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Yeah, something like that could be cool. But the District already has Union Market and Eastern Market and several other less popular food halls. Plus this will add eating/drinking spots in a neighborhood that is already struggling on that front. https://www.wusa9.com/amp/article/mo...3-08af2f4548fe
I feel like any sort of redevelopment of DC needs to involve reforming the hight limit to allow more density. That was the problem with Galley Place. It just plateaued after the arena opened and some resteraunts and retail opened on 7th. They should have gone full time square and up zoned the area to allow more hotels, housing. It would have made it a lot more robust when all the commuters stopped coming in.
Yeah, something like that could be cool. But the District already has Union Market and Eastern Market and several other food halls. Plus this will add eating/drinking spots in a neighborhood that is already struggling on that front. https://www.wusa9.com/amp/article/mo...3-08af2f4548fe
I feel like any sort of redevelopment of DC needs to involve reforming the hight limit to allow more density. That was the problem with Galley Place. It just plateaued after the arena opened and some resteraunts and retail opened on 7th. They should have gone full time square and up zoned the area to allow more hotels, housing. It would have made it a lot more robust when all the commuters stopped coming in.
D.C. still aims to retain the Washington Capitals and Wizards, but it's also planning on a future without the franchises, their fanbases or their home arena, with real estate heavy-hitters at the forefront. Does that include a possible redevelopment of Capital One Arena and its Chinatown footprint? "Absolutely," Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Nina Albert told me.
"We need to think about certain nodes within downtown and how they can start to become unique experiences for people who want to live and work and visit there," she said.
"If you think about successful neighborhoods, and I can point to The Wharf and the Union Market area, they have a specific experience, you go there for a specific reason," Albert said. "Jodie and Debby will help us conceive of the different unique experiences, what I would call the value proposition of why somebody would go to Gallery Place or Chinatown and what are the anchors and types of uses that go into that."
On Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced she would convene a task force to reimagine the Capital One Arena footprint should the teams depart. It will be led by two local real estate executives — Jodie McLean, CEO of Edens (Building the Union Market Neighborhood), and Deborah Ratner Salzberg, formerly of Forest City Washington (Building the Navy Yard Neighborhood).
I agree DC needs a lot more housing in the downtown core. IMO, that was the biggest missed opportunity of the boom years. DC went a decade without a single new housing unit being added in the downtown. But, there are already tons of accent office buildings to convert over. Most vibrant areas are vibrant not because of the residential population, but because they are regional attractions that draw people from the rest of the region. The foot traffic at the Wharf is probably 70% people that don't live in SW, Adams Morgan is a regional nightlife area, Georgetown a regional/tourist shopping area, Union Market draws people from all over.
The question is what is the highest and best use of the small 3/4 acre sight that the arena sits on?
1) A ten year dead zone where eventually there maybe 1000-1500 new residents
2) A zombie arena that host 20 thinly attended Mystics (sorry but likely true) games and maybe 25 concerts a year.
3) An arena that hosts 20k people attending attending 80-100 pro games a year plus maybe 15 concerts a year.
Boston and NYC have downtown arenas that anchor vibrant areas, Philly wants one. SF, Chicago and Seattle have downtown adjacent arenas. And people in Chicago complain about the arena location. So arenas don't in and of themselves make a great downtown. But they can add a key urban ammenity.
I think it's important to realize DC is a very different city than 1997 when the MCI Center opened. There are tons of options and a boat load of competition within the city. How many cities have activity centers this active in competition with each other in a city the size of DC proper?
Current
-Penn Quarter/Gallery Place/City Center DC
-Georgetown
-Union Market/NOMA
-Navy Yard/Buzzard Point
-The Wharf/Waterfront Station
-U Street/14th Street/Shaw
-Adams Morgan
-Dupont Circle/Connecticut Avenue
Pending
Rhode Island Avenue/Bryant Street Development
Brookland
Bridge District/Anacostia
All these places are competing for the same visitors? You need high density residential buildings to compete. Adding about 200,000 people to downtown DC through office-to-residential conversions is the only answer long term to create the experience other cities have. Once you do that, everything else takes care of itself. The business community follows high-end residential density. That will never change!
