Construction Resumes At Fannie Mae Site After Fatal Accident

Workers have resumed construction on a Northwest D.C. site where one man died in an accident.

Roadside Development announced last week that one person was killed Dec. 24 while attempting to repair a vehicle on the site of its City Ridge project, the redevelopment of the former Fannie Mae headquarters. 

Police identified the victim as Oral Nicholson, a 59-year-old man from Adelphi, Maryland, the Washington Business Journal reported.

In its Christmas Day announcement of the incident, Roadside said it shut down the project site until further notice. It also included a statement from Managing Director Richard Lake expressing his team's sadness about the accident and saying it was working to process what occurred. 

Lake told Bisnow Thursday the team has fully resumed construction after concluding the accident occurred during repairs to a private truck that wasn't related to the construction project. 

"It was determined it was an industrial and not construction-related accident, nothing related to the site contributed to the unfortunate accident and therefore we have resumed work," Lake said. 

"We've made it very clear that no one is to do any repairs of private vehicles on site," he added. 

Roadside is partnering with North America Sekisui House on the $730M project. It is slated to include 687 residential units, 155K SF of retail and 167K SF of office. The team has landed a retail anchor, Wegmans, and an office anchor, International Baccalaureate. 

The construction team has completed the structural modifications to the existing historic building and it has begun pouring concrete for the project's new buildings, Lake said. He said it remains on schedule for a 2022 delivery.