Posts about Florida Market
Development
A DC United stadium is likely to be truly urban
Last week, Erik posted that DC United is in discussions about small sites in the District for a 20-25,000 seat soccer stadium. The constraints of both Buzzard Point and the Florida Market sites guarantee that the stadium would be a celebrated urban stadium rather than a mini-FedEx Field.
Photo by Lil' El on Flickr.
In February 2009, I outlined characteristics of a successful urban stadium. Either of the sites would meet all 6 of those criteria.
Whenever stadium discussions come up, financing is one of the first subjects to be broached. It's no secret that the District of Columbia is having fiscal challenges, just like most other local governments.
DC United's ownership would have to pay for a new stadium, similar to how the Washington Wizards ownership paid for constructing the Verizon Center. Without government subsidies (outside of sewage access) the team ownership would be as cost-conscious as possible and still provide a good fan experience.
No surface parking
Parking garages are extremely expensive. Neither Buzzard Point nor the Florida Market have the space for acres of RFK-style surface parking. Without any government support in the form of road building or eminent domain, it wouldn't make fiscal sense for DC United's ownership to spend lots of its own money on parking structures when both sites are proximate to Metro stations.
It took government intervention back in the late 1950's to subsidize building all the parking lots at RFK Stadium. Other un-urban stadiums like Detroit's Ford Field took government support in the form of zoning and road building. Neither DC United site would require altering the existing street grid and both sites appear to be selected because they wouldn't require road costs to the District.
Integration with the street grid
Because the District has no interest in offering subsidies in the form of rebuilding streets, the new soccer stadium would have to be designed around existing infrastructure. The celebrated human-scale L'Enfant Plan would be largely undisturbed.
Proximate transit access
The Florida Market site is a five minute walk from the NY Avenue Metro station on the Red Line. The Buzzard Point site is a 10-15 minute walk from the Waterfront and Navy Yard stations on the Green Line.
Pedestrian-friendly connection to transit
South Capitol Street is too wide in places with too-fast traffic. However, it is safe to cross at M St. because the faster traffic is in a trench. The walk from the Waterfront station down Delaware Ave. SW and 2nd St. SW is very safe. They are small neighborhood streets with 25 mph speed limits. The Florida Market site is along Florida Avenue NE. It's a little wide but the there is enough activity to slow down the traffic. It's not a suburban arterial or a partially grade-separated street.
Frequency of events
Between its Major League Soccer regular season games, U.S. Open Cup, CONCACAF (North American) Championships, and friendlies, DC United holds approximately 30 games during the season. Other events would want to use the facility too, such as the U.S. National Men's and Women's soccer teams, concerts, college sports, other pro sports, etc. 60 events a year is a reasonable estimate. The schedule for the Los Angeles Galaxy's soccer stadium, the Home Depot Center illustrates the diversity of events held.
Vibrant surrounding urban area
The Florida Market site is within close proximity to the H Street, NE nightlife area. The coming streetcar on H Street will better connect the stadium with existing popular restaurants and bars.
On the other hand, Buzzard Point is a largely forgotten corner of the city. It's been cut off by I-395 since the 1960's. Because of its remote location, it would be politically easier to build there because of the lack of potential anti-neighbors. This location represents an opportunity to bring attention and real estate demand to a forgotten corner of the city.
The Buzzard Point site has many things in common with the area around the Navy Yard Metro before the construction of Nationals Park in Near Southeast. While the area surrounding the baseball stadium hasn't magically become Dupont Circle, it is no longer forgotten. Real estate demand near the Navy Yard Metro is now far greater than before it hosted the ballpark.
The main thing holding it back from progressing towards its potential is the tight global financial environment. While I'm not a baseball fan and think the District got a bad deal on the financing of Nationals Park, I think it's unfair to say that the redevelopment of the stadium's surrounding environs "failed." The redevelopment process is going to take years and will ultimately be for the better.
Looking back into history, some of the best pre-WWII stadiums in the United States also displayed excellent urbanism. They added a sense of place to their surroundings and were considered jewels in their cities. Those great stadiums were built under similar circumstances to a new DC United stadium; they received little government support. They had to use existing infrastructure and squeeze their footprint into existing city blocks. In both the pre-war stadiums and a new DC United stadium, necessity is the mother of invention.
Disclosure: I'm a member of Barra Brava an iconic independent DC United supporters' group.
Development
DC United eyeing Buzzard Point, Florida Market
According to several news sources, DC United, the District's professional soccer team, has been talking with DC officials as well as local developers about options for a new stadium in the city.
RFK Stadium. Photo by kenudigit on Flickr.
