April 16, 2008
New Ballpark in Washington Anchors an Area's Revival
The New York Times
Baseball fans flocking to Nationals Park, the brand-new stadium here, see more than a game these days. Approaching along Half Street Southeast from the nearby Metro subway station, they pass construction sites and billboards that tell of a neighborhood being transformed. From inside the stadium, they can see both the Capitol dome and construction cranes jutting into the sky.
The coming of the $611 million publicly financed stadium for Washington's National League team has coincided with -- and, many say, accelerated -- a striking change in a long-languishing area less than a mile from Capitol Hill.
Developers call it the Ballpark District. City officials prefer Capitol Riverfront District, in a nod to the Anacostia River, which defines the area's southern edge.
But everyone agrees that the change in the neighborhood in the 22 months since work began on the 41,000-seat stadium has been astounding. In what was an urban wasteland of trash-strewn lots, sex clubs, and taxi and auto repair shops, developers have invested in new offices, condominiums, rental apartments, stores and restaurants.
This undertaking is still very much a work in progress, but that progress is palpable in the sights and sounds of jackhammers, scaffolds, bulldozers and other heavy construction equipment. Fenced-off areas and hard-hat crews are everywhere.
''It is amazing; there is just a buzz, electricity, a high level of energy in the area you can't ignore,'' said Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who opposed the city's stadium-financing deal with Major League Baseball when he was on the City Council but now endorses the results. ''From where we were four years ago to where we are now is night and day.''
The completed neighborhood will contain up to 15 million square feet of offices; 9,000 residential units; 785,000 square feet of retailing; 1,200 hotel rooms; and 4 parks.
Despite its unsavory appearance, the area by the new stadium had some positive aspects. The Washington Navy Yard, once a shipbuilding and munitions-making plant and now used largely for ceremonial and command functions, added 12,000 jobs when the Naval Sea Systems Command moved from suburban Arlington, Va., in 1998.
Five historic buildings on the base were declared surplus and are planned to become the Yards, a mix of condominiums, restaurants and shops on 42 acres scheduled for completion in 2010 by the Cleveland-based Forest City.
A further boost was the move of the federal Department of Transportation to a new 1.35-million-square-feet headquarters adjoining the Navy Yard, bringing 5,500 more employees to the area.
Monument Realty, a prescient local firm, spent $65 million to acquire 49 parcels from 18 owners. It is constructing an office building, a hotel and a residential project, all with retailing, on Half Street.
Then lightning struck in 2004. Major League Baseball granted Washington its long-sought-after team, negotiating a deal with the District of Columbia under which the city floated revenue bonds to pay for the stadium. The city later paid $125 million more for infrastructure around the ballpark.
The stage was set for the neighborhood -- and land values -- to take off. ''The ballpark has been catalytic,'' says Michael Stevens, executive director of the Capital Riverfront Business Improvement District, a business-financed organization promoting the area.
He said the office development planned in the riverfront ballpark neighborhood exceeds the total office square footage in each of the downtowns of Memphis, St. Louis and San Antonio.
''We ask people to close their eyes and squint and imagine this two years from now,'' he said. ''You are literally building a brand-new downtown.''
He also compares the area to Washington's booming East End, which has had a remarkable revival in the 10 years since the completion of the Verizon Center, home of the Washington Wizards and Mystics basketball teams and the Washington Capitals hockey team. But he says the riverfront ballpark district is further along in a shorter time.
Ted Lerner, the principal owner of the Washington Nationals and a major developer in the area, warns against expecting overnight success. ''It takes a long time,'' he said during a party on the night of the opening game held on the top floor of a new but unleased 10-story office building that his firm built a block from the stadium. After 13 months, he said, the building was ''zero'' percent occupied.
But Mr. Lerner is patient. ''There have to be some major tenants making the decision to come, and others will follow,'' Mr. Lerner said.
Builders, city officials and analysts generally express little concern over the slumping national economy. When the new buildings are ready, in 2009 and 2010, demand will be there, said Elizabeth Norton of Delta Associates, a research firm in Alexandria, Va.
''Right when the projects are delivered in the ballpark area is when we think the economy will pick up again,'' she said, ''and the Ballpark District will be successful for office tenants and landlords.''
Not all the development in the area involves commercial projects. Condos and rental apartments are also rising, promising to populate the neighborhood with upper-income residents who will be able to walk to jobs on Capitol Hill, patronize restaurants and enjoy the neighborhood night life. In the Velocity Capitol Riverfront, a condo scheduled for occupancy in the fall of 2009, 34 of the 200 units have sold since November, at prices ranging from $300,000 to $800,000.
''It's a great energy boost for the city,'' Mayor Fenty said of the rising new neighborhood. ''There is no question the stadium accelerated the development, changed the nature and type of development, the intensity of how people felt and how much they would invest in projects.''
Yet, as with all such large-scale efforts, there are losers as well as winners. Among those who have suffered are small commercial enterprises whose property taxes have skyrocketed with the neighborhood's revitalization. Most have left or expect to leave soon, while some hang on, hoping for the best.
Andy Lee's Market Deli has been in the same site for 17 years, and its lease has four more years to run, with a 10-year renewal option. But as is common with commercial tenants in the neighborhood, Mr. Lee must pay the property taxes, which have risen to $22,000, from $2,000, in three years. ''I've got the lease,'' he said. ''That doesn't mean I can stay here forever.''
Then there's Perfect Nature, a nonprofit agency that helps at-risk youths. It is financed largely by the city. Its property taxes have risen to $86,400 this year, from $3,000 in 2004, consuming a fifth of its budget.
