The owners of a historic church on Rhode Island Avenue in the Woodridge neighborhood of D.C. are working to convert it and an adjacent lot into mixed-used development.
Located at 3200 22nd St. NE, the 10,000-square-foot building built in 1924 has been a Presbyterian church, a Baptist church and a Christian Science congregation, and a prominent Route 1 synagogue got its start holding services there.
Pastor Patrick J. Walker of the New Macedonia Baptist Church told the Hyattsville Wire that his church is affiliated with Evangel Missionary Baptist Church, which own the properties, and that he used to hold Bible studies and other worship services there, but since the pandemic, he said the building hasn’t been fully used, which prompted the sale.
The owners of the properties plan to work with Feldman Ruel to convert the building and a .2-acre parking lot next door into a new mixed-use development that would retain the historic architecture of the existing structure while adding ground-floor retail.
Under a new D.C. ordinance, between 10 and 20 percent of its floor area will have to be set aside for affordable housing units.
Some neighbors have objected, arguing that bringing more residents to the area would increase demand for on-street parking, reduce open space and sunlight and diminish the “suburban environment” of the area.
But lawyers for the church wrote in a filing to rezone the lot that it would “encourage infill development on a vacant property which currently detracts from both commercial and residential streets.”
Close to Zeke’s Coffee and a Good Food Markets, the neighborhood around the church has been gentrifying, with new restaurants like His & Hers and upscale condos nearby on the market for as much as half a million dollars.
The existing building was first home to the Sherwood Presbyterian Church and was the work of George T. Santmyers, a distinguished architect who designed many apartments in D.C. and hundreds of row houses including many of those found on Capitol Hill today.
The neighborhood is also home to a number of older churches, including one with ties to one of the area’s oldest Catholic congregations.
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