RIA is a 20-acre mixed-use destination that will bring together an array of residences, an inviting new town center, local shops and retailers, pedestrian promenades, and green space via a community-driven design approach. While preserving the historic fabric of the Brentwood Village neighborhood developed nearly 80 years prior, RIA marks a new era of growth and opportunity for Northeast DC.
The Zoning Commission of the District of Columbia approved the Stage One Planned Unit Development Application for the combined Brookland Manor Apartments and Brentwood Village Shopping Center property in 2015 and a Second Stage Application in 2017. The new mixed-use and mixed-income community will ultimately include 1,760 residential units and up to 181,000 square feet of commercial space to include an approximately 55,000 square foot full service grocery store and other neighborhood-serving retail. It will also provide for a 0.9 acre community green and a 0.5 acre pedestrian plaza as well as a new, highly connective street grid that includes the introduction of four new streets.
The Master Plan incorporates 21st century urban design principles that will reverse planning mistakes of the past while making the new community more walkable, vibrant, and responsive to the living needs of people today. The development will provide a variety of housing types – rental apartments, for sale townhomes, market rate options, and affordable housing – all with the objective of creating economic, social, and other diversity in an aspirational 21st century community.
RIA’s location along Rhode Island Avenue NE, in close proximity to the Rhode Island Avenue Metrorail Station and treasured neighborhoods of Brookland, Brentwood, Langdon, and Woodridge, provide it with an historic opportunity to serve as a community resource and energize the revitalization of the Rhode Island Avenue NE corridor in a responsible and inclusive manner.
The first phase of construction will build a 200-unit affordable housing building for seniors as well as a 131-unit multi-family building that will serve as replacement housing for current residents.
MidCity acquired the Brentwood Village Shopping Center (at the intersection of Montana Avenue NE) on December 16, 2015. The Shopping Center has been demolished and plans are underway to turn that area into a space for community events until buildings are constructed there in later phases.
Source: RIA
