Happy birthday to us! On November 17th, the DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) turned 15. The milestone, along with Downtown’s incredible transformation, was celebrated at a special lunch and program attended by about 150 well-wishers, founders, partners, members, elected officials and other government representatives at the International Spy Museum (800 F Street) on November 15th.
A good time was had by all who attended the event, which showcased the DowntownDC BID’s many accomplishments and the DowntownDC BID area’s steady metamorphosis from “dull, dirty and dangerous” to a “vibrant, inviting and smart” urban enclave flourishing with an impressive roster of first-rate office buildings, restaurants, hotels and cultural and entertainment venues. Who wouldn’t want to commemorate such progress?
After all, the BID has come a long way. When created 15 years ago, more than 100 surface parking lots, vacant lots and empty and abandoned buildings dotted the DowntownDC BID area landscape. Strong public-private partnerships invested billions of dollars in the area, reducing the number of redevelopment sites to 16 today and adding 62,000 new jobs to the economy. Also, in 1997, there were very few sidewalk cafes in the BID; 147 now help animate streets in Downtown.
The nation, indeed the world, has taken notice. Chris Leinberger, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, is quoted as saying D.C. has “the best downtown redevelopment in the country.” Downtown is ranked as the second-most valuable area in the country behind New York. Thus, all the investments in Downtown have paid off as the city is now one of the most desirable cities for foreign investors. Globally, D.C. has shared the top spot with London and New York for the past 10 years.
“The BID launched in front of what is now the International Spy Museum with an initial and immediate goal to make Downtown Washington clean, safe and friendly,” said Richard H. Bradley, the BID’s executive director. “We are now focusing more attention on managing public space and assets as well as Downtown’s many uses to ensure a continued remarkable urban experience is enjoyed by all.”
He said the next five to 10 years may witness a Downtown transformation as dramatic as what we have seen in the past decade. Many new projects will have a dramatic effect on how we all see and feel about Downtown. Beginning next fall and continuing to Spring 2014, for example, both the CityCenterDC project and the Marriott Marquis Convention Center Headquarters Hotel will open. They will be striking additions to the Downtown and will cause ripple effects throughout all parts of Downtown.
In addition, the Capitol Crossing development over I-395 will heal a physical scar that has separated the Downtown east from west, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (901 G Street) will be renovated, and Union Station—a major transportation hub for Downtown and the region—will be renewed.
While new projects will physically transform Downtown, the way that people use Downtown also will change. Most immediately, there will be a huge boost in the numbers of people coming Downtown to shop, to be entertained and to convene with the addition of CityCenterDC and the Convention Center Headquarters Hotel. This transformation will have a major impact on what actions the BID takes to deal with Downtown’s built environment and its uses of space.
This will mean encouraging alternative modes of transportation that fit needs for flexibility and the desire for communal sharing; focusing more attention on managing the public environment, including employing more transportation control officers and expanding the hours in which public services are provided on the street; recognizing the importance of a nighttime economy; and expanding police and security initiatives, including using video technologies that help us deal more efficiently with homeland security and public safety matters and emergency management and traffic congestion.
During the celebratory salute to Downtown’s transformation and the BID’s anniversary, two special guests joined Bradley and Steven Jumper, chairman of the DowntownDC BID Board of Directors and director of corporate policy for WGL Holdings (101 Constitution Avenue) at the podium. Dr. Charlene Drew Jarvis, the former D.C. Councilmember and one of the architects of legislation creating business improvement districts in the city, and Milton Maltz, founder of the International Spy Museum, shared memories of the BID area’s early days.
“Riots had really decimated the city. Businesses fled. People fled. The city experienced huge vacancies in the Downtown in particular,” said Dr. Jarvis. “When Richard Bradley came to me with a vision, I understood the vision. I could see the potential impact of building a BID in Downtown.”
The DowntownDC BID is the first of what are now eight BIDs in Washington, D.C.—others include Adams Morgan, Capitol Hill, Capitol Riverfront, Georgetown, Golden Triangle, NoMa and the Mount Vernon Triangle CID—and a handful in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. In a BID, property owners pay above and beyond their normal property taxes in return for the ability to govern how that money is spent to improve their area. “Our eight D.C. BIDs will raise more than $22 million in FY 2013 to help make our city a better place,” noted Bradley, also chairman of the DC BID Council.
D.C. law requires that BIDs be reauthorized by property owners and the D.C. government every five years. The DowntownDC BID, reauthorized in 2002, 2007 and this year, has received more than 95 percent of the required vote of property owners, as well as the enthusiastic approval of the city, in each of its three reauthorizations. The DowntownDC BID has provided consistent services through the administrations of four mayors.
For his part, Maltz opened the Spy Museum in 2002. Since then, it has become a major Downtown attraction, with more than six million visitors. “We considered opening the museum either in Las Vegas, New Orleans, Chicago or New York,” he said. Despite what he called Downtown’s “downtrodden” state back then, the Spy Museum opened after receiving $6.9 million in tax increment financing (TIF) from the city to develop the $40 million project. The TIF note has been paid off, and much faster than originally projected.
Thanks to Madame Tussauds, a wax figure of a Downtown Safety/Hospitality and Maintenance (SAM) employee was unveiled at the celebration. The SAMs are the BID’s corps of uniformed personnel and the visible face of the organization. They hit Downtown streets immediately after the BID was formed to attend to the many details of making guests in Downtown feel safer, invited and welcome. The wax replica of the roving concierges, law enforcement aides and goodwill ambassadors will make appearances throughout the BID area over the next year.
Five businesses sponsored the 15th Anniversary Celebration: CityCenterDC, Carmine’s (425 7th Street), Capital Business, the International Spy Museum and Madame Tussauds.
To keep up with special 15th anniversary events, follow us on Facebook and Twitter @downtowndcbid, and visit our website at www.downtowndc.org