The non-profit organization signed a lease agreement with Hoffman and Developers for 25,000 square feet on the third floor of the building located at 610 Water St. SW after a temporary stay at America’s Square.

“We are excited that 610 Water Street and the vibrant Wharf community will be the future home of the Freedom Forum,” Jan Neuharth, The Freedom Forum’s CEO and the chair said in a statement.

“The dynamic combination of flexible work and community spaces offer a variety of opportunities, both virtual and in-person, to further our First Amendment mission,” Jan Neuharth said.

The 610 Water Street property was designed by New York City-based architect firm Morris Adjmi as part of The Wharf’s development.

The building itself was designed to look like a jewel box and contains a 10,000-square-foot outdoor terrace.

While the building has yet to be completed, the Freedom Forum’s snagged lease marks the final available lease.

A new home for the organization 

The non-profit’s lease comes almost two years after its high-profile sale of the Newseum in 2019 to Johns Hopkins University for more than $300 million.

The Newseum was the organization’s home from 2008 to 2019 until it sold it to the university after years of financial issues.

Jonathan Thompson, the organization’s chief outreach officer, said the relocation to the Wharf will provide it with access to flexible office spaces with educational and conference center areas that will help further its mission.

“The new offices at 610 Water Street will also offer public gathering spaces and digital capabilities that can foster dynamic in-person conversations while continuing to offer the accessible reach and inclusivity of virtual events,” Thompson said.

Thompson said the spaces will be outfitted with the latest in digital media production technology, including video and audio studios.

Despite the organization having to shut down and sell its former home, Thompson said comparing the costs of owning a building and leasing an office is tricky.

“The costs to operate the property on Pennsylvania Avenue became unsustainable, but overall the new space will be considerably less expensive,” Thompson said.

He said the Wharf is an incredible development and expects the organization to take advantage of it post-COVID to host in-person events and programs that foster First Amendment freedoms.

The first event the organization has planned is its , which will take place spring 2022 at The Anthem.

Not the only new tenant 

It was announced in that The Atlantic’s tenure at The Watergate would be coming to an end after signing a lease agreement to occupy about 35,000 square feet on the top two floors of the Water street property.

Anna Bross, senior vice president of communications for The Atlantic, said the media company settled on the Water Street property due to its location, amenities and cost.

“610 Water offers an updated space in an excellent location, and we hope that the space is a draw for our staff and that it enhances the way that we work,” Bross said.

She said the new location will consist of two interconnected floors at the top of the five-story office building, with access to a large terrace off the top floor, with stunning views of the Potomac River.

“The building offers improved amenities for our employees, as well as increased accessibility options and has allowed us to anticipate some growth within the building,” Bross said.

Bross said the company hopes the new location will provide a long-term home for it, adding it is unclear when operations will officially begin at the location.

The post Freedom Forum joins The Atlantic as tenants in Morris Adjmi’s newest property on Water Street first appeared on 91ÇŃ×Ó.

In a statement from MPD’s First District issued Sunday, the shooting occurred approximately at 2:50 p.m. in the unit block of I Street SE.

“The suspects were in a vehicle and approached the victim, who was seated in a vehicle, at the listed location. One of the suspects brandished a weapon and shot at the victim,” according to the .

The victim was then transported to a local hospital after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds and was treated for non-life threatening injuries.

A nearby surveillance camera captured the suspects’ vehicle, a 2-door black BMW 328xi Coupe with unidentifiable tags.

According to Alan Henney, a freelancer who tweets breaking crime news in D.C., the shooting was initially a shots-fired complaint.

Henney said the BMW 328xi Coupe in question has been suspected of being involved in a recent string of robberies and attempted carjackings beginning four days ago when the black BMW was stolen.

“Usually it’s a group of three males, late teens, early 20s. There was also another auto accompanying it in at least one of the incidents,” Henney said.

While the incidents haven’t been officially linked, Henney said it appears they might be.

“Using a luxury car for robberies and carjackings is a brilliant idea because most people don’t worry too much when a luxury car pulls up behind them in a dark alley, but they need to think outside the box,” Henney said.

The shooting in Navy Yard comes five days after D.C. police data confirmed that the District reached

According to data from the Metropolitan Police Department, the last time the District reached 200 homicides was in , when 248 homicides were reported.

The 200th homicide reported this year was a man at a Shell gas station in the 4700 block of South Capitol Street.

LaTrina Antoine, editor-in-chief of D.C. Witness, said the non-profit has been tracking homicides in the District since 2018, which had 158 reported cases, and have seen a rise since then.

