Ward 3 Housing Justice | Wardman Hotel Strategy Team
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 1, 2022
Contact: Gail Sonnemann, 202-286-0845, gsonnemann@gmail.com
Ward 3 housing advocates are asking Carmel Partners, the new owner of the Wardman Hotel in Woodley Park, to withdraw its request for a demolition permit.
In their January 3, 2022, open letter to Carmel, Ward 3 Housing Justice (W3HJ) and the Wardman Hotel Strategy Team (WHST) describe the community’s vision for the Wardman. It includes truly affordable mixed income housing in the existing building, the preservation of the large green space, new space for the Oyster-Adams School, as well as space for onsite job training, retail, meetings, the arts and recreation. All of these possibilities are eliminated by demolition.
Since it took possession October 29, 2021, however, Carmel has been busy implementing its unknown redevelopment plan by: a) auctioning the contents of the hotel which eliminates possibilities for onsite job training; b) applying in November, right before the holidays, for the demolition permit; and c) running down the clock on the demolition permit while continuing to stonewall requests by the advocates for direct discussions of its intentions.
Housing advocates ask Carmel Partners how will they meet Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio’s commitment to “maximize the residential potential of the site with an emphasis on affordable housing and attainable, middle-income housing” if the Wardman is razed?
The letter to Carmel ends as follows: “You are ignoring the community, proceeding with demolition and pursuing matter-of-right/PUD/IZ project which we know from experience is the toolkit that fails to produce the affordable housing the city needs, especially in Ward 3. Please prove us wrong.”
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