Greater Greater Washington published a profile of the Riggs Park neighborhood written by a neighborhood resident. Similar to these blog posts, the piece discusses the neighborhood’s Civil War and industrial past. The piece goes on to highlight some of the neighborhood development in the pipeline, noting the neighborhood could become a destination of sorts in the future. Check it out.
Next Stop…Riggs Park
The stop for news and commentary about the Riggs Park neighborhood, surrounding Fort Totten communities, and the District
Next Stop...Riggs Park 
I agree that the Fort Totten area is poised to become a destination. Demand is what drives community development. Over the past decade, a staggering 1,300 units of residential housing has been built. And another 600 units are on the way via the Cafritz Foundation and the two EYA projects.
These households will bring increased demand, and more importantly, increased disposable income, which is the catalyst for business growth. The new households will increase pressure on the city to address longstanding infrastructure needs. These needs include:
• Making South Dakota Avenue safer,
• Adding a sidewalk opposite the Modern on Galloway Street supporting both
pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and
• Completing the pedestrian path east of the Fort Totten Metro station and across Fort
Circle Park.
The local entertainment fare will be enhanced by the introduction of Meow Wolf and the Family Entertainment Zone (FEZ). I believe this area can grow into a destination with the appropriate infrastructure upgrades, influx of new businesses and popular entertainment. All of which will be driven by demand.
I’ve always thought the use of the term “destination” in real estate speak is a little weird. The neighborhood clearly has people living in it. The issue is that certain developers (read JBG) saw a neighborhood of Black people and thought it fitting to throw up a 117,000 square foot Walmart just when retail was beginning to develop. People forget that Art Place had letters of intent in place before Walmart was announced and those retailers pulled out. Ignoring the 117,000 square foot elephant in the room is strange. I’ve toyed around with a blog post called “How JBG underdeveloped Riggs Park.” This is the problem with only seeing Black people through the lens of deficiencies (which is dominating the “equity” conversation in DC). This is also why I have a huge problem with the way the current LRCA president Rodney Foxworth speaks about Black people and the neighborhood. It’s really backwards thinking and disempowering.
The blame actually lies with the DC Government, and specifically with ex-Mayor Gray. In his effort to bring retail into Ward 7, he gave Walmart the keys to the city. Walmart did what any corporation would do; it picked the most favorable locations to build and partnered with developers to get it done. After Walmart completed its facilities on H Street NE, Georgia Avenue NW and Riggs Road NE; it walked away for its Southeast DC commitments.
Please do not take my word for it; just read the LA Times article “How Walmart ‘Absolutely Shafted’ Washington, D.C., by reneging on a promise”.
The link is here: https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-how-walmart-absolutely-shafted-washington-20160122-column.html.
Luckily, and years later, the DC Office of Attorney General, led by Mr. Karl Racine, won a $1.3M settlement against Walmart for its actions.
The link is here: https://oag.dc.gov/release/attorney-general-racine-reaches-13-million.
But, it is true that the presence of Walmart killed the business commitments held by the Cafritz Foundation. So, by attempting to boost the fortunes of Ward 7, ex-Mayor Gray changed the course of business development in our community.
I know the history of Walmart’s operations in the city. The point is JBG is the landlord and thought it was perfectly fine to drop a 117,000 square foot Walmart, the largest in this city, in this neighborhood at a time when retail development was just getting started in the neighborhood because they were supposedly concerned about gentrification because all they saw was a neighborhood of Black residents. The landlord decides who they will lease to, not the mayor. The way JBG spoke about and treated this neighborhood when building FTSQ was ignorant.