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Project Planning

Although much of the Downtown BID’s work focuses on the here and  now – we also concentrate on plans for Downtown’s future development. Partnering with local and federal agencies, as well as nongovernmental organizations, the BID assists in creating an investment agenda that will sustain revitalization efforts that have resulted in significant economic and fiscal gains for the city. Maintaining strong job growth, office development and revenue generation is key to retaining DC’s regional competitive edge.

Working in collaboration with the DC Office of Planning, the BID has taken a leadership role in promoting the Center City Action Agenda, monitoring its implementation and keeping a scorecard of activities. This placemaking and economic development plan focuses on the need for Downtown uses to expand and grow into a larger Center City area to accommodate new office and residential markets. Among the BID’s priorities are:  1) creating a critical mass of shoppers’ good retail in an emerging Downtown shopping district that will include both local and national high-end retailers; 2) enhancing public spaces, including parks, sub-areas such as Mount Vernon Square and Chinatown, as well as iconic streets.

Parks

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The Downtown BID is targeting area parks for improvements in order to enhance the physical space and create remarkable urban environments. An ambitious initiative to take inventory of conditions at 33 National Park Service parks and reservations in the Downtown BID area already has begun. This needs assessment is the first step toward revitalizing local parks, along with the goal of strengthening partnerships with park neighbors, the city and the National Park Service. Plans also are underway to improve conditions in Chinatown Park (Reservation 72) and Indiana Plaza.

The BID participates actively in the National Capital Planning Commission’s Monumental Core Framework Plan and CapitalSpace Plan and the National Park Service’s National Mall Plan – all designed to create vibrant and accessible destinations and open space.  MORE

Mount Vernon Square Plan

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The city is working on an ambitious plan to transform the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood that abuts the Downtown BID area into a high-energy destination center with a multi-modal hub, appealing pedestrian environment, direct links to other key destinations and improved and lively open spaces. Such a sweeping transformation would profoundly benefit Downtown, connecting the vibrant and inviting gathering places along 7th Street—from Penn Quarter to Chinatown—to Mount Vernon Triangle.

Planning for the Mount Vernon Square District Project began in May 2009. The goal is to create solutions for specific transportation, public realm and real estate challenges and opportunities in the blocks, streets and parks surrounding Mount Vernon Square. The Downtown BID and several stakeholders are involved in the planning process, which the 2008 Center City Action Agenda recommended as a way to coordinate public and private investment in the area to create a great destination capable of attracting visitors from Downtown, the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, the National Mall and other neighborhoods.

After several public meetings, preliminary recommendations and design concepts have been presented to the public. They include a number of transportation alternatives; design principles for bowtie parks and "The Center"—Mount Vernon Square, the Carnegie Building, the Convention Center and 8th Street NW; six core strategies—including transforming the Square into a people magnet, with a dynamic mix of uses for locals and tourists—and short-term actions centered around the transit hub, The Center, vibrant parks and open spaces and an active economy.

Some key short-term actions include conducting a workshop focused on the K Street transit way, the Square and future transit alignment and getting zoning measures in place through the ongoing revisions process to ensure active ground uses fronting the Square. A final plan will be delivered by the Office of Planning (OP), which has been working in partnership with the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), this year.

Chinatown Cultural Development Plan

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Chinatown is not meeting its full potential. To initiate change, a collaborative effort was formed in 2009 to create a Chinatown Cultural Development Strategy. The DC Office of Planning (OP) and the Office of Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs, with major input from the Downtown BID, other city agencies and community and business stakeholders, oversaw the strategy, which the DC City Council approved unanimously as a Small Area Plan in mid December of 2009.

The Chinatown Cultural Development Strategy has developed short- and long-term measures to preserve, enhance and expand the Asian presence in Chinatown and seeks to revitalize the area into a lively enclave replete with street vendors, bright signage, cultural institutions, entertainment and usable green space.

The efforts to position Chinatown as the regional anchor for Chinese-Asian culture and attractions, with national and international appeal are already underway. The Downtown BID, working with OP and community stakeholders, has secured $64,000 from the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) to begin renovating Reservation 72 (Chinatown Park) in 2010. OP also has begun working with Cultural Tourism DC to develop, promote and market a year-long calendar of Asian events and performances focused in and around Chinatown and, along with a taskforce that will comprise merchants, property owners and residents, will pursue creating an application for a Chinatown Vending Development the summer of 2010. Additional implementation activity is ongoing.

New York Avenue Sculpture Project

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As Downtown continues to transform into a cultural and entertainment district, the Downtown BID is refocusing attention on the quality of experience in public areas and spaces by working to improve street vitality through exceptional placemaking. In 2009, we partnered with the National Museum of Women in the Arts to begin work on the New York Avenue Sculpture Allee Project. This art project will transform the public environment along one of Downtown’s major boulevards into an outdoor gallery featuring contemporary works by world-renowned women artists.

The art will be displayed in temporary installations for one to three years in four medians located between Herald and Mt. Vernon Squares, along New York Avenue from 9th to 13th Streets. We believe the sculpture project will engage the senses and provide moments of contemplation for Downtown workers and guests. Phase I will be dedicated in the spring of 2010 and will include new landscaping and sculpture pads constructed in front of the museum. Nine- to 15-foot high whimsical and colorful works by French sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle will be the first piece of art on display. The sculpture project will be completed in 2015.