Anacostia Waterfront

Despite not having a precise division between the land uses and classes, the initiative employed a mixed-use approach, therefore creating residential, commercial and retail areas, allocating a vast surface to parks, green areas, open spaces and recreational areas, as well as to institutional and public buildings, with the provision of schools, a Community Museum and several public agencies headquarters.

Besides restoring the river stream, the redevelopment initiative aims to foster and improve the economic activities spreading across the Riverfront. In particular, the establishment of different public agencies headquarters, such as the US Department of Transportation and the DC Water and Sewer Authority, created public employment opportunities for residents. Moreover, the attraction of private commercial and tertiary activities fostered a boost of new employment, creating around 100,000 new job positions with rebound effects in the surrounding areas. Besides providing job opportunities for many residents, the restoration activities of the waterfront improved the overall attractiveness of the entire area, creating new greens areas, parks, open spaces and developing important touristic and cultural venues such as the Washington Nationals baseball stadium, the Mandarin Hotel and the Arena Stage. The increased attractiveness has been a driver for investments, which further helped to create job opportunities in retail stores, commercial areas, entertainment facilities and other services. 

The initiative had a significant environmental impact for the city through the restoration and improvement of the riverfront. The initiative developed several solutions to decrease the pollution and contamination level of the Anacostia River and reduce the acidification of the water body by halving concentrations of nitrogen and sulfur oxides. In addition, the restoration projects increased the overall health of the river by restoring beds of different affluents, thus providing higher water quality to the city and diminishing the pollution and debris brought by affluents. These restoration activities indirectly improved maritime activity and the restoration of water biodiversity. In terms of resource efficiency, the redevelopment initiative aimed at increasing the sewage system capacity through the DC Clean Rivers Project which reduced untreated sewage spills by almost 98%. The project focused also on climate adaptation and urban resilience in order to deal with the high soil contamination and the flooding risk in the area. The regeneration project created 5-acre wetlands around the district watershed and restored their riparian function, in order to decrease the erosion of the riverbanks and prevent soil contamination and extreme flow out. In addition, the installation of green infrastructures along the neighborhoods significantly reduced soil erosion and flood caused by stormwater. Another important environmental impact brought by the regeneration project is the vast increase in green spaces. The initiative allocated many resources and public investments to restore and redevelop the existing green areas, as well as to create new parks, green corridors and urban green spaces, covering a total area of around 1,660 acres. The provision and renewal of parks restored the presence of wildlife and many species of animals, especially after the creation of the Kingman and Heritage Islands conservation areas. 

Closely connected to the environmental benefits, the restoration of the river quality and the creation of new wetlands significantly reduced the risks related to pollution and contamination of the river, improving public safety, human health and water quality. As the project focused on creating social equity between the different waterfront communities, the residential projects focused on providing houses and public housing solutions in order to boost population growth in the area. The Capital Riverfront hosted an amount of 6,600 homes in 2016, with the Capper Carrollsburg housing project providing 1,600 new public housing units and mixed-use properties. In addition to residential buildings, the commercial developments in the neighborhoods provided residents with access to amenities, public services, grocery stores, community gardens and recreational spaces. Lastly, the initiative focused also on building an inclusive community and promoting social engagement, as it developed venues and recreational spaces throughout the neighborhoods to host cultural events, activities and exhibitions. The project brought significant improvements in mobility solutions, promoting safer transit areas, supporting micro-mobility in the neighborhoods and improving the overall infrastructure quality. The District Department of Transportation significantly improved viability by removing the South Capitol Street viaduct and developing the surrounding streetscapes. In addition, the interventions implemented more than 30 km of new riverwalk trails to provide sustainable mobility alternatives for the residents. The redevelopment projects also involved the reconstruction of multi-modal bridges, together with the application of new transit options, such as the water taxi service to cross the Washington Channel. In accordance with their sustainable development objectives, the regeneration project also implemented new bicycle and pedestrian lanes to improve sustainable mobility solutions and installed Capital Bikeshare stations across the neighborhoods. 

The Anacostia Waterfront Initiative has led the way to the construction of different LEED certified buildings, with the most important ones being the Nationals Stadium (Silver), the Anacostia Community Museum (Gold), and the DC Water Headquarters (Gold).

The regeneration projects of the riverfront saw the participation of both public and private funding. The entire redevelopment initiative was funded by different district and federal agencies, such as the US Department of Transport, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the General Service Administration, private entities, and different public-private partnerships, such as the one established by the US Navy and the private developer Forest City to regenerate the Yards area. 

The financing of the entire projects is composed of different funding methods. Firstly, private developers invested equity and private resources to finance the smaller development projects in the neighborhoods and to support the investments directed by public agencies. The initiative also benefitted from direct government grants from both federal and district agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Navy and the District Government. In addition, the District Government issued and sold municipal bonds to private investors to finance the construction of the Washington Nationals baseball stadium. Two different value capture instruments were employed in the project. Tax incrementing financing has been employed during the construction of the U.S. Department of Transportation Headquarters to finance parks and public infrastructure and to offset the infrastructure costs in the Southwest Waterfront redevelopment. Then, Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes has been used mainly to finance the infrastructural development of the U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters, the redevelopment of the U.S. Navy Yards, and the construction of Capper Carrollsburg housing. Lastly, the initiative benefitted from resources collected through the Business improvement District of Capital Riverfront, which helped for management activities of the neighborhood. 

Image from HillRag, retrieved here.