The District of Columbia and the Washington National Football League Team Commanders reached an agreement to redevelop an 180 -hectare package by the river with a mixed program of about $ 3.7 billion centered around a new 65,000 stadium that the defenders say could be prepared in time for the 2030 season.
Waiting for the approval of the DC Consell this summer, public-private collaboration calls for the commanders to invest $ 2.7 billion for the new roof stadium, as well as houses, parks and recreation, hotels, restaurants, retail sale and neighborhood comforts on the campus. Almost a third of development will be reserved for parks and open space.
For its part, the district will spend $ 500 million for what it calls “horizontal and non -vertical costs of the stadium”, with its convention and sports authority that contribute to $ 181 million for new parking garages. A sportsplex of $ 89 million funded by the district will also be built to host sports events throughout the year and tournaments for DC Youth.
Once the installation is operational, the district will use an income obligation of $ 175 million funded by stadium activities to develop an additional parking.
Neither the commanders nor the district have publicly announced a project design and construction team. According to a presentation provided by the district, the approval of the Board this summer will allow the parks, housing and recreation underway to the end of this year, with the start of the stadium site that occurs in 2026.The presentation also states that the district will spend $ 202 million in development preparation throughout the campus, including roads, services structure and public transport capacity.
Located on the banks of the Anacostia river, the plot is owned by the National Park service and is currently the RFK Stadium home, of the football team, of the football team from 1961 to 1996 and currently in the process of being demolished. A law of the Congress of December 2024 that transferred the administrative control of the campus to the district government under a new 99 -year -old lease, also provided greater latitude in the way they redevelop the site.
District mayor Muriel Bowser has led to the name of his current house in Maryland Suburbà for ten years in office. He said that during a press conference he announced an agreement that once the transfer to the law was signed earlier this year, “we immediately knew that collaboration with commanders would be the fastest and safest route to bring to life the RFK campus.”
As announced by Bowser and the team, the program of various use aims to create up to 6,000 housing units, with at least 30% of which are classified as affordable. It is not known if this feature will swing the district leaders and residents who have stated the opposition to spending on sports facilities in the face of economic uncertainties promoted by massive cuts proposed to Federal Work Labor based on DC. Last year, Bowser pledged the district to spend $ 500 million to update an existing center ground to prevent professional basketball and hockey teams in the city from moving to a new installation proposed in the north of Virginia.
According to a statement, the contribution of the district to the project will come from a business tax established to withdraw the bonds of the construction of the Basketball Park of the City League of the city, thus eliminating the need for cuts in the city’s operating budget. Bowser also said that significant transport infrastructure at the site already exists, in the form of access from the main roads and a metral station served by three light railway lines.
Asked about possible opposition, the main owner of the commanders, Josh Harris, said that “the project speaks alone” and stated his confidence that “we will convince the Council that the project is in the best interest of DC”.
Harris, who also owns Philadelphia 76ers Professional Basketball Team, pursues a new $ 1.3 billion dollar sand in this city, currently scheduled to open in 2031.
