What’s going on at the Park Van Ness project? Here’s the exterior work timeline

When Forest Hills Connection covered the Park Van Ness community meeting earlier this month, we focused mostly on the question we’ve been hearing most from our readers: When will the Connecticut Avenue sidewalk adjacent to the project reopen? (Answer: Partially, at year-end; fully, by this time next year)

The April 7th presentation by Saul Centers and Clark Construction covered a lot more than that. Jason Elliott, Clark superintendent for the project, went over the remaining phases of exterior work.

• May 1 through July 15: Installation of large pieces of precast concrete on the face of the building
• Now through August 31: Installation of underground utilities
• July 1-Spetember 15: Installation of brick and cast stone walls and windows
• July 15-August 15: Demolition of remaining existing sidewalk and grading the new one
• And from August 15 through December 31: Installation of a partial sidewalk, construction of planter walls, reinstallation of the Yuma Street traffic light and streetlights, resurfacing portions of Connecticut Avenue; installation of curb and gutter and restriping of Connecticut Avenue crosswalks at Yuma, and adding tree boxes, trees and landscaping.

That will leave us with a 6-foot portion of sidewalk until the rest of the 30-foot public space fronting the new building is completed. You can see the presentation slides here.

A six-foot-wide portion of sidewalk, shown as reddish pavers in this rendering, is to open to pedestrians as of December 31st. (courtesy of Torti Gallas & Partners)

When Park Van Ness is complete, the mixed-use project at the former Van Ness Square (and before that, the Chevy Chase Ice Palace) will consist of 271 apartments, ground-level retail and underground parking. Plans presented to ANC 3F in April 2013 predicted a 30-month construction schedule and completion in winter 2016. The demolition took longer than expected, however, and work has been delayed at times by weather, so a spring 2016 opening is more likely.