Just as it celebrates its 125th birthday, the Wormley School is poised for a major facelift.
Encore Development presented conceptual drawings for the Wormley property, purchased from the University in June, to the Old Georgetown Board last Friday.
According to Encore president Gary Kirstein, the three-story school will be converted into anywhere from six to nine condos, while the parking lot and playground will be excavated to make room for a parking garage underneath. Six row houses will be constructed at street level and the remaining areas on the site will be used for a green space.
These plans are all pending re-zoning from “education” to “residential” by the D.C. Office of Zoning and approval by both the OGB and the Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Council. Kirstein said the public response to the project so far has been positive but that residents have expressed concerns.
“They’ve been receptive to it, but they certainly have their own ideas about how they’d like it to look,” he said. Kirstein said residents have been most concerned about increased traffic, especially in the cramped public alley between Prospect St. and N St., but he plans to avoid the problem by having the garage open directly onto Prospect St. itself.
Kirstein also speculated on the open space behind the townhouses.
“Maybe a little trellis back there,” he said.
