Major DC Development RiverPoint Cooks Up Deal With Culinary Hub
By Keith Loria December 4, 2020 11:11 am
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DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) has signed a 36,000-square-foot lease at RiverPoint at Buzzard Point, a 73,000-square-foot, mixed-use development in the works in southwest Washington, D.C.
The development is a collaboration between Akridge, Western Development Corporation and Orr Partners.
“RiverPoint will be a unique and balanced community gathering place in Buzzard Point,” Herb Miller, Western Development’s chairman and CEO, told Commercial Observer. “DCCK’s relocation to RiverPoint will bring more than 30,000 people a year to volunteer and experience the myriad amenities found along the widest point of the Potomac River.”
He added that DCCK at RiverPoint is about partnership and community impact. DCCK is best-known for training unemployed people with food and materials recycled from area eateries.
“Buzzard Point is the only neighborhood of its kind in our region that will allow residents and neighbors to contribute their time and energy by providing food and job training opportunities where they are most needed,” Miller said.
DCCK will move from its longtime headquarters at 425 Second Street NW and consolidate its satellite locations into one modern facility at RiverPoint. The company is expected to make the transition in early 2022.
“With food insecurity in D.C. expected to increase by 60 percent in the next year and unemployment on the rise, DCCK’s relocation to a larger home at RiverPoint comes at a crucial time,” Mike Curtin Jr., DC Central Kitchen’s CEO, told CO. “Our new headquarters will allow us to play a central role in the District’s economic recovery through the expansion of our job training services and the creation of more than 50 new living wage jobs via our social enterprises.”
RiverPoint is a renovation of existing U.S. Coast Guard buildings, and will also include 485 units and ground-floor retail. The pedestrian-friendly community activates the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail and has a plethora of nearby restaurants and retail, plus Audi Field, home of soccer team D.C. United.
Washington restaurant legend Greg Casten, owner of Michelin-acknowledged Ivy City Smokehouse, is also opening a restaurant at RiverPoint.
“Casten is enthusiastic about the partnership with DCCK and already employs DCCK graduates at his other restaurants and has pledged to do so at their RiverPoint locations,” Miller said.
