Looking for young professionals? Look along the Green Line

WASHINGTON — Metro’s Red Line may be the busiest line and the Silver Line may be spurring lots of new development, but development along the Green Line now dominates the District’s residential growth.

And those residents are largely young.

A report commissioned by the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District says the Green Line is now the Washington region’s “corridor of choice” for young professionals, and it is also attracting jobs and retail amenities.

The Green Line Corridor accounts for 48 percent of the District’s new households under 35 since 2010.

The report says based on construction activity to date and projects that are planned to deliver by 2019, Navy Yard-Ballpark Station is one of the Green Line’s biggest magnets for new households and development this decade.

The D.C. section of the Green Line, also has captured about half the District’s retail development since 2010. The Navy Yard-Ballpark Station alone will add the equivalent of 1.5 CityCenters worth of retail development by 2019, according to the report.

Among the report’s findings:

  • One out of every four new apartments built in D.C. since 2000 has been built along the Green Line.
  • Since 2000, Navy Yard-Ballpark has added more than twice as many units as Shaw or U Street.
  • The average income for new Green Line households has increased by 50 percent since 2012 to $121,600.
  • Between 2010 and 2016, the number of jobs along the Green Line has grown by 50 percent to 76,000.

According to the report. residential growth and development activity along the Green Line corridor is expected to generate $3.66 billion in tax revenues for the District over the next 20 years, and support an average of 1,100 construction jobs a year.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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