The transformation of the closed Hine Junior High in Capitol Hills into a multi-purpose facility has finally started after a six-year long legal battle between the proponents and the Hills' community residents.
Looking into the big construction plan is EastBanc and Stanton Development. The company is to ensure that 46 affordable and 116 market-rate units will rise on the former location of the school in 700 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Included as well in this facility are the 60,000 square-foot-space for boutiques and restaurants, and the 163,000 square-foot office building. Priority for occupants will be given to businesses which are owned locally. The retail section will have a 1,000-square-foot "incubator space" intended for newly put up businesses, and a parking space for shoppers, residents and office workers. A salient feature will be the permanent home for the Eastern Market Flea Market during weekends, which will be in the reopened C Street that now links 7th and 8th streets.
Among its amenities are a fitness center, club or lounge, rooftop pool and party room, secured parking, multiple landscaped roof terraces, a private courtyard, bike storage, and concierge services.
The newly constructed apartments will be made of open floor plans, hardwood flooring, and European-style kitchens.
Rental price for the 2,300 square-foot market-rate apartments will be from a range of $3,800 to $10,000 every month.
The move to close down the then 40-year-old Hine Junior High School was proposed by School Superintendent Clifford B. Janey in 2006, in order to save the government at least $6.2 million a year. The transformation took a while to finally happen as education activists and residents took legal action to stop the proposal for the close down. The protesters were mainly concerned about the migration of an already big number of middle grade students from the Junior High School system in to charter schools.
The project is expected to be delivered by June 2017.
