New game: what school will/should buy Sidwell lower school campus and why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS

Huh? It started the campus consolidation trend by buying the Safeway to move its lower school from the Palisades to Tenleytown to join the high school.

No single independent school in the area is big enough (or has the financial resources) to buy Fannie Mae and convert it for school use and add playgrounds and athletic fields. It might be more fitting for a college campus

AU is in the neighborhood and already has some facilities along Wisconsin Ave. They would be the most likely institutional buyer.

[Anonymous]

The Conway School for Marching Bands - Edgemoor could use a little life

[Anonymous]

I have my doubts as to whether the Fannie Mae building would be very usable as a school without tearing the whole thing down first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have my doubts as to whether the Fannie Mae building would be very usable as a school without tearing the whole thing down first.

Which probably won't happen because the building front is likely to be landmarked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have my doubts as to whether the Fannie Mae building would be very usable as a school without tearing the whole thing down first.

Which probably won't happen because the building front is likely to be landmarked.

Does anyone know if they can preserve the front but move it to the front of the lot and then build behind it? (assuming they can't build another structure in front of it which would also preserve it)
the system is absolutely going to get gamed here

[Anonymous]

That would be pretty expensive.

[Anonymous]

There is no reason from a preservation or historic standpoint to preserve Fannie Mae facade. It is generic at best. It doesn't represent the era it was built in and is a poor copy of the era it aped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no reason from a preservation or historic standpoint to preserve Fannie Mae facade. It is generic at best. It doesn't represent the era it was built in and is a poor copy of the era it aped.

In fact, many of the press articles call the Fannie Mae building "iconic." It's certainly one of a kind architecture in Washington and there's a lot of interest in DC preservation circles to protect it. That would certainly leave room for adaptive reuse and development -- as offices, housing, hotel, etc. And there would likely to be a lot more local opposition over tearing the FM HQ down and bulldozing the lawns, than any pushback Sidwell Friends will ever face with its plans. Certainly the building next door to the FM HQ is not a very promising example of redevelopment.

[Anonymous]

The Washington Business Journal isn't the arbiter of iconic architecture.

The Washington Post buiilding - home to a lot of local and national history - is also "iconic" according to media reports and its coming down.

"The Washington Post's "iconic" building is coming down. Guess who is moving in Fannie Mae. If someone wants to knock down the Fannie Mae building, they will be permitted. Nothing unique about it. No historical importance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Washington Business Journal isn't the arbiter of iconic architecture.

The Washington Post buiilding - home to a lot of local and national history - is also "iconic" according to media reports and its coming down.

"The Washington Post's "iconic" building is coming down. Guess who is moving in Fannie Mae. If someone wants to knock down the Fannie Mae building, they will be permitted. Nothing unique about it. No historical importance.

We'll see. There's not a lot of appetite for the site to have another 4000 Wisconsin megablock or another Cathedral Commons, both of which have substantial vacancies.

[Anonymous]

We'll see. There's not a lot of appetite for the site to have another 4000 Wisconsin megablock or another Cathedral Commons, both of which have substantial vacancies.

I understand and agree with that view. But that sentiment doesn't make a generic building an iconic building.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I was asking what would happen to the Sidwell lower school in BETHESDA. Not sure why this thread has derailed into a discussion of the Fannie Mae property across the street from Sidwell's DC site. If you want to discuss Fannie Mae, please start another thread.

[Anonymous]

"Edgemoor Row" (aka Bethesda Row West)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Edgemoor Row" (aka Bethesda Row West)

They could even open a health/fitness club in the Sidwell multipurpose gym.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no reason from a preservation or historic standpoint to preserve Fannie Mae facade. It is generic at best. It doesn't represent the era it was built in and is a poor copy of the era it aped.

Agree. I hope DC doesn't start trying to preserve every ugly building just because it's old. Would we preserve the FBI building under that same logic?