WBJ post on latest VMP site plans: all 20 above ground sand silos will be preserved

See this post from Washington Business Journal:
 

SUBSCRIBER CONTENT:  Oct 11, 2013, 6:00am EDT

Breaking Ground
McMillanplant designs refined before hearing
Michael Neibauer, Staff Reporter- Washington Business Journal

The team behind the planned redevelopment of D.C.’s 25-acre McMillan Sand Filtration Plant has released a revised set of blueprints for the controversial Northwest Washington project.

The redesign was submitted to the Historic Preservation Review Board late last month, ahead of the scheduled Oct. 24 HPRB meeting. The last time the HPRB met on the Vision McMillan Partners’ plan, members were not blown away, nor did they write it off.

The changes are technical, but noticeable and substantial. The building and street layouts have been revised, setbacks increased, and designs refined “to shape a more cohesive set of new buildings.”

As one VMP representative explained, the palette of materials and colors is now standard throughout the site, while the buildings have been shifted back to allow the Olmstead Walk to loop the entire 25 acres.

VMP consists of EYA, Jair Lynch Development Partners and Trammell Crow Co., with partners that include Shalom Baranes Associates and Lessard Design.

The overall McMillan setup comprises three prongs — VMP calls it the “tripartite organization” — with the park and community center farthest south, the multifamily and town homes in the center and medical office buildings to the north.

All 20 above ground sand silos will be preserved.

The decommissioned water treatment plant, bounded by Michigan Avenue, North Capitol, Channing and First streets, was designated a historic landmark in the early 1990s. Redevelopment plans have run into fierce community opposition.