Big GDS news

[Anonymous]

I actually don't think it is a good model to have LS/MS/HS on the same campus, but I am not the education expert.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:



Don't forget that the consolidated campus plan will put all divisions of the school within 2 blocks of a red line Metro station.

Yes because all of those first graders will be hopping through the turnstiles from the mythical station in Potomac.

Riding the Metro in from Potomac: that's what builds that incredible GDS self-confidence from an early age!

As a current LMS parent and Potomac resident, I can say with confidence that there are relatively few students at GDS from Potomac. Maybe the high school is different, I don't know, but the LMS is mostly DC and Bethesda. The distance (10 - 15 miles, one way, depending on what part of Potomac you are talking about) and traffic make the Potomac-to-GDS LMS and back commute a daily challenge that I think prevents many Potomac families from applying. Anyone living outside the Beltway in Montgomery County has to deal with the difficulty of choosing a route downtown, when all of them suck. You have a choice between River Rd. (generally backed up solid from Wilson Lane to Seven Locks every morning, and sometimes beyond those points, due to the Beltway interchange and Holton-Arms traffic, among other things), Macarthur Blvd. (20 min. to get from Seven Locks to the one-lane bridge, followed by another 15-20 min. wait at the 3-way stop), or Cabin John/Clara Barton/Canal Rd. which involves long delays bumper-to-bumper until you reach the "Glen Echo turnaround" (20 - 30 min. on average, or you can reach Clara Barton/Canal via Macarthur, after dealing with Macarthur's own delays). All of that, just to reach the gridlock that is Macarthur Blvd in DC every morning, with traffic often backed up slid from Key Bridge to Reservoir Rd., and featuring an array of road projects, illegally parked vehicles, and traffic heading to other schools, sometimes blocking the road at key intersections. And that is just my morning commute. All to get my child to that wonderful school. Combining the campuses, if done before my kids would hit high school, would save us 8 - 10 miles and 30 - 45 min. of driving every school day (adds up to a couple thousand miles and several days worth of time each year), making it much easier to get them to school on time and for all of us to become more involved in the school. It would be a win for us, if it happens soon enough. I don't presume to speak for others, though. The neighbors' concerns should absolutely be listened to and responded to. But living behind a run-down car dealership and a grocery store parking lot does not seem particularly appealing.

[Anonymous]

Check out the Hopper Express. It's a shuttle bus that transports kids from the HS to the L/MS.

[Anonymous]

I think that the commercial development that GDS is planning is visionary and exciting. There's no question that this sagging area can use more vibrancy and the development will spin off $$$ for GDS. And it will be convenient. I look forward to dropping our DCs in the morning, parking in the garage and then popping across the street for a chai latte or a yoga class before attending a parent meeting. Awesome!

[Anonymous]

Ew

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ew

Jealous, much?

[Anonymous]

Yes, I've always wanted a Stepford Wife of my own. If only I'd become a "Macher"...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ew

That was a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The GDS mixed use towers will help to bring the dynamism of Friendship Heights to a somewhat run-down section of Wisconsin Ave. and a neighborhood in need of renewal. This is a win-win, which the community ought to embrace!

Adding hundreds of kids and teachers to the school plus 350 households where the car dealership was is not a win for the community. And anyone who thinks about it for more than a few seconds will realize it's not the kind of development that makes Friendship Heights Friendship Heights (FH has department stores, upscale office towers, luxury boutiques and no schools). That said, most people who live in Tenleytown aren't eager to replicate Friendship Heights. The neighborhoods are quite different and people tend to self-select based on the kind of environment they prefer (since price, location, and transit options are fairly similar).

If GDS wanted to build standalone restaurant or retail space on the Volvo site or the kind of mixed-use buildings that would be consistent with the existing zoning envelope (4-5 stories), then the school might have a project the neighborhood could embrace. The school would also better position itself for future expansion of its own campus. A 10 story residential building on 42nd Street is just going to fence GDS in for decades to come. Presumably that's the scenario GDS was trying to avoid when it bought the land in the first place.

The bottom line is that there is a potential win-win solution available here. But GDS's current plan is lose-lose, as far as the neighborhood and the school are concerned. Only the as-yet-unnamed development partner wins.

+1

As the stepmom of a kid graduating gds this year I have to bite my tongue and not comment on how much I loathe the private school culture around here. As a FH resident, though, I completely agree with the PP about the development partner and gds being the only winners.

