The dispute over the redevelopment of a Dupont Circle church property, which a court forced to stop work mid-construction, has just ended.
St. Thomas Episcopal Parish and developer CAS Riegler reached a settlement Thursday with the Dupont Circle Citizens Association over the 56-unit development at 1772 Church St. NW, the Washington Business Journal reports.
DCCA appealed the Board of Zoning Adjustment's approval of the project in September 2016, and the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled in the group's favor in April. The ruling vacated the project's approval and led to a stop-work order on the project over a year after its groundbreaking. The D.C. Superior Court then lifted the stop-work order in May, allowing construction to resume on the project despite the appeals court's decision.
The settlement reached Thursday ends the dispute over the project, which DCCA has opposed since it was first proposed five years ago. With the settlement, the development team agreed to increase the depth of affordability of some units, cover DCCA's legal fees and contribute to nonprofits that assist the homeless. CAS Riegler expects to finish the residential portion of the project by September, and complete the new church for St. Thomas' parish by spring 2019.
The Dupont Circle case was a rare one in which a project's approval was vacated after construction had begun, but three other major developments in D.C. still sit in limbo after being blocked by the court. The $720M McMillan development was appealed a second time in April after the court stripped its approval in late 2016. The court in April vacated the approval of the 1,400-unit redevelopment of the Barry Farm public housing community in Southeast D.C. Brookland's 901 Monroe project has been blocked three times since 2013, and over a dozen other projects continue to be delayed as they await the court's decision.
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