According to the Examiner, the PPP for the Tenley Library and Janney school at Tenleytown will proceed despite formal objections from Councilmembers Kwame Brown and Mary Cheh. The article reads:
D.C. Deputy Mayor Neil Albert and developer LCOR Inc. plan to proceed with a
mixed-use development in Tenleytown despite opposition from Councilmembers Mary
Cheh, D-Ward 3, and Kwame Brown, D-at large and chair of the economic
development committee.
The councilmembers wrote Mayor Adrian Fenty Wednesday to say they would like
the city to abandon the project and allow the Tenley-Friendship library,
demolished on the site last year, to be rebuilt on its own. LCOR plans to build
174 units of housing along with a new library and a new, expanded Janney
Elementary School.
A spokesman for Albert, Sean Madigan, said the deputy mayor still believes the
project benefits the city by bringing more transit-accessible housing and new
money to a rebuilt Janney, and those outweigh the delay in rebuilding the
library.
“This is a project that is going to be there for 30 or 40 years and we have to
do it absolutely right,” Madigan said. He said the development will meet
conditions Cheh requested in July: no net loss in green space for Janney, added
revenue for Janney, an accelerated rebuilding timeline for Janney and no
significant delay in the library construction.
“We think there’s a really great opportunity to do a mixed use project that
meets all of our policy goals,” Madigan said.
Tim Smith, vice president of LCOR, also said his company was “fully committed
to the project” and was working to meet Cheh’s goals. “We have been working on
all of her issues, and certainly we were surprised by the letter,” Smith said.
Smith did not, however, offer a timeline for when construction might begin.
The development requires zoning changes that frequently require more than a year
to approve. The library has $1 million set aside for construction and would not
require zoning changes.
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