The New Design For the DC United Stadium Includes More Retail and a Public Park

• November 16, 2016

by UrbanTurf Staff

A rendering of the public park planned for the stadium.

The new iteration of the planned DC United soccer stadium in Buzzard Point will include more retail, a realigned street, and the addition of a public park. The revisions, made largely as the result of opposition to the stadium’s design from nearby property owners, were filed with the Zoning Commission on Tuesday.

The main tweaks to the design include a 14,000 square-foot retail corridor on 1st Street along the east side of the stadium, and a re-imagining of the 40,000 square-foot public plaza planned on the northeast side of the stadium to include a landscaped and terraced public park that will occupy about half of the plaza. First Street between T Street and Potomac Avenue will also be realigned. This road will be constructed through the site to be used by cars, pedestrians, and bicycles.

An aerial rendering of the stadium.

“With full building out of Buzzard Point, including the South Capitol Street traffic oval, the southern section of First Street through the site (between T and S Streets) is expected to handle more traffic, as the natural flow of traffic will be north on First Street to east on S Street, as traffic travels through the site to reach the traffic oval entrance at the intersection of R and Half Streets,” a revised transportation review stated.

Another park and plaza rendering.

The changes filed on Tuesday come in response to criticism from nearby property owners regarding the stadium’s “lack of retail, access and planning,” outlined in an October article in The Washington Post.

A rendering of 1st Street looking north.

The stadium, which will have a capacity of around 19,000, was designed by the firm Populous and will replace RFK Stadium, the team’s current home. Located on a nine-acre plot bounded by R Street and Potomac Avenue SE to the north, T Street SE to the south, and 2nd Street SE to the west (map), the planned completion date for the new venue is 2018.

The development team will go before the Zoning Commission on November 28th.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/revised_dc_united_stadium_design_results_in_more_retail_public_park/11895