took years to accomplish, as city officials and developers navigated planning, financing and zoning hurdles.

In the meantime, D.C. officials watched enviously as Portland, Ore., and other cities invited private developers to help remake libraries, transit stations and other government-owned sites, adding housing, offices and shops in the process.

"It makes excellent use of an existing resource," said architect Howard Decker of the Washington office of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects, which has done several such projects. "It puts development where you want it."

District officials say they hope to mitigate resistance by soliciting community input on which sites to develop. At the same time, some proponents of the idea believe its time may have come. They note that Cropp's bill proposing a citywide push for private-public development drew eight of 12 possible co-sponsors. A Board of Education committee made a similar proposal last year.

"It's kind of nice to see people catching on," said Robert A. Peck, a former appointee to the Board of Education and former president of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. For the city, Peck said, "This is the way to get someone else to borrow the big money and get a return on your valuable property."

Christina K. Wilson, an architectural historian and general contractor, has tried for years to interest city officials in private redevelopment of school campuses. She and a colleague sketched site plans for replacing several sprawling Capitol Hill schools with more compact facilities to make room for housing, offices and shops. "Almost every piece of D.C. public school property is worth a fortune," Wilson said.

Smaller properties, such as the West End library at 24th and L streets NW, offer the opportunity for "air rights" development -- the right to construct high-rise apartment or office towers above a public facility or highway. In the case of the West End, the library sits next to a small police building, which city officials say could be relocated. More than 400 luxury condominium units are under construction nearby.

"That's one of the premier sites in the city right there" said Jim Abdo, a developer who renovated buildings just across L street from the library. "For years I've been looking at that corner and imagining what could be. You just almost start salivating when you look at that site."

But residents of the Tiverton, a modest apartment building just up 24th Street, say they would resist any effort to redevelop the city-owned parcels. A few years ago, they successfully fought an attempt to change the zoning on a nearby parking lot to allow high-rises. Tiverton tenants say they are tired of seeing luxury buildings sprout around them -- blocking sunlight from their windows and priced higher than they could ever afford.

"It's underdeveloped, from a developer's standpoint. But it's livable in my opinion," Tiverton resident Deborah Akel said of the corner of 24th and L streets, where the four-story Tiverton, the library and the police station stand out because of their modest size. "We want to preserve affordable housing in our neighborhood, and that's just not the trend right now."

The West End site is so valuable, Abdo said, that developers might well be willing to build some affordable housing as well as a library. In exchange, he said, they would want zoning approval to build six, eight or even 10 stories so that there could be lots of profitable, market-rate apartments as well.

"Any developer that wants to work over there has to be very much aware of the community's concerns," Abdo said, especially because of the plethora of savvy and vocal citizen groups. "It's a give-and-take approach."