INDUSTRIAL LAND IN A POST-INDUSTRIAL CITY District of ...

District of Columbia Industrial Areas Study DC Office of Planning
Prepared by Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates, Inc.
convenient to transit. Its continued intensification for big box / semi-industrial / hybrid uses like
Home Depot is desirable.
Area 2 consists of a large central portion of the New York Avenue/Ivy City area that is currently
underutilized, but which has excellent transportation access and is rumored to have recently
been wired with fiber optic cables. The landmark Hecht’s building is found in this area. The area
is a mix of C-M-1, C-M-2, M, and R-4 zoning. The residential area is in very poor condition, and
the current vision for this enclave is that of a revived residential core as per the District’s Home
Again Initiative. As such, consideration, through the Home Again Initiative, of the development
of artists’ live/work housing, residential as an accessory use, or other such residential
development typologies is recommended, as these uses could mesh well with the surround
PDR-oriented fabric. We also encourage the assemblage of large parcels in Area 2 for PDR use
and expansion of current warehousing and shipping businesses. This would also allow plenty of
buffer space for heavy municipal uses across West Virginia Avenue.
The Fort Lincoln Urban Renewal area, Area 3, is well-buffered and enjoys excellent interior
roadways, and is currently home to a beer distributor. Its area encompasses zones SP-2 and R-
5-D—neither of which are industrial. The western portion of the area has been programmed for
big and medium box retail and has been rezoned commercial, so can no longer be considered
for an industrial designation. However, the warehouse/distribution character of the eastern
portion, which contains the distributor, should be preserved with an industrial designation. 40
Area 4 is Bladensburg/Fort Lincoln consists of a number of quasi-industrial and industrial uses,
though there are interspersed concentrations of non-industrial uses including several houses of
worship, and the relatively narrow strip of industrial land is in close proximity to residential
neighborhoods. Bladensburg is an important commercial corridor, and the uses here fill an
important service niche. As such, they should be protected and zoning guidelines which buffer
the industrial and non-industrial uses are required to minimize conflicts.
4.3.2 ZONING STRATEGIES
The zoning in these areas is very mixed, and in some cases does not include industrial zoning
at all. We recommend that the Home Again Initiative, targeting the R-4 portion of Area 2, include
artist live/work housing or residential as an accessory use, or other special residential use that
might mesh better with increased PDR uses in the area. In other places, the existing C-M
zoning is appropriate for these areas because it permits both PDR uses and traditional offices.
The Home Depot shopping center could remain in its current zoning, or be rezoned to a purely
40 Even if Area 3 is not lost to retail/commercial development, the District might consider rezoning the
parcel immediately south, between New York Avenue and the railroad tracks, to industrial use, in order to
encourage PDR businesses dependent on the excellent road access or to bank the land for strategic
public use. It is now zoned GOV, and is unused. This area is indicated on the inventory/existing
conditions map for the area.
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