Action Packed Agenda
After 10 years of remarkable transformation and redevelopment, Washington’s traditional downtown is nearly fully built out. With 5 or 6 million SF of new development estimated over the next five years, Downtown’s boundaries necessarily will spill over into adjacent areas to the east, north and south as the city’s central core expands to adopt a mix of uses. This new “Center City” encircles both the National Mall and the US Capitol, stretching from Dupont Circle to the Southeast/Southwest Waterfront and from Foggy Bottom to Capitol Hill.

Earlier today, Mayor Fenty announced the 2008 Center City Action Agenda, which builds on the achievements of the 2000 Downtown Action Agenda, the planning document that helped guide Downtown’s transformation into the economic engine of the city and the cultural and entertainment center of the region. The Center City Action Agenda establishes new development and place making goals and extends the city’s urban core into emerging areas that can absorb the growth needed to sustain DC’s economic momentum and fiscal stability.

“This is an evolutionary step that will help maintain Washington, DC’s strong competitiveness both regionally and nationally,” said Richard Bradley, executive director of the Downtown DC Business Improvement District (BID). “We commend Mayor Fenty and the Office of Planning for developing a plan that will leverage private investments, generate immense fiscal benefits for the city, and finance the administration’s broad social agenda.”

The Center City Action Agenda is the result of a multi-year process that involved hundreds of public and private sector stakeholders in developing key strategic initiatives for maintaining the city’s economic momentum, guiding the type and quality of growth in neighborhoods surrounding Downtown and linking together existing and emerging neighborhoods.

Recognizing the need for Downtown to grow and expand into a larger Center City area where available land exists to accommodate new office and residential markets, the city already has invested significantly in Mount Vernon Triangle, NoMa, Southwest Waterfront and the Capitol Riverfront as key areas for new development. The Action Agenda highlights strategies of importance to Downtown, transportation, parks, place making, retail support and homelessness, and makes them top priorities for the city as well.

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Partners for Parks
As part of a larger effort to preserve and sustain the National Mall and federal parks, the National Park Service (NPS) recently sought public participation in its planning efforts. The Downtown BID is dedicated to improving Downtown parks and by partnering with NPS and by participating in the National Mall and Memorial Parks plan, the BID is able to effect improvements to maintenance, design/capital improvements and programming for parks within its area.

“We trust that NPS will go to great depths to understand that the National Mall, Memorial Parks and the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Park are critical parts of a greatly changing city,” said BID Executive Director Richard H. Bradley. “Both public- and private-sector lands will benefit from a plan that treats the National Mall not only as a formal centerpiece, but also as the living, working and vital heart of our great city.” 

The BID has offered comments to NPS in two areas: Pennsylvania Avenue and the National Mall.

Pennsylvania Avenue has become a hazardous area for pedestrians and the BID has suggested design improvements to promote pedestrian safety. The BID also would like to bring together NPS, property owners and tenants along Pennsylvania Avenue to plan for further animating this great avenue with first-floor retail businesses, sidewalk cafes, kiosks, street furniture and the like, restoring it to the grand avenue it once was.

The BID appreciates NPS looking at the National Mall as national civic space and agrees that improvements to the visitor amenities are of particular importance. The BID’s continued partnership with NPS will help improve Downtown parks, thereby lessening the burden on the National Mall. Also recommended were improvements to marketing and promotion strategies within the National Mall Plan and making accessibility-related issues more prominent. This includes integrating National Mall transportation into Metro and into the city’s transportation system, including the DC Circulator. As transportation issues increasingly become a priority in a growing city, tour bus parking, signage and pedestrian friendliness will also become integral to the Plan. 

For more information on the Downtown BID or NPS, visit www.downtowndc.org/ or www.nps.gov/.

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Ready or Not
The National Cherry Blossom Festival® kicks off the 2008 season with a March 6 press conference at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (1330 Maryland Avenue SW), where the National Park Service (NPS) will announce predictions for the peak blooming period of this year’s cherry blossoms. Exactly when the buds will open is not an easy question to answer, but NPS has been fairly accurate in its forecasts over the past several years. Once the buds begin to expand in late February, they can be monitored and the days counted before they can be expected to bloom. The forecast is based upon the weather forecast, and close inspection to determine the stage of bud development. For the latest update of the peak bloom as well as related cherry blossoms information, please visit the National Park Service website.

