Tag Archives: Metro Plaza

Plans Unveiled for Redesign of Eastern Market Metro Plaza

By Larry Janezich

Last night, at the second of two community meetings called for this purpose, Amy Weinstein of Esocoff & Associates unveiled two concepts for the redesign of all of the public lands on Pennsylvania Avenue between 7^th and 9^th Streets, SE.  The parcels include the Eastern Market Metro Plaza, the large triangular park between 8^th and 9^th Streets on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue, the two smaller triangular island parks at the intersections of the two D Streets and 8^th Street, and the median strips.

Both concepts are comprised of numerous individual components which are being submitted to the community for input.  Barracks Row Main Street’s David Perry, who hosted the meeting, characterized the plans as being in the early stages and far from definitive.

Next Monday, December 16^th, the plans will be posted to the project website – www.easternmarketmetropark.com – and comments can be submitted through the website until Friday, January 10th.  The meetings this week and comments on the website provide an opportunity for the community to provide feedback and that information will be used to refine the plan until a final concept can be created (perhaps by next spring) upon which Requests for Proposals (RFPs) can be based.  Last summer Councilmember Tommy Wells said that how quickly the RFP stage can be reached depends on how quickly money becomes available.  He also said that how much the community decides to do will determine how much outside money will be needed.

Both concepts for the Metro Plaza envision removing some trees currently growing on the plaza and replacing them with sycamore and/or elm trees.  Both concepts call for a water feature, a re-located bus stop, chess tables, space for impromptu busking (street performance), an adult play lawn (reading, sunning, socializing), and a much reduced info hub – the long-desired brain child of the area’s retail interests.  Elm trees would play a major role in the design, especially in framing the façade of the library.  Long benches, designed to discourage sleeping, would line green areas and the water features in both concepts.

Aerial View of the “Bosque” Concept (click to enlarge)

The first concept for the Metro Plaza envisions a large “tree bosque” – or grove – with the sycamores arranged in a grid pattern.  A broad “parade” – or sidewalk – runs from the Metro entrance to 8^th Street, parallel to Pennsylvania Avenue.  The façade of the Southeast Library would be a prominent feature of the new design which would open up the western end of the plaza and broaden the steps of the library allowing access to the library’s gardesn.  A fountain and still water feature would be located near 8^th Street.

Aerial view of the “Library Extension” Concept

The second concept for the plaza is considerably more ambitious and envisions actually incorporating the Southeast Library as a central component of the redesign by creating a below grade extension of the library on the western end of the plaza.  The underground facility would be accessed by a small entry pavilion on the plaza itself and have skylights reminiscent of the U.S. Capitol’s Visitor Center or the National Gallery.  Weinstein noted that space limitations made meaningful contiguous expansion of the Southeast Library impossible, and this proposal would increase the library’s current 8,000 square feet to the current community library standard of some 24,000 square feet.  An intermittent water feature would be located closer to the Metro entrance.

Cross section of underground extension of Southeast Library

Architect’s rendering of the “Library Extension” concept

The Park on Pennsylvania Avenue’s North Side

Regarding the park on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue between 8^th and 9^th Streets, SE, the design team looked for inspiration to the existing “guerilla playground,” the Navy Yard and the Anacostia Watershed Society “Play and Learn” sites, and considered ways to incorporate berm landscaping and areas for adult play – sunning, reading, and socializing.

Both concepts anticipate enclosing the children’s play area with an iron fence and both could accommodate water features which could be employed to support play devices which encourage cooperation among children and demonstrate simple mechanical principles.  Two such items which were mentioned include a hollow “Archimedes’ Screw” to move water or sand, and a periscope.  Both concepts include differing versions of a diagonal sidewalk from the 9th and South Carolina intersection to the 8th and Pennsylvania Avenue intersection.

Aerial view of concept for park north of PA Avenue featuring upgraded “guerilla playground”

Close up of upgraded “guerilla playground”

The first concept is based on the existing “guerilla playground” idea of moveable pieces which would be placed on a scaled-down Capitol Hill city streetscape, complete with an abstract model of the Capitol Building, behind which could be tiny community gardens.   This model would provide the larger play area of the two proposals.  A “landscaped panel” buffering the residential area could include berms and trees, but would not provide benches.

Aerial view of park on north side of PA Avenue featuring “adult play area” and smaller children’s playground

The second concept provides a smaller play area which anticipates berms and interactive educational play tools, and an adult play area.

Pennsylvania Avenue Median Strips and the “Island Parks”

For the medians, the plan is to beautify and encourage the use of intersections for pedestrian crossings.  Landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water termed “bioswales” designed by Ohme vas Sweeden Landscape Architects would be the prominent feature, surrounded by iron fences or stone-capped brick retaining walls.

Similarly, there is only one design proposal for the two small triangular park portions of the redesign effort.  These are the parcels near Dunkin Donuts and at the southeast corner of the Hine site.  Both are technically on the sections of the divided D Street which lie on both the north and south sides of the Metro Plaza.  Bioswale would center both parcels and both would be surrounded by outward-facing benches.

Traffic and Pedestrian Safety

The redesign proposal includes elements to address the flow of traffic and pedestrian safety.  Among the ideas being put forward include moving the Metro bus stop from in front of Starbucks to the east end of the Metro Plaza.  The circulator bus stop would remain in front of Starbucks.  Curb extensions or “bump outs” at corners (particularly at the problematic intersections of the two D Streets with 8^th Street) would help protect pedestrians.  Also suggested to this end was reversing the flow of traffic on the two short sections of the D Streets, making them one way in the opposite direction from what now exists.  Other elements of the traffic proposal include moving the car share spots near Hill’s Kitchen to where the taxi stand is currently located near Southeast Library, closing the D Street spur in front of Community Connections, and moving the fire station bus stop to Pennsylvania Avenue in front of Community Connections.

