The D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission has reiterated its position that a new soccer stadium on Poplar Point is the only way to go for the valuable Southeast parkland.
The commission, an independent D.C. government agency responsible for building and managing the District’s sports venues, is again at odds with the Anacostia Waterfront Corp., the quasi-public agency charged with redeveloping land near the Anacostia River. The two groups have quarreled in the past over development of property surrounding the new Washington Nationals’ ballpark.
This time, the bickering is about designs for a new D.C. United stadium on Poplar Point. In an Oct. 20 Washington Business Journal article, Waterfront Corporation Chief Executive Officer Adrian Washington said soccer “is one of the alternatives” for the federal parkland, which Congress is expected to turn over to the District later this year.
“We are letting the chips fall where they may,” Washington was quoted as saying.
Washington’s comments spurred the sports commission last week to unanimously adopt a resolution committing “to the development of a multi-use soccer and entertainment stadium complex at Poplar Point,” which the resolution describes as the “ideal location for a new soccer stadium and entertainment facility.”
The property, to be conveyed to the District through federal legislation, is “intended to promote economic development,” the resolution continues, and a stadium “will bring much-needed development, a sufficient tax base and economic stimulus to the neighborhoods east of the [Anacostia] River.”
“We are neither for the stadium or against the stadium,” Washington said Wednesday.
“We are looking to develop this site in the best interests of the city and if the stadium is the best thing to do, then we’re all for it. And if the stadium’s not the best thing to do, then we’re not for it.”
