The D.C. government is starting over on its effort to redevelop the Frank D. Reeves Center, a government building at the center of the U Street corridor whose revitalization has been years in the making.

Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration released a new RFP (request for proposals) on the project last week, nearly two years after issuing an earlier RFP that resulted in two bids.

Why the new bidding process? That’s because the city needed to relocate “complex mission-critical IT” from the Reeves Center, according to the office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. The Reeves Center houses, among others, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer and the District Department of Transportation. Instead of the future developer of the site handling the relocation of city IT infrastructure, the city agencies themselves will now coordinate that approximately $47 million effort.

The new RFP aims to make the bidding process more equitable for Black and non-white developers. The Reeves EquityRFP, as its been titled, “removed some of the complexities that created a high barrier to entry and deterred potential respondents,” Bowser said in a statement on Friday.

“[The Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development] acknowledged that this process has taken more time than initially expected and expressed appreciation for the community’s patience ” reads a DMPED press release. “Given the U Street Corridor’s role in African American identity, culture, and life, DMPED will prioritize proposals that embrace the parcel’s historical significance and honor the legacies of Black Broadway, Marion Barry Jr., and Frank D. Reeves.”

The city is partnering with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on the project, which in 2020 announced its intent to move its national headquarters into a redeveloped Reeves Center.

In April 2021, two different development teams submitted proposals to the city, outlining their vision for the site. Team One, made up of CSG Urban Partners, Capri Investment Group, and MRP Reality, envisioned an arts and entertainment plaza in the name of Frederick Douglass and an amphitheater honoring former mayor Marion Barry filling the space, with retail stores, seasonal art installations, shopping, and a weekly farmers market on the ground level. The upper floors of the building would house the NAACP offices as well as mixed-income housing units. Team One’s plan won endorsements from the Washington Jazz Arts Institute, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

The second team — Dantes Partners, Menkiti Group, and Horning Brothers — proposed a site that would collaborate with local and national organizations like DC Central Kitchen, The Collective Food Hall, St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, and Songbyrd to support job growth with a hotel and food hall, alongside the NAACP and affordable housing units in other parts of the building.

One of those proposals could still come to fruition: Both groups are eligible to re-submit for this bid. The city will also accept submissions from new applicants, though they don’t have much time to put their bids together. To keep the project on track for a projected 2025 groundbreaking, proposals are due on January 20, 2023. The deputy mayor’s office says it will selection a winning bidder within 30 days.