Mo' Money for Great Streets

Mayor Adrian Fenty announced today $95 million in additional funding for the city's Great Streets initiative. In so doing, the Office of Planning and Economic Development (ODMPED) issued an RFP to solicit "applications for development assistance," i.e., proposals for funding that would forward the District's goal of improving challenged neighborhoods along six enumerated corridors: the Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave SE, H Street NE, Georgia Avenue NW, Petworth NW, Minnesota-Benning, and Pennsylvania Avenue SE.

The District will award the funds for mixed-use and retail developments through Tax Increment Financing (TIF), in which the District will issue bonds to be repaid through earmarked property taxes and sales taxes of the subject neighborhood or development. In theory, the funding is revenue-neutral since the bonds are repaid through the excess tax value generated by the improvement, and the project will "pump millions of dollars into some of our most important commercial districts, creating new jobs, better amenities and more vibrant places" according to the Mayor.

Funding requests, due by April 18th, must reference development that will break ground within 24 months of today and complete 30 months thereafter.