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Mayor Bowser Announces First-Ever Tax Increment Financing Proposal for Ward 8 Development

Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Legislation Introduced by the Mayor Will Create a Transit-Oriented Development for Housing, Co-working Spaces for Office and Cultural Uses, and a Hotel in Anacostia

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Mayor Bowser has introduced legislation that will provide the first-ever Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for a mixed-use development project in Ward 8. The “Reunion Square Tax Increment Financing Act of 2018” will support approximately 560,000 square feet of a future 1.5 million square-foot development adjacent to Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, Shannon Place, Railroad Avenue, V Street, and W Street, SE in Anacostia. The TIF legislation will authorize the Mayor and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to issue bonds that support the development project.

“This project will bring jobs, housing, and opportunity to Ward 8,” said Mayor Bowser. “My Administration is committed to making the big investments necessary to ensure that every corner of our city is able to participate in DC’s prosperity, and that’s what we’re doing here.”

The Reunion Square TIF will support the redevelopment of an underutilized site located near the Anacostia Metrorail Station. To be built in multiple phases, the next phase of the project will include:

  • a 180-room hotel;
  • a 133-unit apartment building with 20 percent of units serving as affordable housing for families earning less than 60 percent of Median Family Income (MFI);
  • 250,000 square feet of new office space;
  • at least 13,590 square feet of ground-floor retail;
  • underground parking; and
  • dedicated space for new, high quality cultural, arts, and community facilities.

The first phase of this development yielded a Class A office building at 2235 Shannon Place, SE. The next phases are contingent upon TIF funding.

Tax Increment Financing is a program through which the District provides funding for economic development projects by borrowing against future tax receipts that will be generated by the project. Other development projects in the District that have utilized TIFs include the Skyland Town Center in Ward 7, the redevelopment of The Wharf along the Southwest Waterfront, and City Market at O Street in Ward 6.