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| | | Welcome to H Street | | November 23, 2009 | | | | In the coming years, H Street will be getting a welcome retail-residential complex between 8th and 10th streets to replace the now-dilapidated H Street Connection strip mall.
We are impressed with the way developer Gary Rappaport has worked with the community on plans for his 364-unit, two-block residential building, which will include a row of stores and restaurants at its ground level.
With plans like Mr. Rappaport’s on the horizon, H Street is starting to shed its recent image as a just a commuter highway from Maryland to downtown. Years ago, the area was the District’s second-largest shopping district. Only recently has it started to recover from the deterioration it suffered after the 1968 riots. Restoring H Street as a major shopping area is essential to the long-term health of the neighborhood and would provide a boost to the city’s sales tax revenues.
The development firm is working with the Northeast Capitol Hill advisory neighborhood commission (ANC 6A) and neighbors to ensure that new apartment or condo dwellers and shoppers will not disrupt the lives of existing nearby residents too much.
Some residents are justly concerned about increased car traffic near their homes, since the entry and exit to the development’s underground garage is planned for the residential 8th and 10th streets. The residents would prefer to see the pathway to the garage constructed on H Street instead. But that idea also has flaws: It could jeopardize the success of the complex’s retail component by breaking up a two-block line of stores.
We applaud the District Department of Transportation for considering the residents’ concerns, and await the results of its study. | | | | | Log in to comment on this article |
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