Old DPR Headquarters

[Christine Miller]

Good Morning,

It looks like we may finally have a tenant and restoration of the property at 3149 16th Street (a.k.a. The Old DPR Headquarters). The city has not entered into a formal agreement, yet, but I have been notified that they intend to enter into a 20 year agreement with Junior Achievement of Greater Washington DC. 

For those who might not be aware of the history of this particular building, it is National Park Service property but the District has been delegated authority to manage, maintain, execute leases, etc. It was DPR's headquarters until they moved to U street ~2012, and the last time a lease was executed was back 2015 to the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust, which was later dissolved because of (**ahem**) problems with the Trust's accounting. Another story, another time.

I've had many approach about its use and many looking to develop it, but one of the challenges is that it does have a use restriction that requires it be used for recreational purposes. It's also a historically designated property and there are restrictions related to development with that, too. I had been speaking with CHEC about trying to find a way to reengage that space to expand programming and use by students, but the renovation will be $$. 

The good news is that this is an organization is dedicated to educating students and will provide programming to support financial literacy, work readiness, and creating future entrepreneurs. They are hoping to adaptively reuse the building to accommodate the District’s first “Finance Park” for middle-school aged children. In case you’re interested, here is a link to some additional info on the program: https://www.myja.org/financepark

I have  spoken with a friend who has worked with them and even spoken as a panelist, and he had very positive things to say about them.  I'm looking forward to having this addition in our community and serving our youth, especially since it will be located within walking distance of several schools that are serving high at-risk and non-traditional student populations.

Since this is an historical building, plans have been submitted to the Historic Preservation Office. I'm unable to attach those, so I will load them on a web site for review.

I will schedule a discussion on this for the community and am working to also have a representative from the organization there to discuss their work and how they will serve our students/youth. I will notify everyone once those dates are set. Of course, this will be a virtual meeting.

I've attached the notice and some background on the property for your review.

Best,

Christine