Reader-Submitted Summary of SMS Meeting on Shaw Development

Thanks to reader ML who submitted this greatly informative comment summarizing last night's SMS update meeting on Shaw development.

Interesting meeting last night. Though a lot of what was presented has been seen before, the presentations give you the feeling of continued momentum with these projects.

Here the highlights from what I recall:

Chip Ellis noted that Radio One on 7th above the metro should break ground in Feb. 08'. When I asked him if there any risks that could cause the timeline to continue to slip he said there were none (hopefully) and things should go forward. Also the Post has a commentary on this project today: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/27/AR2007092702321.html?hpid=sec-business

Roadside has submitted their PUD application(?) for O Street Market with the city within the last couple of weeks. They have to go through some process with that in getting community buy-in to the PUD and city approval, and then of course they are looking for tax incentive financing (TIF) from the city. Armond Spikell indicated that the TIF was particularly needed for the amount of parking they are proposing to build. When asked about the timeline, he felt the PUD approval would happen by early next year, the city would agree to the TIF and they would break ground in Aug. 08'. What I didn't ask, but should have was, "what happens if the TIF financing doesn't come through or doesn't come through soon?" I wonder if that sends them back to the drawing board. http://www.roadsidedevelopment.com/O_Street.htm

The Kelsey Gardens team was there as well (Metropolitan) and they gave a presentation short on details, other than noting that all 54 low income units from Kelsey will be replaced and available to those tenants for up to 50 years. Next steps for them are to get a zoning variance, which I recall reading might be problematic given the drastic difference in scale related to surrounding buildings. No timeline given and no mention of when current tenants will move out of the current structure or when it will be demolished. http://met-dev.com/

Old convention center site folks were there too (Hines/Archstone) and showed their plans. Anticipate late 2008, early 2009 ground-breaking. http://www.oldconventioncenter.com.

Alex P. had a several other updates on smaller projects but I don't recall the details.

Martin and Kevin were there as well with a camera, so I imagine they'll have a video up at http://www.anc2c02.com/ and more details, as will the Shaw Main Streets site.

I could not make the meeting because of work, so I am really apprecaiative of ML's summary! Exciting stuff! Again, thanks to SMS for hosting this forum!