City's Plan for H Street Calls for Five Thematic Areas

The D.C. Office of Planning will conduct a public hearing (on Tuesday — see Calendar) to receive comments on "REVIVAL: The H Street NE Strategic Development Plan." REVIVAL marks a significant accomplishment for the Cluster 25 neighborhoods (Near Northeast, Stanton Park and Kingman Park) in achieving its top-ranked priority: revitalization of H Street NE. Over the past year, more than 400 area residents and business owners have come together with the D.C. Office of Planning to environs a re-energized neighborhood corridor.

The plan calls for a creative streetscape and transit enhancements for the 1.5-mile-long corridor, which will be divided into five thematic areas.

"The Hub" (North Capitol to 2nd Street NE) centers upon the development of 2-3 million square feet of office space, 3,000 parking spaces, a proposed hotel and a multi-mode transportation hub.

In "Urban Living (Western Gateway)" (2nd to 7th Street), underutilized and vacant parcels will yield up to 600 units of housing, 100,000 square feet of class B office space, and up to 10,000 square feet of retail.

Strong retail between 7th and 12th Street will be enhanced within "The Shops" district on the corridor. "The Shops" will contain up to 200,000 square feet of productive retail goods and services, 100 units of housing, and 50,000 square feet of class B office space.

Both the Atlas Theater and the H Street Playhouse will be the centerpieces of an "Arts & Entertainment District" between 12th Street and Bladensburg Road.

Around the Hechinger Mall area east of Bladensburg Road to 17th Street, the prominent axis between the National Arboretum and the U.S. Capitol will be reinforced with high-quality mixed use (residential and retail) as "Arboretum Place" is established.

The final draft of REVIVAL is now complete and available for public review at the Office of Planning (801 North Capitol St. NE, 4th floor), MLK Library (901 G St. NW) and the R.L. Christian Library (13th and H Streets NE). The plan is also available online at http://planning.dc.gov/project/NE_Corridor/index.shtm. §