Hanover Cos. Plans 2-Building, 371-Unit Brookland Development
Northeast D.C.'s Brookland neighborhood has just added another major development to its pipeline.
Houston-based Hanover Cos. filed a Notice of Intent Thursday for its proposal to rezone a site on Eighth Street NE to allow for a 371-unit development, neighborhood blog Brookland Bridge first reported.
The developer plans to construct two 65-foot-tall buildings separated by a landscaped plaza with 371 units, plus a 186-space parking garage. Hanover is working with KTGY Architecture + Planning and Holland & Knight on the development plan.
The site, totaling 90K SF of land area, consists of of two blocks on Eighth Street between Irving and Kearney streets, with the Metro tracks to the east. It is about two blocks south of the Brookland Metro station. It also sits along the on-street portion of the Metropolitan Branch Trail, which becomes a dedicated bike and pedestrian trail three blocks south of the site and has at least three other developments planned alongside it.
Hanover plans to file a planned unit development application within 45 days of Thursday's notice. It aims to rezone the site from PDR-1 to MU-4, allowing for moderate-density mixed-use development. The notice did not specify any other uses besides residential.
Hanover does not appear to have closed on its acquisition of the properties yet. The northern parcel, currently a warehouse building, is owned by Abdo Development, one of the developers behind the nearby Monroe Street Market project. The southern piece, a one-story office building occupied by nonprofit United Cerebral Palsy, is owned by New York-based Jedi Capital II LLC.
It would be Hanover's first project in the District. The Houston-based developer has completed apartment projects in Montgomery County and Fairfax County, and it recently applied for a 400-unit project in Tysons.
The developer could not provide renderings or additional details on the Eighth Street project, saying more would come out after it discusses the project with the community. Hanover is scheduled to present its plans to the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission Sept. 18 and to the Edgewood Civic Association Sept. 24, ANC 5E01 Commissioner Ed Garnett said.
"I think the community will be enthusiastic about adding much-needed housing this close to a Metro stop," Garnett said. "I strongly believe in the future of Eighth Street that extends the existing arts and retail community via metro- and trail-oriented development."
The Eighth Street corridor on the west side of the tracks is technically in the Edgewood neighborhood, but many real estate professionals refer to the larger area as Brookland. A group of business leaders are working to put together a Greater Brookland BID, which would include Eighth Street.
The PUD process Hanover is going through has tripped up other developers in the Brookland area in recent years. Menkiti Group's 213-unit development at 901 Monroe St. NE has had its PUD successfully appealed three times after getting its original approval in 2012, and the site remains vacant. MidCity's 1,700-unit RIA development at Rhode Island and Montana avenues NE is also being delayed by an appeal, and MRP scrapped the PUD for its Rhode Island Avenue Shopping Center development and instead chose to build within the existing zoning.
Several other developments are in the early stages around Brookland. The final phase of the massive Monroe Street Market development is currently going through entitlements, and two properties near the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station sold to developers this summer.
