When will that Harris Teeter open? That’s the question Albert Williams Jr., gets asked at least a dozen times a day. Williams, a public safety ambassador for the NoMa (North of Massachusetts) Business Improvement District, will be one of the first to know. He has a ringside seat for the changes reshaping Washington’s newest and most modern neighborhood.

Until developers and city officials decided to repurpose this area north of Union Station, NoMa was a no-man’s land; a series of abandoned parking lots and deteriorating warehouses. Today NoMa’s ultramodern cityscape includes, hip hotels, sidewalk promenades and new retail spaces.