D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is assembling a task force that includes two former mayors and other community leaders to help transform the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, regardless of whether the Capitals and Wizards leave Capital One Arena for Northern Virginia.
In announcing the task force Monday, Bowser pointed to other D.C. neighborhoods that have been redeveloped, such as The Wharf and Navy Yard in Southeast.
The group will focus on development for the two city blocks between 6th and 7th streets Northwest and F and H streets Northwest, where Gallery Place and Capital One Arena are located.
The task force will also “inform the vision” for the neighborhoods “between the Washington Convention Center to the north, 10th Street NW to the west, Pennsylvania Avenue NW to the south and 5th Street NW to the east,” according to a news release.
Standing at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, with the arena visible out the windows, Bowser said the initiative is “about how old uses become new spaces.”
Monday’s announcement came weeks after Monumental Sports & Entertainment CEO Ted Leonsis announced plans to move the Wizards and Capitals from D.C. to the Potomac Yard neighborhood of Alexandria. That process is in the early stages, as Virginia’s General Assembly has to create a stadium authority, and the project has to be approved by Alexandria’s City Council.
But since the plan was announced, D.C. lawmakers and business owners have grown skeptical of what could happen to the neighborhood without sporting events.
The task force “will be focused on developing a vision for the future of two blocks in downtown, comprising Capital One Arena and Gallery Place, as well as focusing on the types of amenities and activities that we have in this neighborhood, and how we use the public space,” Bowser said.
The city’s $500 million offer to keep the teams in D.C. remains on the table and has unanimous council support, Bowser said. That funding, which Bowser said would be distributed over a three-year period, could be made available to Monumental as soon as this spring.
“It is also very important that we focus on how those investments will be made, either with our teams or with transforming Gallery Place,” Bowser said.
Bowser didn’t comment further on the city’s efforts to keep the teams in D.C., but did say that “Monumental has an obligation, by their lease, to have the Wizards and Capitals play here.”
“We continue to be in business with Mr. Leonsis until we’re not,” Bowser said.
Asked if there could be a scenario in which only the Mystics play at Capital One Arena, Bowser said, “We have to have a vibrant space here. We can’t have it underused, and there will be people who, that it would serve their purposes if we had an underutilized arena in downtown D.C. That will not serve the purposes for the D.C. taxpayer.”
Ward 2 D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto, who represents the Chinatown and Gallery Place areas, called the possibility of the sports franchises leaving a “devastating scenario.”
She said improving public safety is also essential to keeping residents and businesses downtown.
“Regardless, I want to be very clear to all of our businesses and residents that are here or thinking of coming here, that our commitment to stabilizing Chinatown and downtown is clear and consistent,” Pinto said at the news conference.
Nina Albert, the acting deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said the city views the project as an opportunity, regardless of the teams’ futures.
“If the teams do move, and we have to anticipate that they will, we have an opportunity to reposition almost two city blocks, 5 acres, right in downtown D.C. for a new use,” Albert said.
The task force’s executive committee includes former mayors Anthony Williams and Adrian Fenty as honorary co-chairs. Albert, Jodie McLean from EDENS and Deborah Ratner Salzberg with Uplands Real Estate are co-chairs.
There isn’t a deadline for the task force to present its recommendations, Bowser said.
“What we’re focused on is how we have the potential to reuse 5 acres,” Bowser said, in response to a question about the timing of the initiative.
Long-time Chinatown business owner: Crime is ‘very bad’
Tony Cheng, who said his Chinatown restaurant has been open for almost 50 years, was one of many people in attendance for Monday’s news conference.
He still remembers when Capital One Arena was built, and the impact it had on the neighborhood.
“About 30-40 years ago, (there was) nothing out there,” Cheng said. “Arena’s built, all the big buildings (are) built, so it gets much better.”
Cheng described crime in the Gallery Place area as “very bad,” but said many of his customers are fans who stop by either before or after Capitals or Wizards games.
The neighborhood, he said, hasn’t been the same since the pandemic. He fears the sports franchises leaving the area could make it worse, because many businesses have already closed.
“Everybody’s gone,” Cheng said. “I heard everybody can’t afford it in Chinatown.”
Despite the public announcement of the teams’ interest in moving to Virginia, Cheng is hoping they’ll reconsider.
“I hope they want to stay,” he said. “Don’t go to Virginia. D.C. needs them.”
“If the game’s not here, everybody will go out of business,” Cheng added.
John Szymkowicz, whose office is in D.C., said there’s been a lot of progress in the Chinatown neighborhood but is concerned that the teams leaving the city would reverse it.
“Tony was instrumental in a lot of (the progress), Szymkowicz said. “But the big problem I see is maintaining a business level and doing something about the crime and attracting new people to the area.”
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