Antoine said there was a rise in reported cases between Jan. 1 and Nov. 28 of this year, with 216 cases being reported so far in 2021.

Antoine attributes the rising tide of gun-related violence in the neighborhood to the gun culture in the District, which has been growing over the past few years.

“With those homicides, a lot of them are related to a gun culture that is in the city because a lot of the homicides are being caused by fatal shootings,” Antoine said.

According to D.C. Witness’ , Ward 6 is the ward with the third largest number of homicides with 20 reported cases in 2021, preceded by Ward 7 with 42 and Ward 8 with 58.

MPD is asking for public help to identify and locate the vehicle used in the weekend shooting, offering a reward up to $10,000 for anyone who provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the crime.

Those with any information can call the police at (202) 727-9099 or text a tip to the Department’s Text Tip Line at 50411.

The post MPD pursuing vehicle associated with weekend Navy Yard shooting first appeared on 91ÇŃ×Ó.

Brookfield Properties, the company behind The Yards in Navy Yard as well as the extensive , plans to build a big tech campus in the Capital subarea, further adding to its decades-long renovations project.

Speaking with about the intent to pitch the site to tech companies out West, Greg Meyer, the head of Brookfield Properties’ Washington region properties, said the proposed site would be the large grassy plot of land located at M and First Streets SW.

Meyer told the proposed campus would ideally be three buildings that would come close to 1 million square feet in size.

The proposal would rival the tech campus currently being developed across the Anacostia River in Arlington, Va.

But Laura Montross,  director of communications for Brookfield’s District office, said the possibility of the project coming to fruition any time soon is slim given the District’s height limitations and other building restrictions.

Montross said while the big tech campus might not happen, the company has its sights set on moving forward with another project that is part of the .

While the full project is expected to be completed by 2030, construction on Yards Place is expected to begin in the next few months.

The project is the most recent chapter of a decade-plus improvement of the Capitol Hill subarea. Redevelopment began in 2008 with the construction of the . Further development came in 2010 with the opening of The Yards, a 42-acre residential and business hub.

Phase I included 2,800 new residential units and 2,200,000 square feet of office and retail space. The centerpiece of the development is Yards Park, a waterfront recreation area, boardwalk, and outdoor performance space.

Yards Park was developed as a public-private partnership and is operated by the Capitol Riverfront BID.

Brookfield Properties’ intentions to further develop the area have been met with positive responses. Advisory Neighborhood Committee representative Jared Weiss (SMD 6D02) said he is excited for the potential of Phase II.

“I think just about anything that draws more people to this area is a good thing. It is a beautiful part of D.C. that’s probably still underutilized, even given all the recent construction,” Weiss said.

He said one real challenge the project might face are transportation issues as street parking in the area is “already at a premium” and on certain game days it is an “absolute nightmare.”

“The more public transit can be thoughtfully planned, the more likely it is that the area can be used the best it can,” Weiss said.

Brookfield’s Phase II renovation will make it the second waterfront development and the largest in the D.C. region.

Announced in February of this year, Phase II will see the construction of 10 buildings spanning  3.4 million square feet that will provide office space, mixed-income residential offerings, restaurants, retail and public amenities.

“We’re excited for these new additions to the neighborhood and to continue the tradition of our community-wide events and activations in our many open-air public spaces,” Toby Millman, senior vice president of development for Brookfield Properties, said in a statement.

The major attraction of Phase II will be Yards Place, a pedestrian-only street that runs from the Navy Yard metro station to Diamond Teague park on the Southwest Waterfront.

The street will be curbless and cobblestone and will span an estimated six blocks of the Phase II project.

While the full project is expected to be completed by 2030, construction on Yards Place is expected to begin in the next few months.

The project is the most recent chapter of a decade-plus improvement of the Capitol Hill subarea. Redevelopment began in 2008 with the construction of the $600 million Nationals Park stadium. Further development came in 2010 with the opening of The Yards, a 42-acre residential and business hub.

Phase I included 2,800 new residential units and 2,200,000 square feet of office and retail space. The centerpiece of the development is Yards Park, a waterfront recreation area, boardwalk, and outdoor performance space.

Yards Park was developed as a public-private partnership and is operated by the Capitol Riverfront BID.

Brookfield Properties’ intentions to further develop the area have been met with positive responses.

Advisory Neighborhood Committee representative Jared Weiss (SMD 6D02) said he is excited for the potential of Phase II.

