Former DCist editor Rob Goodspeed is pondering why it will take so long (2008?) to break ground at the old convention center site downtown, as well as what, exactly, the city will really end up doing with the area. His take is that an effort by the city to plan every inch of redevelopment themselves, such as the city’s current plan for a $1 billion new main public library and entertainment complex with mixed-use retail and residential units, won’t be efficient nor yield the most interesting results. Instead, Goodspeed offers his vision for letting the market determine the outcome:

Keep the general parameters for development from the site master plan (a minimum height, balance of uses, planned sidewalk and public space, minimum number of housing units, and deadline for construction – even a requirment 30% of the stores have less than 6 branches in the U.S.) subdivide the property into typical lots for the section of city, and auction them off one-by-one for development by different companies. This approach just might spark some competition to finish first and result in a more varied and genuine urbanism.

Interesting idea, though we also doubt D.C. city government would miss out on an opportunity to go forward with an unwieldy master redevelopment plan that could easily be bogged down by confusion and funding controversies.

Got an opinion about the old convention center site? Let’s hear ’em.