HeaderLEVERAGING CITY REAL ESTATE TO

EXPAND THE TAX BASE, CREATE JOBS AND PROMOTE NEW INVESTMENT

2009 URBAN WEEK | WORLD BANKValerie Santos Young

Chief Operating Officer

•61 square miles and

•600,000 residents

•750,000 jobs (150,000 more jobs than residents)

•20 percent of the city is made up of parks and open space

•Vacant land makes up less than 2 percent of the city

The Heart of the National Capital Region

Severely Constrained by the Federal Presence

• Cannot tax $2 out of every $3 earned in the city

• 40 percent of the District’s land un-taxable, occupied by government and non profits institutions uses

• DC Tax collections don’t cover total expense of being the seat of the federal government

• Additional cost of providing services related to federal presence: $470 million to $1.1 billion imbalance

• No commuter tax (we forego $1.4 billion annually)

Options For Growing the City’s Economic Base

• Attract retail dollars- Lose $1 billion a year annually

• Redevelop vacant or underutilized land- i.e. Columbia Heights

• Invest in Center City- Downtown revitalization

• Leverage federal lands, transfer jurisdiction to city- Payment in Lieu of Taxes

Project DescriptionThe $22 million Anacostia Gateway is the first new commercial office building in Historic Anacostia in 15 years. Located at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Good Hope Road, SE, the Anacostia Gateway will house the District’s Department of Housing and Community Development.

Development ProgramThe 63,000 square foot office building includes 14,000 square feet of ground floor retail, a 114-space below ground parking garage and a green roof.

Community BenefitsThe 63,000 square foot office building includes 14,000 square feet of ground floor retail, a 114-space below ground parking garage and a green roof.

•Riot-ravaged in 1968, federal gov’t transferred to the District

•Various development authorities established to steer redevelopment (RLA, NCRC)

•Struggled to move projects

•Economically depressed community•No economic base for retail•Assumption of little “purchasing power”

Columbia Heights: Urban Renewal

Steps to Revitalizing Columbia Heights

• Metro introduced in 3 new stations 1990s ($500M+)

• Transit linked neighborhood to downtown, suburbs

• District provided $48M subsidy for anchor shopping center

• Subsidized land sales to pay for affordable housing

• Now more than $1 billion in investment within a mile of the site• 81 projects• 4,000 units of housing• 800,000 sq ft retail

Downtown DC: Regeneration• 10 years ago:

• Streets were quiet at 6 pm• Uninspired architecture, caused in part by height

limits• Minimal street level retail• Zero nightlife and entertainment options beyond

the museums• No one lived there – several hundred residents• Abundance of surface parking• Government couldn’t keep streets “clean, safe

and friendly”

Downtown DC: Regeneration• Today:

• Public financing for Gallery Place, Embassy Suites, Verizon Center

• Retail-specific TIF (Zara, west elm, H&M)• Zoning overlay required:

• Downtown housing (now 10,000 residents) • Street level retail • Cultural space set asides, restaurants• Underground parking

• District issued bonds for $850 million convention center, $187 million for convention center hq hotel

• TIF Spy Museum; sold DC land for $400 million Newseum project

• Created Business Improvement Districts

Leveraging Under Used Federal Lands•Federal and local government facilities take up more than 10 percent of the District’s land mass

•None of this land is taxable

•It is also in strategically located places, particularly along our waterfront (Poplar Point, Hill East , etc.)

•Federal government doesn’t have resources to maintain or improve many of these facilities

Congress Approves Transfer for Economic Development Purpose

• To the District: - Transfers 17 properties to the District, including:- 110 acres at Poplar Point- 67 acres at Hill East Waterfront

• District currently has active projects underway: - Poplar Point ($2 billion, 3-5 mil. sq. ft.) - Hill East ($1.5 billion, 5 mil sq. ft.) - Parcels at Old Con Center, Waterside Mall, Boathouse Row,

Nationals Park baseball stadium

• Leverages DOT PILOT to pay for infrastructure at Canal Blocks Park, Marvin Gaye Park, Kingman Island

K | WORLD BANKValerie Santos Young

Chief Operating Officer

Valerie Santos YoungChief Operating Officer

valerie.santosyoung@dc.govwww.dcbiz.dc.gov