'Groundbreaking' Celebrates The Old and New

By Jacqueline DupreeThursday, June 28, 2007; Page DZ03

Ballpark and Beyond is from Jacqueline Dupree's blog on development in Near Southeast Washington, an area between Capitol Hill and the Anacostia River that is being transformed by the construction of the Nationals baseball stadium.

On Tuesday, the D.C. Housing Authority had a ceremonial groundbreaking at Fourth and K streets SE to celebrate the redevelopment of the old Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg public housing project.

It was a pretty warm day, but the tent was air-conditioned. There was a bit of a revival feel as authority Executive Director Michael Kelly, D.C. Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) and other officials sang the praises of the federal-city-private partnership that has leveraged a $35 million U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant into a nearly $500 million revitalization project.

Kelly and others spoke with particular pride about how all 707 units of public housing at Capper/Carrollsburg will be replaced in the new development, which will include 525 affordable rental units and 330 market- and workforce-rate homes. The 23-acre project is a joint venture of Forest City Enterprises, Mid-City Urban and the authority.

The townhouse portion of the redevelopment, now named Capitol Quarter, will have about 121 market-rate and 91 workforce-rate ownership houses. An additional 65 townhouses will contain 111 subsidized rental units and Section 8 ownership units.

The market-rate houses are being made available for reservation in monthly blocks, with tents popping up at the sales center as hopeful homeowners stake their claims. There was a lottery in October for the first 20 workforce units. I imagine another will be coming before too long, although nothing's been announced.

Construction will begin on the first homes in early 2008, and infrastructure work at the site has begun.

Many former Capper residents were at the groundbreaking, clearly excited about what they will be returning to. Kivette Abraham, whose mother moved there when the complex opened in 1956, spoke of being one of the 55 Capper households participating in the community support services homeownership education and counseling program, which will help her to buy a home in the community where she's spent almost her entire life.

As for the rest of the project, 300 low-income rental units have been completed since December in two new buildings for senior citizens and low-income residents. Four mixed-income apartment buildings planned along the new Canal Park between Second and Third streets and I and M streets SE will eventually complete the residential component. Construction probably won't start before 2010. In the meantime, temporary surface parking lots will soon appear on those blocks to help ease the expected Nationals stadium parking crunch.

Office buildings totaling 700,000 square feet are also part of the long-range Capper plan, as are 50,000 square feet of retail. A new community center is on the boards as well, replacing the one demolished earlier this year.