Now that the soccer team has been rebuffed by PG, the team will have to continue its search for a new home elsewhere. David over at Greater Greater Washington muses over the idea of locating the soccer stadium on the site of Hechinger Mall. This, of course, is pure fantasy, and isn't going to happen. But it did remind me of a conversation I recently had with a friend regarding Hechinger Mall. Imagine if somebody did drop a stadium on that site. Or what, for that matter, would you like to see on the space if Hechinger Mall were to magically disappear?
And check out this old WBJ article I stumbled across while Googling Hechinger. Also of interest is a pdf you can download if you want to see the square footage of various spaces in the mall. That, and apparently a guy who calls himself Fuzzy Byskitz wrote a love song to Hechinger Mall. That, and who could forget this classic Craigslist post. Never saw the original Hechinger's store at the Mall? Now you can at least see a few photos from when it first opened back in 1981. Greater Greater Washington also looked at Hechinger Mall recently during a discussion of reusing old big box stores. I'd like to direct your attention to one of the comments. The writer talks about his interest in opening a diner at Hechinger Mall and the fact that his proposal was rejected because there was concern that a diner would attract too many patrons and they would take up too much parking. Hmmm...
14 comments:
I for one would be happy to see it come to the "mall" site. If this could put more pressure on the development of H street AND bring closer metro access to that area, I'm onboard!
I'm a soccer fan and had planned to boycot United if they moved to MD anyway...
"Now that the soccer team has been rebuffed by MoCo"
You mean PG. DCU will probably begin talking to MoCo right now. I don't even think Mayor Fenty will return their phone calls at this point.
I'm in favor of building a stadium wherever a stadium can get built :-)
Oops. I did mean PG. Sorry.
But seriously people, no comments on the ode to Hechinger Mall?
well the guy's page kinda creeped me out so I didnt go as far as listening to his ode to Hechinger Mall.
-Anon 4:41
that song was awesome, i want it as my ring tone.
dan, philly transplant
Best. Song. Ever!
I have to go to Safeway and buy some weed from a black Jew.
He should have mentioned the furniture store that also sells rims!
The Hechinger building would make a nice indoor shooting range. Maybe if the local hoodlums had somewhere to practice, they'd stop hitting so many innocent bystanders.
The idea of "boycotting United if they moved to MD" is brain dead. They lose millions a year at RFK, the stadium is falling apart, the only long-term plan the DCSEC has for RFK is to tear it down, and the current (as opposed to previous) District government has no desire to work with the team to get a stadium built in the District. This being the case, what exactly are they supposed to do? Their choices were to move to MD, or move to Montreal or St. Louis. You'd be happier with them moving away entirely?
If a stadium for United got built at that location I'd be overjoyed. Pre-match tailgating in my backyard; post-match partying on H. People taking the streetcar to games, stopping on H on the way there or back. It'd be fabulous. Therefore, it has no chance of happening.
There are lots of places where the stadium could go. At this late point, the issue with any of them is financing.
The "investor/operators" (the term under single-entity) controlling DCU are certainly wealthy people, by any standard; but like most wealthy people, their wealth isn't liquid. Even absurdly wealthy people get financing for this sort of thing, to avoid having to sell off huge chunks of their assets and committing everything in a single venture just to ever do anything. But private financing ain't exactly easy to come by right now. That's why the financing terms changed from Poplar Point's "DC, you pay for the infrastructure (which you'd have to do anyway for anyone else who went in there) and we'll pay for the stadium" to Morgan Boulevard's "Maryland/PG, you issue bonds covering 75% of the cost, and we'll pay you back." Banks aren't lending, but governments are still able to issue and sell bonds.
However, given the economic state, the political will required to issue bonds for a stadium project -- even bonds which will definitely get paid back through the stadium's use -- is enormous. Folks in Prince George's County beat the drum before their Councilmembers that they didn't want to see money diverted from schools to a stadium. And even though that wasn't the financial structuring of the deal (under the Maryland Amusement tax structuring, if revenue projections weren't met, the worst that could happen would be that the State/County got the money late, since the tax never goes away), it takes a lot of will to try to educate constituents as opposed to simply noticing which way the wind blows. I can't imagine that same dynamic won't play out anywhere else. So DCU needs bonds issued because nobody else is lending, and there's no political will to do that.
And even assuming there was such political will in the District, or assuming that DCU came by a huge pot of liquidity and could return to the kind of deal they had with the Williams administration over Poplar Point somewhere else in the District, I don't think it's possible for any kind of deal to be struck with Adrian Fenty. In the earlier dealings of the team with the District, he was neither reputable nor honest in this, and I don't see any reason to think that would change.
So it's hard to imagine they're not gone. That's a couple of thousand dollars a year I won't be spending in the District (or, presumably, anywhere else) anymore, but oh well.
Wow Chris, you're really fired up about this. I am heartbroken because I know the stadium would never be built at the Hechinger Mall location for all the reasons you state.
I however, am not at all as emotionally connected to DC United as you seem to be. I love the sport of soccer but can take or leave DC United. I support them because they are the home team. If they played a little better or were more visible in the community, I may care more about their welfare when/if they left the District
-Anon 4:41
Yeah, I confess to being obsessive about this topic. And I apologize for the slam -- mea culpa. If you go to a match and see the sections of people jumping up and down and singing for 90 minutes straight, I'm one of them.
One thing, though -- re: visible in the community, they make a lot of effort in this regard. Their charitable organizations, for instance, spend more money in the District each year than the Nationals have since they got here. Most of it goes into reading and athletic programs in Wards 7 and 8; but there's stuff elsewhere too. In the days shortly after the Eastern Market fire, they were the largest corporate donor to the short-term fund to keep the vendors afloat.
But yeah, I just don't see how anything really big can get financed now. The banks won't do it, and governments can't really get away with doing it.
Chris,
No worries - i'm not ultra sensitive. I stand corrected on the DC United benevolent efforts.
Anon 4:41
This all is interesting but I'd prefer retail to stadia. I just want better retail. I believe that spending tax dollars or leveraging public debt to fund a soccer stadium makes sense for the District at this time. RFK is old, and perhaps falling down. Yet if the team is successful perhaps they can fund their own stadium, as in pay for the land and build it.
I think the future of Hech Mall is up for grabs. I hope they fill the space with a tax paying business, but Hech mall needs a big change.
I try to shop there, but its hard because its just not the type of retail I frequent. I don't seek to buy Computers, tires, furniture and rims. I used to use the post office but really that's about it.
-Robby
This is Fuzzy Byskitz. Thanks for all the support from the people who, like me, love Hechinger Mall. I am shooting a video on-site soon and will have a remix and an ode to the China House carry-out across the street on benning rd. coming soon. Come check me out at facebook (Fuz Byskitz) and you can follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/fuzzybyskitz. I have cd's too, if you're interested email fuzzybyskitz@gmail.com
Fuzzy Byskitz rips that ish. He is one gutta jew from DC. all his joints are hot fiyah (redundant, i know).
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