The two District agency directors charged with redeveloping the Anacostia waterfront and the city’s interior have abruptly resigned in the face of their organizations’ forced realignment.
Anacostia Waterfront Corp. Adrian Washington will return to the private sector as a local developer after leading the AWC since December 2005, the agency announced Tuesday. National Capital Revitalization Corp. President and CEO Anthony Freeman left his job last week.
Both resignations were effective immediately.
“Adrian took over a fledgling, lightly-staffed start-up and created a fully operational, high performance organization which made substantial strides in implementing the 20 year, $10 billion Anacostia Waterfront Initiative,” AWC Board Chairman Stephen Goldsmith said in a statement.
The corporations, both quasi-public agencies, are charged with redeveloping long-underserved areas of the city. The waterfront corporation is responsible for the Southwest waterfront, Poplar Point, the vicinity of the new baseball stadium and Reservation 13. The NCRC has taken on the McMillan Reservoir, D.C. USA in Columbia Heights and the Skyland Shopping Center in Southeast.
Both organizations have endured scrutiny from the D.C. Council and Mayor Adrian Fenty, who have both talked about their merger or dissolution. The agencies, which must at times work together, have been accused of bickering over turf and slowing major economic development projects.
Ward 2 Council Member Jack Evans introduced a bill last month to break up both agencies and transfer their assets to the mayor’s office. Fenty’s 100 Days and Beyond action plan, meanwhile, calls for the delivery of a report within 60 days analyzing alternative structures for the corporations.
Washington founded the Neighborhood Development Company in 1998. He is a partner in the massive CityVista project in Mount Vernon Square and the Old Convention Center site redevelopment, two projects likely to reshape the look and feel of the near downtown area.
