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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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![/quote]

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. [/quote]

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