Speaking of DC development deals: $1 per year for 16 acres of urban land

Also from the Washington Business Journal, "Developers of Southwest D.C. waterfront seek 16 acres," which discusses redevelopment (an urban renewal project to fix the previous urban renewal project) of the Southwest DC waterfront. Some of the holdups concerned making sure that connected "small business construction groups" were wired into the project.

From the article:

Ben Soto, campaign treasurer to Fenty and president of Paramount Development LLC, swooped in this summer to join as an investor, helping to push the Hoffman team over the 20 percent required CBE equity mark. “I thought that the deal was a good deal for Paramount,” he said.

Hoffman also plans to contribute $1 million to a nonprofit work force subsidiary to ensure that D.C. residents are trained for and fill the jobs set aside for them, which has not happened in the past. Developers can avoid hiring District residents if they make a good-faith effort with the D.C. Department of Employment Services.

Councilman David Catania, I-at large, the council’s harshest critic of the Nationals stadium, warned that none of the public benefits would come true. He said the Southwest project, whose initial plans were approved by the council five years ago, was “a case study in how not to do economic development.” But Catania said he would vote for the deal anyway. “I’m supportive of where we’re going because it’s too expensive to turn back,” he said.

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The contracting issues and problems are structural... but that being said, PN Hoffmann does good work, and their joint partner Streuver Bros. Eccles & Rouse does phenomenal work in Baltimore (absolutely phenomenal work). So in the long run, a good project will result, and sure some people make some money (I love how E.R. Bacon company is a small business partner. Her father was the planning director of Philadelphia for many years. She has a famous brother too, Kevin...)

Ironically, if a company like Streuver Bros. were the lead developer at "New Towns" (Florida Market), I'd probably feel a lot better about the overall direction. While I don't favor eminent domain, I am not against the use of such authority. But generally, DC Government exercise of such authority results in s***** projects. And wrt the Florida Market project, the government-chosen developer (no RFP, etc.) has no track record and there is no expectation by me, that a quality project will result.