Trump could affect these D.C. development deals
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Trump doesn't like the FBI, inside and out. Photos: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images and Allison Robbert-Pool/Getty Images
President-elect Trump could complicate a number of local development projects.
Why it matters: Before reality TV and politics, Trump's first love was real estate, and the businessman has taken a keen interest in micromanaging D.C. affairs.
- Here are some projects he could get involved in:
RFK and a football stadium
It's not hard to imagine Trump wanting to get his hands on an NFL stadium project in the nation's capital.
- D.C. is waiting on the Senate to give control of the federal RFK stadium site to the city, so it can build a new home for the Commanders. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was on Capitol Hill Monday to beat the drum. If the bill passes before the year's end, the District can begin drawing up blueprints.
If the bill fails, it'll need to be reintroduced in 2025. Any path to a stadium would go through Trump and MAGA Republicans.
- It's all speculation, but Trump could suddenly tweet his support for a stadium. Or revive his criticism that the team changed its name. He has other gripes with the NFL, like that it changed its kickoff return this season, and an old feud with Goodell.
- As we've seen with Montana Sen. Steve Daines, who successfully pushed the franchise to honor its former logo, Trump could use the RFK bill to influence an otherwise private business.
Let's not even talk about the stadium's name.
Union Station
Union Station is embarking on a decade-plus modernization, just as an Amtrak-wary GOP takes total control of Congress.
What we're watching: Whether Trump's Transportation Department will support the project's timely advancement.
- Trump "has to look no further than Penn Station Moynihan Train Hall as an example of what can be done," Doug Carr, the CEO of the USRC, told Axios in a story published this week.
- Yes, but: The announcement of Sean Duffy as transportation secretary singled out "highways, tunnels, bridges and airports" as part of his priorities.
FBI building
Mayor Muriel Bowser would like to tear down the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover Building and build a mixed-use redevelopment on the prime downtown site, which is one whole city block.
- The Biden administration already picked Prince George's for the FBI's next HQ.
But Trump has repeatedly said he wants the HQ to stay in D.C. and be revamped. The brutalist structure is "one of the ugliest buildings in the city," he observed to an Axios source in 2018.
- What's more, Trump's pick to run the agency, Kash Patel, told a podcaster: "I'd shut down the FBI Hoover Building on Day 1, and reopen the next day as a museum of the Deep State."
Federal land, all over
If Trump shrinks the federal footprint, it could open more land for D.C. and private developers to turn into housing and commercial development, all of which would add to the District's tax base.
- The federal government has already been offloading sites in recent years.
On the other hand, shrinking the federal workforce could slow the local economy.