D.C. Plans Project as Home for Radio One
District Would Give Land to Developers

By Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 15, 2007

The District is offering land worth $6 million and $16 million in public financing to a proposed development that would include headquarters for Radio One, the country's largest radio broadcasting company targeting black listeners, which left the city for Lanham 10 years ago.

The D.C. Council will hold a public hearing today on the donation of the land, on Seventh Street NW, and tax increment financing negotiated by the city's planning and economic development office.

Catherine L. Hughes, the Radio One chairwoman who began her career as a broadcaster at Howard University and once ran her company from a storefront on H Street NE, is scheduled to testify. The company left the District in 1997 for what it considered to be the more business-friendly Prince George's County.

"This project brings Radio One back to its roots," Neil O. Albert, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said in a written statement. "Radio One will bring with it a renewed sense of vitality to a corridor that was once one of the District's most vibrant, bustling areas."

Under the proposal, which is subject to approval by the council, Broadcast Center One -- a development group made up of Four Points, Ellis Development Group and Jarvis Co. -- would receive public financing to help build the $115 million project and the land, more than an acre, at Seventh and S streets NW, said Sean Madigan, a spokesman for Albert.

The development, which would be built atop the Shaw-Howard University Metro Station, would include the Radio One offices, shops, 185 parking spaces and 180 apartments, 45 of which would be designated as affordable and workforce housing.

The tax increment financing would allow the city to sell bonds and repay the debt using tax revenue generated by development.

Chip Ellis, chief executive of Ellis Development, said his group is "very pleased."

"It's probably a good way for the city to approach this project and attract a large company back to the city," Ellis said.

Madigan said the economic development office wants the plan approved by mid-December. But Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), chairman of the D.C. Council's finance and revenue committee, said he needed more information about what the city would be granting.

Evans said he wanted to know: "Are we going to get the land back in 30 years? Will they be allowed to sell it? Is it an outright gift?"

Madigan said returning the land to the city is not part of the proposed agreement.

The development is part of the city's effort to revitalize Georgia Avenue where it stretches into Seventh Street into the Shaw neighborhood. Yesterday, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) announced a plan for a $32 million project that would include 112 affordable apartments, shops, underground parking and a community center on city-owned land at Seventh Street and Rhode Island Avenue through a partnership with Parcel 42 Partners, a private developer.