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District Makes Significant Progress on Anacostia Waterfront Revitalization, Will Host Community Education Fair at Nats Park

Friday, November 14, 2008
Press Advisory for Immediate Release

(Washington, DC) – Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced on Friday that the District has made significant progress in advancing more than $8 billion worth of economic development, transportation and infrastructure projects as a part of the city’s highly ambitious Anacostia Waterfront Initiative during the past 12 months.

“The Anacostia waterfront presents an incredible opportunity to connect our city, build great neighborhoods, world-class cultural and entertainment destinations and a network of urban waterfront parks,” Mayor Fenty said. “During the past 12 months, we’ve made great strides in realizing that vision and we’re committed to seeing it through.”

The District will host a community fair on Saturday, November 15 at Nationals Park – which opened along the waterfront in April – where more than three dozen District agencies, community organizations, nonprofits and private sector developers will be on hand to share information about ongoing and future waterfront projects and programs. The fair will feature bus tours to development sites and panel discussions with District and community leaders.

The Anacostia Waterfront Initiative began in the District’s Office of Planning during the Williams Administration, but it has grown to include numerous partnerships between the District and federal agencies, nonprofit groups, community organizations and private sector development companies. The initial vision called for a 20-year plan to not only revitalize both the East and West banks of the river, but to make the river itself clean and safe for swimming and boating.

Led by the Deputy Mayor’s Office for Planning and Economic Development, the District Department of Transportation, District Department of the Environment and the Office of Planning, the District has accomplished the following during the past 12 months:

  • Selected Clark Realty for the $2.5 billion Poplar Point project one of the largest economic development projects in the District and one of the last truly great urban waterfront sites on the East Coast
  • The DC Council approved a $198 million TIF/PILOT package to fund park and infrastructure improvements for the $1.5 billion Southwest Waterfront redevelopment
  • Four teams responded to District solicitation for Hill East Waterfront, seeking a master developer to transform more than 50 acres surrounding the former DC General Hospital site into a $1.4 billion new waterfront neighborhood
  • District, Forest City Washington and Charles E. Smith/Vornado demolish the former Waterside Mall to make way for Waterfront Station, a 2.5 million square foot mixed-use development atop the Waterfront-SEU Metrorail station
  • Reached an operating agreement with Forest City Washington to build and maintain the $42 million, 5-acre Park at the Yards
  • District finished up design work for $7.7 million first phase of Marvin Gaye Park in Ward 7
  • Reached an agreement with the Canal Park Development Corp. to build $13.1 million, three-block-long park in the heart of the heart of the ballpark district.
  • Will break ground at Diamond Teague Park by the end of 2008
  • Developed an Anacostia 2032 Plan (available on our website) to make the Anacostia River boatable, swimmable and fishable in 25 years
  • Started real-time water quality monitoring, updated automatically online 24 hours a day
  • Created the Mayor's Green Summer Job Corps for several hundred District students. Corps members' responsibilities included pulling trash from the river and removing invasive plant species
  • Working on a new stormwater rate structure. Stormwater runoff carries pollution such as oil and pet waste, sometimes directly into rivers and streams. For the first time, the new rates will charge owners of buildings that create the most runoff
  • Begun planning and preparation for $30 million street car line connecting South Capitol Street and Good Hope Road, SE
  • Produced design work for $260 million 11th Street Bridge Project, construction to begin in summer 2009
  • Continued work on more than 16 miles of Anacostia Riverwalk Trail System, about $50 million worth of work during next six years
  • Continued work on environmental impact analysis to replace the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, design work to begin Summer 2009
  • Obtained Council of approval for three neighborhood plans in the AWI area:
      o Deanwood, Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Benning Road
  • Completed Saint Elizabeths East Redevelopment Framework Plan and Submitted to the Council for Approval
  • Positioned District as a national leader in green building policies and actions.
      o Country’s most ambitious green building laws
      o DC has a higher density of green buildings than any other major city in the US, with 321  LEED registered buildings and another 32 certified, including the nation’s first major league LEED stadium, right here, Nationals Park.
      o Produced a guide for green buildings