A town hall meeting was held last night to conduct a public discussion on the Allegro condominium development which is slated to be built on the old Giant site (3460 14th St NW).  This event was hosted by Commissioner Calvin Woodland (1A02), Councilmember Jim Graham, and ANC 1A.  The developer and architects for this project were there to provide updates on the project.  Unfortunately, we were unable to attend this event.  However, Elizabeth McIntire, a long-time resident of Columbia Heights, was able to attend.  She posted a detailed synopsis of the meeting to the Columbia Heights listserv:

Some notes from the meeting this evening about the 300 unit "Allegro" development : 

The developer Mr.Jerome Bernstein stated they've spent the last three weeks modifying the design in response to comments on listserves regarding the importance of streetfront commercial space, to include 5000-6000 square feet on 14th St. This meant sacrificing some of the English basement units and a gives a lower return on investment.

He was a bit taken aback by residents expecting this private development on private property to live up to the false promises of another developer regarding a community center on the site.

Councilmember Graham had suggested in private meetings that a contribution to the 1456 Oak St Apts could serve as a community benefit. At the meeting tonight, the Councilmember suggested that commercial space was not so important, and that some arrangements could be made to mitigate the impact on immediate neighbors of the project.

The presentation by architect Eric Colbert stated that the zoning variances requested were very minor and the project could be built without them, but would be better with:

• slight increase in the lot occupancy, for real balconies on the inner courtyards instead of "juliet" balconies (with no floor space-basically sills with railings)
• slight decrease in the "public" (meaning common-area) space  He also stated the design of four stories was in deference to the heights of surrounding buildings. That by right they could build to 50 feet (5 stories) but that would be a quite different design.

The developer is required to do a traffic study; not clear if this is coordinated with BZA or independent.

There was discussion of the access to the parking (246 spaces underground) /loading dock (rear of site, Newton St side) by the existing alleys off 14th and Meridien. Mr. Bernstein suggested making the alley from 14th St (parallel to Meridien) one way. He was resistant to entertaining wider alleys as it would involve revising the submission to BZA and he was not sure it could be accomplished in time for the existing hearing date.

I say it is a shame that there was not an opportunity for community input sooner. At the same time, with only 20 or so community members present, plus 4 ANC commissioners (of eleven in ANC 1A), I can sympathize with the developer willing to spend three or more hours fielding questions and suggestions on an almost final-designed project that has already taken a lot of time and investment, on a matter that is mostly none of our business.

If it were my business, my suggestion would be to go to five stories -- perhaps views from the upper floor might be an additional selling point. The smaller footprint would allow more flexibility to accommodate the traffic issues inherent in the location of the property at the narrowing of 14th Street and the alley accesses.

Thank you Ms. McIntire.  You can find her orginal post online.

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