“I think just about anything that draws more people to this area is a good thing. It is a beautiful part of D.C. that’s probably still underutilized, even given all the recent construction,” Weiss said.

He said one real challenge the project might face are transportation issues as street parking in the area is “already at a premium” and on certain game days it is an “absolute nightmare.”

“The more public transit can be thoughtfully planned, the more likely it is that the area can be used the best it can,” Weiss said.

Brookfield’s Phase II renovation will make it the second waterfront development and the largest in the D.C. region.

The post Big tech campus, pedestrian-only street among projects eyed by longtime Navy Yard developer first appeared on 91ÇŃ×Ó.

Ward 6, which encompasses neighborhoods like Navy Yard, Southwest Waterfront and Buzzard Point, has seen major development over the last decade, leading to a high influx of residents to the ward.

Ward 6’s nearly 40% increase in population within the last decade accounted for almost of the District’s entire population growth, which reached , according to the 2020 Census report.

Based on estimates from the council, new boundaries to Ward 6 are needed to place at least in surrounding wards.

The redistricting process

Redistricting, a process that is undertaken by the District every 10 years to rebalance the population in all eight wards, ensuring they each have roughly the same population, will officially begin next month.

The process, which was supposed to begin in April this year, was delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic delaying the release of the 2020 Census.

According to Sam Rosen-Amy, the chief of staff for At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silvermann, who sits on the subcommittee for redistricting, rebalancing ensures the constitutional principle of “one person, one vote.”

Rosen-Amy said when rebalancing the wards, the populations inside do not have to be exactly the same, but that they need to be within “plus or minus 5% of the average-sized ward.”

Amanda Farnan, the communications director for At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson, who also sits on the subcommittee for redistricting, said Councilmember Henderson looks at graphs, among other factors, to also ensure new lines will create equity in political representation.

“For Councilmember Henderson, that really just means looking at black and brown communities and making sure that when we redraw these lines, we’re not diluting the voting power of diverse boards,” Farnan said.

Farnan said the councilmember, along with others on the subcommittee for redistricting, have held hearings to allow the community to voice their concerns for what the new boundaries should be.

“Many people talk about their own neighborhoods and how they want to stay together as a neighborhood,” Farnan said.

She said Esri Redistricting, a platform helping jurisdictions experiment with redistricting lines, created a new to allow D.C. residents to redraw the lines themselves and send them to the council for consideration.

Ward 6

There are currently 103,197 people in Ward 6, which experienced a 41.9% over the last decade.

“Just to put that into context, the next ward that grew over the last 10 years was Ward 5, which saw about just under 20% increase in population,” said Farnan, the communications director for At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson.

Farnan attributed several reasons for the explosive growth, including “federal agencies, moving their operations towards Ward 6, and also public private partnerships like The Wharf and the Navy Yard.”

Advisory Neighborhood Committee representative Jared Weiss (SMD 6D02) said the ward’s location on the water and its availability of space for high rise condominiums and apartments are also reasons why the ward has attracted so much growth.

“There’s a synergy between the big projects, the housing, and the geographic location of those neighborhoods that has contributed to the spike in population,” Weiss said.

Farnan and Rosen-Amy both said the process of redistricting does not mean affected individuals will be actually moving, but that their political representation might be changing.

“It just means in total, more than 17,000 people need to be put into a different ward,” Rosen-Amy said.

The ward will get new boundaries to bring it down to “around that sweet spot” of 86,000, Farnan said.

Changes to Ward 6

Advisory Neighborhood Committee representative Jared Weiss (SMD 6D02) said over time, Ward 6’s representation and make-up has changed through redistricting.

“I can tell you that the area covering ANC 6D used to be in Ward 2. And that there was a time in the 1980s when we had nine commissioners,” Weiss said.

While the council has yet to meet on the different possibilities for Ward 6’s new lines, Sam Rosen-Amy, the chief of staff for At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silvermann, said all options are on the table.

“All the borders of Ward 6 could change, that doesn’t mean they are going to, but they all could change. And that’s what we’re trying to get a better understanding of our residents with what changes what they like to see,” Rosen-Amy said.

Rosen-Amy said regardless of how the changes occur, it has to be done this year. “There’s no way around it.”

D.C. Council has started hosting community conversations to discuss possible changes.

The community conversation for Ward 6 will be held Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 8 p.m.

The conversation will be hosted by Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen and will include a presentation on the redistricting process by At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman.

is required and a Zoom link will be provided after.