The Festival opens March 29 at the National Building Museum (401 F Street) with a variety of family-friendly springtime events and the Parade of the National Cherry Blossom Festival presented by Southwest Airlines takes place on April 12, along with the Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival in Downtown. For more information, visit www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/.

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Help for the Homeless
Each quarter, the Downtown BID’s Homeless Outreach Team conducts late night and early morning counts of homeless people living on the streets. Staff track how many people are in need of service by counting those sleeping outdoors in doorways, construction sites, monuments, parks, alleys, park benches, grates and sidewalks throughout the BID and Mount Vernon Triangle areas.

Recently, they counted a total of 127 people who were identified by name, description and location.  Participants in the count included Downtown SAMs, clinicians and the chief operating officer from Pathways to Housing DC, DC Council staff members, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers, Downtown property managers and a reporter from the homeless advocacy newspaper, Street Sense.

These and other such efforts have garnered significant news attention for the BID’s homeless outreach program.  Last month, NBC-4 produced a feature on a homeless man who was able to move from living on Downtown streets into his own apartment with the help of a SAM hospitality team member, Aaron McKeiver, who took a special interest in this man’s welfare. View this important broadcast on our website at www.downtowndc.org/news/in-the-news.

This kind of public recognition speaks volumes about the concern for the growing homeless population in the city. The BID will continue to focus its priorities on serving the needs of the homeless in a caring and compassionate manner.

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Lending A Hand
Crystal Saunders is the Safety Hospitality SAM of the Month for January.  During her seven years with the BID, she has donned Christmas costumes for winter holiday celebrations, has trained as a dispatcher and has conducted Safety Information Fairs throughout the BID. She was first selected as Employee of the Month in October 2006. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Crystal is the mother of a hearing impaired daughter and has been learning sign language. What she likes most about being a SAM is helping people from all over the world.  

The January Maintenance SAM of the Month is Eugene Hailstock.  Eugene has been with the BID since 1998 and consistently has been a stellar performer. In his spare time, Eugene enjoys watching movies, making music and fixing things up around his home.  When asked what he enjoys most about being a SAM, Eugene replied, “It really has broadened my horizons.” 

Congratulations to Crystal and Eugene. Keep up the good work!

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Downtown Neighborhood Survey Results
The Downtown BID, Downtown Neighborhood Association and The Downtowner, gathered recently with community representatives and other area residents at the Hotel Monaco to reveal the results of the Downtown Neighborhood Survey. The research effort, which attracted 974 respondents over a 45-day period, asked participants to respond to 31 questions designed to gain a better understanding of the rapidly growing Downtown residential community.

Results from the survey suggest that Downtown residents are young, well educated and earn high household incomes, with 70% of respondents stating a household income of $100,000 or higher. Respondents also indicated that existing Downtown retail is not meeting their demand for shoppers’ goods, with 90% shopping for groceries outside of Downtown DC and two-thirds shopping for non-grocery and non-auto items such as clothing and gifts outside of the Downtown neighborhood. As new retail continues to fill in throughout Downtown, particularly the Urban Lifestyle Safeway opening this summer at 5th and L Streets in the Mount Vernon Triangle and more than 250,000 square feet planned at the old Convention Center site, it is anticipated that more residents will be able to shop where they live.

The survey’s demographic information and shopping preferences will help to inform the BID’s efforts to promote retail attraction in Downtown. For more results from the Downtown Neighborhood Survey visit www.downtowndc.org/survey.

The Downtown DC BID, Downtown Neighborhood Association and the Downtowner would like to extend thank survey sponsors, including the Hotel Monaco, Acadiana, Austin Grill, Café Atlantico, Ceiba, DC Coast, Gordon Biersch, Jaleo, Oyamel, Ten Penh and Zaytinya. A special thanks to BB&T Bank and Riverdale International, who each donated $500 to Catholic Charities in support of the organization’s work with the homeless as part of the survey effort.

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A Room with a View
The historic Woodward building at 733 15th Street has housed Downtown DC businesses and retailers for almost a century, but in January 2008, the property welcomed a new kind of tenant-- its very first resident. SJG Properties invested approximately $50 million in renovating and converting the classical revival style building from offices to apartments, adding 189 high-end apartments to the Downtown BID area’s growing stock of housing.

Now almost 10% occupied, the Woodward offers a range of living spaces, from studios to 1,500 square foot three-bedroom apartments. It also features a variety of amenities, including a state-of-the-art fitness center, business center, penthouse clubroom, 100-car underground parking garage and a roof offering impressive views of the National Mall and monuments.   In addition, Star Restaurant Group (Zola, former Red Sage) is planning a yet unnamed, 175-seat Italian restaurant that will occupy 10,000 square feet of ground floor space.

