Though it was just approved by the D.C. Council Wednesday, members of the new Business Improvement District in the area north of Massachusetts Avenue are already making plans for its first year of improvements to the neighborhood nicknamed NoMA.
“There has been such a dramatic change in the area,” said Bruce Baschuk, chairman of the BID and president of J Street Development, which is remaking a building at 1111 N. Capitol St. NE into a mixed-use property. “You’ve got an area that was historically a series of warehouses and parking lots, and now people are talking about … hotels, retail, residential development and commercial properties.”
NoMA is due for 1.5 million square feet of commercial development, two hotels and about 900,000 square feet of apartments. Construction will begin in 2007 and likely finish by 2009, Baschuk said. XM Radio, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission currently anchor the neighborhood.
The BID will focus its efforts on marketing NoMA as an appealing, growing neighborhood and on improving safety in the area, Baschuk said. It hopes to address traffic issues at the intersection of Florida and New York avenues, and lobby for a grocery store with sufficient parking. The BID also plans to push for tax incentives for businesses and nonprofits to move to NoMA, Baschuk added.
The BID will start off with an annual budget of about $1 million; revenues from its taxes will begin to arrive around the third quarter of this year, Baschuk said.
