Skyland Town Center’s Final Phase Is Underway

Michael Neibauer, Washington Business Journal

The final phase of Skyland Town Center, a mixed-use development in Southeast Washington more than a quarter century in the making, is underway.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Thursday joined representatives of the development team — WC Smith, Rappaport, Washington East Foundation and the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization — to break ground on the third and last piece of Skyland, to include 126 for-sale townhomes, a 75-unit affordable senior apartment building, roughly 10,000 square feet of retail and a public square and plaza.

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Among the retailers and restaurants still to come at Skyland are Savage Breakfast Club from Darrell Gaston, HalfSmoke and Peri Peri Original.

The latest phase of the project is being partially subsidized by the District, which recently approved a $15 million grant through the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. Previous phases, which totaled $130 million in all, were supported by a portion of a $40 million tax-increment financing package approved by the D.C. Council in 2014 — that TIF was amended to $25 million as part of the recently adopted legislation, reflecting the $15 million direct grant.

“Skyland is a testament to the power of public-private partnerships, and we’re excited to keep the momentum going at Skyland,” Nina Albert, D.C.’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said in a statement.

Located at the confluence of Good Hope Road, Naylor Road and Alabama Avenue SE in Ward 7, Skyland Town Center represents the culmination of decades of work by its private backers and the District government. D.C. seized the 18.5-acre former Skyland Shopping Center in 2004 and fought a near decade long eminent domain battle to gain clear title, then faced a series of major challenges, from a Safeway covenant to Walmart bailing on the project.

The first phase opened in 2021, with The Crest, a 263-unit apartment building, a CVS and other restaurants and retailers. In 2022, Skyland’s Lidl became the first full-service grocery store to open east of the Anacostia River in 15 years, joined by the District’s first drive-through Starbucks, a PNC Bank, Tropical Smoothie Café, Mezeh, Maizal and &pizza. The Washington Business Journal named Skyland its Deal of the Year during its 2023 Best Real Estate Deals awards.

When complete, Skyland will total more than 450 residential units and 135,000 square feet of retail.