The DC government has more than 40 real-estate developments under its management, spread across the entire city. But keeping track of the construction site in your neighborhood—whether it’s a school reconstruction or hulking, new, mixed-use project—has usually required relentless internet sleuthing and document shuffling.
But a website launched Monday evening by the office of Brian Kenner, the city’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development, aims to simplify the process for residents curious about nearby developments. The site contains the basic information on the projects, which range in scale from a stormwater pond in Northeast’s Fort Lincoln to the massive Capitol Crossing project straddling Interstate 395, and sit in every ward except Ward 3.
Each development’s file contains its address, private-sector developer, square footage, city-government manager, estimated completion date, and, if applicable, the catchy brand name it will use when it opens for business. The page for 965 Florida Ave., Northwest, a multi-unit residential building that will contain a ground-floor Whole Foods, lists its developers, MRP Realty and Ellis Development Group, its 371,000 of eventual floor space, and a representative in the deputy mayor’s office.
The “Project Pipeline Database” could go much further though. While the site puts some details of city-managed developments in a more easily navigable location, they are the cursory details. As the site grows, it should add items so that people who want to monitor development in their neighborhoods can actually be informed about the process: contact information for the city’s representative, links to documents filed with the Office of Zoning and other DC agencies, and larger images of a project’s renderings and construction as they become available.
The database is only one day old, though. But it’s worth saving the link for anyone interested in the city’s changing landscape.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
