The Crest at Skyland Town Center opened last year as the first apartment building at Skyland Town Center, a project by WC Smith and Rappaport that represents one of the largest mixed-use developments east of the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington.
The Takeaway: A 263-unit, three-story complex, The Crest is emblematic of the push by Mayor Muriel Bowser to bring more commercial development and higher-end apartments east of the Anacostia in historically overlooked and underserved Wards 7 and 8.
Why it Matters: A development more than three decades in the making, the Skyland Town Center is a story of perseverance and the commitment necessary to develop high-end commercial projects in a poorer part of the city that has failed to see the same type of engagement evident in almost every other part of Washington. In 2002, the D.C. government selected Rappaport to build Skyland Town Center, but the challenge of luring retailers to the area, including the loss of Walmart as its anchor tenant in 2016, coupled with a recession delayed the project for more than 15 years before development plans began in earnest.
In The Crest, the area has its first new apartment building in more than 40 years, and Skyland Town Center has a built-in residential component to service the 156,000 square feet of retail planned for a development that will include the first new full-service grocery store east of the Anacostia River in nearly two decades.
Zoom In: Located within a town square setting, the $199 million Crest opened in April with amenities unprecedented east of the Anacostia, including a 24-hour front desk, pool, full gym, bike storage and dog park and washing station, in addition to a lobby adorned with paintings of D.C. go-go legend Chuck Brown and ballerina Misty Copeland by local artist Luis Del Valle. Home to a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, the project has been able to attract outside residents to an area historically avoided by renters, as roughly half of its tenants came from outside Ward 7, with teachers representing the largest single employment group among residents. Its success can also be measured in its ability to coax retailers to the project, with CVS, Chase Bank Community Center and Roaming Rooster, a growing D.C. restaurant chain, all opening locations in The Crest's ground-floor space last year. Additionally, neighborhood institutions Like That Barber shop, Skyland Nail Salon and Fuji Steakhouse also are set to open locations in the building in 2022.
What They’re Saying: The development is "a tribute to the residents of Ward 7, whose vision and persistence have been a driving force behind the success of Skyland Town Center," said WC Smith Chairman and CEO Chris Smith. The first new market-rate multifamily property to open east of the Anacostia in more than 40 years, the project stands as a testament to the goal of building a level of housing in Ward 7 that is already widely available in many other parts of the District. The Crest’s residents represent a blend of income, employment and geographic diversity, and the project has incorporated input from community meetings into its design, the company said.
CoStar's Impact Awards highlight the commercial real estate transactions and projects that have transformed their markets over the past year. The winners are chosen by independent panels of industry professionals who work in the markets they judge. A list of judges can be found here and the criteria for selecting winners can be found here.