''Four years ago, there was nothing here but strip clubs around the corner, a methadone clinic and some auto shops,'' said Brian Bailey, a co-founder. ''We were disappointed about the community. When those things had to move, we were, like, yea. We just never knew we were in the same line of fire.''
The coming of the $611 million publicly financed stadium for Washington's National League team has coincided with -- and, many say, accelerated -- a striking change in a long-languishing area less than a mile from Capitol Hill.
Developers call it the Ballpark District. City officials prefer Capitol Riverfront District, in a nod to the Anacostia River, which defines the area's southern edge.
But everyone agrees that the change in the neighborhood in the 22 months since work began on the 41,000-seat stadium has been astounding. In what was an urban wasteland of trash-strewn lots, sex clubs, and taxi and auto repair shops, developers have invested in new offices, condominiums, rental apartments, stores and restaurants.
This undertaking is still very much a work in progress, but that progress is palpable in the sights and sounds of jackhammers, scaffolds, bulldozers and other heavy construction equipment. Fenced-off areas and hard-hat crews are everywhere.
''It is amazing; there is just a buzz, electricity, a high level of energy in the area you can't ignore,'' said Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who opposed the city's stadium-financing deal with Major League Baseball when he was on the City Council but now endorses the results. ''From where we were four years ago to where we are now is night and day.''
The completed neighborhood will contain up to 15 million square feet of offices; 9,000 residential units; 785,000 square feet of retailing; 1,200 hotel rooms; and 4 parks.
Despite its unsavory appearance, the area by the new stadium had some positive aspects. The Washington Navy Yard, once a shipbuilding and munitions-making plant and now used largely for ceremonial and command functions, added 12,000 jobs when the Naval Sea Systems Command moved from suburban Arlington, Va., in 1998.
Five historic buildings on the base were declared surplus and are planned to become the Yards, a mix of condominiums, restaurants and shops on 42 acres scheduled for completion in 2010 by the Cleveland-based Forest City.
A further boost was the move of the federal Department of Transportation to a new 1.35-million-square-feet headquarters adjoining the Navy Yard, bringing 5,500 more employees to the area.
Monument Realty, a prescient local firm, spent $65 million to acquire 49 parcels from 18 owners. It is constructing an office building, a hotel and a residential project, all with retailing, on Half Street.
Then lightning struck in 2004. Major League Baseball granted Washington its long-sought-after team, negotiating a deal with the District of Columbia under which the city floated revenue bonds to pay for the stadium. The city later paid $125 million more for infrastructure around the ballpark.
The stage was set for the neighborhood -- and land values -- to take off. ''The ballpark has been catalytic,'' says Michael Stevens, executive director of the Capital Riverfront Business Improvement District, a business-financed organization promoting the area.
He said the office development planned in the riverfront ballpark neighborhood exceeds the total office square footage in each of the downtowns of Memphis, St. Louis and San Antonio.
''We ask people to close their eyes and squint and imagine this two years from now,'' he said. ''You are literally building a brand-new downtown.''
He also compares the area to Washington's booming East End, which has had a remarkable revival in the 10 years since the completion of the Verizon Center, home of the Washington Wizards and Mystics basketball teams and the Washington Capitals hockey team. But he says the riverfront ballpark district is further along in a shorter time.
Ted Lerner, the principal owner of the Washington Nationals and a major developer in the area, warns against expecting overnight success. ''It takes a long time,'' he said during a party on the night of the opening game held on the top floor of a new but unleased 10-story office building that his firm built a block from the stadium. After 13 months, he said, the building was ''zero'' percent occupied.
But Mr. Lerner is patient. ''There have to be some major tenants making the decision to come, and others will follow,'' Mr. Lerner said.
Builders, city officials and analysts generally express little concern over the slumping national economy. When the new buildings are ready, in 2009 and 2010, demand will be there, said Elizabeth Norton of Delta Associates, a research firm in Alexandria, Va.
''Right when the projects are delivered in the ballpark area is when we think the economy will pick up again,'' she said, ''and the Ballpark District will be successful for office tenants and landlords.''
Not all the development in the area involves commercial projects. Condos and rental apartments are also rising, promising to populate the neighborhood with upper-income residents who will be able to walk to jobs on Capitol Hill, patronize restaurants and enjoy the neighborhood night life. In the Velocity Capitol Riverfront, a condo scheduled for occupancy in the fall of 2009, 34 of the 200 units have sold since November, at prices ranging from $300,000 to $800,000.
''It's a great energy boost for the city,'' Mayor Fenty said of the rising new neighborhood. ''There is no question the stadium accelerated the development, changed the nature and type of development, the intensity of how people felt and how much they would invest in projects.''
Yet, as with all such large-scale efforts, there are losers as well as winners. Among those who have suffered are small commercial enterprises whose property taxes have skyrocketed with the neighborhood's revitalization. Most have left or expect to leave soon, while some hang on, hoping for the best.
Andy Lee's Market Deli has been in the same site for 17 years, and its lease has four more years to run, with a 10-year renewal option. But as is common with commercial tenants in the neighborhood, Mr. Lee must pay the property taxes, which have risen to $22,000, from $2,000, in three years. ''I've got the lease,'' he said. ''That doesn't mean I can stay here forever.''
Then there's Perfect Nature, a nonprofit agency that helps at-risk youths. It is financed largely by the city. Its property taxes have risen to $86,400 this year, from $3,000 in 2004, consuming a fifth of its budget.
''Four years ago, there was nothing here but strip clubs around the corner, a methadone clinic and some auto shops,'' said Brian Bailey, a co-founder. ''We were disappointed about the community. When those things had to move, we were, like, yea. We just never knew we were in the same line of fire.''
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