SWBID is Almost Ready

The process of creating a Business Improvement District (BID) for Southwest has been a long one, but one of the final steps will be taken today. A public hearing is scheduled with the Department of Small & Local Business Development (DSLBD) at the Wilson Building downtown. If the DSLBD determines that the SWBID should be created, it will make a recommendation to the Office of the Mayor, who will register the BID. The DC Council approved legislation over the summer to amend the BID Act to create SWBID and DSLBD approval is the other component needed for the BID to be formed. A representative from ANC 6D will testify at the hearing to express the commissioners’ unanimous support for the creation of SWBID. 

SWBID covers a wide area of Southwest, from south of the National Mall to M Street and from 15th Street to South Capitol Street. Excluded from the SWBID is the Portals complex, which resisted joining since several of the functions of a BID are already done by the property owners. There are three main areas of Southwest included in the BID and each has distinct needs. Along 4th Street near the Waterfront Metro, the BID will work to promote the street as the ‘Main Street’ of Southwest and attract retailers to vacant spaces along the corridor. In addition, the underpasses beneath I-395 will receive more attention and the BID will identify how to implement components of the SW Neighborhood Plan. Meanwhile, the BID will work on branding of The Wharf and improve transportation access to the area. Along 10th Street in Federal Triangle South, activation of the street is needed. At 7th Street and Maryland Avenue near L’Enfant Plaza, the BID will bring in playful street furniture to activate the area for office workers during lunch hour when food trucks visit. 

A taskforce comprised of PN Hoffman, Clark Enterprises, City Partners, and Forest City helped bring the BID to fruition. Other advisory members include GSA, SWNA, and ANC 6D, among others. A Board of Directors will be elected next year with somewhere between 10 and 15 members. While GSA cannot formally become a member of SWBID, the Federal agency has 13 buildings within the BID boundaries and will contract services for those properties. This arrangement is similar to what has been done in the Downtown DC BID. 

In order to fund the BID, there will be four classes of membership, each with their own set of fees: commercial property, industrial or unimproved land, hotels, and residential. The residential class includes rental apartment buildings with 10 units or more and the BID fee will be sent to the owners of the buildings. Condominiums, co-ops, town homes, public housing, and apartment buildings with less than 10 units are exempt, but will have the opportunity to opt-in if they want. It is anticipated that SWBID will send out the first bills in early 2015 and operations will begin in the spring; the BID is already looking for office space in the area. SWBID will be fully operational by next fall. 

Map courtesy of SWBID

NCPC Recommendations for 10th Street Corridor Improvements

The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) held a public meeting on December 4th to discuss its preliminary long-term and interim recommendations for the 10th Street corridor as a part of the SW Ecodistrict. There are several initiatives simultaneously underway in the general vicinity of the project area. Within the larger SW Ecodistrict area is Federal Triangle South, where GSA will soon issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to redevelop five parcels it owns from 12th Street to the west, to 6th Street to the east, to Independence Avenue to the north, to Maryland Avenue and a portion of D Street to the south. The northern portion of 10th Street is included within Federal Triangle South. The Office of Planning recently conducted a Small Area Plan for Maryland Avenue, which will intersect with 10th Street when the historic L’Enfant roadway is reconstructed. DDOT is currently undertaking a year-long transportation study of Maryland Avenue. A new SW Business Improvement District, which includes the SW Ecodistrict boundaries, is in the process of being formed and if approved, will begin services next spring. Just to the north of the SW Ecodistrict, the Smithsonian is working on a master plan to improve the southern section of the National Mall in the vicinity of the Smithsonian Castle. Slides from the December 4 NCPC presentation are available here.

Current view up 10th Street from Banneker Park.

10th Street is envisioned as an urban garden promenade that extends the civic character of the National Mall to Banneker Park. The Forrestal complex would be demolished which would allow new streets to be introduced to the area, including Virginia Avenue and Maryland Avenue. This will reduce the blockiness of the building design that’s currently in place. The width of the right-of-way along 10th Street is recommended to be the same as it is today (150 feet), but the sidewalks are narrowed from 29 feet to 24 feet; a five-foot bike lane is added on either side of the street; the roadway on each side is reduced from 26.5 feet to 20 feet; and the median is expanded from 39 feet to 52 feet. 

