Attendance at Georgetown Day School’s quarterly meeting with Foxhall and Palisades community members spiked on Tuesday night, with news that the MacArthur Boulevard campus is on the market now.

Rahel Rosner, GDS’s finance and operations director, said she’s been holding the meetings for eight years, usually addressing one or two people. “Hopefully,” she said, “we’re doing something right.” The count jumped to 10, with neighbors looking for insight about the future of the prime location the school plans to give up in order to consolidate in an expanded campus in Tenleytown.

PROPERTY IN PLAY: The Georgetown Day School lower and middle school site on MacArthur Boulevard is now on the market for sale or lease. Photo Credit: John A. Bray

The audience is likely to swell, with concern mounting about congestion in the heavily trafficked corridor. Across the street, for example, at Q Street and MacArthur Boulevard, two single-family homes were torn down to be replaced by taller, multi-unit buildings. The nearby St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School expects to move part of its enrollment to a nearby former commercial site on the Boulevard, just east of the reservoir.

Among those attending the meeting were Bob Avery, president of the Foxhall Community Citizens Association, and Conrad DeWitte, the area’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission representative. Avery said he hoped that GDS would consult with the community about what’s next at the site to avoid controversy and what could be costly resistance. He recalled that the demolition of a nearby mental health hospital and construction of housing came with divisive, dragged-out hearings that pitted developers against nearby community residents.

Rosner said the GDS lower and middle school site had been listed for 1.5 weeks, and that JM Zell Partners, LTD, a Washington, D.C., company, was hired to market the property. “We’re trying to ascertain value,” Rosner said. “We’re still exploring whether it’s a lease or a sale.”

Interest in the building by outside parties isn’t new. Over the past four years, inquiries about possible acquisition have come from DCPS, charter school operators, and private schools, according to Rosner. When the former commercial site near the reservoir was up for grabs, a blue banner hung from the building touting its suitability for a charter school. Charter schools are publicly funded, privately managed schools that are approved to open and monitored by the DC Public Charter School Board. Ideas mentioned at the meeting included two different private schools sharing the campus.

Under its deal with city zoning regulators, the PK-8 school site is capped at an enrollment of 575, according to Rosner, who said the campus is at full capacity and has a waiting list.

The timetable for disposition of the GDS property is unclear. Rosner said GDS, which bought the Tenleytown Safeway building and a former car dealership by its high school on Davenport Street, still must work out the details of its consolidation plan. Sources of income to fund the transformation remain to be determined. Rosner called the Zell firm “connected to the community” and well-suited to marketing the property. One attendee from the nearby housing development said he knew Zell and that he recognized him as a “pragmatic” person.

Rosner said she did not anticipate consolidation prior to 2020. The MacArthur Boulevard site, which encompasses multiple residential zonings, exists under a special exception, as with other private schools, according to Rosner. With that exception come requirements, like holding quarterly community meetings and providing a certain amount of parking.

Rosner, addressing questions for 90 minutes, said the school has strived for good relations and worked hard to minimize traffic problems. Measures include running buses to the campus from the high school and Bethesda to cut down on car trips, staggering dismissal times and starting morning drop-off at 7:30 a.m. accompanying early programming to facilitate spreading traffic over a longer period. Peak drop-off time runs from 7:55 a.m. to 8:15 a.m., Rosner said. Parents must agree to abide by the traffic plan as part of their enrollment contract with the school.

How the traffic from the St. Patrick’s will affect the flow on the boulevard remains to be seen. Rosner said GDS “does not want to create a nuisance,” and tries to quickly address problems. She said that more security cameras recently were added to the campus, along with lights that point on the parking lot in the wake of vandalism of buses. People had been entering the buses overnight and partying. Rosner said that no incidents have occurred since installation of the cameras, which are posted in plain sight to serve as a deterrent.

© 2017 John A. Bray