The sea of surface parking surrounding the Fort Totten Metro station will soon ebb, with the selection of a developer to convert a 3.35-acre lot into about 345 residential units and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.
Metro today announced the selection of Donatelli Development to develop the site at First Place and Galloway Street NE, just northwest of the station. The developer will replace the existing 422 daily parking spaces for Metro riders as part of the project. If approved by Metro’s board of directors, the project’s construction is expected to begin in 2017.
Donatelli has already completed major mixed-use developments at the two Metro stations just down the Yellow and Green lines, in Petworth and Columbia Heights. With those Metro areas largely built out, the move up to underdeveloped Fort Totten is a logical one for the Bethesda-based firm.
The selection of Donatelli comes a year after Metro failed to attract any developer interest in the site, which Metro offered together with Metro-owned properties near three other stations. At the time, Metro’s real estate director, Stan Wall, told the Washington Business Journal of the Fort Totten site, “It’s not quite ready but I think it’ll be back in a year or two.”
A year later, it’s set for development.
Images via Google Maps