DC United has "run into stiff opposition" to its new stadium design from real estate developers who own nearby parcels, "threatening" a planned opening for the soccer-specific venue in '18, according to Jonathan O'Connell of the WASHINGTON POST. The club plans to "seek approval before the DC Zoning Commission Nov. 2, a critical final hurdle before construction can begin." However, developers with land south of the stadium site on Buzzard Point are "pressing the team to improve a design that they say will 'stifle economic development' and fail to maximize" a $150M investment the DC government made to buy and prepare land for the project. The developers have "escalated pressure on United’s investors by lobbying city officials, hiring architects to offer alternatives and enlisting the high-powered strategic communications firm Podesta Group to launch a public relations and social media campaign." The stadium is a "top economic priority" for DC Mayor Muriel Bowser. DC United Managing General Partner Jason Levien said that the team and its architect, Populous, "already made a series of expensive changes." Further changes are "complicated" by utilities that run through the site. Levien said of the opposition, "What they’re trying to say is they can appeal and delay this development for a year, and yet they haven’t done anything down there in a decade." Development firm Akridge is "leading the charge against the plans despite originally proposing to city officials that they locate the stadium there" (WASHINGTON POST, 10/14).
