PROJECT SUMMARY
Prior to the addition of the New York Avenue Metro Station, the Washington, DC, Metro system bypassed an urban, economically underdeveloped neighborhood known as NoMa, for its location north of Massachusetts Avenue. The neighborhood is home to Gallaudet University and the major roadways of New York and Florida Avenues and North Capitol Street, but a stagnant local economy and inadequate transportation facilities stunted its economic growth and development.

Recognizing the potential for economic development and an improved tax base in the area, the local and federal government along with community and business leaders initiated a process for promotion of a public-private partnership with area business interests to leverage investment in a new Metro station. The partnership devised a plan under which the construction costs would be shared by the public and private sectors.

The New York Avenue Station opened for service on November 20, 2004, as the first in the DC Metrorail station to be built with a mix of public and private funds.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Before the station was added, the NoMa area had a mixture of residential, commercial and light industrial properties, with a substantial amount of vacant land. As part of an effort to revitalize the area, plans were developed to build a Metro station along the pre-existing Red Line, which ran through NoMa without a stop. The New York Avenue station was to aid revitalization and development through improved transportation access. At the same time, the project needed to overcome the budget constraints of the District, creating the necessity for a non-traditional financing approach.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Partners
The public sector partners for this project were the District of Columbia government, the U.S. federal government and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The private sector partner was Action 29-New York Avenue Metro Station Corporation (Action 29 Corporation). Made up of major developers, area property owners, corporate business leaders, elected officials and community leaders, Action 29 Corporation was a non-profit organization incorporated to leverage private investment for the New York Avenue Metro station. Upon the opening of the station, Action 29 was dissolved.

Implementation Environment–Legislative and Administrative
In 1997, President Clinton signed into law the National Capital Revitalization Act, which had the goal of addressing long-term structural fiscal imbalances harming the financial viability of the District of Columbia. The Act’s oversight board directed the formulation of an economic development plan. The resultant plan, which focused on strategic industries, populations and areas, detailed 40 specific action items that would put the District on the track for economic development track.

Action Item 26 called for the development of NoMa as a technology, media, housing and arts district, and Action Item 29 called for the construction of a new Metro station at New York and Florida Avenues. The two action items shared the objective of spurring economic growth.

Financial Agreement
The construction of the new station collected $110 million in funds from the private and public sectors. The financial commitments included the following:

• $35 million in private funds from area businesses, including $10 million in land; amortized over 30 years
• $44 million from the District of Columbia
• $31 million from the federal government, including $6 million for the construction of a portion of the Metropolitan Branch Trail

Stakeholders committed to these funds between 1998 and 2000. Private funds were leveraged with Action 29 Corporation’s findings that such an investment would create 5000 new jobs and $1 billion in new public and private investment and development.

In addition to providing funding, the District formed the NoMa Business Improvement District (BID) in May 2007 to continue to generate economic improvements. A special assessment levied on commercial, multi-unit residential and hotel properties supports cleaning/safety services, marketing and community events, coordination of public and private investments and services and promotion of employment and community projects. The levy is broken down as follows:

The BID’s FY08 budget was $1.3 million.

Implementation Provisions
Unlike other potential projects to expand the Metro system, the station did not require the construction of a new rail line to reach the area, which would have required acquisition of additional rights-of-way, added construction time and the cost of an expanded fleet. Adding a new station to an operating rail line did pose unique challenges including integration of old and new circuits and minimizing disruption of regular Metro service, though its benefits far outweighed these temporary issues.

WMATA does not fund the construction of new stations; this cost is left to local government jurisdictions. In the late 1990s, DC was close to bankruptcy. If economic development was an important priority, then funds would need to be identified from other sources. Though difficult at first, the project succeeded through Action 29 Corporation’s aggressive consensus building with area businesses and residents.

Commentary
The project far exceeded the promise of 5000 new jobs and $1 billion in area investment upon the construction of the Metro station. Assessed valuation of the 35-block area increased from $535 million in 2001 to $2.3 billion in 2007. Over 15,000 jobs have been created since 1998 with $1.1 billion in private investment. This increase in property values (300 percent between 2001 and 2007) has attracted further real estate development and residents with higher purchasing power, which has reduced the number of affordable housing options for some would-be residents. Additionally, the public sector supplied nearly two-thirds of this project’s funding. Had a more intensive market research study been conducted, it is likely the private sector would have been asked to contribute a larger portion of the funding.