NE DC Site Set for 2015 Opening
At the intersection of South Dakota Avenue and Riggs Road in Northeast D.C. a new development, Fort Totten Square, is under construction with a completion date of 2015. Clark Builders Group Superintendent Tom Benson says that the project is on schedule.
The mixed-use site will be near the Fort Totten Metro Station. It will include an urban-format Wal-Mart with full-service grocery selection, pharmacy and general merchandise. The property will also include 350 rental apartments with studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom homes, according to developer, The JBG Companies.
Daniel Perez, a resident of the Fort Totten neighborhood near the new development, says that he looks forward to the Wal-Mart.
“It’s going to be cool, the apartments and a Wal-Mart. I look forward to the Wal-Mart for the shopping so that people will not have to walk to another place,” he said. “It’s a long way to New Hampshire for another store.”
This store will be one of six Wal-Mart stores expected to be built within the next few years throughout the District of Columbia. Wards 4 and 7 will have two stores each, with one store each in wards 5 and 6.
The project has been underway since January 2013. Windows can be seen on what is assumed to be the 130,000 sq. ft. residential floors of this complex. Residents say it’s amazing to see the structure emerging from an empty block.
Regina Williams, a 20-year resident of the neighborhood, says she looks forward to the Wal-Mart store as well and thinks that the apartments will be good.
“There will be some pros and cons. I don’t think that there will be too many cons since it will be a lot of studio apartments,” Williams said.
Williams said that she does not know what type of crowd the apartments will attract. The residents of this neighborhood are primarily older, working middle class people, she said.
“I look forward to it all, it will bring some good changes,” she said.
This $120,000,000 project will be LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, certified under the United States Green Building Council and cover a total of 384,450 sq. ft.