The team is seeking a smaller venue to replace its current home at oversized RFK stadium. This move could give the city an opportunity to replicate the successes of the Verizon Center while avoiding the mistakes of Nationals Ballpark.
According to United President Kevin Payne, the team has discussed at least four sites with officials. The leading prospect in the fledgling discussions appears to be a site on Buzzard Point in Southwest DC owned by the developer Akridge. The other site which was specifically named is the current site of the Capital City "Florida" Market between Florida and New York Avenues in Northeast.
Images from Google Maps
Both of these sites have positives and negatives to them.
The Buzzard Point site is currently an underused parking lot in an area that has not seen the development it was promised during the planning stages for Nationals Ballpark. Of course, this underdevelopment is likely at least partially due the site's biggest downside: relative remoteness.
The nearest Metro stations are about 8 blocks to the north, and the site is served by a single rush-hour only bus route, the 71. Across from the site is historical Fort McNair The Florida Market site, on the other hand, is only a few blocks from the New York Avenue Metro station, and along several major bus lines, but currently sees significant use, which would ostensibly be displaced.
The current market is a major hub of wholesale food sales for area restaurateurs and, as Richard Layman and Frozen Tropics have written, has resisted development attempts before.
Ward 2 Council Member and Finance Committee Chairman Jack Evans has expressed his desire to work with the team "to build and finance a new soccer stadium," though it's unclear if that means the District would cover any of the costs. If the city were to pony up any funds for a stadium, it should use them as leverage to ensure the best outcomes for whatever neighborhood the venue ends up in.
What does this mean? First, it means guaranteeing that what is built is a truly urban stadium. Cavan examined the characteristics this requires the last time DC United was searching about for a new venue, and we discussed it more recently when Evans let slip that he'd like to bring the Redskins back to the District some day.
Most purpose-built MLS arenas hold 18-25,000 fans. The beauty of a smaller stadium is that meeting these criteria is much easier than with one of the 100,000 seat monstrosities that professional football teams demand these days.
If the District and the team can work together to create a small-scale stadium that fits into the urban fabric of its host neighborhood, reduces or eliminates surface parking and is part of a mixed-use development that can be used more than 30 times a year and promotes a lively streetscape outside of event days, they might produce a project worth the city's investment. Of course that's a big if.
Public Spaces
WalkingTown DC schedule released
Twice a year, WalkingTown DC organizes a weekend of walking tours and bike tours all across the city, from historic neighborhoods to cultural history, gardens to cemeteries. This year's Spring WalkingTown DC is May 30-31.
They just released the schedule, which has even more great tours than last year. I find it easier to see the tours all in one visual chart, so, like last year, I created this graphic schedule.
Click to view (PDF)
Some of the tours require reservations. You can reserve spots beginning Monday, May 11th.
For the first time, WalkingTown DC includes a Ward 3 Bicycle Safety & Neighborhood Ramble with Councilmember Mary Cheh, Saturday at noon and led by neighborhood resident, Downtown BID Transportation Director and former WABA Director Ellen Jones. That one doesn't require reservations. There is also a tour of Saint Elizabeth's East and a reprise of the excellent, regular Florida Market tour by Richard Layman, among many others.
This is not an official schedule and neither I nor WalkingTown DC guarantee that this schedule is accurate. Please check everything against the official list before making your final tour plans.
Bicycling
WalkingTown tomorrow
This weekend is WalkingTown DC, full of free walking (and biking) tours all across the city.
Here are some of the tours that catch my eye. Except for the Florida Market one, I haven't been on them, so I can't vouch for them. Still, it's hard to go wrong with a WalkingTown tour.
Explore Florida Market: I went on this tour last winter, hosted by Richard Layman and Frozen Tropics. It's a glimpse of a side of DC most people never see. You tour DC's largest functioning wholesale food market and see the stores that also sell retail, where you can buy food items just like the restaurants do. It's also facing substantial development pressure. Will new mixed-use development be able to coexist with a working wholesale market? 9-11 am at New York Ave Metro (outside Florida Ave exit).
After you finish, you're right near the start of the Gallaudet University Campus Tour, 11 am-noon at the Gallaudet Visitor's Center lobby (8th St Street and Florida Ave, NE). The tour is repeated from 2-3 pm.
The Secrets of Federal Center SW: This area used to be much different than the monolithic concrete office buildings of today. Some of the history remains. 10am-noon or 1-3 pm at Smithsonian Metro (outside Independence Ave exit).
Blagden Alley and Naylor Court: Alley Life in DC, 1850s to the Present: After the Civil War, freed slaves moved to DC and settled in the back alleys of black neighborhoods. Most of the buildings they lived in were never very solid, and are gone, but a few residential alleys remain to this day. Noon-2 pm at the southeast corner of 9th and N, NW (near Mt. Vernon Square Metro).
