Dupont Goes Under
Is the former trolley system D.C.'s High Line?
One of the latest trends in urban development is to take a dilapidated urban structure and repurpose it entirely. The success of the High Line in New York has developers and municipalities across the nation looking toward elevated tracks and other unused infrastructure elements and thinking gardens, promenades and galleries.
The District Department of Transportation just released a comprehensive outline for its D.C. Streetcar Plan, which begins with the H Street/Benning Road Line in Northeast and the Anacostia Initial Line Segment in Southeast. Expect that project to suck up a lot of the oxygen about redeveloping old infrastructure -- as it did when outgoing Mayor Adrian Fenty and presumptive Mayor-elect Vincent Gray squared off on funding for the streetcar -- for years to come.
But another group is trying to take an old project in a new direction, more in the vein of a progressive repurposing like the High Line. The Arts Coalition for Dupont Underground wants to take some 100,000 square feet of space underneath Dupont Circle and turn it into performance and exhibition space.
The former underground trolley facility is another relic of the streetcar system that went empty in 1962. One developer tried to revive the spot in 1995, with an underground food court project called "Dupont Down Under" that itself quickly went under.
On Wednesday, the Arts Coalition and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development will host a public reception to present their ideas for the program. The reception, which will take place at the Dupont Hotel at 1500 New Hampshire Ave. NW from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., was promised at least a year ago -- and the idea itself is two years old.
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