Barry Farm

The Barry Farm neighborhood is located off Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, west of historic Anacostia in Washington, D.C. and was originally established in 1867 as the first African-American homeownership community in Washington, D.C. for newly freed slaves. Over time, the original 375 acre site dwindled in size and in 1943 The National Capital Housing Authority acquired 24 acres and built what is now known as the Barry Farm public housing project.

The property provided 444 public housing units, but the existing units were dilapidated and the density was very low.  As a result, the District of Columbia’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development identified the Barry Farm neighborhood as one of the communities in the District’s New Communities Initiative. The goal of NCI is to revitalize areas of solely public housing and replace them with mixed income and mixed use communities.

In 2013, POAH was selected by the District of Columbia Housing Authority to provide master planning and master developer services on this redevelopment which will benefit many of the current residents and the Anacostia neighborhood, and will further economic development by revitalizing Anacostia and the District as whole. Coinciding with the New Communities Initiative, POAH redevelopment plan consists of the redevelopment of the existing Barry Farm and Wade Road Apartments into a mixed use development serving residents of varying incomes in a mix of unit types, retail, service uses, and a community park. Approximately 1,100 residential units (apartments, row dwellings, and flats) will be built, including 480 replacement public housing units. The plan will provide approximately 40,000 square feet of new retail/service uses, a substantial amount of open space, including a 2.4 acre central park, and significant new public infrastructure.

For more information, visit the Barry Farm website at www.barryfarmredevelopment.org.

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Barry Farm in Washington, DC