Neighborhoods you may not have been to: DC is more than Dupont, Adams Morgan, and Capitol Hill. Each neighborhood has unique history, great architecture, and its own community. If I were around (and had enough time) I'd check out Eckington: Washington's Urban Oasis, 1-2:30 pm at New York Ave Metro (Florida Ave exit); History of Brookland, many times throughout the day at St. Anthony’s School cafeteria, 3400 12th St, NE; and Hillcrest and East Washington Heights, 2-4 pm at Hillcrest Recreation Center, Camden and 32nd Streetss, SE.
Development
Gateway Market: "Chicago-projects quality"
In the triangle bounded by New York Avenue, Florida Avenue, and Gallaudet University, near the Metro station named for all three, is the city's largest wholesale food market, a key link in the economic system for restaurants and small grocery markets. Along Florida Avenue, in front of the market, is a vacant lot with a sign: "Pretty soon, you won't recognize the place. Promise."
South elevation of the proposed Gateway Market development at 4th and Florida, NE.
At a Zoning Commission hearing last week, the developers presented a generally thoughtful plan for the site, which according to Richard Layman is vastly improved over previous designs. The plan has ground floor retail along Florida (I think), and a direct second-floor entrance off Morse Street in the Florida Market to a food court type area which will allow wholesale vendors in the market to also sell retail in what the developer called a "more consumer-friendly edge" to the market.
The whole thing still has a mall-like feel to it, a combination of the Friendship Heights mall that has stores on Wisconsin Avenue but still directs most of its traffic inward, and the second-floor National Place food court near Metro Center which, while not terrible, still draws people off the street. One of the community amenities, a public use space for the ANC and others, is currently located on the ground floor corner, which destroys an opportunity to better engage the street.
Zoning Commission members still had questions about the retail, concerned it would not succeed. Patrons have to to climb stairs from the 4th Street entrance and (I wasn't clear on this) possibly also Florida; some of the retail spaces, and the loading dock configuration, are awkward due to constraints of the site.
Commissioner Jeffries also objected to the building's appearance. Along Florida and 4th, it's glass, but facing west (toward the rest of the city) is mostly a large concrete wall, which Jeffries said "has a Chicago-projects quality to it." Chairman Hood agreed, likening the building to a storage facility.
West elevation of the proposed project.
That side looks the way it does because the Burger King (the small building to the left in the above picture) is likely a future site for redevelopment. That blank wall runs right up to the lot line, meaning a future building would block any windows (including the few that exist now). Though, as ANC 6C Commissioner Anne Phelps (who represents the neighborhood directly across Florida from the site) pointed out, there's a chance that 3th Street NE would be restored across that area, and depending where it goes, that wall might become corner frontage.
The Zoning Commission recommended simple fixes, such as some "scoring" on the concrete to give it more texture. The Commissioners also reiterated their concerns about retail success and loading, but mainly support moving this project forward.
Layman also makes the excellent point that a warehouse style of architecture would fit the area's context much better than a glass-and-concrete-box style.
Below are some very fuzzy screen captures of the floor plans, taken from the webcast of the hearing:
First floor plan.
Second floor plan.
Public Spaces
Gateway Market plans inward-facing retail
Gateway Market is a proposed development at the corner of Florida Ave and Morse St NE, a vacant lot next to DC's largest active food wholesale market, Florida Market. Frozen Tropics and Richard Layman object to the project.
Photo by bankbryan on Flickr.
The comments on Layman's article highlight the conflicting points of view. On the one hand, this site is currently empty, and near the New York Avenue Metro, a perfect spot for a nice condo building with some shops. On the other hand, it's also at the entry point to the Florida Market. With noise and smells of food and trucks rumbling by at all hours, will building residences next to the market bring future citizens who will lobby to get rid of it?
DC should maintain its industrial areas and help them to thrive, as they support businesses around the city. Can they grow and change without disappearing? Can they coexist next door to new condos?
Whether you support the project or not, according to Frozen Tropics' recap of the Zoning Commission hearing, the project proposes inward-facing retail for the block. That's a terrible idea. Facing retail in toward an atrium permanently prevents it from contributing to a vibrant street. Maybe Florida and Morse aren't the best streets for a stroll today. But they won't ever be if this building fills an entire block with blank walls.
Look at GWU, with building after building of inward-facing retail. While a lively university is operating inside the walls, a visitor strolling by might wonder, where are all the people? We don't need more buildings like that.
@ggwash
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