[Anonymous]

This is not about GDS for me. DC is losing it on allowing buildings that are too to tall and/or too close to the sidewalk. Examples imclude the condos at Wisconsin and Calvert. The Home Depot at Irving and 14th and Carhedral commons. I fully support dc becoming denser but we need to keep a close eye on the architecture. This is a city with modest buildings and many of the new projects are ugly and way too big.

[Anonymous]

This is not about GDS for me. DC is losing it on allowing buildings that are too to tall and/or too close to the sidewalk. Examples imclude the condos at Wisconsin and Calvert. The Home Depot at Irving and 14th and Carhedral commons. I fully support dc becoming denser but we need to keep a close eye on the architecture. This is a city with modest buildings and many of the new projects are ugly and way too big.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not about GDS for me. DC is losing it on allowing buildings that are too to tall and/or too close to the sidewalk. Examples imclude the condos at Wisconsin and Calvert. The Home Depot at Irving and 14th and Carhedral commons. I fully support dc becoming denser but we need to keep a close eye on the architecture. This is a city with modest buildings and many of the new projects are ugly and way too big.

+ 1. Cathedral Commons (what a name, by I digress) is the above example closest to GDS. I am disappointed at how stark and frankly ugly it looks. It also appears like it was built on the cheap. There's so much exposed concrete and what was once a pleasant walk on Wisconsin Ave. now is cast in dark shadow much of the day. The Tenleytown residents and even GDS should pay attention to what happened at C-C and insist on project design that is scaled appropriately and more respectful of the surrounding context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not about GDS for me. DC is losing it on allowing buildings that are too to tall and/or too close to the sidewalk. Examples imclude the condos at Wisconsin and Calvert. The Home Depot at Irving and 14th and Carhedral commons. I fully support dc becoming denser but we need to keep a close eye on the architecture. This is a city with modest buildings and many of the new projects are ugly and way too big.

+ 1. Cathedral Commons (what a name, by I digress) is the above example closest to GDS. I am disappointed at how stark and frankly ugly it looks. It also appears like it was built on the cheap. There's so much exposed concrete and what was once a pleasant walk on Wisconsin Ave. now is cast in dark shadow much of the day. The Tenleytown residents and even GDS should pay attention to what happened at C-C and insist on project design that is scaled appropriately and more respectful of the surrounding context.

Ummm... So you don't like the concrete of Cathedral Commons? Do you recall what was on Wisconsin before? One word: concrete. Cleveland Park has the toughest historical society and zoning board. Cathedral Commons was 30 plus years in the making. Whether you like it or not, you have to remember the concrete GC Murphy & co. Giant and Giant Pharmacy (People's drugs) which was there before. Not saying Cathedral Commons (which is not completely finished) is beautiful but had to adhere to a similar appearance as the buildings it replaced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not about GDS for me. DC is losing it on allowing buildings that are too to tall and/or too close to the sidewalk. Examples imclude the condos at Wisconsin and Calvert. The Home Depot at Irving and 14th and Carhedral commons. I fully support dc becoming denser but we need to keep a close eye on the architecture. This is a city with modest buildings and many of the new projects are ugly and way too big.

+ 1. Cathedral Commons (what a name, by I digress) is the above example closest to GDS. I am disappointed at how stark and frankly ugly it looks. It also appears like it was built on the cheap. There's so much exposed concrete and what was once a pleasant walk on Wisconsin Ave. now is cast in dark shadow much of the day. The Tenleytown residents and even GDS should pay attention to what happened at C-C and insist on project design that is scaled appropriately and more respectful of the surrounding context.

Ummm... So you don't like the concrete of Cathedral Commons? Do you recall what was on Wisconsin before? One word: concrete. Cleveland Park has the toughest historical society and zoning board. Cathedral Commons was 30 plus years in the making. Whether you like it or not, you have to remember the concrete GC Murphy & co. Giant and Giant Pharmacy (People's drugs) which was there before. Not saying Cathedral Commons (which is not completely finished) is beautiful but had to adhere to a similar appearance as the buildings it replaced.

I wasn't thinking of the block where Giant is (and was), although that will certainly win no architectural awards. Also the project was outside of the Cleveland Park boundaries so HPRB and the local architectural review board had zero say in the matter. I'm thinking of the other CathCom block to the north where they built the large and ugly higher-rise building. That block used to contain Sullivan's and other great stores, and the size of the buildings related well to pedestrian scale. There was a lot more light and some big mature canopy trees, all of which were cut down. The faux-balconies on this building look like they are made out of aluminum and the block-long facade seems so flat. The design is cheap, harsh and dark. Just saying that this is a cautionary tale as GDS proposes to build structures that are 20-30 taller.

[Anonymous]

20 to 30 feet higher