WHEREAS:  HQ Acquisitions, LLC, owners of the landmarked  property at 4500 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., formerly the Sears Department Store, have applied to the HPRB to alter the store by adding four floors of residential space on top of the store, HPA No. 01-613; and

WHEREAS:  this property is in the D.C. Inventory of Historic Sites and on the National Register of Historic Places, having been designated in part because it is one of “Washington’s earliest and most significant examples of modern commercial architecture”; it exemplifies a national trend in  modern merchandising to integrate “automobile parking and services into shopping  facility design” and to “accommodate modern climate control systems and merchandising techniques”; its design includes the innovation of  “a ‘windowless’ and ‘upside down’ layout with a major customer entry from rooftop parking”; and it uses “architectural concrete as a modern façade material” (D.C. HPRB  Designation Letter, May 25, 1995); and

WHEREAS:  plans for the addition to the store show that the form of the original structure will not be changed, but that the main floor and part of the basement will still be used for retail and the floors of housing will be added above the level of the rooftop parking so that the use of the roof for parking will continue, as will the use of at least some of the ramps to enter and leave it; and

WHEREAS:  ANC 3F is affected by development of this property because:

(1) although the property is not within the boundary of ANC 3F, it is within 1,000 feet of ANC 3F and can be seen from  several places in ANC 3F;

(2) residents of ANC 3F have for decades shopped at this location when it housed the Sears Department Store and Hechinger’s, and they expect to shop there once again under the new development;

(3)  residents of ANC 3F use the services of the Tenley-Friendship Library and Iona House and attend Janney School,  St. Ann’s, St.Columba’s, and Eldbrooke Churches, all institutions surrounding and affected by development of the property; and

WHEREAS:  residents of ANC 3F have not expressed the view that adding housing atop the building will detract from its landmark status, but rather have stated their support for this plan as a use compatible with the surrounding community and an appropriate way to add new housing to Tenleytown; and

WHEREAS:  the D.C. Comprehensive Plan designates this property as within the Tenleytown Metrorail Station Special Treatment Area, where “development of substantial new housing” is to be provided, 10 DCMR Section 1129.2 (c), and the D.C. Generalized Land Use Map appended to the Comprehensive Plan shows this property as intended for a mixed use of moderate-density commercial and medium-density housing;

THEREFORE, BE  IT RESOLVED THAT:  ANC 3F does not object to the concept of adding housing above the rooftop parking level of the Sears Building, but recommends that the floors of housing be set back from the Wisconsin Avenue and River Road, as well as the Albemarle Street facades to distinguish the addition from the original structure, to minimize the height and mass of the addition, and to preserve the historic feel of most of the ramps and rooftop parking:

.    The setbacks indicated for Wisconsin Avenue and River Road in the “Typical Residential Floor (3-6)”  plan will              help achieve these purposes, especially the 120-foot setback from the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and Albemarle Street;

 .  A setback along the River Road façade at the corner of Murdock Mill Road would allow the Eldbrooke Church steeple to be viewed from Wisconsin Avenue, as it has been for decades.  In actuality, the steeple is not as high as it appears in the elevations provided because the church is significantly downhill from the Sears Building;

.   An additional setback from the façade along Albemarle Street at least the depth of the entrance ramp should be provided to highlight this principal entrance to the rooftop parking and to maintain its open-air feel.  The view of the proposed addition from the intersection of 42nd and Albemarle Street and from Janney School would be particularly overwhelming without this setback;

.   A similar setback along Murdock Mill Road the depth of the closest ramp would help preserve the sense that this building integrates automobile parking into its design; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:  ANC 3F requests that it be allowed to comment further on this application as plans are refined.

/s/ David J. Bardin_______                                       /s/ Robert V. Maudlin_______
    David J. Bardin, Chair                                                Robert V. Maudlin, Secretary