By Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 1, 2006; B03

Donning hard hats and grabbing ceremonial shovels, D.C. public officials broke ground yesterday on a $60 million housing and commercial development that they hope will start to change the profile of Georgia Avenue NW.

D.C. officials foresee Park Place, which is being built above the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro station, to be the economic catalyst for a long-awaited renewal of Georgia Avenue, said Stanley Jackson, deputy mayor for planning and economic development.

The project , expected to be completed within two years, includes 150 condominiums among seven floors, six townhouses behind the main building, underground parking and six to eight shops and restaurants.

"You are standing here at the apex of the first major development of this magnitude on Georgia Avenue," said Jackson, heralding the project, which is part of the District's Great Streets initiative.

Known as the city's "original Main Street," Georgia Avenue has been tattered over the years by suburban flight, riots and the drug trade.

But Park Place was not the city's idea. The ambitious plan to build condos and shops on the corner came from residents opposed to the city's original plan to build the new headquarters for the Department of Motor Vehicles on the site.

District officials believed a government agency would give the neighborhood a boost, said D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1).

"It was a good idea at the time on the model of the Reeves Center on U Street," Graham said, referring to the government building often credited as the catalyst of U Street's revitalization.

He said residents were visionaries for having faith that commercial and residential development could work at the Georgia Avenue location.

Yesterday, council member Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4) asked several residents who had been behind the fight against the city's DMV plan to join him during a news conference before the groundbreaking.

"It was a done deal that the DMV was going to be built on this site, and that couldn't have come as more of surprise to the people behind me," said Fenty, a D.C. mayoral candidate. "They said, 'Hold on, we don't know anything about the DMV coming to this site, and, in fact, we don't know if that's a good idea.' "

Peron Williams, 49, said he and his neighbors "felt it would have an adverse effect on the community."

" . . . It wasn't really true economic development," he said.

Fenty attended the residents' first meeting and later introduced them to officials from Donatelli Development Inc., the Bethesda-based firm that would win the bid to build at the site, Williams said. The project faced some setbacks, including a lawsuit by a failed bidder.

Dorothy Blackwell, who has lived in Petworth all her life, and her husband, Kevin Blackwell, said they hoped yesterday's groundbreaking marked Georgia Avenue's turnaround.

"I have watched the deterioration," said Dorothy Blackwell, 45. "We're starting to see things now. A restaurant, a dry cleaner. We want the Mocha Hut, a nice little breakfast place."

Mocha Hut is a confirmed tenant, and Donatelli is negotiating with other businesses, said Christopher Donatelli, president and chief executive of the firm.

Donatelli has become a leader in transit-oriented development in the District as the firm behind projects near the U Street and Columbia Heights Metro stations.

The Georgia Avenue-Petworth Station was a natural next step in development, said Nigel Gragg, who heads Gragg & Associates LLC, a partner of Donatelli's.

"Georgetown is over and done with. Dupont Circle is over and done with," he said. "There's only one direction to go."

But some residents are worried about losing one of the city's more affordable neighborhoods.

Nicole Paprika and Marco Del Fueg staged a two-person protest as event participants grabbed hard hats and shovels.

"We are against this extreme development. Not even working-class people can afford to live here," said Del Fueg, 41, who called himself a community activist.

Donatelli said 20 percent of the units will be set aside for residents earning less than 50 percent of the city's annual median income, and some will be reserved for residents earning less than 30 percent.

Donatelli and city officials said there was ample community participation in planning and deciding how much affordable housing would be included.