The McMillan Sand Filtration Plant site is a 25-acre plot of land north of Bloomingdale. In the mid 1980s, the plant closed, leaving the city to determine how to redevelop the land. In December, Vision McMillan Partners, a group of developers, unveiled plans to transform the parcel into a mixed-use community with housing, retail, office space, and park land. Since that time, rumors, conspiracy theories, and chatter about the project have sparked huge debates about the project.

CONSPIRACY THEORY NO. 4: The developers can’t finance this project.

As the crowd swelled to roughly 115 on Saturday, resident Gwen Southerland, wearing pearls, stepped up to the mic with some pointed inquiries. “I want to know, do you have the money to pay for this? EYA? Jair? Do you have the money?”

“Good question, good question,” responded EYA representative Aakash Thakkar before launching into an explanation of the project’s economic feasibility.

Southerland wasn’t getting it and cut him off about 15 seconds in. “OK, you make a good con man. I’m not trying to be funny. Can you slow up? With the money: You said EYA had the funds?” Thakkar then interrupted her: “If you could let me finish…”

Read More “McMILLAN THEORY NO. 4: The Developers Can’t Finance This Project” »

The McMillan Sand Filtration Plant site is a 25-acre plot of land north of Bloomingdale. In the mid 1980s, the plant closed, leaving the city to determine how to redevelop the land. In December, Vision McMillan Partners, a group of developers, unveiled plans to transform the parcel into a mixed-use community with housing, retail, office space, and park land. Since that time, rumors, conspiracy theories, and chatter about the project have sparked huge debates about the project.

CONSPIRACY THEORY NO. 3: Developers may be paying off the local ANC commissioner.

Barrie Daneker is the Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for an area that includes all the residential areas bordering the McMillan site. He’s among those responsible for shielding his constituents from high-rises that threaten to puncture the Bloomingdale bubble of tranquil Victorian row houses, neighborhood barbecues, and quiet dog-walking. But is Daneker properly executing his duties or simply a pawn in the hands of Vision McMillan Partners?

Former ANC commissioner Allison Defoe, for one, finds his behavior distrustful. In the two years she’s served with him, Defoe says her colleague repeatedly rebuffed her on questions about the development. She’d ask him about gatherings of the McMillan Advisory Group. He’d provide less than illuminating responses, like “‘It was a private meeting,’” end of discussion, recalls Defoe.

Read More “McMILLAN THEORY NO. 3: Developers May Be Paying Off the Local ANC Commissioner” »

The McMillan Sand Filtration Plant site is a 25-acre plot of land north of Bloomingdale. In the mid 1980s, the plant closed, leaving the city to determine how to redevelop the land. In December, Vision McMillan Partners, a group of developers, unveiled plans to transform the parcel into a mixed-use community with housing, retail, office space, and park land. Since that time, rumors, conspiracy theories, and chatter about the project have sparked huge debates about the project.

CONSPIRACY THEORY NO. 2: Developers have “plants” in the audience.

Last Saturday’s meeting started with a presentation by EYA representative Aakash Thakkar and Jair Lynch, whose company is part of the development team. After the usual rounds of diagrams, photos, plans, and explications, the meeting opened to community inquiries.

Following some back-and-forths, a slender, blond woman in a red V-neck sweater stepped up to a centrally located mic. She then loosened the mic from its holder and, with the wire dangling behind her, turned away from the developers and faced the other half of the room. Her name was Robin Buck, and she had a message to deliver: “This is called a community meeting but this is clearly a developer-led meeting. The developers are presenting the information, and then they are allowing us to speak.”

Read More “McMILLAN THEORY NO. 2: Developers Have “Plants” in the Audience.” »

The McMillan Sand Filtration Plant site is a 25-acre plot of land north of Bloomingdale. In the mid 1980s, the plant closed, leaving the city to determine how to redevelop the land. In December, Vision McMillan Partners, a group of developers, unveiled plans to transform the parcel into a mixed-use community with housing, retail, office space, and park land. Since that time, rumors, conspiracy theories, and chatter about the project have sparked huge debates about the project.

CONSPIRACY THEORY NO. 1: Trader Joe’s is a pipe dream. The retail’s going to be cheap chicken joints. In the mix of the developers’ unveiling of plans was their “Retail Merchandising Strategy,” a strategy punctuated by the names of recognizably nice restaurants, stores, and groceries. Among them: Ray’s the Classics, Cactus Cantina, Sala Thai, Busboys & Poets, Ceviche, CVS-CVS!-Griffin Cycle, Harris Teeter, and Trader Joe’s.

It was all very exciting. But to some in the audience, it smelled like a ploy: Dangle a Yes! Organic Market in front of a bunch of fringe-y neighborhood residents, and of course they’ll support development. Then, the developer does whatever the developer wants and/or was planning to do all along.

At the Tuesday residents-only meeting, Jim Wieber presented one version of this theory: “If you look at their drawings, the development’s perfectly upscale.” And the problem? “They can bring in cheap strip-mall designers to design that,” he says. Read More “McMILLAN THEORY 1: Trader Joe’s is a pipe dream. The retail’s going to be cheap chicken joints.” »

There’s more than old sand swirling around plans for the McMillan site.

On a recent Tuesday evening, about a dozen Bloomingdale-area residents gathered around a fire for wine, cheese, mini spinach pastries, and their shared desire to take down a group of D.C. developers. It was one of two strategy sessions-a pre-public meeting before a big public meeting last Saturday at Trinity University.

The subject of all this strategizing: 25 acres of green, one of the largest undeveloped parcels in the city, known as the old McMillan Sand Filtration Site. Since the mid-1980s, the land’s water filtration plant has been inactive. At least since then, the District has been deciding and re-deciding what to do with it. Different groups have lobbied for it be a museum, a library, a park, and a national memorial for dogs that died in war. In 2007, the city pulled the trigger, picking Vision McMillan Partners, a group of companies led by Bethesda-based EYA.
Read More “None Dare Call It Development” »

On Saturday, representatives from the Vision McMillan Partners said they were launching a website to release development information for Bloomingdale’s 25-acre McMillan site.

The site is currently up, with this weekend’s presentation posted. Transparency, transparency, transparency seems to be the developers’ mantra. Thank god, they’re not selling their plans with some riff on “hope” or “change,” at least.

Read More “McMillan Development Website Launched” »

I’m having some computer compatibility issues here. But here’s your first look.*

Oh lord. Where to begin?

For those that haven’t been following the McMillan site proceedings, here’s a recap: The McMillan Sand Filtration Plant site is a 25-acre parcel of land by the intersection of North Capitol Street and Michigan Avenue, Northwest. In December, a development team unveiled plans re-imagining the land as a mixed-use community with up to 1,200 housing units, a grocery store, retail—the works. In the following month, a Bloomingdale resident launched a blog “No Drilling at McMillan” and local residents started banding together and holding neighbors-only meetings, claiming developers were controlling all the community meetings, and generally treating people like elementary school students—i.e. only letting people speak when called on, shushing them, etc.

All this set the stage for Saturday’s meeting which kicked off around 10 a.m. at a building in Brookland on the Trinity College campus. Clint Jackson, the city’s project manager for this site, opened with a very clear description of the District’s expectations for the site: Read More “Saturday’s McMillan Site Meeting, Part 1″ »