ANC Airs Fillmore School Plans and Concerns

At the March 2 Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E meeting, neighbors who live near the Fillmore School property at 1801 35th St. NW expressed concern about development plans for the 1.2-acre site. The owner, George Washington University, will review purchase bids next month.
The Fillmore School building and land served as the Georgetown campus of the Corcoran College of Art and Design. After GW took over the Corcoran school last year, it put the Georgetown property up for sale for $14 million.
Proposed concepts envision 12 to 14 residential units in the old school building on 35th Street and six to nine three-story townhouses on the 34th Street side, currently a parking lot. The plans follow the examples of the rehabilitated Phillips School, developed in the late 1990s on the east side of Georgetown, and the Wormley School, developed in the 2010s on the west side.
ANC chair Ron Lewis said at the March 2 meeting: “Bidders should be well aware of what is likely to be welcomed by the community and what is likely to infringe on the community’s view of what should be there – and the consequences that could flow from that.”
Lewis and the commission outlined “community expectations” that include not more than 10 units in the old building and no major change to it, new townhouses on 34th Street that match the height and massing of existing adjacent homes, access to the north side of the property from a 34th Street driveway and retention of the playground on 35th Street.