Plans for parking at the Washington Commanders’ new stadium complex in D.C. have been revealed as the redevelopment of the RFK stadium site moves forward.
The plans submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission for review include two garages with 6,000 parking spaces and 2,000 surface parking spots, all to be ready for the Commanders’ first game day at the stadium.
One garage, G1, is a 2,400-space, nine-level structure south of the stadium on Independence Avenue SE. Eventually, it’s to be surrounded on three sides by a mixed-use development known as the Riverfront District.
The second parking structure, G2, will hold 3,600 vehicles on eight levels north of the stadium on 22nd Street NE. Current plans include a mixed-use development between this second garage and the Kingman Park neighborhood.
The Washington Business Journal was the first to report on the plans.
These parking garages are planned to help support the $3.8 billion, 65,000-seat stadium on its 180-acre campus with the ability to host more than 200 games, concerts, festivals and other events each year.
The parking plans are on the agenda for the National Capital Planning Commission’s Oct. 1 meeting.
In addition to the garages, pedestrian access to the complex is to be upgraded. To the “greatest extent possible,” the planning documents said, DDOT-standard sidewalks with “buffer/planter” zones will be installed to create safer crossings of the roads and streets around the stadium.
When the commission voted unanimously in April to approve preliminary site and building plans for the new stadium, members raised questions and concerns about the project’s two planned parking garages.
“The stadium looks beautiful right now, but as I’ve said previously at NCPC meetings, I have rarely have ever seen a beautiful parking facility,” then-NCPC Chair William Scharf said.
“So I think understanding how that affects the overall project plan and what the stadium will actually look like to people once it’s complete, I think, it’s really important.”
The earlier submission said the garages would be 11 stories high, which is nearly two-thirds as tall as the stadium itself, and a map shown at the April meeting indicated the structures could be as large or larger than the nearby D.C. Armory.
NCPC staff recommended at the time that “alternative orientations” and lower garage heights be considered to reduce impacts of views to the stadium from Kingman Park and from other adjacent neighborhoods.
WTOP’s Tracy Johnke contributed to this report.
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