D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), along with a bevy of government officials, community members, and developers, recently broke ground on what will eventually become townhomes, affordable senior housing, and retail space at Skyland Town Center.
The June 20 groundbreaking represents the third, and final, phase of an urban development project more than two decades — and six mayors — in the making.
Previous phases brought the District’s first Lidl’s grocery store along with 263 housing units, 79 of which are affordable. Residents of Hillcrest in Ward 7 have worked alongside Rappaport Development, WC Smith, the East Washington Foundation, Harrison Development and release estate developer Merrick Malone in tracking the progress of the project and ensuring that it reflects their desires for the community.
“Developers get a bad rap but Rappaport has been a tremendous partner throughout this whole project,” said Earl Wiliams, a longtime Hillcrest resident and chair of the Skyland Center Taskforce.
On June 20, Williams, a taskforce member of a decade, counted among several community members who attended the Phase 3 groundbreaking. For years, the taskforce facilitated discussions about zoning, amenities, housing affordability and how best to maintain the character of the community. Other parties that were involved in the conversations included Advisory Neighborhood Commission 7B and surrounding civic associations.
“Skyland went from being a strip mall, to fixing and tearing it up, to us putting housing on the project. To have two [Lidl’s and Safeway] of the three grocery stores [east of the Anacostia River] in Hillcrest is something else.” Williams said as he acknowledged Bowser and D.C. Councilmember Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) as key engineers in the project. “ It’s been a labor of love. Rappaport knew that the Hillcrest community wanted a project that reflected the community, which is really middle income.”
The groundbreaking took place just days after the Bowser administration celebrated the opening of The Westerly, a mixed-use development in Southwest, and the Reservoir Park Recreation Center, located in Northwest on the site of the former McMillan Sand Filtration Site.
The District committed a total of $40 million to the development of Skyland Town Center. In 2014, the D.C. Council approved that allocation through tax increment financing, a process by which the project would be paid for with sales tax and property tax revenue.
To date, the District has raised $25 million out of the $40 million in that manner.
In April, as plans for Phase 3 of the Skyland Town Center development were underway, the council approved legislation that would secure the remaining $15 million, not through TIF, but a transfer of capital funds allocated for the Benning Road Station development project.
Nina Albert, D.C. deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said relatively weak economic projections, and an insistence that Skyland Town Center gets completed and within budget, compelled the change in the funding source.
Albert, who worked in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) early in her career, said she counted this project among her priorities since returning to DMPED as deputy mayor last fall.
“I was interested in progress at Skyland and the developers approached me and I spoke with the team,” Albert said. “We had an interest in making sure the final phase got delivered. I’m really proud that we’re able to do that under this mayor’s watch. I know the community has been impatient and desirous.”
In 2005, the District secured the Skyland Shopping Center, located at the intersection of Naylor Road, Alabama Avenue, and Marion Barry Avenue in Southeast, through a lengthy eminent domain process. Less than a decade later, the D.C. Council, which at the time included then-Ward 4 D.C. Councilmember Bowser — unanimously approved the sale of the property to Rappaport Development, WC Smith and the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization.
In 2015, the Bowser administration and Safeway, located across the street from Skyland Town Center, solidified the removal of a long-standing covenant that would’ve prevented the construction of a supermarket at Skyland Town Center. Though city leaders tapped Wal-Mart as the anchor retail partner around which the urban development would take place, Wal-Mart pulled out of the deal in 2016, later paying the District $1.3 million for its abrupt change of heart.
In 2022, Lidl’s opened at Skyland Town Center, becoming the first new supermarket east of the Anacostia River in more than a decade. These days, community members frequent Lidl’s along with Starbucks, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, and other stores on the plot of land. Upon the completion of Phase 3, they will also be able to enjoy Savage Breakfast Club, a sitdown restaurant conceptualized by Darrell Gaston, founder and owner of Kitchen Savages, located on Marion Barry Avenue.
For Babatune Oloyede, Skyland Town Center is not only the fulfillment of a collective vision, but a testament to the power of communication.
Oloyede, president and CEO of the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization, told The Informer that his organization along with other development partners engaged community members throughout a process that seemed like, at times, wouldn’t end. Despite external factors, like a global economic crisis and pandemic, that delayed the project at times, Oloyede said that community members maintained some modicum of faith because of the updates they received.
“As a developer, you know a project takes twists and turns,” Oloyede said. “You have to remain steadfast in your goal and translate that enthusiasm and drive to the community. The project from a community standpoint was always supported, he continued. “But [the question was] why did it take so long. That’s why it’s critically important to have those conversations with community stakeholders so that you’re operating in a fully transparent environment.”
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What is the expected date of completion for phase 3 Skyland Townhomes?