One year later: H Street and the DC Streetcar

The DC Streetcar is a controversial 2.2-mile streetcar line serving H Street and Benning Road in Washington, DC's Near Northeast neighborhood. Intended to spur redevelopment along blighted commercial corridors, the streetcar are the first to run in the District since the dismantline of the previous early 20th century citywide streetcar network in 1962.

9. The Car Barn Training Center (CBTC), located at 26th Street NE and Benning Road NE, serves as an operations and maintenance facility for the DC Streetcar. Here, streetcars are inspected, cleaned and when needed, repaired. It also provides office space, locker rooms and a break room for streetcar personnel. The CBTC currently serves as the Operations & Maintenance (O&M) base and a command center for the H/Benning Line. As the system extends west towards Georgetown and east towards Anacostia, it will serve the entire One City Line. The Car Barn will be the place of work for the operators, maintenance employees and management. The Car Barn will not serve as a stop, a terminus point or turnaround.

In addition, the CBTC will be well positioned for an adult education program in conjunction with the University of the District of Columbia Community College. The focus of the education programs will be on the growing field of electric vehicle technology and transit systems. As the streetcar program continues to grow, the hope is to have a “homegrown” talent pool to choose from when positions are added to the system or become open.

10. Unlike buses, fixed rail lines have demonstrated they can be catalysts to attract investments in housing, retail and commercial properties. The DC Streetcar’s most popular stops are Union Station, 8th Street/H Street and 13th Street/H Street.

11. As of February 2017, $356 million in new development had been completed along the streetcar corridor since the project’s launch. Currently, 770,000 square feet of development is currently under construction. An additional 2.6 million square feet of new development is proposed along the corridor.

12. In the past two years, seven residential projects totaling 1,287 units have been completed within two blocks of H Street from 2nd Street to Oklahoma Avenue along with more than 100,000 square feet of retail space. Six more residential developments under construction will add 215 units, and 11 others are in the pipeline, promising another 1,308 rental and condo units plus 100,000 square feet of retail, according to figures from the Washington, D.C. Economic Partnership.

13. 360° H Street is one of several new infill developments along the DC Streetcar corridor. Here, 523 to 586 square foot studio apartments are available for rent beginning at $1,775 per month.

14. On March 15, 2017, Whole Foods opened its latest DC location in a 40,000 square foot space at the The Apollo, a 400-unit mixed-use development at 600 H Street NE. 35 of the Apollo’s units are designated as affordable, meaning eligible tenants must have household earnings no greater than 50 percent of the region’s average median income of $108,600 for a family of four. At the Apollo, studios start at about $1,800, but affordable units can be had for as low as $808 per month for applicants earning less than $38,010 per year.

15. Union Market is a 1/2 mile walk north of the DC Streetcar’s 6th Street NE stop. Gallaudet University

16. If built out as fully planned, the DC Streetcar network will expand into a 37 mile system of routes. With that said, Benning Road appears to be the next spot for infill development along the DC Streetcar corridor. As many as 19 projects currently planned or proposed could attract an additional 7,600 residents to the area by 2022.

Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com

https://wamu.org/story/17/02/27/one-year-later-streetcar-changed-h-street-corridor/