Barracks Row Group Resurrects Plan for Redesign of Eastern Market Metro Plaza and Park

Board Considers $500,000 Contract with Architect Weinstein for Design Study

by Larry Janezich

Capitol Hill Corner has learned that the Barracks Row Main Street (BRMS) Board of Directors is considering a $500,000 contract with architect Amy Weinstein’s design group to commission a study for a new design concept for Eastern Market Metro Plaza and Park; also under consideration is a proposal by Minerva Marketing to manage public relations for the process.  Chairman of the BRMS Board Tip Tipton submitted the contract and proposal to board members on Monday for consideration, asking them to hold them as confidential until the Board had been canvassed.  He requested a response by 5:00pm on Thursday April 25, 2013, saying “we need to sign the agreements and expedite their implementation.”

Tipton told the Board in a memorandum that the study will be funded with federal monies appropriated by Congress several years ago for BRMS to undertake a study of a redesign of the Eastern Market Metro Plaza and its associated parcels.  Expiring authority for some of these funds require that they be spent this fall.  The Tipton letter says that that, in addition to these expiring funds, “BMRS has over a million dollars from other congressionally appropriated funds.”  Implicit in the remark is the earmarking of these funds for planning and development of this project.

 The study area is the large rectangle bounded by 7^th and 9^th Streets, SE, bisected diagonally by Pennsylvania Avenue, and made up primarily of two large spaces:  Metro Plaza on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue and the park lying on the north side between 8^th and 9^th Streets, SE, (the “north parcel”).   Weinstein takes pains to say that plans under consideration do not include any changes to the Pennsylvania Avenue right of way, stating that “design improvements (will) retain the existing roadbed network with perhaps minor modifications to improve pedestrian safety.” 

A previous 2007 – 2010 effort to develop a $30 million “Town Square Project” in the study area foundered, both for lack of funding and because of opposition from the residents who would have been negatively affected by the plan to change the existing right of way.  The documents circulated by BRMS do not mention the issue of funding, but reference “minority” opposition from neighbors as the primary reason for the failure of that proposal.

As justification for moving this project forward now, the Weinstein proposal cites community development momentum, including the following: the newly developed Hill Center; redevelopment of The Maples (Friendship House) and loss of its children’s play area; Capital BikeShare; the 11^th Street Bridge project; the proposed Southeast Boulevard and redesign of Barney Circle; CSX Rail Tunnel; Marine Barracks expansion south of the Freeway; and the Hine School Redevelopment (Weinstein is also the architect for the Hine project.)

Under the terms of the proposed contract, Weinstein would develop a design concept leading to a “visual and functional improvement of the study area,” directed at establishing the long sought link between Barracks Row/Lower 8^th Street retail and 7^th Street retail including Eastern Market.  In addition, she would develop a portion of the “north parcel” for a “tot lot” partly funded by Stanton Development.  Stanton committed $50,000 to development of a playground in the park as part of the negotiated benefits and amenities for the community during the Hine Development PUD process. 

The accompanying public relations contract describes a tightly managed public input process designed to produce an outcome in support of the plan.  In fact, if it develops that what is being proposed is a general beautification of the area, the extent and nature of any opposition seems doubtful.

On the other hand, it seems clear that the study is being driven, in part, by the necessity to spend funds which will otherwise be lost.  And given both the uncertainty regarding funding yet another project in an era of tight budgets and the lack of obvious city impetus for the plan, it seems likely that an additional motive for putting the proposal back in play is meant to take advantage of what backers hope will be the election of Councilmember Tommy Wells as mayor, and anticipation of his support.  The study will take 7 – 9 months and could begin as early as May 1, 2013.

Design Selected for Information Kiosk on Eastern Market Metro Plaza

by Larry Janezich

At Tuesday night’s Capitol Hill Restoration Society Board Meeting, Board member Chuck Burger, representing the ad hoc group of “Sign Tigers” promoting the construction of an information kiosk on the Plaza to promote food and retail services and the historic district, announced that DDOT had recommended a design for the project.

The winning design, the Mutatio Design Proposal, was selected from a total of 28 designs created by students at the Catholic University School of Architecture.

Matt Himler, who along with four other architectural students (EJ Crough, Yomar Soliz, Laura Cisneros, and Jackie Alvarado) created the design, described the wooden structure with a gently curved forty foot canopy, reflective of the Metro canopy.  A large outdoor counter will allow interaction with visitors during fair weather, while an enclosed 300 to 350 square foot space would serve for winter and inclement weather.  The design anticipates space for display and distribution of literature and pamphlets.

Burger noted that one of the criteria for the project was that it could be dissembled, should the plan of the Plaza change in the future.  He noted that construction of the kiosk would point up the drabness of the rest of the Plaza, implying perhaps, that it would be a catalyst for change.

The kiosk will be staffed by volunteers.  Its annual operating budget of up to $15,000 will come from a foundation which has been set up by CHAMPS – the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce.

The project will be funded by DDOT from funds provided by the Impact Parking Program – the fees exacted by the new meters resulting from the impact on parking of Nationals Park.

Burger will meet with ANC6b next month and will meet with community groups to get maximum community input before the next phase, the construction phase.

The CHRS Board unanimously endorsed the concept and the design and stated they looked forward to a final review of the design that addressed questions regarding community impact.