Re-Districting
You have to step back from D.C. occasionally to see how significantly the look of the city is changing in a short space of time. Large scale change spans the District, from new construction in the West End north of Foggy Bottom, to the cranes remaking Columbia Heights, to the new buildings stretching east from downtown toward the rising office towers at New York and Florida Avenues. Just outside the city, the massive National Harbor complex is taking shape in Prince George's County, while Crystal City plans to remake itself as a dense residential hub. The list of major projects taking shape across the Washington area grows ever longer, but it's possible that no development will change the look and feel of the city more than the complete remaking of lower Southeast D.C.
Cut off from the northern half of the District by the Mall and the Hill, bland office canyons, and freeways, the streets that line what should be a vibrant riverfront instead have been home to empty lots, ugly urban industrial complexes, and a handful of downtrodden businesses isolated far from the bustling core of town. That will change in the next few years, however, and the result could be a shift in the public's concept of the District's center of gravity, to the south and to the east.
Today, Washington received news that a compromise position had been negotiated between the Nationals' new owners and the city on how to place parking in a new development just north of the planned ballpark, but that site — which will be home to above and below ground parking in addition to condos, a hotel, and 50,000 square feet of retail space — is just one small portion of the millions of new square footage planned for the area. On Friday, the Washington Business Journal took a look at the difficulties facing planners as they design structures for the ballpark area. As Ellen McCarthy, Director of Planning for the city put it, "It's very hard to point to a great neighborhood that was created from scratch."
According to the Journal, developers will try to create a dense mix of retail and residential buildings that will reduce the chance that the area will empty out when the stadium is not in use. It also seems likely that buildings will take their stylistic cues more from the repurposed old brick buildings of the Navy Yard and Southeast Federal Center than from the glass and concrete mix of the new stadium, which will nonetheless act as the area's centerpiece, "like a European cathedral." Ultimately, the rectangular piece of land between South Capitol and I-295 will be a gleaming and highly populated center peering across the Anacostia at D.C. United's new digs — and a new stage of redevelopment that will likely remake the eastern side of the river, which already has stunning views of the capital and decent transit options that will only improve with the construction of the Anacostia Streetcar.
During the long and frequently exasperating debates over funding for the baseball stadium, the example of the MCI Center loomed large. The success of the entertainment area around Gallery Place and Chinatown has surprised many longtime residents, and it's pulled the center of downtown eastward in a frenzy of construction. Many questioned the ability of a baseball park to duplicate that success, but with the investments and designs rolling in, it seems suddenly feasible if not inevitable that such a shift will again take place. In fifteen years, will the beating heart of D.C. reside at the riverside? We wouldn't be surprised.
Picture taken by furcafe.