What's Going On at Bundy School

There has been some speculation in the community recently about what’s happening at the Bundy School (429 O Street). Back in January 2005, the Post reported that “the District now plans to put the D. C. Children’s Advocacy Center, also known as Safe Shores, in the Bundy school....The cost of renovating that building will be $5 million...and construction work will start in late summer.” Apparently this was all decided sometime back in 2004 or even earlier; I don’t know how much, if any, community involvement there was in that decision.

According to its website, Safe Shores is a “direct service non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and working directly with child victims of sexual and physical abuse.” Kevin Chapple has scheduled Melissa Hook, of Safe Shores, to speak about that organization’s plans at his first ANC2C02 meeting on Thursday, February 15, at 7:00 at the Kennedy Recreation Center.

What’s not clear is whether the DC government has abandoned its intention to convert the Bundy School property to mixed income housing. This is from a document called “Implementation—Comprehensive Plan District Elements, Adopted 12/19/06”:

NNW-2.1-K: Bundy School Redevelopment. Explore re-zoning and public-private partnerships to facilitate redevelopment of the old Bundy School and adjacent surface parking lot. Construction of mixed income housing and recreational uses should be pursued on the site. ZONING-RELATED

The city’s Convention Center area development plan called for rehabbing the Bundy School building for residential development, with a new multi-family apartment/condo building to be constructed on the parking lot behind the building, including a structure that provides parking. A presentation of that plan is here. (The plan also mentioned the possibility of redeveloping the 2nd NW Coop for higher density, while retaining the current numbers of affordable units.)

UPDATE: I found another document referring to the Bundy School decision: "Volume 5: FY2007 - FY2012 Capital Appendices". Here's the reference:

The Office of the City Administrator manages two projects. (1) Child Assessment Center (receiving no new funding in FY 2007): Pursuant to an agreement executed by Mayor Williams, the Bundy School will be transformed into a Child Assessment Center (initially planned to be located at the Gales School). The facility will house Safe Shores (a program to treat victims) as well as caseworkers from the Child and Family Services Agency, the Metropolitan Police Department, the Office of the Corporation Counsel, the US Attorney’s Office and the Superior Court Social Services Agency.