The Developers vs. The NIMBYers – NW DC

There is a fight brewing in NW Washington, DC, over the amount of development that's coming. Some local residents are voicing their concerns over overdevelopment and the affects of the atmosphere of the area if high-rise condos and other buildings are allowed to be built. But developers' mouths are watering because of the atmosphere area, the METRO rail stations accessibility and the amount of money that resides out there as well as will come out there to be spent.


This is one of those "you-should-have-known-it-was-coming" moments when it only makes sense why developers would want to build high density projects in NW. Everyone knows Washington, DC, is split into four areas; the NW area is the largest of the four, easily. The only parts of NW I've ever seen, though, are the parts immediately near a METRO stop.

The Friendship Heights retail area was on of my favorite places to go when I first moved here. It's also where I figured out the difference between cost of living in Atlanta and in the District. My homeboy went to Howard University School of Law so Van Ness area was also an area I frequented, thanks to METRO. I have a friend across from Woodley Park station; Dupont Circle still is a destination I visit, mainly because of Kramer's Books & Cafe; I go to Cleveland Park if I'm going to the zoo (easier walking downhill than uphill from Woodley Park station).

But there's so much more as far as area to NW than those places. But who is going to venture out to Spring Valley, Wesley Heights, W Street NW area and a bunch of other places I had to look up on a map to know they exist? It's not that people don't want to go out there, or that anything of interest is or is not even out there. It's just that developers know with a METRO station near by, it only makes economical sense to not stray too far away from it.

On the other hand, who in their right mind is going to invest seven figures in a NW DC home just to be circled by thousands of renters in high-rises that take away the aesthetic value of the area? Who of the local residents wants to see magnets for hundreds more cars in the area in addition to the increase in people on the streets, in the stores and in the way thanks to METRO's ability to dump them there? Why would any of them just stand by and watch their neighborhood get sucked into the developers' money-comes-first-concept known as BIATWC: Build-It-And-They-Will-Come.

I'm still forming my opinion on this as well as what suggestions I may be able to come up with that may or not help. For the time being, I'll keep an eye out on the perpetual struggle between The Developers vs. The NIMBYers.