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Originally Posted by MDAllstar
I think we should build a new arena at the RFK site and build a city around it on the water.
I assume you mean new basketball arena? Bowser alluded to this in the presser actually. She brought up the amount of acreage being needed, and that if they wanted more acreage in DC like at an RFK site, the city just needs more time to work with the owner to achieve that. But that still would leave a hole in downtown/Chinatown, plus no Commanders return.
Leonsis wants a "campus style" development with an arena at the center and a concert venue. He also wants to build an HQ for Monumental Sports and studios. This is what VA used to lure him in because they have space and are waving the whole access to the VT campus and tech corridor.
This is one, bad idea. Putting an NHL and NBA team practically next to an airport? I kind of liked Youngkin, but this is just stupid.
Capital One Arena has the perfect location. Like MSG, it meshes well with the city. The arena itself is still state of the art or do newer ones come with something new and vital?
Get more cops in there and toss the riff raff out. Besides putting a better hoops team on the floor, Leonsis does not need anything.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Just move the Caps.
Keep the arena in DC, and build a 17/18k seat venue instead of 20k in VA. Decrease the scale of what's being built in Alexandria to lessen the brunt of impact to that community, but still invigorate some activity at Potomac Yard. Build the Monumental studios in Alexandria with their new HQ and their campus setup next to VT. Let the Wizards, Mystics, and Georgetown play at Capital One, and split concerts at both arenas throughout the year. The E-Sports venue could still be built at Potomac Yard, and the G-League team can continue to play at the venue in Southeast. DC instead of coughing up $600 mil for this to upgrade Capital One could offer less like $250-300 which should more than give the exterior a face lift. The inside of the building is fine and recently renovated.
Keep the arena in DC, and build a 17/18k seat venue instead of 20k in VA. Decrease the scale of what's being built in Alexandria to lessen the brunt of impact to that community, but still invigorate some activity at Potomac Yard. Build the Monumental studios in Alexandria with their new HQ and their campus setup next to VT. Let the Wizards, Mystics, and Georgetown play at Capital One, and split concerts at both arenas throughout the year. The E-Sports venue could still be built at Potomac Yard, and the G-League team can continue to play at the venue in Southeast. DC instead of coughing up $600 mil for this to upgrade Capital One could offer less like $250-300 which should more than give the exterior a face lift. The inside of the building is fine and recently renovated.
Capital One Arena is the reason there are homeless people and drug dealers hanging out in the neighborhood.
I don't think Downtown DC needs a MSG or Capital One Arena. It's a distraction to be honest. It needs a complete redo and the arena moving out of the area will allow widescale redevelopment of many areas in Downtown DC. Residential density is the only answer here. Look at Center City Philly for an example of what Downtown DC needs.
Philly is trying to bring an arena to a downtown that is already considered the 2nd or 3rd most vibrant place in the country. That is what we should be saying about Downtown DC.
This is one, bad idea. Putting an NHL and NBA team practically next to an airport? I kind of liked Youngkin, but this is just stupid.
Capital One Arena has the perfect location. Like MSG, it meshes well with the city. The arena itself is still state of the art or do newer ones come with something new and vital?
Get more cops in there and toss the riff raff out. Besides putting a better hoops team on the floor, Leonsis does not need anything.
Capital One Arena is the reason there are riff raff in the neighborhood. Remove it and put in high-end housing and retail and they will have to find some other place to hangout. The riff raff don't hang around high-end residential areas.
Capital One Arena is the reason there are riff raff in the neighborhood. Remove it and put in high-end housing and retail and they will have to find some other place to hangout. The riff raff don't hang around high-end residential areas.
I say again, remove the riff raff with all due haste. Fine them, jail them, whatever. DC as well as other municipalities need to hit crime hard. Nobody will miss a bunch of punks. Certainly not hockey or hoops fans.
As for your other statement, I direct you to the crime rate in Georgetown. See above as to what to do there.
Locating those teams where they are was the one thing Abe Pollin did right post-1980. Locating them at Potomac Yards is an idea conceived in an insane asylum.
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