Washington, D.C., has a substantial waiting list of senior residents who qualify for affordable assisted living, but are forced to seek accommodations in adjacent Maryland or Virginia, far from their home communities in Washington, D.C.
To address this shortage in affordable senior housing, Gragg Cardona Partners/The Carding Group (Washington, D.C.) is planning The Residences at Kenilworth Park, an affordable assisted living community situated on the eastern boundary of Washington, D.C. The five-story community will feature 157 units and will be the second largest affordable assisted living facility in the area.
The project is centered on transit-oriented design (TOD), emphasizes pedestrian-oriented communities with mixed-use buildings, walkable sidewalks, bikeable streets, and access to high-quality public transit. TOD allows residents to move freely without relying on a car. This project features easy access to the D.C. Metro and bus system, and a pedestrian boardwalk connecting to a bike trail. For those with vehicles, parking is located under one wing of the building on the ground floor level with covered access to the main entrance.
The community, which will connect to two nearby parks includes amenities such as a ‘general store’, gym, library, kitchen and dining space. It will also include large outdoor terraces, with one located off the main dining room at the rear of the building and a second on the rooftop outside the second-floor activity spaces.
During schematic design E4H Environments for Health (Chantilly, Va.) worked with the owner’s pre-construction contractor to define upfront ways to save construction costs. The project team cut more than $2 million by arranging the residential units vertically, which allowed for a modular bearing wall system in lieu of a post and beam, along with a composite floor/slab system.
The project, set to open in 2022, will be designed to LEED Silver standards with roof-mounted photovoltaic solar panels, LED lighting, abundant daylighting, and outdoor vistas.
Project details:
Facility name: The Residences at Kenilworth
Location: Washington, D.C.
Expected completion date: 2022
Owner: Gragg Cardona Partners/The Carding Group
Total building area: 131,930 sq. ft.
Total construction cost: Confidential
Cost/sq. ft.: Confidential
Architecture firm: E4H Environments for Health
Interior design: E4H Environments for Health
Contractor: Whiting-Turner
Engineering: Urban (civil), GPI (MEP/structural)
