Yards Park

The Yards Park is in Washington’s earliest industrial neighborhood, just west of the Washington Navy Yard and east of Nationals Park (in an area also known as Near Southeast and the Capitol Waterfront). The Washington Navy Yard was founded in 1799 at the deep-water port along the Anacostia River. It was the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy and was known for shipbuilding (22 vessels were built there) and the production of ordnance (armament for naval vessels). While there were residential neighborhoods that historically developed in the area, its proximity to federal land meant that housing was often at risk of being appropriated by the Navy Yard. The Yards Park is situated on land annexed to the Navy Yard in 1916 during World War I and was used for additional manufacturing facilities. After WWII, during which 20,000 civilians were employed at the Navy Yard, the facility shifted from shipbuilding and ordnance production to become principally an administrative center. The unused annexed land was transferred to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) in the early 1960s. Since then, the District of Columbia and business groups have made numerous attempts to redevelop the site.  

Redevelopment finally ignited in the early 2000s under a vision to transform the formerly industrial land into a sustainable, mixed-use urban community. The 2008 construction of Nationals Park, a $600 million stadium for the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team, also stimulated growth in the neighborhood. In 2004, the GSA awarded development company Forest City Washington, Inc. the contract to redevelop the 42-acre (17-hectare) property on four city blocks along the Anacostia River waterfront into a new neighborhood to be known as The Yards.  

The Yards Park, completed in 2011,  was a critical component of the redevelopment vision for the larger Yards project. When private loan options dried up to build commercial and residential real estate during the Great Recession in 2009-2010, the developers pivoted to develop the park—because public funding for The Yards Park was still available. 

The neighborhood has seen over $1 billion in public investment—which has helped to encourage an additional $2 billion of private sector investment to become a vibrant mixed-use community and riverfront destination. At full build-out in 2030, The Yards will include 3,400 residential units, 1.8 million square feet of office space, and 400,000 square feet of retail and dining.  

The Yards Park was built through a public-private partnership between the federal General Services Administration, the District of Columbia, and Forest City Washington. Forest City managed park construction, and the District of Columbia assumed ownership upon completion.  

The Yards Park was designed by landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg and Partners. The park has won several design and urban planning awards since it opened in 2011, including an Open Space Award from the Urban Land Institute in 2013. 

The Yards Park provides a unique nexus between the river, active and passive recreational areas, commercial interests and local residents. The park is served by the Navy Yard–Ballpark station on the Green Line of the Washington Metro, expanded in 2007. 

The 5.4-acre (2.3-hectare) park is the size of about four football fields and features a great lawn, a sculptural pedestrian bridge, a 60-foot light tower, and a dog run. A series of fountains are very popular amenities with local residents and visitors in the summer months – starting with Dancing Fountains, a splash pad at the entrance to the park; and the Canal Basin and Waterwall, a wading pool that recalls a canal that used to be on the site. Nestled between Nationals Park and the historic Navy Yard, the park also includes a public marina, a terraced riverfront performance venue, and a quarter-mile long boardwalk with shops and eateries. The District’s Anacostia Riverwalk Trail runs through the park, providing pedestrian and bicycle links to the rest of the Anacostia waterfront and creating connections among a variety of different neighborhoods. 

The entirety of The Yards neighborhood (the larger project) includes several historically protected and former industrial buildings being redeveloped as residential and retail facilities. One of these vintage buildings is the Lumber Shed, located on the edge of the Yards Park overlooking the Anacostia River. Renovated and opened in 2014, the building is now a two-level iconic glass structure that is home to a variety of restaurants, including Agua 301, Osteria Morini, Due South, and Ice Cream Jubilee. The upper floor of the Lumber Shed contains office space.  

With support from planning and public engagement efforts, The Yards Park has become an important catalyst in the emerging network of D.C. riverfront public space by promoting an accessible and economically viable waterfront.  

In 2000, one of the early steps in the redevelopment of Near Southeast was to create a substantial public engagement process, including a committee of 150 citizens representing neighborhoods, advocacy groups and the business sector. The D.C. Office of Planning conducted over 30 community engagement workshops and meetings, and in total about 5,000 people attended these and other public presentations. 

The Yards Park site was not previously residential, so no residents were displaced in the redevelopment process. However, The Yards Park converted a neglected industrial property into a beautiful public park that serves a diversity of residents.  Free programming such as music concerts, festivals, and movie screenings attracts residents from across the city, with the intention of creating a civic pride and a sense of shared community.  

The District of Columbia has targeted The Yards development as a model for urban sustainability, part of the decades-long effort to reclaim and rebuild the Anacostia Waterfront. Over a century of heavy industrial activity and poor waste management practices, the Navy Yard’s waterfront factories had heavily contaminated the soil and groundwater of The Yards Park site. Forest City worked extensively with the federal and local government to remediate site. The renovation of the historic ‘Lumber Shed’ building also required the abatement of hazardous building materials. 

Environmental sensitivity has been incorporated into many features in The Yards Park, including: 

Forest City developed The Yards Park at a cost of $30 million, with the help of an innovative financing model. The Yards is on land that had long been controlled by the federal government. Since the federal government is tax-exempt, the property had been off the District of Columbia’s tax rolls for decades. Property taxes would have resumed when Forest City, a private company, assumed possession of the site.  

Instead, the developer agreed to participate in a Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes (PILOT) program with the District of Columbia. Rather than Forest City paying $42 million in property taxes to the District’s general revenues, the PILOT program channeled the funds to finance public space improvements and infrastructure such as roads, sewers, and lights on the site.  

The District of Columbia owns The Yards Park—but does not run the park, maintain it, nor pay for park operations. Instead, the park is managed by the private, nonprofit Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District (BID). The BID, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit, was launched in 2007 to maintain, market and encourage economic development in the rapidly growing Capitol Riverfront neighborhood.  

Sources of revenue for The Yard Park operations: 

These funds are derived primarily from the District foregoing a portion of sales tax on the adjacent Lumber Shed restaurants. Revenues raised from events and sponsorships account for about 25 percent of the current operating budget.  The park’s operating budget is now over $1 million annually and provides for maintenance, programming, security and renovation.  

The programming in the park has taken many forms—from free fitness classes along the river’s edge to the summertime Friday Night Concert Series that has attracted upwards of 3,000 people from around the region. In its first full year of operations, Yards Park received an estimated 50,000 visitors to special events. 

Typical events that generate revenue have included weddings, corporate programs, movie screenings, concerts, fashion shows, and festivals, although COVID precautions have limited certain types of large public events in the park. Fees for operating 5K charitable walks and marketing events begin at $5,000.  

https://www.theyardsdc.com

http://yardspark.org    

The Landscape Architect’s Guide to the Yards Park  

https://www.asla.org/guide/site.aspx?id=36074

Photo archive: The Yards Park  

https://www.jdland.com/dc/yards-park.cfm