Plans to build a mixed-use development at the site of the former George Washington University hospital has caused heated debate between planners at GW and Foggy Bottom residents.
The complex would provide both Foggy Bottom residents and university students with much-needed retail and grocery stores, the city with tax revenues and GW with the investment income to develop other projects, namely more on-campus housing for students, said Tracy Schario, director of media relations at GW.
However, residents have criticized the university for not using the land for classroom or housing purposes, she said. The Foggy Bottom Association is no longer interested in speaking with the university about the subject, she said.
A student survey on the project will be conducted and the Student Association is involved in planning the future site. Some students have said they would like a student union built on Square 54, but students and administrators involved in the project think it is best to use the land for investment purposes, said Casey Pond, vice president of public affairs for the Student Association, in an e-mail.
According to Pond, a complex such as this one would help bring more activity to the area. Foggy Bottom is the third busiest Metro stop in the area, and GW wants to make it an area where people can dine and shop besides just going home or to work, Schario said.
"We hope that the future of this complex will help our relations with the local community," Pond said.
According to Schario, the investment will help GW depend less on its tuition revenues and develop other sources of income.
Students first and foremost want to make sure that the university is investing in the campus," Schario said.
Emilia Bohn, a sophomore at GW, said students must look for apartments far away from campus currently because there are so few housing options in the area. Dorms are only guaranteed for freshmen and sophomores, she said.
"The students are all for [the construction]," she said.
The complex would also include offices on the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the square; market-rate apartments alone 22nd, 23rd and I streets; and retail spaces on I Street if approved by the Zoning Commission.
Square 54 is located across from the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro stop in close proximity to the World Bank and the White House.
"It's a prime location on Pennsylvania Avenue," Schario said. "By using Square 54 ... we can make it a destination. We want to make it an exciting, vibrant part of the city."
Abraham Avidor, a resident of the Foggy Bottom/West End area for over 20 years, said the area needs retail stores and more places to buy food and groceries.
"I think it's a wonderful plan," he said.
AU has also had to discuss building plans with local D.C. residents recently because of the new School of International Service building.
A construction project that currently has locals concerned is the new SIS building, which is planned to be built where the parking lot next to the current building is, said David Taylor, chief of staff to AU's Acting President Neil Kerwin said.
"The primary concern is ... what the facility might do to traffic on Nebraska Avenue," he said.
Originally in the campus plan, the old SIS building was to be removed and a new one built, said Alma Gates, chair of he Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3D. Now AU plans to build a new building with a 300-space parking garage underneath while keeping the old, she said.
AU was supposed to carve out some of its land and create a left-hand turning lane on Nebraska in the lane heading towards Ward Circle, Gates said. A traffic expert has said this lane is unnecessary, she said.
"We feel there will be problems," Gates said.
The local Advisory Neighborhood Commission, a board of local residents who make recommendations to District government agencies that directly affect neighborhoods, voted unanimously to oppose AU's plan, she said.
"We feel what is being proposed and what was agreed to are not the same things," Gates said.
While AU and GW are two universities with two very different campuses, Gates said AU's purchases of buildings off-campus has residents concerned about expansion beyond its current boundaries.
I think the caution is we don't want AU to become GW," she said.
