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| The previous Highland Park West rendering |
Some big news on Irving Street: our friends over at The 42 Bus have a story about La Casa homeless shelter located on Irving just east of 14th and the Highland Park building, which currently houses about 70 homeless men in the main building and trailers.
I’ve heard bits and pieces for awhile, but it looks like the shelter will be closing October 15th and will be torn down, after which the developers of Highland Park (the building with CommonWealth, Tynan, the upcoming sports bar, etc. in it) will build a new apartment building and an 82-bed community based residential facility.
The 42 Bus quotes the proposal: “Community Based Residential Facilities (CBRFs) are single room occupancy facilities for homeless residents in the District. These facilities combine living quarters with job training, housing placement, case management, and other needed services that promote self-sufficiency.”
The new apartment building, which will be called Highland Park West, will face Irving, while the CBRF will be located behind it. It’s not known if there will be retail. There was an earlier plan the developers had filed with the city (seen above) but the developers want to alter it to make it look more like Highland Park, increase the number of apartments from 69 to 143, and also take out a parking garage.
To me, this seems like a win-win: moving an unsightly building, adding some more apartments and retail, and still keeping housing for homeless, which is at a premium in the city. I wonder if the CBRF will affect the demand for the apartments?
