For those of you who can’t get enough of D.C. United stadium renderings that look pretty much just like the old stadium renderings: new D.C. United stadium renderings!
Tell us what’s new, Washington City Paper:
Among the changes are: a retail corridor on the east side of the stadium along First Street, which will become a two-lane road with parking on each side, 14,000 square feet of retail attached to the stadium itself, and unspecified ‘additional future retail’ toward the south on First Street, according to a memo D.C. United’s lawyers sent to the zoning commission. A building along the south side of the stadium has been “reimagined and reoriented” to include 3,000 square feet or retail space, but will maintain a “bike valet” at its corner.
A public plaza planned to the stadium’s northeast will now contain a sizable park, “landscaped and terraced to create an inviting experience.”
So basically the team responded to complaints that the stadium would be a big empty box on non-game days by adding some space for stores, and some more space for possible future stores, assuming there are stores that want to open up in what will be a big empty box on non-game days. Plus a street that turns into a pedestrian plaza during games, because those are all the rage:
Which is all cool — attempts at more non-gameday activity is cool, even if it doesn’t always work out so well. But D.C. United planners do seem to be trying to respond to community gripes, at least, which is the least they can do for their $183 million in public subsidies.
The funny thing about that picture is that MLS claims there were over 23,000 people in stadium at that time.
The challenges of the site remain–isolated and not particularly close to mass transit. Would be nice for the residents of the region to get some retail, but it remains to be seen if just a sensible rezoning plan would have accomplished that at far less cost.