Anacostia Group Looks Beyond the Ballpark

Bulldozers are moving dirt and pile drivers are slamming into the ground on the site of the new baseball stadium at South Capitol and N streets SE. And the Anacostia Waterfront Corp. is finally pulling together its plans for the land around the ballpark.

Under those plans, about 9 million square feet of residential and commercial buildings and parking garages will be built over the next decade on 50 acres around the stadium, said officials with the Anacostia Waterfront group. They estimate that the new development -- on land that is now mostly auto repair shops, nightclubs and empty lots -- will be worth about $4.5 billion.

Adrian G. Washington, president and chief executive of the development organization, last week offered a preview of a draft master plan. Washington said the plan still needs to show where specific types of buildings would go. He said he expects to unveil the plan later this summer at community meetings to get feedback from residents, business owners and other community members. The point, he emphasized, is to look beyond the ballpark.

"We keep talking about baseball, baseball, baseball, but it only happens 81 days a year," Washington said, as he clicked through a PowerPoint presentation. "We want to design a district that works on game days and on non-game days. If it doesn't, you'll have it great for the 81 days of baseball and then dead the rest of the time."

Since February, Washington's group, four "master developers" that Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) selected and the New York-based architectural firm Cooper, Robertson & Partners have worked on ideas for the area around the stadium.

The plans were paid for by the developers -- Monument Realty LLC and Western Development, both of the District; Baltimore-based Cordish Co.; and Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland.

Washington showed renderings of people walking from the Navy Yard Metro station just north of the baseball stadium into a plaza near First and N streets SE. Shops and restaurants would line First and Half streets SE. Using an electronic pointer to highlight a slide, Washington said to imagine a retail district along the lines of Bethesda Row in downtown Bethesda, M Street in Georgetown or 7th Street NW near the Verizon Center.

Some drawings showed high-rise residential units that would be built above retail shops and back up to the stadium. Another image showed a river walk and parks along the Anacostia River to draw visitors to the area. Washington declined to release any sketches for publication, saying they were not final.

Over the last few weeks, the Nationals new owner -- the Lerner family -- and city officials have disagreed about whether parking for the stadium should be above-ground or below. Last week, Williams said the city will build a mix of underground and above-ground parking surrounded by shops, restaurants, 660 condos and a hotel as the hub of an entertainment district. The Lerners countered that above-ground garages should remain as a backup plan because of their concern that the parking won't be ready in time for the ballpark's promised completion in April 2008. A hearing on the parking issue is scheduled for today before the D.C. Zoning Commission.

The city has acquired roughly 20 acres through eminent domain where it is building the stadium and parking. The Anacostia group also has awarded two parcels, of seven and 10 acres, to the four developers to build on. They are in negotiations on how to structure those deals.

In the last year, additional land around the new stadium has been gobbled up by large developers such as Monument, which has spent about $50 million to buy properties where it plans to build offices, stores and housing. Each of these companies and the Lerner family, which made its money developing suburban shopping malls, has ideas about how the area should look. Some want an eclectic mix of small and mid-size uses, while others have pushed for more big-box retailers such as Bed, Bath & Beyond and Barnes & Noble. The Anacostia group has tried to incorporate all of the ideas.

Some city planners and developers who own land around the stadium say the Lerners seem to be more interested in getting the stadium built on time than they are in seeing how the area around it develops, a suggestion the Lerners have denied.