This really will be a tremendous improvement for Buzzard Point. Until recently (within the past year) Buzzard Point was almost entirely industrial. The US Coast Guard headquarters was there before it moved to Anacostia. There was a heliport for the U.S. Park Policy helicopters, scrap metal recycling, a cement plant, self-storage. There were also some nightclubs in the area.
Unlike the urban renewal that destroyed many cities in the 1950s and 1960s, Buzzard Point has been mostly vacant or industrial since before World War II.
"These plans grew against a background of the steady deterioration of Buzzard Point’s community base. If the population below Q Street stood at 231 souls in 1900, it had dropped to 185 in the 1920 census (89 white, 96 black), 87 in 1930 (39-48), and finally 34 in 1940 (19-15)...
The NCPPC’s plans cannot be said to have destroyed the old, semi-rural Buzzard Point because it was rapidly disappearing in any case,58 but they failed to establish the area as a center for industrial use. More railroad tracks were laid in 1939 and 1942. Commented Commission member Nolan on the latter occasion: “The area is already becoming crowded with
spur tracks.” The area’s population had dwindled to near zero – a few people lived on boats."
(Buzzard Point, DC: A Brief History of a Brief Neighborhood.
https://www.historicwashington.org/d...Pt_Booklet.pdf)
Here are a couple of photos of the area to get a sense of what it was prior to the current burst of development.
I took this photo a couple of years ago.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
Image courtesy of Greater Greater Washington.
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