Mayor Muriel Bowser submitted the finalized “master plan” for the RFK Stadium Campus to the D.C. Council on Thursday, laying out a roadmap to transform 180 acres of largely dormant riverfront property into a bustling, multi-use community centered around the Washington Commanders’ future home.
Anchored by a stadium with a nearly $3.8 billion price tag — $1.1 billion in public funding for site preparation and parking decks, plus $2.7 billion from the team — the 186-page plan is hailed by project leaders as a generational opportunity to build a campus with enough amenities to attract visitors even when the stadium is not hosting an event.
Once realized, Bowser said, the plan will deliver a “whole new neighborhood” to Ward 7.
“As our economy shifts and we have less federal activity, we have to have more of everything else, and that includes hospitality, sports and economic development,” Bowser said at a news conference Thursday.
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Officials say the final version came after months of localized outreach and more than 3,000 public comments submitted following the release of a draft plan in June. Revisions in the final documents include plans for a new transit plaza, guidance to build retail parking underground and the formal inclusion of the D.C. Armory into the master plan’s boundaries to evaluate its future redevelopment.
Ward 7 council member Wendell Felder said the council will hold a hearing on the master plan Wednesday, with lawmakers expected to vote on officially adopting the blueprint before the end of the year. He said his office will host a site walkthrough for residents later that day, emphasizing that “this cannot simply be a plan that is developed for our community without our community.”
Brian Hanlon, director of D.C.’s Department of Buildings who is also heading the RFK project management office, said the city expects to hit the ground running: Bidding for construction will begin in November and December, with stadium foundation work slated for the spring. It’s expected to open in 2030.
The planned 65,000-seat stadium has been presented as a modernized upgrade designed to host roughly 200 events per year. Interior renderings that the Commanders recently released showcase a single-tier seating bowl designed to eliminate obstructed views, and a steep, end-zone “fan wall” modeled after NBA arenas to maximize crowd noise.
The stadium is just one piece of a development footprint that officials say will generate some $4 billion in tax revenue and create 30,000 construction jobs as well as 2,000 permanent positions. While there is no official timeline for the surrounding campus to be completed, officials say it will contain between 5,500 and 6,500 new homes — with at least 30 percent designated as affordable — alongside commercial spaces, a grocery store and other promised amenities.
The plan mandates that 30 percent of the site be preserved as publicly accessible parks and green space, including a new indoor-outdoor recreation complex. It also promises to drastically expand access to the Anacostia River. Bowser likened that potential riverfront transformation to the development of The Wharf, a massive, multibillion-dollar dining and residential destination that revitalized the city’s Southwest waterfront.
Still, how fans will actually get to and from the stadium remains a contentious hurdle. While city officials expect a significant number of fans to use public transit, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority General Manager Randy Clarke and the outgoing mayor have ruled out building a new Metrorail station. A summary document from the city’s Office of Planning notes that WMATA concluded the idea was infeasible due to “cost, engineering and timeline constraints.”
Instead, Metro plans to expand the mezzanine and entrance at the existing Stadium-Armory station and launch a rapid bus route called the Gold Line that would run along H Street and Benning Road Northeast. This strategy has disappointed some local residents and officials who argue that an entirely new Metro station is key to supporting long-term neighborhood growth.
Asked what happens if the Gold Line isn’t funded or ready by opening day, Bowser stood firm.
“It will be,” she said, adding that funding streetscape and transit enhancements in the surrounding neighborhoods will strengthen residents’ connections to business and job opportunities. “This is our obligation.”
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