The post With ballooning population and extensive development, Ward 6 could see major boundary changes during DC redistricting first appeared on 91ÇŃ×Ó.

According to data from D.C. Witness, a non-profit that tracks cases of homicide, domestic violence, and sexual assault as they move through D.C.’s  Superior Court, an estimated 98 reported cases of homicide have been recorded between the years of 2008 and 2021 in the Navy Yard and Southwest Waterfront neighborhoods, both part of Ward 6.

While Wards 7 and 8 have consistently remained the wards with the highest rates of homicide, Ward 6 has begun to see a noticeable increase in reported cases.

Experts tracking cases and studying the rise of gun-related incidents over the last decade attribute the steady increase in homicide to the unsafe environments and systemic inequality in neighborhoods, and the COVID-19 pandemic creating a shared feeling of isolation,

According to the Metropolitan Police Department’s Newsroom, on  police officers responded to gunshots near Half Street in the Southwest neighborhood.

Police found two men and one woman suffering from gunshot wounds. One man, Garry Stanley, Sr., 44, died from his wounds while the woman was transported to a nearby hospital and the other man was treated on the scene.

That shooting was followed by another two days later on , when police responded to a man found with non-life-threatening injuries on 1st and P Streets SW.

The two shootings come months after three other people were wounded in a in July outside Nationals Park in Navy Yard that sent players and attendees fleeing the stadium.

LaTrina Antoine, editor-in-chief of D.C. Witness, links the rising tide of gun-related violence in the neighborhood to gun culture in the District.

“Even though D.C. has strict gun laws and technically it’s very hard to have a gun legally in the city, there’s still a lot of guns that are here,” Antoine said.

She said the gun culture is largely associated with illegal guns and individuals who are carrying them because “they don’t believe they could be protected without having a gun.”

The large influx of guns in the area is partly the reason why there have been so many shootings since the organization began tracking cases in 2015, she said.

The data 

According to various reports from D.C. Witness, cases of homicide in Ward 6 alone have increased noticeably since 2020.

In alone, a total of 15 homicides were reported in the District, with one-third of them occurring in Ward 6.

According to the organization’s , which provides a breakdown of filtered data it collects, crimes involving shootings in Ward 6 spiked the highest in 2020.

Common trends

María B. Vélez, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland, said the trends she’s seeing in her research reflect higher levels of homicide in Black and Latino communities than in white communities.

Vélez’ said her research has shown the main contributing factor to the disproportionate amount of violence stems from the “dramatic economic inequality that differentiates white communities from black communities or Latino communities.”

Richard Bennett, a professor at American University’s Department of Justice, Law, and Criminology, believes the uptick in homicides over the past few years can be attributed to several factors including frustration, aggression, lack of opportunity in the community and fights over income.

But Bennett said the feelings of isolation created by the COVID-19 pandemic played a pivotal role over the past year.

“Now people are starting to move around again,” Bennett said. “They’re getting out of their houses, they’re getting more into fights, into altercations that lead to gunfire.”

Bennett said the change in the economy with many people out of their minimum wage jobs and unable to access relief funds have caused a spike in disadvantage within the area, which has fueled tension.

“Isolation has increased tension in the communities and homicides in a lot of cases are related to tension in communities,” Bennett said.

While homicides traditionally take place in “structurally disadvantaged communities,” Bennett said the neighborhood of Navy Yard is interesting as “it’s become incredibly gentrified.”

“On one block you have townhomes that have been renovated and just in beautiful shape, and then on the next block you have some really disadvantaged areas,” Bennett said.

Given the area’s multi-billion dollar redevelopment into a residential and business hub, Bennett said the shootings are most likely occurring in disadvantaged sections that have yet to be renovated or in some parts of renovated areas because that’s where the altercation began.

Combating the problem 

LaTrina Antoine of D.C. Witness said the current initiatives the District has in place are not enough to combat the ongoing problem, saying that many are only a short-term fix.

Antoine said the best way to combat the rising tide of homicides is a strategic data-based plan that fixes problems in the long term and prevents the spread of violent crime from seeping into other wards.

Richard Bennett, a professor at American University, said the main way to combat the ongoing gun problem in D.C. is to get rid of guns entirely. However, he said he sees this as a problem given the Supreme Court case Heller v The District of Columbia.

According to the court case, an individual has the right to keep and bear arms but is restricted to in-house possession.

But Bennett said a pending Supreme Court case could eventually play a role in controlling the number of guns in the street.

