ET208 – Reconnecting a Community: The Parks at Walter Reed

Additional fee, registration required.

Experience the impact of breaking down barriers.

You'll visit a vibrant mixed-income and mixed-use community on the 66-acre site of a former military hospital and hear how The Parks at Walter Reed previously was fenced off from the surrounding neighborhoods for decades. This tour will showcase the result of a decade-long collaborative process with the city, community, and a master developer.

Join us to see how the master plan and design guidelines enabled the adaptive reuse of historic buildings and the construction of over 2,600 new residential units with 20% affordable. With the site's opening, the city grid has been reinstated along with housing, a grocery store, a day care center, and a playground.

This is a bus tour. Lunch will be provided.

Learning Objectives

1. Explore the relationship of the development to the mixed-use community and consider connection to adjacent neighborhoods, transit access, public spaces, and communal amenities.
2. Identify different housing types within a dense site, including condo, rental apartments, townhomes, housing for formerly homeless, senior living, and co-living.
3. Analyze the community engagement process for the transformation of a large site with historic buildings and landscape.
4. View sustainable features, including green roofs and solar panels, and study the use of demolition rubble to build the site infrastructure.

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