The development that will bring a rock climbing gym, a grocery store and nearly 700 homes to Northeast D.C.'s Eckington neighborhood has broken ground and has a new partner.

The developer behind Eckington Yards, a legacy JBG fund that was not folded into the JBG Smith REIT, announced Wednesday that LCOR bought a 50% stake in the project. It will replace JBG's previous partner, The Boundary Cos., which is no longer involved in the development.

Eckington Yards is expected to deliver in Q3 2021 with four multifamily buildings totaling 681 units. It will also have 70K SF of retail space, including a 35K SF Brooklyn Boulders gym and Union Kitchen, which will open a 23K SF commercial kitchen, and a 3K SF grocery store. The retail will be centered around a woonerf-style shared street. JBG Smith will manage the property, but the entity developing the project is JBG Investment Fund IX LLC.

The project sits at the intersection of Q Street NE and Eckington Place. It is next to JBG's Gale Eckington apartments, plus a planned, 2-acre public park and an adjacent Foulger-Pratt development. The Eckington neighborhood is directly to the west of the Union Market area — separated by Metro and freight rail tracks — where LCOR completed a multifamily project last year and has another one planned.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with JBG Fund IX and combining our respective capabilities and skills to help build D.C.’s next great neighborhood," LCOR Vice President of Development Matt Hard said in a release. "This project fits squarely within LCOR’s strategy of developing dynamic mixed-use projects in core submarkets."