Mayor’s Office Cancels Reservation 13 Groundbreaking – No Effect on Schedule Says Developer

Chris Donatelli (left) and Brian Rogers, President and Vice President of Donatelli Development respectively, appeared before Hill East residents and others on Monday night to brief them on the status of their Reservation 13 development.

ANC6B Commissioner Krepp acted as moderator for the meeting, as Donatelli fielded audience questions.

Some 40 + community members turned out for the meeting, which included residents from Ward 7, in which Reservation 13 lies.

Here’s a schematic of the footprints of the two buildings. The lower and larger building in on Parcel G-1. The smaller building is on Parcel F-1 which is just east of the Stadium Armory Metro. Massachusetts Avenue, C Street, and Burke Street will be extended into the project.

Here’s an artist’s rendition of the completed project.

Mayor’s Office Cancels Reservation 13 Groundbreaking – No Effect on Schedule Says Developer

by Larry Janezich

Monday night, just before Donatelli Development met with residents to update them on development plans for Reservation 13, ANC6B Commissioner Denise Krepp received a call from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development informing her that the ceremonial groundbreaking on the project, scheduled for May 2, had been cancelled.

The news came as a surprise to developer Chris Donatelli, President of Donatelli Development, who said it would not affect the work on the project, which is already underway.

ANC6B’s Hill East Task Force, chaired by Krepp, scheduled the meeting at St. Coletta’s to provide an opportunity for Hill East residents to hear an update on the long awaited Donatelli/Blue Skye two-building mixed use project for Reservation 13.

Donatelli told some 40 Capitol Hill residents that the larger of the two projects – the mixed use building on Reservation Parcel G-1 – would take two years to complete.  Construction of the second smaller mixed use building on Parcel F-1 will take 18 months.  Since construction on the second building will start about a year into work on the first building, the entire project should be complete in 2.5 years, and initial move-ins could occur about 18 months from now, as the first units in the first building are finished and available for occupancy.

The residential units in both buildings will be apartments.  The larger building will contain 262 units and the smaller will have 91 units.   Both building will have below grade parking.  There will be a combined total of about 20,000 square feet of first floor retail in both buildings.

Donatelli said his company does not pre-lease the retail space, but he envisions a small grocery, restaurants (both sit down and fast casual), and community supporting retail such as a bank.  He said he is also interested in providing space for locally-owned retail rather than national chain retail.

Most of the meeting was devoted to taking questions from members of the community.  A number of issues arose which the developer did not have ready answers for, including the breakdown of units by number of bedrooms, the percentage of affordable units, how much the units would rent for, the details of the construction schedule, the amount of parking devoted for retail, how much construction truck traffic would be generated, and who will manage the projects upon completion.  Commissioner Krepp said she would work with members of the community to draft a letter to the, with the expectation that answers would be forthcoming by the end of the week.  The developer indicated he could respond by weeks-end.