Partnership Is Chosen for Redevelopment
$700 Million Mixed-Income Project Planned in the Area Around Sursum Corda

By Joshua Zumbrun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 14, 2007

Two D.C. developers have been selected to tear down the low-income Sursum Corda cooperative and the Temple Courts housing complex and redevelop the area with high-density housing, retail and office space, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) announced yesterday.

The $700 million project is part of an ambitious strategy to attract mid- and upper-income families to help revitalize a struggling and once crime-ridden neighborhood, without displacing residents.

The development partnership, called One Vision, is led by William C. Smith & Co. and the Jair Lynch Cos. and includes Banneker Ventures and Community Preservation Development, a provider of affordable housing.

They propose building a mixed-income community with 1,630 units that include high-rise and low-rise apartments, condos and townhouses.

The project, called Northwest One, will have 40,000 square feet of retail space, 220,000 square feet of office space and a 21,000-square-foot health clinic, a new facility for Unity Health Clinic, which operates in the area. The partnership has agreed to increase the number of affordable housing units in the proposal from 410 to 571.

Northwest One will encompass not only Sursum Corda and Temple Court but also several buildings in the vicinity. It is roughly bounded by North Capitol Street to the east, New York Avenue to the north, New Jersey Avenue to the west and K Street to the south.

Developers hope to begin the first phase, along North Capitol, in late 2008 or early 2009, said Chris Smith, the owner of William C. Smith & Co.

"In our next step, we'll be having more meetings with the community before we finalize the master plan," Smith said.

Getting the support of Sursum Corda residents, who own the complex, was a factor in the city's selection of the developers, said David Jannarone, D.C.'s director of development.

To help gain their approval, 161 affordable housing units were added to the proposal.

One Vision negotiated with the Sursum Corda board, together with Kettler, a developer formerly named KSI that had bailed out the cooperative in 2005, to reach "agreements in principle" on goals. The most important: maintaining affordable units so that Sursum Corda residents could continue to live in the neighborhood.

"It's definitely a big plus that their plan included a much larger percentage of the residents that live there now," Jannarone said.

"The goal of the plan is to have everyone who currently has a unit there able to return to a brand-new unit at the same rate," he added.

Affordable-housing rates are set for families earning 30 percent to 60 percent of the median income, about $56,000 for a family of four in the District. Three-hundred sixty units will be set at the 30 percent level, about $16,800. The remaining units will be for families earning up to 60 percent of the median, about $33,600.

Residents greeted yesterday's announcement with measured optimism.

"I'm glad that Sursum Corda is going to be in the early phases of the project," said Alverta Munlyn, a resident of the neighborhood for 65 years. "But some of the residents still don't know what's going on."

Munlyn said some question whether they will ever return. "My hope is that Sursum Corda's residents will be rehoused," she said. "But we still have not been able to see final plans."

Residents of Temple Court, who rent, are equally concerned, officials said.

The city plans to spend $45 million to rebuild Walker-Jones Elementary School, adjacent to the development. The new building will house a community recreation center and a library.

The tentative goal is to complete the development by 2014.

"We worked hand-in-hand to help shape that proposal, and we think it's a terrific, terrific team," said Rick Hausler, Kettler's president. "The strong support it's getting from the city is going to make this undertaking a success. We think it's going to be a showcase."