Apartments are available for both full-year and shorter-term leases. For more information regarding the apartments available at the Woodward visit http://www.sjgproperties.com/page.cfm?pageID=20

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DC is Hot
The Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) has released its most recent survey showing that DC continues to rank as one of the strongest investment markets in the world: second nationally behind New York City and ahead of Los Angeles and San Francisco; and second internationally behind New York, tied with London and ahead of Paris and Shanghai. “The ascension of NY and Washington, DC, as the two top global cities represents a very strong showing for U.S. real estate,” said Karin Shewer, principal, Real Estate Capital Partners, and the new chairman of AFIRE. “It is the only time since the global city category was added to our survey that U.S. cities have taken first and second spots.” For more information, visit http://www.afire.org/

AFIRE Rankings: Top 5 U.S. Cities	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002
New York City	1	1	2	2	2	2
Washington DC	2	2	1	1	1	1
Los Angeles	3	3	3	3	3	3
San Francisco	4	4	4	4	4	5
Seattle	5	5	-	-	-	-
San Diego	-	-	5	-	-	-
Chicago	-	-	-	5	5	4
Miami/Ft Lauderdale	-	-	-	5	-	-

 Satisfyingly Sustainable
Mazu (1100 New York Avenue), a new restaurant and lounge featuring Pan-Asian cuisine, fuses tradition with contemporary flare. Constructed largely of environmentally friendly materials that are both sustainable and renewable, the restaurant boasts bamboo ceilings, chairs constructed of ecologically-harvested solid wood, organic linoleum flooring, recycled polyester wall covering, wall paints that contain extremely low levels of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and a state-of-the-art kitchen exhaust hood system designed to collect 98% of all condensation, 80% of all smoke and more than 90% of the odors associated with the cooking process.  Mazu is open for lunch and dinner and features a daily happy hour from 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm with half-priced beer and wine. For more information, call 202.408.3377 or visit www.mazudc.com/.

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 Fresh from the Farm
For more than five years, FRESHFARM Farmers’ Market has continued to bring the freshest products from local farmers and producers to Downtown each spring. Today, Downtown streets are lined with busy restaurants and eateries, but this area was once the city’s central market where people shopped for their fruits and vegetables. Located at the north end of 8th Street, between D and E Streets, FRESHFARM Farmers’ Market continues that tradition when the annual market opens April 3, showcasing some of the best of the region’s agricultural offerings.  Enjoy fresh and local fruits, vegetables, cheeses, baked goods, soaps, plants, cut flowers and meat - all produced within a 150-mile radius of DC.  Also home to the giant paella, wine tastings and other special events, the Market will be open every Thursday through November 15. For more information, visit www.freshfarmmarkets.org/.

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14 Reasons to Speak Up
The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has created the 14th Street Transportation and Streetscape Study to improve streetscape design and multi-modal transportation along this busy residential and commercial corridor. The Study team is seeking written comments and participation in public meetings to help them document the community's concerns and recommendations. Residents, city officials, community leaders, businesses and other 14th Street NW stakeholders are asked to participate in meetings and express their preferences in writing for a variety of proposed options. 

Public meetings will be held to outline the project, discuss existing conditions and potential transportation and streetscape options and develop a shared vision of the future of this busy DC corridor. In addition, the public will have an opportunity to review and comment upon all Study findings and recommendations, thus playing a crucial role in the decision making process. For more information, visit www.14thstreetstudy.com/.

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Downtown Newsmaker
The 250,000 square-foot, $435 million Newseum makes its debut next month at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 6th Street.  Formerly housed in Arlington, the interactive museum of news will feature a 74-foot-high marble engraving of the First Amendment and seven levels of galleries, theaters and retail space. Visitors will get the opportunity to learn the history of news with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits and will view some of the most important and historic broadcast news moments on a 100-foot-long video wall. 

The Newseum is also home to the 146,000 square-foot Newseum Residences and The Source (Pennsylvania Avenue and 6th Street) restaurant run by celebrity Chef Wolfgang Puck. The restaurant is already open in the Museum’s Freedom Forum complex and features Puck’s signature small plates and pizzas on the ground floor and modern American cuisine with Asian influences upstairs.

For more information, visit www.newseum.com/.

