Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) As crunch time in the Amazon sweepstakes approaches, the District is showing off the four sites around the city it’ll propose to house Amazon. Unlike suburban jurisdictions which may propose one campus, D.C.’s plans call for Amazon to spread itself out over multiple buildings and multiple city blocks, something Mayor Muriel Bowser thinks will help the city rise above other plans.
“We’re inviting Amazon to come in and join us, to integrate into our neighborhoods, and to be a part of the D.C. community,” Bowser told reporters Monday. “What we offer them is a distinctly urban experience.”
The District’s four sites are the Anacostia Riverfront, the neighborhood around Union Station, the Hill East area near RFK Stadium, and the Shaw neighborhood around Howard University.
Bowser did not disclose the tax incentives the city plans to offer Amazon, but said the city’s fiscal health is an important priority for her, with no plans to “give away the farm.”
The Anacostia Riverfront would house Amazon in 13 buildings on both sides of the river, both near Nats Park and around the Anacostia Metro station., with the planned new Frederick Douglass Bridge providing a connection between the two.
The Union Station plan uses sixteen buildings and plots of land, mostly north of Union Station in the city’s burgeoning NoMa neighborhood and into Union Market.
The Hill East plan puts Amazon on a plot of land the District already owns south of RFK Stadium, currently home to the D.C. General homeless shelter the city is looking to close.
Finally, the Shaw site uses land from Howard University and five other plots of land to integrate Amazon around one of the city’s hippest neighborhoods.
The city’s distinctly urban settings will be competing with suburban jurisdictions that may be able to house Amazon on one all-encompassing campus, but Bowser said Amazon is looking for something else.
“They said that their employees prefer to be able to walk and bike, and not sit in traffic to get back and forth to the campus,” Bowser said. “All of the discussions I’ve heard from the suburban jurisdictions, they all sell Washington, D.C. All of them.”
Other areas around D.C. that have proposed Amazon plans include Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Arlington County, and a joint Fairfax County-Loudoun County bid. Submissions are due back to Amazon on Thursday.
Copyright 2017, WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (Photo: Steve Burns/WMAL via Mayor Muriel Bowser)
