An Open Letter to Cabin John

An Open Letter to Cabin John.pdf

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A letter to my Cabin John neighbors

If you haven’t met me before, my name is Sean Ruppert. I have lived on 79^th Street for 13 years in a house my company built. I have raised my twins, Maddie and Patrick, in Cabin John. Maddie attended Bannockburn and now Pyle; Patrick, with special needs, attends other nearby public schools with programs that work for him. We frequent MacArthur Plaza daily and took our recently deceased dog, Obie, to Alpine Veterinarian. My husband has run in the Cabin John Turkey Trot and the Cabin John 4^th of July Parade gathers on our lawn. Cabin John has not only been our home, but it has been a source of pride and community for our family. We love living here.

So I would like to apologize to anyone who feels uncomfortable about our development plans at 7687 MacArthur Blvd. My intent in all of this was to follow my passion—for homebuilding, for Cabin John and for providing unique options to the region’s homebuyers. I would never do anything to intentionally cause harm to another neighbor or, worse, to this special community we live in. This letter is my attempt to provide some understanding and context around the homes we are building.

My development company, OPaL (www.opaldc.com), has been in business for 24 years. We specialize in historic renovations and developing infill parcels of land. We are currently working on five historic properties in DC plus several new homes in Rehoboth and Cabin John; not to mention nearly a dozen renovations for private homeowners. We intentionally design the homes to be unlike others you see. This may include, for example, a new Sears kit home. Or a century old chapel on Capitol Hill. Or it may include thoughtful features that other builders don’t think of. Like using natural light in creative ways to brighten and warm a home. Feel free to visit our site and see the quality of work we do and learn the story behind our company.

 Our journey with 7687 MacArthur Blvd.

The property had actually been brought to my attention prior to it being listed for sale with the intent for me to purchase the property. I declined because I knew anything built on that lot would be controversial. Several months went by and the land was put under contract by another developer. Upon seeing their plans for 11 4-story homes, I was just as offended as you were, and I attended their community meeting. It was a horrible plan. Thankfully a few months later the buyers withdrew their offer.

A few more months passed without any legitimate offers on the property. After seeing the proposal for 11 homes, the possibilities for what could be legally built there were a bit frightening; I assumed everyone would feel the same. I felt if my company developed the project, we could ensure a scaled down proposal with more attractive and appropriate single-family homes. Someone was going to develop that parcel and at least with us doing it, it wouldn’t be such a crapshoot as to the quality of the homes and the integrity of the location. I also thought most people would agree.

Over the years, the property has been home to myriad of small businesses, from a penny candy store, post office and hair salon to a bike shop, outdoor equipment sales, franchise sales, wild bird center and a gym. Longterm success was fleeting for each business. When the property was listed for sale, the next logical consequence, if the gym operators could not purchase the property, was the gym needed to find a new home. This wasn’t something we did. It’s what happens when private properties are sold. As former members of the gym, we often wondered how they were making ends meet with the limited number of people we saw using the facility. Sometimes we were the only people there. Certainly, there were times of success, however, that was not our experience prior to or after Covid. We have been surprised that everyone didn’t see the end of the gym was immanent when the property was listed for sale.

 If the property stays commercial, there are concerns in the community about the business’ viability, based on the history of commercial ventures at that address.  In total there were only three legitimate contracts with deposits written on the property—two residential offers and a 24-hour emergency veterinarian. After almost a year on the market this should demonstrate the real-world possibilities of the property.

For those who want the property to remain commercial.

Just some perspective for those who want the address to stay commercial… what kind of business would be something the entire community would get on board with? What about dumpsters? Where will they be and what time of the mornings will they be emptied? What about rats? Or parking and traffic if the business is successful? What about delivery trucks? (I can tell you firsthand as someone who lives across from MacArthur Plaza, the deliveries by diesel trucks and dumpster pick-ups at 6am are not wonderful.)  Retaining the existing buildings for commercial use is also problematic. None of the three buildings are ADA compliant and none of them have modern fire suppression systems. All three buildings would require retrofitting the costs of which would outweigh the value of the buildings.  

If the 24-hour emergency veterinarian bought the property, what about round-the-clock traffic? A parking lot lit up all night? Outdoor dog runs? How about the property values of the homes adjacent to it? As an example, the only home not to sell in Cabin John after a year on the market was a new home that shares a property line with MacArthur Plaza – the owners decided to rent the property after 12 months on the market and several price reductions. During the same 12 month period all other for sale homes in Cabin John were sold and settled.

Mixed opinions on our plans for 7687 MacArthur Blvd.

We’ve received a lot of criticism about the five mid-century inspired homes we plan on building on the lot. But we have also received a lot of support. Some of our neighbors have told us they feel there is nothing that would make everyone happy. They told us that, if the current business was going to stop operating regardless and the lot was going to be developed into homes, that they trust us to do it the right way and have the community’s interest in mind. And we do. It is our community too. It is the only place our children have ever called home.

With 34 modern, contemporary or mid-century modern homes in Cabin John, 43 modern rowhomes just across the street and 83 mid-century modern split-level homes off Persimmon Tree, we feel there is a tradition of the style we propose, and it fits in quite well. We adore the architecture. It may not be your preference, but these homes are beautiful and will be impeccably appointed, befitting their Cabin John neighborhood.

After hearing the feedback for the original, 11-home proposal from another builder, we chose to create low rooflines and carports. These traits make the homes more pedestrian friendly and allow 2-car covered parking without the large, forward-facing 2-car garage doors that are typical on garage homes.  Our homes are only 32’ tall and far less dense than the previous proposal. To help alleviate concerns about storm water we offered partial green roofs and permeable driveways along with reducing the current lot coverage by 20%. To ensure the streetscape resembled single family homes rather than townhomes a great deal of effort was placed on the separation of the homes, the pattern of the roof lines and keeping the attached areas between the homes to a single story while also planting the roof to further obscure the connection.  Currently there are fewer than three trees on the property, we plan to install 18 trees and over 12 dozen other plantings: far exceeding the current plant and tree inventory on the site or what any jurisdiction in the Mid-Atlantic would require! We have also adjusted the appearance of the homes based on constructive feedback from our voluntary meeting over the summer.

Thank you all for your continued support.

We are buying this property as a way of preserving the Cabin John way of life, not to impact it negatively. We have a thriving business that has lasted throughout the years, including the great recession. It’s not about just making a buck as some have said. It’s about creating a community Maddie and Patrick can feel proud to live in—one me and my husband and our neighbors can be proud to live in. And maybe one day our kids will bring their partners here and say, “My dads built that” with pride.  

Things have gotten heated over this project. I hope you can all know we’re just dads trying to do right by our community. A community we love. A community that opened their hearts to us and our unconventional family. A community we have built homes in in the past—and even moved in next door to those new homeowners because we have no problem owning our work and being accountable for it. If you don’t know us, we are a lot like you. We certainly share your love for the neighborhood and its natural surroundings. It's a gem. And gems have many facets.

To our dozens of supporters, thank you. Thank you for the kind words and your incredibly thoughtful emails; I have never seen such thought put into support emails and I appreciate it. To the many supporters who whisper their support when we run into each other in the neighborhood, just know we hear you and we respect your wish to cheer us on from the sidelines. And to those who don’t support us, we get it. It’s hard to trust change, especially when it comes to something you love. We are going to come through for you and this community because we love it too. And if we don’t fulfill that promise, you know where to find us.

Sean Ruppert