Edens Realty Inc. wants to put another big stamp on the Florida Avenue Market footprint.
The developer of Union Market has submitted plans to redevelop another part of the 45-acre warehouse district, 1270 Fourth St. NE, with up to 520 residential units and nearly 40,000 square feet of ground floor retail in an 11-story building. The project will total 408,000 square feet, not including a four- or five-story underground parking garage with up to 550 spaces.
The 51,000-square-foot site, bounded by Morse Street, Fourth Street, Neal Street and an alley, consists of a warehouse and distribution facility — the facade of which will be preserved as part of the project. Located on the western side of Union Market, it is roughly a third of a mile southwest of the NoMa-Gallaudet University Metro station.
Related: Warehouse on the Florida Avenue Market area footprint for sale
The development is a means of “place-making,” according to a planned-unit development application on file with the D.C. Zoning Commission, “creating both a vibrant living and shopping experience on an underutilized parcel and a energetic, unique public space adjacent to the property.”
Per Edens, the project will offer amenities such as significant public space and streetscape upgrades, “exemplary” architecture, street-engaging retail “with high-ceilings intended to germinate other development in the vicinity,” affordable housing, sustainable design, and restoration and adaptive reuse of portions of the property’s original warehouse facade.
The retail spaces, fronting Fourth Street, will be “primarily comprised of the existing brick facade of the warehouse, which underscores the industrial/commercial feel of the market.” Residential units will range from studios to three-bedrooms. The development, its backers say, will “facilitate the long-awaited renaissance of the market so that it becomes a true destination within the District not only for residents of the District, but also for residents of neighboring jurisdictions, tourists and, visitors to the District of Columbia.”
Construction, according the application, would start as soon as the Zoning Commission gives the order, and take two years to complete.
Led by Edens, the team behind this latest project includes Level 2 Development (residential), Shalom Baranes Associates (architecture), Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (landscape architecture) and Bohler Engineering (civil engineer). Edens also developed Mosaic District in Merrifield.
The area around Union Market, from NoMa to Gallaudet University, has exploded with new development, much of which is coming online now. Within a half-mile radius of 1270 Fourth St., there are at least a half dozen major projects under construction, from The JBG Cos.’ Hyatt Place at 33 New York Ave. NE to the Courtyard by Marriott at 1325 Second St. NE to MRP Realty’s Washington Gateway at Florida and New York avenues.
Last year, an affiliate of Edens received Zoning Commission approval for the Gateway Market Center, a project located across Morse Street that will include up to 216 residential units and ground floor retail. Like 1270 Fourth St., Edens described the Gateway Market as “the ideal introductory development for the Florida Avenue Market Area revitalization.”