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Weaving through Downtown
In 2009, Downtown will become the new home of the Textile Museum, as plans to open a second location dedicated to exhibitions and educational activities at 421 7th Street. The new 23,400-square-foot venue will be nearly double the size of the Museum's current location at 2320 S Street.

Bethesda based McInturff Architects was chosen to design the new facility dedicated to the textile arts. McInturff most recently designed the acclaimed Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (641 D Street), also located Downtown. By moving the public face of the Museum Downtown, staff will be able to present larger and more varied temporary exhibitions and public programs, as well as offer a significantly expanded museum shop to a broader audience. The Museum's current location will remain open to the public through the remainder of 2008. For more information, visit www.textilemuseum.org/.

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On the Job Training
The Hyatt Regency Washington (400 New Jersey Avenue) recently joined the Hotel Association of Washington, DC, and other area hotels to participate in the eighth annual National Groundhog Job Shadow Day. Sponsored by Junior Achievement, America’s Promise, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor, the program pairs area students with hospitality workers to show how skills learned in school relate to the workplace.

Seven students from DC’s Hospitality High School shadowed front desk agents, chefs, housekeepers and sales managers through a typical workday, followed by a wrap-up and evaluation session with various Hyatt employees.  The hotel chose to become involved in such a program to help teach area youth’s the value of hard work. For more information, call 202.737.1234.

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Pre-Theatre Fix Up
Apartment Zero (406 7th Street) was chosen to design the Patrons Lounge interior inside of the new Harman Center for the Performing Arts (610 F Street). The store owners used pieces from Baltimore furniture manufacturer David Edwards and local architects Deborah Lehman-Smith and Robert Cox, custom-made rugs from Elson & Co. and fabrics by Maharam to make the room warm and approachable and to also give it the “grandeur that theatre patrons expect.” For more information, visit http://www.apartmentzero.com/.

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DC Goes Digital
To help enhance the “DC Tourist Experience,” Digital City Kiosks has partnered with the DC Chamber of Commerce to launch four interactive kiosks that will provide tourists with an interactive guide to the city’s best restaurants, attractions, entertainment venues, shopping destinations and transportation services. The easy-to-use touch screens allow one to select a category and then print promotional coupons and maps with point-to-point directions to advertisers, including restaurants or museum attractions.

Located in the Visitor Information Center in the Ronald Reagan Building (1300 Pennsylvania Avenue), Digital City Kiosks is a locally owned and operated, and is one of the largest and fastest growing Virtual Concierge Services in the Washington, DC, area. For more information, visit http://www.dcchamber.org/ or http://www.digitalcitykiosks.com/ or call 888.322.4891.

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RETAIL RAMBLINGS

Looking Younger by the Minute
The I Spa at the Willard InterContinental Hotel (1401 Pennsylvania Avenue) has partnered with Carita, a leader in luxurious anti-aging face, body and hair care products, and now will offer the specialized treatments and products to their clients. The spa will offer two new treatments, the Carita Essential, a customized facial for mature, dry, oily, dehydrated, sun-damaged or sensitive skin types and the Carita Anti-Aging Renovateur, a specialized 90-minute anti-aging facial that smoothes fine lines and firms and tones the skin. For more information, visit  http://www.washington.interconti.com/washa/spa.html.

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Do You See What I See?
I-Doc Optical and Contact Lens Center is a high-end, designer eyewear boutique opening at 975 F Street. The 1,225 square-foot store will also have an optometrist and ophthalmologist on-site. The store will share its address with three new Downtown additions: Alden Shoes, a luxury men’s shoe store; Co Co. Sala, a chocolate lounge and pastry shop; and Mia Gemma, a jewelry store specializing in one-of-a-kind pieces.

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Branching Out in New Directions
Commerce Bank will become a member of the Downtown community when their new branch at the corner of 7th and I Streets opens this month.  Another branch is planned for the corner of 14th and F Streets early next year. For more information, visit http://www.commerceonline.com/.

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Can You Hear Me Now?
AT&T (785 7th Street) is set to open its flagship store in Gallery Place this month in the space previously occupied by the United Colors of Benetton.  The telecom company, whose regional office is located in Greenbelt, MD, will use the 8,800 square foot space as retail and office space. 

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The Beat Goes On
Kemp Mill Music (1309 F Street) has ended the lease in its Downtown location and is currently looking for another location. For more information, visit http://www.kempmillonline.com/.

