DC Mayor Launches “Reopen DC Advisory Group”

• April 27, 2020

by Nena Perry-Brown

As the region's leaders consider how to begin easing restrictions around the current public health emergency and "reopening" the economy, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has announced formation of the Reopen DC Advisory Group. The group's purpose is to help recommend what steps should be implemented to ensure the city reopens in an incremental, safe way. 

The Group is comprised of 12 committees, one of which is dedicated to Real Estate and Construction. Sarosh Olpadwala, real estate director for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED), is the government co-chair of the committee, while the community co-chairs are Buwa Binitie, chairman of the board for the DC Housing Finance Agency and founder of development firm Dantes Partners, and Monty Hoffman, chairman of development firm Hoffman & Associates (formerly PN Hoffman). Hoffman is also the founder of DC2021, a group that includes companies in the real estate, hospitality and restaurant industries that lobbied DC Council earlier this month for recovery-related tax breaks.

The real estate committee is tasked with identifying how DC can continue to accomplish its goals around affordable housing production and larger housing production targets within the confines of the current state of emergency. 

Former mayors Adrian Fenty and Anthony Williams are two of the co-chairs of the Advisory Group, along with Council Chair Phil Mendelson and chief financial officer Jeffrey DeWitt. The Group will also consult with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Thumbnail photo by Ted Eytan.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc-mayor-launches-reopen-dc-advisory-group/16765