(Washington, DC) – Mayor Vincent C. Gray today announced the official release of the Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for an academic anchor at the St. Elizabeths East Innovation Hub in Ward 8. The principal purpose of the RFEI is to provide academic institutions with the opportunity to propose a vision for their participation in St. Elizabeths East and enable the District government to gather information about the range of institutions and consortia that may be interested in the opportunity to establish a significant presence at the technology-and-innovation hub. The RFEI will be followed by a formal Request for Proposals (RFP), to be released later this year.
“The St. Elizabeths East Innovation Hub is a once-in-lifetime development opportunity that will pay big dividends for the District of Columbia,” said Mayor Gray. “This facility will combine business, research and higher-education entities in an interactive, technology-focused community. We have laid a broad framework for development and, in this phase, we’re asking academic institutions to bring us their best ideas for moving this project and the District forward.”
St. Elizabeths East is the largest mixed-use project in the District, and the Innovation Hub will be the core of its first phase of development, which will include academic and technology-related commercial facilities. Following a successful solicitation for private-sector anchors, the District is issuing this RFEI to gain insight about the academic and research programs that universities may propose to offer at St. Elizabeths East and the scale and scope of such programs. Academic institutions are encouraged to articulate their proposed role in the development of the Innovation Hub, with a specific focus on creating and growing businesses and jobs in the District.
Interested parties may obtain a copy of the RFEI here. Responders are invited to attend The St. Elizabeths East Pre-Response Conference on Thursday, April 25th, hosted by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. The pre-response conference will include a formal briefing about the project and a walking tour of the campus.
St. Elizabeths East is located in the Congress Heights neighborhood in Southeast Washington, adjacent to the Congress Heights Metro station and directly across the street from the federally-owned St. Elizabeths West Campus—the future home of the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) consolidated headquarters. The US Coast Guard is the first of many DHS units to occupy St. Elizabeths West and will have 3,700 employees on site starting in August 2013.
The 183-acre St. Elizabeths East campus is a National Historic Landmark and includes numerous architecturally unique and significant buildings. As property owner, the District government is aggressively pursuing the redevelopment of St. Elizabeths East to accelerate DC’s growing innovation economy and to generate positive economic impacts for the surrounding community in Ward 8 and the District as a whole.
A dramatic new showpiece of the East Campus is the Gateway Pavilion, designed by award winning architects Davis Brody Bond. Construction on the pavilion – a multipurpose structure that will accommodate spaces for food trucks, vendors, outdoor recreation and performances as well as community gatherings, casual dining, a farmers’ market and cultural and arts events – is set to begin this summer.
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