In case you missed it, the City Paper reported that Douglas Development has released its plan to construct a 240 unit apartment building behind the Great Mount Calvary School, immediately across the street from Rhode Island Row and the RIA Metro Station. In order to construct the complex, Douglas will need to change part of the property from Industrial to Commercial and has started this process by asking ANC 5B for their approval. Although the ANC’s decision will not be a binding decision, their opinion is considered with great weight by the Zoning Commission.
The City Paper speculated that Douglas Development was spurred into action on these properties that it has owned for nearly 10 years by the pending tax rate increase that has been overlooked by DCRA for some time. Thus far, Douglas does not have a partner on the project.
Good news for a neglected area of RIA especially since it is in prime location by the Metro and the new mixed use development near there.
****UPDATE: According to Insider reader, Woodie, the ANC has already received the presentation for a zoning change: “ANC 5B-04 in May approved the zoning change for this Douglas Development. There was a rep from Douglas Development that gave a presentation requesting the change. The meeting was held at La Luz Del Mundo at 12th & RIA”.
rhodeislandavene.com 
I didn’t miss this. ANC 5B-04 in May approved the zoning change for this Douglas Development. There was a rep from Douglas Development that gave a presentation requesting the change. The meeting was held at La Luz Del Mundo at 12th & RIA.
What’s going on with the apartment building across the street from Flip-It on RIA? There’s only a skeleton of a building left. I asked some of the men a few months ago what would become of the building. They said they were going to add two more stories to the building. So far nothing’s happening.
Wait, what? Please tell me this didn’t get approved with that big old surface parking lot included as part of the plan. It’s a positive move but we got to do better.
I think only the zoning change from industrial/commercial to residential/mixed use is under consideration right now. The surface parking lot is problematic, but tweaks to the design are for another part of the approvals game. If things keep going as they’re going in DC (tens of thousands of new people moving in every year, fewer and fewer households owning a car per adult, more jobs and retail reachable without a car), it shouldn’t be hard for them to realize that limiting and undergrounding the parking and building more units would be a good decision.