Bond Bread/WRECO Redevelopment
Update
10/06/22
Bond Bread Factory Redevelopment Approved By Historic Preservation Board
The Historic Preservation Review Board has approved the redevelopment of the Bond Bread Factory and Washington Railway & Electric Co. garage, paving the way for developers to break ground on the project next year.
The plans call for 469 residential units, a 180-room hotel and over 50,000 sq. ft. of retail. There are also plans to extend public space throughout the site by opening nearly 20,000 sq. ft. of central public courtyard space underneath the ceiling trusses in the historic WRECO garage and to extend public space throughout the site.
The plan includes 179 parking spaces, slightly down from the initial proposal to avoid digging underneath the Bond Bread Factory building.
After a long planning and design phase, including The Bond Partnership meetings with local Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, main street partnerships, civic associations, as well as other organizations and stakeholders to earn their support for the project. That was over and above going to the preservation board five times in a period of less than 6 months.
Menkiti is enthusiastic about his firm’s project contributing to the reinvigoration of Shaw. In addition to opening up the property to the public through the courtyard and retail, the partners are also planning details like pavers with quotes from historic figures.
Bo Menkiti of the Menkiti Group stated that the "Bond Bread WRECO is the opportunity to make a historic statement about the university. It’s going to have the most retail, it’s a place to connect... We had an obligation to be the heartbeat of this whole district."
