This area is a bit rough now but has a lot of potential. It is only a matter of time before the Giant supermarket, Home Depot, and the large surface parking lot are redeveloped. Additionally, this is between Union Station, NOMA, and Brookland, all of which are either rapidly redeveloping and improving or, in the case of Union Station, will hopefully redevelop and expand.
Developer Pitches a Private Version of New Communities in Brentwood
Posted by Aaron Wiener
Oct. 1, 2014
Washington City Paper
Image courtesy of the Washington City Paper.
"On a recent afternoon, Brookland Manor's spacious courtyards are mostly quiet. So are the basement community center in one of the 19 apartment buildings, where the kids have yet to arrive, and the nearby community garden teeming with brassicas but devoid of humans. Out in front of the decrepit strip mall facing Rhode Island Avenue NE, three men are hanging out, but the place is otherwise deserted, and the stores—a pawn shop, a cleaner, a nail salon, a large vacant space—don't show many signs of life.
Between the shopping center and the apartment buildings, on 14th Street NE, it's a different story. Close to 30 people, mostly men, mostly young, gather in clusters around dominoes or open liquor containers or nothing in particular. A couple of cops eye the crowds from a wary distance, making sure nothing gets out of hand. Rounding the corner onto 14th, visitors are treated to a whiff worthy of Bonnaroo. "The smell of weed is never very far," says Michael Meers.
If Meers' plans come to fruition, the place could look dramatically different in a few years' time. Meers is executive vice president of the Germantown-based Mid-City Financial Corporation, which owns Brookland Manor, a Great Depression-era complex of 535 apartment units, about two-thirds of which are subsidized by the federal government through the project-based Section 8 program. (Despite its name, Brookland Manor is located in the Brentwood neighborhood and is sometimes known by its older moniker, Brentwood Village.) Mid-City also has the strip mall under contract and expects to close on it next year."
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/b...-in-brentwood/
Urban Turf also has a posting about this proposed development:
Developer Lays Out Vision for 2,200 Units Near Rhode Island Avenue Metro
http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blo...wood_park/9038