Upcoming Events

Now that monsoon season has apparently ended, SWBID and SWNA will be hosting Southwest Duck Drop this Sunday at the SW Duck Pond, located at 6th and I streets from 1 – 4pm, which was rescheduled from May due to rain. The event is the celebration of the refilling of the SW Duck Pond and is the second year the BID has hosted. There will be ice cream, BBQ, a local Blues band, games, dance demonstrations, and it is free! 

During the weekend of June 16 and June 17, Events DC will host DC JazzFest at the Wharf, with free performances at District Pier, Transit Pier and Hyatt House, along with a ticketed concert at The Anthem. The schedule of events can be found here. 

The 13th Annual Capital Fringe Festival will be held at venues across Southwest from July 7 through July 29, including Arena Stage, St. Augustine’s Church, Christ United Church, Westminster Church, and Blind Whino. Tickets go on sale on June 18. More details will be posted here when available. 

The DC State Fair will make its return to Southwest this fall when the annual event will be held on Sunday, September 23 at Waterfront Station, located at 4th and M streets. Last year, the fair was also held in Southwest – the DC State Fair has been held in previous years in Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, Capitol Hill, Shaw, and NoMa. The Southwest BID was instrumental in bringing the fair back to Southwest. According to a press release, contest entries so far include Best Bud, Honey, Wine, and Fiber Arts categories. New categories include Best Salsa, Best Biscuit, and Best Cookie. Other events include the Pet Parade, live music, food and craft vendors, and demonstrations.

SWBID to Move to New Digs

SWBID will soon be moving from their temporary quarters at Arena Stage to the ground floor of Patriots Plaza on 4th Street, across the street from the CFL. The BID has begun ramping up operations since it was formed last year. One of the most visible signs has been the "Clean Team", which can be seen sprucing up the area. Also, new outdoor furniture was installed in the SW lot of Waterfront Station at 4th and M streets, where AYA Markets will return later this spring for their weekly Saturday morning farmers market. The monthly Market SW night market will also be back on the fourth Friday of each month starting on May 27 through October 28. Vendors who are interested in participating can find an application here. Another activation space within the BID will be located at Maryland Avenue and 7th Street, where food trucks gather during lunchtime to feed the thousands of Federal employees who work in the area.

New Standalone SW Branch Library; PN Hoffman Wins Waterfront Station Project

At this morning’s “March Madness” economic development event, DMPED and other District agencies offered several parcels across the city for development. One such parcel is located in Southwest – the Southwest Branch Library at 900 Wesley Place. The current Southwest Branch Library is a 21,600 SF building with three levels and was built in 1965. A mini-makeover was done in 2011, but funding for an extensive renovation was removed from the budget a few years ago. The library will be replaced with a standalone facility designed to achieve LEED-Silver certification.

The library’s future was hotly debated in 2014 when DMPED, OP and DCPL proposed to move the library to the city-owned NE parcel at Waterfront Station, which would have been part of a mixed use building with residential, retail, and the library. That proposal was shot down by the community in favor of keeping the library at its current location and build a new, standalone library, which the city intends to do. 

Earlier concept for a SW Branch Library on 4th Street.

As a result, DMPED released a RFP after last year’s “March Madness” event for the Waterfront Station site at 1000 4th Street without the library requirement. Several redevelopment teams responded to the RFP with three of them making the final cut last summer. While a decision was expected back in November, DMPED finally announced today that PN Hoffman’s bid was selected. 

PN Hoffman’s presentation was unique in that the amount of proposed retail space was more than double the amount proposed by the other teams and prospective retail tenants were announced. The development plan includes 443 rental apartment units, 22,500 SF of community-oriented retail, and a 10,000 SF, 200-seat black box theater, all in a LEED-Gold building designed by Torti Gallas. The 133 units of affordable housing includes 34 units at up to 30% of AMI and 99 units at up to 50% of AMI. Retail would be located on 4th Street, wrapping around to a new private drive on the north end of the site. A letter of intent has been signed by Constantine Stavropoulous, the owner of Tryst, Open City, The Diner, and The Coupe to open a diner at the corner of 4th Street and the private drive. Other retail uses such as a daycare center and artist space could be located on the north side of the development along the private drive, which serves as a connector between the Southwest Library branch and the SW Duck Pond. The private drive could be closed off at times for arts-focused events. The proposal was the preferred choice of ANC 6D, which will get to weigh in again once PN Hoffman goes through the second stage PUD process. 

