ANC2C02 Forum

Thanks again to Scott Roberts of BloomingdaleDC, for the latest info on Gregory O'Dell the new head of the Washington Convention Center Authority. I'm told Mr O'Dell lives in the neighborhood, so hopefully he will take the challenges of the position an keep in mind the perspective of local residents. There's an article by, Bloomingdale resident, in a recent edition of the WBJ, but since that's a subcription only news service, I'll only excerpt one important item that I'm sure residents and local business owners will appreciate.

"...retail around the convention center as well — we need to make sure we liven that, work with existing tenants and bring in new tenants. The retail situation has been a sticky issue for a while now. Many retailers there say the convention center does not promote their businesses inside the building when events are present. We need to look at retail from a broad perspective. We’ll work with existing tenants and help them promote their business. But I think it’s been a victim unfortunately of the lack of development around the center as well. We need to think about retail we’re doing at the old convention center site. The headquarters hotel will have a retail component as well. We just need to figure out what the right mix will be for that whole area.”
— “Unconventional executive,“ Washington Business Journal, Friday, July 4, 2008

Some retail businesses owners in and around the Walter E Washington Convention Center have been disappointed with the amount of business that the Convention Center has brought to the neighborhood. Hopefully, Mr O'Dell's fresh perspective will bring some positive changes for the neighborhood. O'Dell will also be supervising the development of the Marriott Marquis Convention Center Hotel.