Navy Yard recorded the fifth-highest rate of apartment construction of any U.S. neighborhood from '12-16GETTY IMAGES
Ten MLB seasons have "come and gone since Nationals Park opened" in March '08, and in that time, the Navy Yard has "transformed from an industrial backwater to the city's fastest-growing neighborhood," according to a front-page piece by Adam Zielonka of the WASHINGTON TIMES. It is "hard to quantify how much of the development can be credited" to the ballpark, but the surrounding neighborhood "isn't colloquially called 'the Ballpark District' for nothing." Nationals Park, with "distinctive views of the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument from the upper decks, has become an icon in a city with no shortage of iconic structures." For years, it has even been "featured in the opening credits montage for Netflix's 'House of Cards' alongside monuments and government buildings." Former DC Mayor Anthony Williams and the city in '06 "invoked eminent domain to seize property from 16 owners" in the Navy Yard for the ballpark, which ultimately required $670M in public spending to construct. Williams said at the time that the ballpark would "spur a revitalization of the downtrodden Navy Yard." Nationals Park supporters said that the past decade has "more than justified the public investment." According to data from MPF Research, Navy Yard "recorded the fifth-highest rate of new apartment construction of any neighborhood in the country" from '12-16. Real estate values have also "gone up" 41% since '09 after adjusting for inflation. Meredith Fascett, who has lived in Navy Yard since '11, said that the area now has a "variety of large and small, locally owned businesses." Zielonka notes it has also "helped that the Nationals have become, over the past decade, one of the best teams" in MLB (WASHINGTON TIMES, 4/5).
