Big GDS news
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Anonymous
| I don't see what is so sad about what GDS is doing compared to other school's development. I'm not sure why this negatively affects the school. Georgetown Prep did it, so have many, many other independent schools interested in keeping their costs from rising. As a neighbor, I'm grateful it's a neighborhood entity that's developing what was a sad looking site--they'll be here long-term dealing with whatever is built there instead of pretending to be a part of the neighborhood during building, and never returning once its built. |
Anonymous
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Because GDS buys all this land, spends all this money for upzoning, and ends up with a campus smaller than what it has now. Meanwhile it's permanently hedged in on one side and it will have created a traffic nightmare in those few blocks.
GP has a 90 acre campus for 490 high school aged kids (including 125 boarders). GDS will have 1200 kids, all commuters, aged 4-19 on a 7 acre campus. Plus they want to add a 200+ apartments in the adjacent 3/4 acre lot (plus some current public rights-of-way they hope to privatize) that they're turning over to a developer. It's a project with much greater and more detrimental impact than what you've experienced as a neighbor of GP. Some of the difference, of course, is city vs. suburb. But to make a more apples to apples comparison, Sidwell's campus, with a population comparable to GDS's, is about 3x as large -- and it's pretty much surrounded by SF homes (and a PO), so the density is much lower even though, it too, is along upper Wisconsin Avenue. GDS's combined project really will create a nightmarish situation for some of the neighbors, I think. |
Anonymous
And perhaps some nifty mixed-use to bring more buzz and vibrant smart growth urbanism to the Palisades, which sadly has largely missed out on the generic Clarendonization in the area. |
Anonymous
This sounds great, but ask yourself if this is truly a neighborhood entity. While it is true that GDS presumably will have to live with the impact of what it is sponsoring, it is unlikely to be the long term owner of the mixed-use PUD. Indeed, one reason why GDS (working with the developer Team of Aces) proposed a PUD is that common ownership permits them to argue that the zoning authorities should let let them transfer "unused" density from the campus and add it to the Wisconsin Ave. property, in excess of what current zoning allows. This legal contrivance makes the Maartens site much more valuable to a purchaser/developer, which couldn't do this on its own. Expect that if this gets approved, the insiders/developer(s) behind the curtains will step forward and acquire the PUD. |
Anonymous
| Yes, the school can't afford to build and has never planned to own the mixed-use commercial project. |
Anonymous
They have Michael Glosserman and JBG for that and for helping to finance the land acquisition. JBG will then acquire the building.
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Anonymous
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You're acting like this is a secret, but they have been very upfront about selling to a developer with the approvals from the beginning. Either way, I think their proposal is, and has been great. And it isn't illegal.
Also, it's Martens, not Maartens. Do you even live here or are you some troll who haunts people who dare to think we live in a city? |
Anonymous
| They are just Dutch and trying to be traditionalists. |
Anonymous
| Yes, this has been known from the beginning -- by the people most aware of the project (school community, neighbors). I think PPs are mentioning it again now in response to the Georgetown Prep poster's point that neighborhood entities are better developers. Point is, this developer won't be living or working next to what he builds. |
Anonymous
| The Greedy Developers' School---says it all. That is the true face of GDS. |
Anonymous
| So the person who built your house was a greedy developer too? |
Anonymous
They haven't been upfront about how the project is wired for JBG or the ownership of the shell companies that control the land. How much of an interest does JBG own in the land that GDS wants to entitle?
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Anonymous
Basically GDS is fronting for the developer group here. If the developer owned the Wisconsin site outright and were the applicant, it could not seek "transfer" of the density from the campus/Safeway site to Wisconsin. So, for the time being, the head of school and the other administrators have to shill for the PUD, which understandably is beyond their expertise and must be an incredible distraction from their day jobs (not to mention the enormity of the campus expansion itself). Clearly the combined project has not turned out to be as greased as the school and its Team of Aces expected. |
Anonymous
| That's a nice theory. Glad you shared it on Greater Greater Washington and here. |
Anonymous
| Thanks for sharing your snarky thank you here. |