Comments on Southwest Ecodistrict would repair 1960s damage - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by GWJ

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 10:54:32 EDT

Love it, love it, love it. That place is an ungodly maze as is. Walking from L'Enfant Metro to the front entrance of Forrestal is an exercise in futility already.

Comment by Chris

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:00:54 EDT

In a city full of circles and squares honoring war generals (people who killed others), Banneker Circle needs to honor Benjamin Banneker, an astronomer, engineer, and abolitionist, with a statue. Banneker's astronomical genius is responsible for the layout of the city that L'enfant and McMillan used for their designs.

Don't diminish Banneker park!

Comment by Michael H.

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:14:28 EDT

This neighborhood certainly needs some change. I have no idea if or when any of these plans will be carried out. But I'd like to see early progress on getting residential buildings and retail/restaurant/museums in the area. That will help to get rid of the eerie no man's land that currently exists after 6 pm and on weekends.

As for Crystal City, some of the existing buildings are being redeveloped with new exteriors. 220 S. 20th St. is a good example. 1400 Crystal Drive is currently being renovated. 1900 Crystal Drive might be renovated soon. (That building currently has the address of 1851 S. Bell St.) The older CC buildings can be drab but those are gradually being replaced, in accordance with the long-term sector plan.

Comment by selxic

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:53:01 EDT

Why would DC settle for the Boston Pops? We have better.

Comment by Frank IBC

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:49:12 EDT

Build Victorian "gingerbread" buildings along 10th Street and turn it into Main Street USA. :)

Comment by Michael

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 16:48:51 EDT

The Smithsonian Castle is to the Mall what Sleeping Beauty Castle is to Disneyland. It would be totally worth it to tear down the middle of the Forrestal building to improve the view from the southern axis. And then it would also be nice if they could light up the castle at night.

Comment by Tom Veil

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:02:26 EDT

I'm happy to see that after one wing of the feds has spent months whining about DC Water's impermeable-surface stormwater fee, another wing of the feds is actually doing something about the problem. This is the good side of administrative-branch autonomy!

Comment by kk

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:55:00 EDT

Why not just start from South Capitol Street and go west and fix all of the dead end streets between South Capitol and Main Ave.

Comment by ceefer66

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:37:25 EDT

If they want to tear down federal buildings they can start with that Hoover monstrosity on Pennsylvania Ave.

Comment by ceefer66

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:35:07 EDT

"A centerpiece of the plan is a proposal to ultimately redevelop the Department of Energy's Forrestal complex, a mid-century concrete structure that spans 10th Street and cuts off views from the Smithsonian Castle. While historic preservation officials have been landmarking many federal buildings of this type, in this case they prefer to restore the view than keep the building."

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Let me make sure I have this straight.

"Historic preservasion officials" (whoever they are) intend to spend millions to raze a perfectly functional building and relocate several thousand workers to "restore" a view that MOST people alive today have never seen and have no memory of.

I realize that "views" are sacrosanct in DC - the perpetual arguments over building height and scale are cases in point. But to tear down a building to CREATE a long-forgotten view is beyond ridiculous.

Comment by charlie

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:49:28 EDT

@ Frank IBC ; thanks. Suddenly those designs make a lot more sense. I couldn't figure out how it was going to work at DoE.

Comment by Frank IBC

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:18:03 EDT

No if you mean "Department of Energy", yes if you mean "Department of Education" - at 400 Maryland Avenue.

Hoover Building... DoE... so easy to get confused.

Comment by charlie

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:12:30 EDT

Isn't the new Eisenhower memorial supposed to go in front of the DOE?

Comment by Erik Bootsma

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:09:32 EDT

The connection to the waterfront development is seriously lacking, this coupled with the sterile architecture likely to be developed will make the area as bland as Crystal City and as dead to street life as the Golden Triangle at night.

Comment by Nicoli

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:06:44 EDT

Tearing down the Forrestal building is god's work, it really is a terrible building.

Comment by charlie

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:14:02 EDT

Hmm, move the aquarium to the Banneker park? More Hoover jokes.

Comment by Frank IBC

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:10:38 EDT

Oh, sorry, forgot about the "other" Hoover. I meant J. Edgar.

Comment by Steve S.

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:04:16 EDT

Somebody once suggested Spanish Steps from Banneker Circle down to the waterfront. I hope those make it into the final design.

Comment by David C

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:04:00 EDT

A double implosion of the Forrestal Building and the Hoover Building...

Which Hoover building? Herbert or J. Edgar?

Comment by dano

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:59:14 EDT

I love the plan, but fear that it wont happen in my lifetime or will be so dumbed down as to be little impprovement. As a SW resident, I hope this happens and hope they focus on bike/ped connections and safety. Getting from the Waterfront CaBi station along M st and Maine Ave is a minefield of speeding cars, bumpy roads and unconnected sidewalks. (not to mention drivers who have in multiple cases honked and swerved in front of me...)

Comment by Frank IBC

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:56:01 EDT

A double implosion of the Forrestal Building and the Hoover Building could be a special treat for some future Fourth of July - with the Boston Pops playing the 1812 Overture in the background.

Comment by Frank IBC

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:51:01 EDT

Redevelopment of the superblock between Independence and Maryland Avenues and 9th and 12th Streets should be the highest priority.

And next, 9th Street - if not an actual street, at least a continuous pedestrian pathway between the Waterfront and Independence Avenue. And better access to the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station from points south.

A while back, my brother and I spent the better part of an hour trying to walk from 9th and Maine to the Air & Space Museums. Lots of dead-end pathways and we were also trying to help some Swedish tourists find an entrance to the subway station - the shopping center entrance and others were closed on weekends.

Comment by egk

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:26:16 EDT

Obviously this is the site for the US National Fishing Museum, right across from the Fish Market.

Comment by Adam L

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:02:29 EDT

Yay! Maybe I'll get to see this completed when my cryogenically frozen body is reanimated in 2235, after I return from my vacation from Mars.

Comment by Michael Perkins

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:49:48 EDT

Someone summoned the DW

Comment by Tom Coumaris

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:32:39 EDT

NCPC always comes up with wonderful proposals that DC ignores. I'm especially thinking of the proposal for a Monumental South Capitol Street connecting to a monumental bridge.

http://jdland.com/dc/files/SouthCapitolStreetGateway-and-ImprovementStudy.pdf

Comment by Joe in SS

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:25:28 EDT

One thing that I didn't see mentioned was the social path that leads down from Banneker Park to the SW Waterfront. Hopefully this process will create a little safer, more ornate connection between the two?
Also, a lot of bike traffic comes over the path from the Case Bridge that empties into Banneker Park, so this should be a consideration as well.

Comment by charlie

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:15:20 EDT

so:

1) tear down the HQ of a major goverment agency
2) deck over 2 blocks of 395
3) move some on-ramps
4) change the heating and electric plant

I'd say somewhere around 5 billion?

Comment by Thayer-D

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:06:20 EDT

Looks great. The one positive thing that can be said for urban renewal is that we get the stimulus of repairing all their misguided work. Hopefully with out too much mid-century modernist revival architecture, let's not make that mistake again.