u.c. of~lff'VEo OF ZONING CARLOS LlJ1VIPUY 2DIZS£p -5 nl"'l li I 0; 22 Miami, \Vednesday 5 September 2012.
Remarks before the D.C~..Cm.is..sion Case K o. 11-17 Adams Morgan Hotel
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
My name is Carlos Lumpuy. I live at 2298 Champlain Street, NW, Washington, D.C., 20009 and have lived and worked on Champlain Street since 1960.
I'm one of those who still remembers how life around 18th and Columbia Road was not only urban, but urbane and civi.lized; how some of us fondly remember in the 1960s' and as late as the 1970s', when dressed in their Sunday best, hundreds of parishioners would line around the corner of Euclid and Champlain Street to go Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights for services to worship at the First Church of Christ, Scientist.
Today, only a vestige remains, they now meet to worship in their Reading Room adjacent and across the alley on Columbia Road. The upkeep, maintenance, and utilities of such a large structure are beyond the means of the small congregation that remains. So they have selected a successor to use, to repurpose and to preserve their church building.
In 1987, the creation of the Reed-Cooke Overlay by the D.C. Zoning Commission in one fell swoop declared a vast area from Champlain to 16th Street and from Euclid to Florida Avenue to be residential R-5-B and no longer commercial C-M-2 and C-2-B commercially zoned.
At the time, it was a dramatic, devastating and economically painful undertaking for many of us existing commercial real property mvners with commercially appraised and commercially mortgaged properties to suddenly have our properties devalued and zoned residential seemingly overnight.
I survived. Many did not. I knew a print shop ovmer who saw his property value and his livelihood taken away by this overlay, and he became so distraught and so despondent that twenty-one years ago he committed suicide on Champlain Street.
And still today, we have some in our neighborhood, who still like to play games with privately held and privately sustained real property, and the livelihoods of their own neighbors. Again I stress in historic terms the relatively recent nature of this Reed Cooke designation.
Here in America we are governed by law and not by men, as we were taught in our civics and social studies classes. Government exists to do only \vhat citizens cannot do for themselves. This includes historic review, zoning, land use regulations, and height restrictions, particularly in our dense urban areas.
ZONING COMMISSIONZONING COMMISSION District of ColumbiaD~et of Columbia ZONING COMMISSION Case No. 11-17 CAStDistrict N1.l:D- of Columbia CASE NO.11-17 90 EXH:Bi1EXHIBIT r... ~:,.""'~ NO.90 Two years ago at the National Building Museum, the old Pension Building downtown, some of us Washingtonians celebrated the centennial milestone of the Heights of Buildings Act of 1910 which limits new construction within the District of Columbia to the width of the right of way of the street or avenue on which a new building fronts.
The advent of steel skeletal stntctures and riveted steel I -beams, as opposed to load bearing masonry construction, allowed for the first time in the world the engineering and construction of skyscrapers which began in Chicago in the late 1890s'.
This reached us here in Washington with "Schneider's Folly'' and The Cairo Apartments at 16th and Q Streets after which our city's three City Commissioners at the time acted swiftly and effectively to prohibit any more high rises.
Our City of Washington has always been low profile as it should be, and distinctively so. We are not Chicago, nor Manhattan. We are relatively small tovm vd.th a modest skyline here. Over the years, variances to the height restriction include our churches like the National Cathedral and our National Shrine of Immaculate Conception.
Along K Street you 'Will not find an office building taller than 13 stories, as it should be. We should not have residential towers either. Ladies and gentlemen, height variances I believe should be granted only to Churches and to Hotels for those visiting our capital city.
This is not my idea by the way, but that of one of those three Commissioners who a century ago thought that variances to the Heights of Buildings Act of 1910 which he wrote should be granted only to Churches and to Hotels for visitors to our nation's capital from the world over. Within proximity of us are the \Vashington Hilton, The Omni Shoreham and The Wardman Park Hotels vvith 8oo to 1,200 rooms each, all along Con.necticut Avenue each surrounded by residential apartment buildings,. rowhouses and retail and their city life goes on in Dupont Circle and Woodley Park. I'm here representing myself and many of my neighbors who cannot be present here because they are simply trying to survive during these hard times.
I am both saddened and disappointed at how in Adams :Ylorgan the supposed detrimental impact has been simply over stated for this proposed adaptive reuse by our oldest and longstanding neighbors, this church congregation, and its 200 room boutique hotel in front of Unity Park on Columbia Road and Champlain Street.
