Frager’s Developer to Talk at ANC Meeting Tonight

The developer aiming to restore the Frager’s Hardware building is seeking public comment on the plan.

Roadside Development founder Richard Lake tells HillNow.com that he will talk to residents about the reconstruction of the beloved Capitol Hill store at the ANC 6B meeting Tuesday night.

Construction on the restored Frager’s, at Pennsylvania Avenue and 11th Street SE, will begin as early as next spring, Lake said. His firm plans to buy the property and finance the project by adding office, retail and/or residential space.

“We haven’t yet determined what else will be there, but we definitely know there will be more than Frager’s,” he said.

The project will not be a mixed-use building required to undergo the city’s planned unit development process, Lake said. The developer wants to keep the building’s 1920s facades, but the structure — which was almost entirely destroyed by a fire in June 2013 — will be rebuilt from the ground up.

Roadside is in the process of buying the property, and Lake estimated his firm would take ownership in early 2015.

The property will then have to go through a regulatory approval process that will include review by the Historical Preservation Review Board.

Lake will speak at the ANC 6B meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital (921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE). Roadside is accepting public comments through a voice mailbox at (202) 375-7942, and at [email protected].