Capitol Crossing / Third Street Tunnel

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The Capitol Crossing project is a 2.2 million-square-foot development between E Street and Massachusetts Avenue and 2nd and 3rd Streets NW in Washington D.C. It consists of five mixed-use, LEED Platinum certified buildings: 200 Massachusetts, 250 Massachusetts, 200 F Street, 600 Second, and 201 F Street. The project will span seven acres and include retail, commercial, and residential uses. It is expected to create 8,000 permanent jobs when completed and will generate an estimated $40 million in annual property tax revenues. The development site is made possible by construction of a platform over the eight-lane Center Leg Freeway portion of I-395 between E Street and Massachusetts Avenue and between 2nd and 3rd Streets. This portion of I-395 was built in an open boat section flanked by retaining walls that served as the terminus of I-395 in 1975. In 1987, the Center Leg Freeway was extended further north to New York Avenue in a tunnel section. When the final tunnel portion of I-395 opened, the air rights above the trench segment between E Street and Massachusetts Avenue were awarded by the city in 1988 to a real estate developer. However, those plans were ultimately abandoned due to the poor real estate market in the 1990s and disagreements between the developer and the District of Columbia. Plans for decking over the site and developing the air rights above I-395 were revived in 2006 when Property Group Partners (PGP), then known as Louis Dreyfus Property Group, proposed purchasing (rather than leasing) the air rights based on the future value of the development that would take place. A deal between PGP and the city ultimately closed in 2012 and is expected to generate as much as $120 million in payments to the District of Columbia. The private partner also committed to paying for the cost of necessary utility relocations, the reconfiguration of access ramps to/from I-395 at 2nd and 3rd Streets, and restoration of the original street grid (F and G Streets) above I-395, per the original plan laid out by Pierre L'Enfant in the late 18th Century. The improvements will also include enhanced vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle connections across I-395. Collectively, these transportation improvements are known as the 3rd Street Tunnel Project, which is sponsored by the District Department of Transportation.

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