The RFP for a design-build contract for the new library will be released this fall. A flyer about the project says the following: 

The new Southwest Neighborhood Library will reflect the program and goals of the library and the needs of the District of Columbia residents who use it. The building will incorporate forward-thinking approaches to urban design, architecture, engineering, and environmental technologies in the public realm. The new Southwest Library will be a destination that will attract and support hundreds of users per day, and promote a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood and active street environment. 

According to SWBID Director Steve Moore, DCPL will receive $1 million in next year’s budget for planning the new library. There will more than likely be community involvement in that planning process. 

Renderings courtesy of DCPL and PN Hoffman

SWBID's Inaugural Chairman's Breakfast

SWBID held its inaugural Chairman’s Breakfast event on Wednesday morning at Arena Stage. This was a coming out party of sorts for SWBID, which has been busy behind the scenes getting the organization set up. SWBID's boundaries are roughly from the National Mall to M Street north-south and South Capitol to 15th streets east-west. Several entities are involved with SWBID, including Vornado, GSA, the JBG Companies, Forest City Washington, Hoffman-Madison Waterfront, Boston Properties, MetLife, and others. SWBID's Board of Directors are made up of Geoffrey Griffis, Chair; Jessica Schoen, Vice Chair; David Smith, Vice Chair; Monty Hoffman, Treasurer; and Thomas Cicotello, Secretary.

Nicholas Rodriguez and Eleasha Gamble sing a duet from 

Arena's hit production of Oklahoma! to start the program.

There were many statistics about SWBID shared at the event, including the following: 

• SWBID, at 851 acres is the largest BID geographically in the District – for comparison, the Downtown BID contains 639 acres. 
• 5 hotels, 2 museums, 3 churches, 21 residential projects with 1,200 units, and a new public library are in the development pipeline within SWBID. 
• 19K people live within a mile of Arena Stage. 
• 60K people work in the BID; by 2018 that number will increase to 69K. 
• There are 959 hotel rooms in SWBID; by January 2018 the number of rooms will double. 
• There are 21M SF of office space in SWBID; GSA owns or leases 15M SF. 
• 39K people use L’Enfant Plaza Metro station, more than Union Station. 
• 110K people came to see the SW Waterfront fireworks show at this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival. 
• The Museum of the Bible, which is opening at 4th and D streets in 2017, expects 3 million visitors during its first year of operations. 

The five goals of SWBID are the following: 

1. Implement a Clean Streets program. 
2. Partner with District and Federal agencies to make the area more walkable. 
3. Work with cultural and hospitality partners to keep occupancy levels high. 
4. Direct the launch of the SW Ecodistrict. 
5. Make the area a safe and great location for business and an attractive location for residents to live.

A certificate was awarded to SW resident Terrence Williams.

SWBID organized a test clean up of 4th Street last month, but in the coming weeks, the cleaning crew will be in uniform doing regular clean ups around the BID. 

4th Street Cleaning, Cantina Cup Regatta Tomorrow

I'm a little late with this notice, but better late than never...

The SWBID will be doing a clean-up of 4th Street tomorrow from 9am to 1pm from E Street to I Street. Residents are asked to move their cars from this section of 4th Street for the duration of the cleaning, but if they cannot be moved from the street, then they should be parked at least one foot from the curb to allow access to gutters.

This will be the first street cleaning the BID is doing since it was formed and is using it as a test to see how long it will take to do in the future, as well as the best time of day to do one. Volunteers are also need, so contact Merrit Drucker (202-440-0733) if you are interested in helping out.

Also tomorrow is the 4th Annual Cantina Cup Regatta, which will take place along the Washington Channel from 10am to 4pm.  Proceeds from the Regatta give DC Sail financial report to continue to provide community access to sailing and boating safety programs. The after party will be at Cantina Marina from 5-10pm.