“This is a very important community facility. DGS and DPR need to talk to the community about what they’re thinking and give themselves time to interpret and integrate those concerns.” – ANC 6D Chair Frederica Kramer
The Department of General Services (DGS) is looking for community in the design phase of the Southwest Town Center Park Project. The overall goal of the project is to create a single urban park space from the Southwest Library (900 Wesley Pl. SW) to the Southwest Duck Pond (Sixth at I Streets SW).
DGS is beginning two phases of work on the central part of the Town Center Parks, the 300 and 400 blocks of I Street SW, located on the blocks to the east and west of Fourth Street SW. In fall 2023, DGS kicked off community discussion around the design of the remaining portion of the Town Center Park. $3.5 million has been allocated to Phase 1, which consists of construction on the parcel called site “B”, located adjacent to Christ United Church (900 Fourth St. SW). No funding has yet been allocated to site “A”, north of Westminster Presbyterian Church (400 I St. SW).
BACKGROUND
The project has been a long time coming. In the early 1950s, the Southwest Urban Renewal Plan proposed that the National Capital Parks division of the National Parks Service (NPS) develop the area into a park, but the proposal was never implemented. Frustrated by the delay, which it saw as caused by Congress’s reluctance to approve funding, in 1960 District commissioners proposed turning the project over to the Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). But this approach also never came to fruition, possibly due to a projected $500,000 price tag — a little more than $5 million today.
The project was revived five years ago when, in 2018, the Southwest Community Foundation (SWCF) gave a $250,000 grant to SW BID to undertake a visioning process for the Town Center Parks. The BID spent months gathering ideas and via the community and a Town Center Parks Advisory Group composed of stakeholders such as Arena Stage, two churches and Amidon-Bowen Elementary (401 St. SW). The result was the Town Center Parks Vision Plan, released in the summer of 2019.
That Vision Plan helped inform some of the work later done by the city at the Southwest Duck Pond (2020-2021) and the Southwest Library Park (2021) which mark the western and eastern edges of the overall park project. But work on the central blocks, the 300 and 400 blocks of I Street SW, fell by the wayside as the city dealt with the COVID pandemic.
The 2019 vision plan proposed a pedestrian “corridor” to the south of the church properties, where a walkway traverses Fourth Street between Third and Sixth Streets SW. Plaza uses were proposed for the property on either side of Fourth Street SW, including for markets or holiday events.
WHERE WE ARE NOW
In Phase I of this project, DGS is focused on site B, near Christ United Church. The design process is now underway and being driven by DGS together with the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR). In August, DGS selected a design team of THIHA Inc. Construction and Development and architects Lee and Associates Inc (LAI).
Although the two portions of the project will be built at different times, they are being planned together. The team is therefore undertaking community simultaneously on two concepts for each of the eastern and western sites.
DGS says the park could include amenities such as café and terraced seating, an event stage or a public art display. There could also be a multipurpose area to host events such as farmers’ markets, fairs and festivals.
The team seeks on the concept design with the goal of a final design by spring 2024. Construction could begin as early as late 2024.
CONCERNS
DGS says the team has met with the leadership of both Christ United Methodist Church and Westminster United Methodist Church to discuss the project. Both churches have expressed enthusiasm for the improvements overall.
But, while Southwest residents appear excited that the project is finally getting off the ground, many have said they need more time to consider the project. Chair of Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 6D Frederica Kramer says DGS presented the two alternatives at a Nov. 30 meeting at the Southwest Library. “People were very taken aback by that,” she said, pointing out that the community and some of the people in it have changed since 2019.
“They [DGS] got a general message which they seem to have heard—that the community needs to speak on this,” Kramer said. Since that meeting, the ANC Chair said, DGS has taken a less binary approach.
SW BID Deputy Director Lexie Albe said that her biggest takeaway from the Nov. 30 community meeting is that people want to re-engage with this project. “2019 was a long time ago and the world has shifted since then in ways both big and small,” she said. “I’m glad to see that the DPR and design-build teams are open to working with the community to build upon the original Vision Plan and make sure it meets the community’s needs today,” Albe said.
DGS deferred questions about additional visioning to SW BID, but they stood by their community engagement. “DPR and DGS have a robust strategy for community engagement and have held two well-attended community meetings to discuss this project,” a spokesperson said. DGS and DPR say they will be taking the from the community via additional meetings, community walks and an online survey open until Jan. 12. This will be taken into consideration for the final concept design. The team will be holding another community meeting in early 2024, although the date has not yet been announced.
ANC 6D Commissioner Gail Fast, who was on the Commission from 2016-2020 (6D01) and was re-elected in 2022 to the newly redistricted 6D03, agrees that two options are too limiting. “What I’ve really just seen from them is logistics changes, not really a design,” Fast said. “When we did that vision, we thought, this is what it could look like programmatically.”
She says the survey is also limited. It provides little context, Fast says, lacking even the location of Town Center Park. Those taking the survey are asked questions about how they currently use the space. But that’s not related to a future use as park, she said. “You don’t put your blanket out and sit, say, on the lawn at Westminster because [many] deem that as Westminster’s property,” she said.
Fast says she would like to see the team slow down and take a breath. “Let’s figure this out and do it right, so that everyone in the community is happy,” she said.
Another concern is whether the park will allow space for markets and festivals. Currently, the SW Market is held on the District-owned lot at Fourth and M Streets SW. Although the timeline is uncertain, development is likely to push the market from that site in the future.
DGS did not comment on whether the park will explicitly include space for a market or for festivals, only relaying, “DGS is excited to deliver a world-class park that will allow for robust programming from DPR and SW BID.”
Kramer says the way DGS and DPR are going to get the park right is by listening to the community’s broad concerns, presenting multiple possibilities and working from there. “The bottom line is this is a very important community facility, both because of where it is situated and its length,” Kramer said. “They, DGS and DPR, need to talk to the community about what they’re thinking and give themselves time to interpret and integrate those concerns.”
Learn more about the SW Town Center Project by visiting dgs.dc.gov/page/sw-town-center-park. Complete the survey at https://dpr.dc.gov/SWTownCenterParkSurvey. See the 2019 Town Center Parks Vision Plan at swbid.org/wp-content/s2023/12/2019-07-15_FinalVisionPlan_lowres-1.pdf
