It is clear that the days are numbered for venerable Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium (RFK). Built in 1961 as D.C. Stadium, RFK served as the home of the Washington Redskins for 36 seasons, and recently it has housed DC United and the Washington Nationals. This will be the Washington Nationals last year in RFK, DC United will get a new stadium at some point, and there are reports that RFK could be torn down as early as after the 2007 season.Why is the demolition of RFK important in planning terms? There are a number of reasons. The stadium is part of a large parcel of land in downtown Washington, DC, which if combined with the DC Armory (horizontal building, middle left of screen) is even bigger and very close to a Metro station. The aforementioned Metro station is Stadium/Armory (located in bottom left of screen) and serves both the Blue and Orange Metro lines. The RFK site is located minutes from the Capitol building. No barriers either natural (a river) or human (a highway / railroad tracks) separate the site from downtown Washington. RFK is also located on a historic and monumental east-west axis. Due west of the stadium is the Capitol, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. In fact, RFK at the moment serves as the eastern terminus of this monumental axis. In the spatial hierarchy of Washington, DC the RFK site has a fairly elevated importance.
What's the future for the RFK site? I have suggested that it would make a good site for a consolidated Department of Homeland Security complex (at least from a planning perspective) as it is a large amount of land in downtown DC with close proximity to a Metro station. There are some reports that the Washington Redskins could come home to RFK. The potential deal is very interesting because DC officials are in no mood to shell out more money to construct a sports stadium after spending over $600 million for the Nationals new park. The leverage that Dan Snyder, the owner of the Redskins, wants is the land and development rights for the area around the new stadium. This arrangement is similar to the one being worked out for DC United's new stadium across the Anacostia River in Poplar Point.
What has changed in the construction of sports stadiums is that the owners are now viewing local government's provision of land and concurrent development rights to be worth more than local government's provision of the actual stadium. Marc Fisher of the Washington Post argues that "this kind of giveaway is no more fair to the taxpayer than the baseball deal." This land is incredibly valuable. A comprehensive, mixed-use, and transit-oriented development surrounding a new RFK stadium complete with residences, restaurants, and a hotel could generate enormous profit for Snyder. The new stadium is also proposed to be domed, with the intention of bringing the Super Bowl to Washington, DC.
What's the future of RFK? Will this be it's last year? In December 2006 when Major League Soccer (MLS) announced that its championship game would be held at RFK Stadium this November the move was met with great skepticism. What was this old stadium doing hosting a league championship ? But maybe MLS knew (or guessed) of RFK's impending demolition and decided that this would be a good way to say goodbye to one of the great soccer places in the United States. Even a few Redskin fans, having no like of soccer or baseball, might come out to see good old RFK for one last time.
4 comments:
I have always believed that either the RFK site or National Airport would make great tourist parking lots. Visitors to the city could be directed to either location from interstates converging on the city. Either the Airport terminal or the Armory could be turned into a Visitors Center with both a continually playing video about the city and its history and instructions about how to get around using the adjacent subway stop. This would remove much of the tourist vehicle traffic that ties up city streets and only gets worse each year. Pedestrian friendly walkways could be expanded around the Mall area and traffice eliminated. The Welcome Center could have shops and resturants and provide an ongoing source of revenue to fund it's operation. The Redskins should stay in Landover, the Rfk site is too precious to be used 8 times a year. If the local residents didn't want the Cadaiac Grand Prix of Washington in RFK's parking lot then they probably don't want a football back either.But direct access into the lot from I295 for tourist traffic would bother nobody. Free parking for tourists to our fair city is what we as gracious hosts should be offering our countrymen and foreign tourist alike.
DC United will need RFK through 2008. The new soccer stadium (if approved) won't be ready till 2009 at the earliest. After DCU's out of there, RFK would probably be best turned into that extended parking lot.
The Armory has also been undergoing renovations and won't be torn down anytime soon.
I imagine football would get more support coming back into D.C. than a minor league (now defunct) auto race circuit. Prince George's County seems to have the Redskins locked away for the near future though so that won't happen either.
RFK, well, open space within a drive of the Capitol Area is a pretty important part. RFK houses all the buses for the protests that come to town, and serves as a staging area of police and fire services in emergency drills, etc. It can handle multiple helicopters, along with buses and firetrucks (DC does all "mass destruction" drills there for a reason).
I can't see it being entirely built up (along with the Anacostia waterfront) without some objection from some in law enforcement.
Just so you know, the National Capital Planning Commission has a report about the RFK site - and a plan.
http://www.ncpc.gov/planning_init/RFK/RFK.html
There is also a mixed use development going in next door called Hill East.
http://www.anacostiawaterfront.net/PROJECTS/HILLEASTWATERFRONT/tabid/81/Default.aspx
Also, the Department of Homeland Security will most likely be consolidated on the campus of the old St. Elizabeth's hospital in Anacostia - the land was transferred from the District to the Feds in the recent land-swap deal. Besides, the trend in DC is to connect the city to the waterfront, and a secure federal facility such as DHS would most likely block access to the river.
Finally, the RFK site is pretty far from downtown DC. It is 19 blocks from the Capital building (which is about 8 blocks or so from the Eastern edge of downtown).
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