The case, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, pertains to a specific law in New York that will examine the word “can” with regards to weapon possession outside of the home.

Bennett also said another way to combat the gun problem in D.C. is to create a safer environment for the young adults and kids who believe they need guns in the first place.

“You need to have more opportunity,” Bennet said.

“Or you need to make it so that the kid doesn’t feel they have to carry a firearm in order to make it to school and make it back home again in the afternoon.”

The post Shootings in Navy Yard-Southwest Waterfront highlight long standing gun violence issues first appeared on 91ÇŃ×Ó.

A proposed extension to Metro’s Blue Line could bring Buzzard Point its own metro stop, giving a much-needed boost to the area as it continues to undergo a major transformation into a business and economic hub.

WMATA Finance and Capital committee announced the proposed extension on Sept. 9 during a meeting.

The extension is an update to a commissioned by WMATA pre-pandemic to examine the capacity and reliability of the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines.

The proposal suggested an extension of the Blue Line through several new stations, including Georgetown, then passing through Buzzard Point over to the National Harbor then to Virginia.

The proposal is estimated to cost, but the project would still need to be approved by WMATA’s board and D.C.

A proposed new station would act as a major boon to Buzzard Point, a neighborhood on the peninsula in the southwest quadrant of Washington, D.C.

While the response to the proposal has been positive, there are still members in the Buzzard Point community who remain apprehensive.

“While not a catalyst for the current growth cycle in Buzzard Point — a subarea of Capitol Riverfront that is already experiencing substantial redevelopment — this alternative would provide even greater connectivity and improved north-south accessibility for the neighborhood as a whole,” said Bonnie Trein, the communications director and chief of staff of the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District (BID) in a statement Sept. 22.

Trein said regardless of the outcome and considering that a Buzzard Point connection “is most likely 15 years away,” the Capitol Riverfront BID will continue to push for “improved mobility infrastructure and services to ensure that residents, workers and visitors can move to, from and within the neighborhood safely, affordably and reliably.”

Trey Sherard, a riverkeeper with an environmental organization formed to clean up the Anacostia River, said the addition of a metro system to the area will not significantly impact the Anacostia River, which the subarea rests on.

Sherard said contrary to expected conflicts between development and the environment, redevelopment in D.C. actually produces a net positive for the river as “redevelopment of that parcel brings that parcel under the new stormwater regulations,”

“In the District, the rules for redevelopment are so strong in favor of stormwater protections that frankly, when a site redevelops, we almost always see a net positive for the river,” Sherard said.

He said the fact that the District is already so developed helps a lot in terms of yielding that net positive.

Unlike Sherard and Trein, Buzzard Point’s Advisory Neighborhood Committee representative Fredrica Kramer (6D05) doesn’t understand the need for WMATA to spend so much money when the area could more easily benefit from other transportation services.

The only form of public transportation that currently services Buzzard Point is the , which does a complete loop around V and 1st Street SW.

Kramer said it did not make sense for WMATA to spend millions of dollars digging up the area when other cost-effective services exist as possibilities.

Kramer, along with other ANC members, said they want a full transportation study done by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) before anything else is done.

Kramer said WMATA’s proposal is unnecessary as there are already metro stations in the area located in Navy Yard and Southwest Waterfront.

“By the time they think about this and fundraise for it, Buzzard Point will be fully built up with huge buildings,” Kramer said.

In addition to WMATA’s proposal, the Riverfront BID is planning a complete of the area.

The Riverfront BID’s efforts in Buzzard Point will mark the last area in the Capitol Riverfront to be redone following the continuing efforts at Navy Yard and Southwest Waterfront.

The $250 million renovations will include the construction of several different office buildings, apartment buildings, a hotel, and mixed-recreational space.

According to Kristin Connall, development manager of Akridge Investment firm, one of several major investors in the redevelopment project, Akridge is planning to develop an estimated 2 million square feet of the 7-acre site.

“That 2 million square feet is comprised of about anywhere between, depending on what shakes out, 8-10 buildings. And those buildings are a combination of apartments, hotels, offices in phase two, and ground-floor retail everywhere,” Connall said.

Connall said Akridge’s project will be completed in two phases, similar to the reconstruction of .

She said the phases are almost equal in size, with both being an estimated one million square feet each.

Phase one of reconstruction efforts is expected to begin in 2022.

The post Proposed Blue line extension could add metro stop to Buzzard Point’s ongoing redevelopment first appeared on 91ÇŃ×Ó.