Heads up, Brookland: 280 residential units and 9,000 square feet of retail are coming your way.
Metro announced this afternoon that it had selected a partnership of MRP Realty and the CAS Riegler Cos. to develop two parcels of land just east of the Brookland Metro station. The development team will also provide a new kiss-and-ride facility to replace the existing kiss-and-ride lot on the site. Construction is expected to begin in 2016.
In its solicitation released last year, Metro had indicated it was seeking up to 250 residential units or a combination of fewer residences and office space. Ultimately, Metro opted for more residential density that it had anticipated. According to Michael Neibauer, the MRP/CAS Riegler proposal had more residences than the competing proposals from Donatelli Development, Four Points LLC, and a partnership of A&R Development and Urban Atlantic.
The development site will be configured slightly differently from its initial layout. The original solicitation included the green patch of land known as the Brookland Green, but amid protests from neighbors and Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, Metro agreed to a land swap with the city to preserve that space from development.
The Brookland Metro development will continue a process of rapid change for the neighborhood. The massive Monroe Street Market development, spanning three residential complexes that are technically on the Edgewood side of the railroad tracks, was rolled out starting last summer. In addition to apartments, it includes a Barnes & Noble bookstore, artist studios, a tool lending library, and several eateries.
The selection of a development team for the Brookland site comes just days after Metro revealed a disappointing level of interest in development sites at other stations. Only one developer submitted a bid for a project by the College Park station, one submitted a bid for a Capitol Heights parcel, and none were interested in developing at Huntington.
Correction: This post initially misspelled Kenyan McDuffie’s first name.
Map by Aaron Wiener