I have examined the latest plans and renderings submitted last January and I have concluded that the fenestration, the arrangement of vvindows and doors, their glazing,
ZONING COMMISSION District of Columbia
Case No. 11-17 90 mullions and moldings, and the color schemes of the rising facades are suitable, in line and conducive to neighboring structures \vith one exception:
I believe that we can further enhance the complementa1y massing and setbacks by the recessing of every sixth brick on the corner end columns on the first and fourth brick columns. This should be repeated on the corner end columns of all four sides, and all the way to the top where they >vvill be most visible.
This recess of a single brick creates depth, shadow, and texture, and delineates vertical end columns so that the entire building seems not so massive and more attractive and inviting, just as we did and can be seen in the attached picture of The Erie's rising South end column at 2351 Champlain.
This change would also not be costly as mason work hours are not significantly changed by the mere recessing of every sixth brick as the vertical end columns rise.
Not since the Bliss family erected their brick apartment houses along Columbia Road, including The Cortland at 1760 Euclid across from the proposed hotel site, has this neighborhood had an investment, private or public, of this magnitude.
For those of us old enough to remember, it may not bring back the urbane civility of days gone by when our streets and alleys were kept clean, clear, and orderly (with limited government doing what it should do and concentrate on), the days gone by of a movie premier at The Ontario Cinema, dinner at Avi.gnon Freres, and some late night jazz at the Showboat Lounge.
I am here speaking for many who believe that over time, this privately funded hotel together with the publicly funded 18th Street Streetscape will be the two catalysts to turn the pendulum towards a more civilized and orderly direction for Adams Morgan, together with the preservation of such a classic and historic church structure as our showpiece.
Boutique hotels bring a positive presence into a neighborhood 'With their high standards of cleanliness and high standards of private security for their guests and patrons that often exceed the immediate proximity of their hotel-not to mention the daytime traffic that will ensue. Ladies and gentlemen, personally I may have lost my retirement to the severe devaluation of real property and the great real estate bust of 2008, having taken these past three and half years to finally sell, just last April, the last of the apartments at The Erie, unfortunately all of them below the cost of eonstruction and development.
But we solutions seekers never give up, and so I say onto you these are good times.
ZONING COMMISSION District of Columbia
Case No. 11-17 90 These are good days we are living now in 2012. And in my 52 years on Champlain Street, the prospects for progress and prosperity for our neighborhood have never been better.
The historic preservation of the church for another century and this new hotel will be a pivotal milestone in the history of 18th and Collllllbia Road, a neighborhood I have lived and worked all my life.
This proposed hotel which is compatible with National Park Service and DC Historic Preservation Guidelines should be approved as a positive way to enable the renovation and preservation of the First Church of Christ~ Scientist Church building as a National Landmark.
This project should be allowed to rise as the citadel of Adams Morgan and its anchor signature attraction, bringing a whole new vibrant life to this vacant site at Euclid and Champlain Streets, bringing ever more diversity to om· neighborhood, making it even more cosmopolitan with regular visitors from the world over.
Take a peek at the solid vibrant interiors of the new Mintwood Place at 1811 Collllllbia Road below Perry's for a look at the future of Adams Morgan in a few short years.
The opportm1ity is here now. Carpe Diem. \1\!e do need to seize the day. It might not be here tomorrow.
And I do not want a tomorrow where this historic and beautiful church at 18th and Columbia Road has been torn down needlessly.
Thank you very much.
-Carlos Lumpuy.
CARLOS LUMPUY Since 1960 on Champlain Street
2298 Champlain Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20009 Telephone 202.2.65.9119
11980 SW 41 Drive Miami, Florida 33175 Telephone 305.22.6.1226
E-mail: [email protected]
ZONING COMMISSION District of Columbia
Case No. 11-17 90 2351 Champlain Street, NW Washington, D.C.
2~-)60 Cha:mplain Street, I\TVV
\A..'ashington 1 D.C.
Whether professional or personal, all human relationships have at their core and
as its basis1 one singular and fundamental premise: Respect. Without it, there can be no relationship, and we fail not only our positions, our service, our labor, and ourselves, but those and all that surrounds us.
-Carlos Lurnpuy, Landlord, Miami, v\Tashington, D.C.
ZONING COMMISSION District of Columbia
Case No. 11-17 90