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Seven years ago, a prominent developer announced ambitious plans to build condominiums at a well-known Northwest Washington crossroads, a proposal that triggered fierce opposition, multiple rounds of still-pending litigation and cranky debate on a neighborhood discussion group.
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In the saga’s latest twist, Truist Financial Corp., the owner of the parcel — a now-shuttered bank branch and plaza that for decades was a public square at the center of Adams Morgan — has donated the land to a nonprofit that builds affordable housing.
Instead of luxury apartments — as was envisioned by Monty Hoffman, the developer whose portfolio includes the Wharf — the property’s new owner, Jubilee Housing, is planning roughly 40 subsidized apartments, according to land records. The units would be available to a family of four earning up to $90,400, or 60 percent of the area median income.
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Yet, a key question that has driven the litigation and community debate remains unresolved: whether a significant portion of the 4,000-square-foot parcel at the corner of 18th Street and Columbia Road NW would still exist as a public plaza, as had been the case since the 1970s.
The fate of the concrete plaza has long been fodder for debate, with advocates extolling its significance as a neighborhood landmark, while detractors dismiss it as an underused vestige of the aesthetically-challenged architecture of the 1970s. During the pandemic, people set up tents and slept on the plaza, after which Truist erected a fence to seal off the property.
For now, the property’s new owner, an organization based in Adams Morgan, and the two groups that brought the lawsuit, are expressing optimism they can end the dispute.
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Jim Knight, Jubilee’s president, said in an email that the organization took possession of the property only on Friday and that “it will take time to determine our short- and long-term plans for the site.”
“We will engage the community for input and feedback so that plans will advance Jubilee’s mission and create an asset for the neighborhood as well at the same time,” he wrote.
Denis James, president of the Kalorama Citizens Association, which along with Adams Morgan for Reasonable Development filed the lawsuit against Truist, said his group is hopeful that Jubilee will retain a plaza of roughly the same size in a new development.
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“We want to get along with Jubilee and we think there are great prospects for moving forward in a good way,” James said. “We’re hopeful that there is a place for minds to meet. We are reasonable people.”
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Alison Van Harskamp, a spokesperson for Truist, declined to comment when asked why the company abandoned plans to sell the property to Hoffman. Hoffman did not respond to several text messages seeking comment. An email to his company’s marketing department went unanswered.
The Washington Business Journal, whose publisher, Alex Orfinger, is chair emeritus of Jubilee’s board, first reported news of Truist’s donation.
The property’s history has been punctuated by tragedy and protest, beginning in 1922 when the roof of its occupant, the Knickerbocker movie theater, collapsed under the weight of two feet of snow, killing 98 people and injuring 133 others. A rebuilt theater on the site, known as the Ambassador, hosted Jimi Hendrix in 1967 before being demolished.
In the 1970s, the Perpetual Savings & Loan Association, seeking to build a branch office on the site, prompted protests from groups alleging that the bank did not offer mortgages to minorities seeking to buy homes.
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To gain community support, the bank offered to construct a branch that included an adjoining public plaza where street vendors could set up. Over the years, the plaza became home to a weekend farmers market.
A 1976 letter from Perpetual about the plaza was the basis for the legal challenge mounted by the opponents after Hoffman announced plans in 2016 to construct as many as 58 condos on the site. Hoffman’s subsequent offer to reduce the size of the development did not appease the opponents.
After years of legal skirmishing, the D.C. Court of Appeals last December ordered a trial to determine whether Perpetual’s creation of a “public easement” meant it would exist in perpetuity, a ruling that added a new delay to Truist’s plan to sell the parcel to Hoffman.
Jubilee will “be substituting for Truist” in the lawsuit now that the nonprofit owns the property, Knight said. After taking control of the property, he said that Jubilee contacted the opponents “to communicate our hope to reach a mutually agreeable path forward on the site.”
James said he is hopeful that the two sides can reach an agreement.
“Let’s go forward with best intentions and see what happens,” he said.
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