Dance Loft on 14, approved three years ago, is an exciting Ward 4 mixed-use development that includes affordable housing, a performing arts center, retail space, and net-zero energy design. But it encountered delays due to the city’s unprecedented crisis in affordable housing funding.
The project is now back with new financing and interior floorplan revisions, and is seeking a modification to its zoning approval from the DC Zoning Commission to allow this development to finally break ground. The revised interior floorplans for the project at 4618 14th Street NW will be considered by the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC 4E) on Tuesday, March 24 at 6:30 pm.
Unfortunately, the small group of nearby neighbors who opposed the original project has loudly reemerged, threatening to kill the approved project once again, which has already undergone an exhaustive public process. They are heavily lobbying the ANC members, urging them to oppose the project’s modification, which would effectively prevent Dance Loft on 14 from accessing the recently available affordable housing funds.
Yet, no changes to the building’s exterior, height, massing, parking, or community commitments are proposed. Concerns raised by neighbors were already studied, addressed, and settled through a 2-year Zoning Commission approval process. The project received overwhelming ANC and Zoning Commission support, and endorsements from dozens of local businesses, Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, and the DC Office of the Attorney General.
The proposed interior modifications, necessary to secure the new affordable housing funding, include a floorplan reconfiguration with 133 smaller units instead of the original 101, but three and four-bedroom units will be provided. All 133 units will be affordable at 50%, 60%, or 80% of median family income, offering all-affordable, workforce housing for teachers, artists, entry-level government staffers, NGO workers, and more. The original mix only had 66 affordable units and the rest market rate.
The interior modifications are minor and make it possible to provide more than 100 needed affordable homes, and preserve this performing arts institution in Ward 4. This project is a tremendous benefit to the community, Ward 4, and our city.