On the northern section of the street where it is at-grade, a large tree canopy is recommended with trees growing as high as 50 feet in a linear garden. A “Magnet” Plaza to draw people to 10th Street from the Smithsonian Castle is recommended with a water feature near its northern terminus with Independence Avenue. 

Where the street meets L’Enfant Plaza, an Urban Plaza is recommended. The design of the urban plaza can take shape in a variety of forms, including a framed water feature in the median, an architectural feature in the median, a design that encompasses the right-of-way, and stretching out the plaza from the edge of a building to the east to the building on the west. 

Further south, garden rooms are envisioned with shorter trees cascading down to Banneker Park. Pedestrian access through the tree canopy in the northern section and in the southern section would be limited, but the greatest amount of pedestrian crossings would be at the Urban Plaza near L’Enfant Plaza. Programming space could be accommodated at the “Magnet” Plaza, at the intersection with reconstructed Maryland Avenue, and at the Urban Plaza. 

Vision for a new Banneker Park connection to The Wharf.

Short-term improvements include changes to the street where it meets Independence Avenue, programming, wayfinding signage, and connections. 

• Entry – Where the street intersects with Independence Avenue, it is recommended to improve the area with defined crosswalks and Tactical Urbanism, defined by Atlantic Cities’ Nate Berg as “quick, often temporary, cheap projects that aim to make a small part of the city more lively or enjoyable.” Examples of Tactical Urbanism include guerrilla gardening, pavement-to-parks, and open streets.
• Programming – On certain stretches of 10th Street, festival programming can occur, from Independence Avenue to Maryland Avenue, as well as from L’Enfant Plaza to Banneker Park. 
• Wayfinding – Improvements are recommended for the entire length of 10th Street. 
• Connections – Bike lanes, enhanced crosswalks, and lane modifications are recommended. In addition, a stair connection to the Maine Avenue Fish Market is proposed and a path connection to 9th Street. At Banneker Park, a terraced stairway is proposed on the west side with enhanced landscaping that leads down to Maine Avenue where a new signalized intersection is planned along with green walls to help soften the appearance of the existing structure. 

Public comments will be accepted until December 31.

Renderings courtesy of NCPC

BID Turf War

It was reported in the Washington Business Journal last week that Vornado, which owns four parcels at the northwest corner of M and South Capitol streets would prefer to be a part of the Capitol Riverfront BID instead of the budding SW BID. This news was revealed at a DC Council hearing on the legislation that would create the SW BID. The current western boundary of the Capitol Riverfront BID is the east side of South Capitol Street, but according to the article:

For the purposes of marketing, corridor planning, trash removal, security and installation of banners, it makes sense for one BID to oversee both sides of South Capitol Street, Vornado’s vice president of development, Gordon Fraley, told the council in a letter submitted for the record. It’s why Vornado is asking its M Street parcels to be annexed by the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District.

A Vornado parcel before it was demolished & replaced with a parking lot.

 More from the article:

“With major development poised to continue at Waterfront Station and begin at The Wharf, the Southwest BID needs to focus on these locations and not be distracted by development at its periphery along South Capitol Street,” Fraley said.

Although the same thing could be said about the Capitol Riverfront BID, which has major development at The Yards, the DC United stadium in Buzzard Point, Capper Carrollsburg's Hope VI project, and other parcels.  When the Capitol Riverfront BID was originally formed, was it not anticipated that there would be development eventually on the Southwest side of South Capitol Street?  Would the Randall Recreation Center, Captiol Skyline Hotel, and the Ruben Companies parcels also be annexed by the Capitol Riverfront BID? What about the area of South Capitol Street south of M Street? Is Half Street a better boundary for the BIDs than South Capitol Street?

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel is part of The Portals complex.

In addition, the owners of The Portals project at 12th Street and Maryland Avenue do not want to be part of the SW BID, since the owners already maintain the streets and plaza within the development, along with landscaping, street cleaning, and other services that a BID normally performs. We'll see how this all gets resolved...