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TRANSPORTATION TALK

The first stop will move to the parking garage behind Union Station, which is accessible from the mezzanine level parking garage entrance. The new stop is located at the top of the first escalator, just beyond the Greyline ticket booth. This location allows for a covered transfer from VRE, MARC, Amtrak and Metrorail. The second stop will be located on the northwest corner of Massachusetts Avenue at the intersection of North Capitol Street NW.

The DC Circulator costs only $1 and buses run every 10 minutes. For more information, visit http://www.dccirculator.com/ or call 202.962.1423.

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Back to the Future
The Downtown BID brought together a panel of transit and urban design experts recently at the Carnegie Library to discuss the next generation of transit, including a view of what DC’s transit future might hold.
 
Emmanuel Martin, chief of the Mobilien Program in Paris, France, discussed strategies to achieving mobility goals by operating rapid bus service on major streets using dedicated bus ways and creating multi-modal streetscape designs to accommodate transit users and pedestrians alike.  Greg Baldwin, of ZGF Architects in Portland, Oregon, presented the development and design of Portland’s streetcar corridors, and the $22.8 billion in new development that followed. Emeka Moneme, District Department of Transportation (DDOT) director, outlined principles guiding new forms of transit in Washington, DC, including streetcar, bus rapid transit, Metro Extra bus service and the DC Circulator.
 
The full presentations from this BID program can be found here: www.downtowndc.org/transit. Looking to the future of transit, the Downtown BID continues to take a leadership role to foster a larger Downtown population through an efficient, sustainable transportation system.

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Voulez Vous Valet?
DDOT recently republished proposed regulations to govern Valet Parking operations in DC’s public space. These proposed regulations were published originally on September 8, 2006 and republished on June 15, 2007 for public comment. The proposed regulations were revised as a result of the public comments received. All persons interested in commenting on the current proposed Valet Parking regulations may file comments in writing not later than 10 days after the publication in the DC Register. The shortened notice and comment period has been determined to be appropriate because the changes that were made since the last publication were primarily for clarification. 

The proposed regulations are available online at http://www.ddot.dc.gov/. Comments may be sent electronically to publicspace.committee@dc.gov or mailed to the following address:

Public Space Policy Branch
District Department of Transportation
2000 14th St NW, 5th floor
Washington DC 20009.

Comments may also be faxed to (202) 671-0636. For questions, please call Alice Kelly at (202) 671-2333.

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DDOT worked closely with the DC Building Industry Association (DCBIA) and community leaders to develop new standards that require either covered walkways or protected open walkways, eliminating sidewalk closings at construction sites - except in instances of a large building demolition or similar circumstances where public safety would be compromised.
 
To view the new "DDOT Pedestrian Safety and Work Zone Standards: Covered and Open Walkways," visit http://www.ddot.dc.gov/. 

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Panelists Joachim Luther, professor emeritus, Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems, Freiburg, Germany, and Alan S. Miller, Global Environment facility coordinator and team leader for Climate Change, International Finance Corporation address specific international renewable initiatives. This seminar is for educational purposes only and is not connected to a National Academies report or committee. Photo ID required. For more information, contact Priya Sreedharan, S&T policy fellow, at psreedharan@nas.edu or 202.334.2711 or visit http://www.national-academies.org/policyfellows/events.

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Tuesday, March 11, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Downtown Neighborhood Association
Monthly Meeting
District Chophouse
509 7th Street

Penn Quarter residents and workers are invited to this neighborhood meeting to hear guest speakers and discuss issues. To RSVP, e-mail miles@dcdna.org. For more information, visit http://www.dcdna.org/.

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Thursday, March 13, 7:30 am - 10:30 am
DC Building Industry Association
The Continuing Evolution of the Green Revolution
National Press Club
14th and F Streets

Steven G. Shapiro of the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company leads this discussion on the future of sustainable design with Carol Browner, principal, the Albright Group; Greg Searle, executive director, BioRegional North America; Andrew Florance, founder, director, president and CEO, CoStar Group, Inc.; and Michael Brien, general manager, Federal and International Affairs, BP. A question and answer session will follow immediately. Continental breakfast provided. Members $70; non-members $85. For more information, call 202.966.8665, e-mail events@dcbia.org or visit http://www.dcbia.org./

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CORRECTIONS

Our February Update also included a rendering of the planned Armenian Genocide Museum next to an article ("Online Crime Crusade") on the National Crime and Punishment Museum’s opening at 575 7th Street. Here’s the correct rendering of the Museum, which will open in May. For more information, visit http://www.crimemuseum.org/.

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