Current building at 401-403 15th Street SE. The owner wants to raze the current structure and replace with a retail-residential building.
During Tuesday evening’s (Dec. 11) commission meeting, ANC 6B will consider whether to support a raze permit application for the commercial building at 401-403 15th Street SE.
Property owner Goodeon Kingston LLC wants to raze the building and build a 5-story mixed-use retail residential building on the site. The property lies directly across from residents in my Single Member District (6B09) and from Payne Elementary School. Since the parcel is zoned commercial C-2-A, the owner does not anticipate having to come before the commission in the future with variance or special exception requests. The owner has expressed interest in holding a future community meeting to discuss plans for the site.
If you have questions or concerns about this project, I encourage you to attend tomorrow night’s ANC 6B meeting. The meeting begins at 7 pm at the Hill Center, 921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE. Looking at tomorrow’s agenda, my guess is that we will discuss this case during the 8:00 pm hour.
Brian Flahaven 
Another blog suggests that Goodeon Kingston LLC would like to keep its plans confidential from the public (for now, I guess), which is worrying. I can’t attend tomorrow but I assume the ANC meeting is open? If they don’t need variances or special exceptions, is there any point at which the ANC, city or public can influence what they place there?
Thanks for the comment John. First, ANC 6B meetings are always open to the public. Second, I have heard that the owner wants to keep the plans confidential which also worries me. I plan to ask about this tomorrow night. Finally, if a project does not need variances or special exceptions, the ANC would not have an opportunity to review the project prior to construction. The owner has indicated a willingness to work with surrounding neighbors and I hope they agree to hold community meetings.
[…] permit for the vacant commercial building at 401-403 15th Street SE. The developer plans to build a five-story residential building at the site and hope to begin construction in March/April of 2013. Unfortunately, the developer has […]
[…] recent discussion of plans for 401-403 15th Street SE has re-opened an old Hill East debate: Should 15th Street SE be zoned for commercial activity? Or […]