A Bit More on the McMillan Sand Filtration Site

An artistic rendering of the amphitheater at the McMillan site.

I wanted to post a few more details about the McMillan site plans presented on Saturday.

(For those that don’t know, the McMillan Sand Filtration site is 25-acre parcel of land at the corner of North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue, Northwest. A water filtration plant operated there until the late 1980s. Now, a development team is looking to turn the area into a mixed-use community including up to 1,200 units of “mixed-income and multi-generational” housing.) So here are some more elements of the design scheme:

• The land use plan shows several residential buildings with three to four floors up to buildings with five to eight floors.
• There’s plans for a public amphitheater close to the corner of First Street and Michigan Avenue.
• A merchandising plan calls for three types of retail on the northern end of the community by the corner of North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue: Restaurant/Food & Beverage, Neighborhood Goods and Services, and Grocery.
• The merchandising plan lists some possible restaurants and businesses that the developers would like to conceivably see in the community.  Some of those listed under “Restaurant/Food & Beverage”: Ray’s the Steaks, Cactus Cantina, Sala Thai, Busboys and Poets, and Ceviche. The merchandising plan also names Neighborhood Goods & Services: CVS, Griffin Cycle, Logan Hardware, Sports Zone. Additionally, there’s space for a grocery store. I asked Aakash Thakkar, Vice President of Development at EYA, to further explain the meaning of this list, and how it was compiled. Were these businesses that his development team intended to reach out to, or just ideas—or a mix? Here’s what he said: “Some of the restaurants, our team has relationships with.” However, no one is signed up now, and they won’t be approached for quite some time. “[The names] are concepts, ideas, and we will pursue them at the appropriate time.” The first tenant to be signed on would likely be the grocery store, and hopefully that would happen within six to nine months.

The view from Channing Street, Northwest.

Tags: McMillan Sand Filtration Site