Thanks to Terry for sending: “Sign wars over new Stadium proposal.”
Councilmember Henderson shared a thoughtful note on the matter with constituents:
“It has certainly been quite the week for local news here in the District. Let’s jump right in and talk RFK stadium. For those of you who may have missed the news, on Monday, Mayor Bowser and the Washington Commanders football team announced an agreement to return the team to DC at the old RFK site with a new state-of-the-art facility. Under the terms of agreement, the Commanders would invest at least $2.7 billion in the construction of a new stadium, as well as anchor retail and development in the immediate areas around the facility. The District government investment would be a little north of $1 billion, which would include demolition and site prep of the current stadium, other horizontal infrastructure needs across the 170-acre site, the building of a new indoor Sportsplex facility, and bonds for parking garages. In addition to the stadium, there would also be 6,000 new units of housing across the site. Here’s the link to the presentation deck from the press conference. This proposal now heads to the Council for review and approval.
As with anything that comes before the Council, my team is working to properly evaluate the proposal and term sheet, including looking at comps from other stadium deals around the country. I have questions, like who bears the financial risk if there’s less parking revenue than predicted? The city of New York, for example, covered the parking bonds for the garages built for the new Yankee Stadium, and they haven’t made enough revenue to cover costs for over a decade.
One thing that has been top of mind for me is what has happened with other projects where the District either received or bought land from the federal government. There is a 67-acre property in Hill East, adjacent to the RFK site, known as Reservation 13. It was transferred to DC by Congress in 2006, but community planning for what to do with the site actually started in 2002. Only 3 buildings have been built to-date on that site, over 20 years later. The McMillian Sand Filtration Site which is 25 acres in Ward 5, was sold to DC by the federal government in 1987. The city launched a competitive bidding process to select a master plan developer in 2007. The first building on the property, Reservoir Park Recreation Center, opened last year – 37 years after the land was first sold. Sure – these examples can be viewed as an indictment of the government’s inaction at the time; delays are pervasive at every level of government. But they are also examples of how hard it can be for government alone to try to build things. The RFK site is double the size of both of these properties, and I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in spending the next 20 years (nearly a quarter of our lease with the feds) debating what to do with the property. The fact that we have a private sector entity ready to go with an investment of their own is enticing. As consideration of this proposal goes forward, I truly hope people are thinking about this too. Mayor Bowser plans to include this proposal in her forthcoming FY26 budget proposal.”