EXCLUSIVE: Mayor Bowser On A Decade Of Big Developments And What's Next For D.C.

Muriel Bowser has been an unabashed proponent of development since first taking office as mayor of Washington, D.C., in January 2015. 

Building tens of thousands of housing units was a core part of her agenda, and her administration spearheaded large-scale developments on publicly owned sites, from The Wharf to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to, most recently, RFK Stadium. 

"I am pro-development. I always have been," Bowser told Bisnow on Thursday in her office at the John A. Wilson Building. “I was a pro-development ANC commissioner, and I'm a pro-growth mayor.”

But D.C.'s development wave has slowed, just as the city is preparing to elect a new mayor for the first time in 12 years.

Bowser decided not to run for a fourth term, and real estate leaders have expressed concern that her replacement won't be as friendly to the industry. The race has largely coalesced around Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, who is aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, and former Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, a longtime Bowser ally. 

While construction has started on 105M SF of development in the District between 2015 and 2024, the two slowest years during that span were 2023 and 2024, when 7.8M SF and 4.4M SF broke ground, respectively, according to the Washington DC Economic Partnership. 

During a 30-minute sit-down, Bowser spoke to Bisnow about her legacy of advancing big real estate projects throughout her tenure and how she hopes the next mayor will approach the city's economic growth and development. 

“I think focusing on growth is more important than it ever was in D.C. and more important than it ever was sitting in this chair," Bowser said.  

The interview below has been lightly edited for length and clarity. 

Bisnow: There have been so many big projects that have either been started and/or completed during your tenure. What project are you most proud of that's been either started or completed?

Bowser: That's too hard to say.

Bisnow: Any that you are particularly proud of with your efforts to try to get off the ground and make successful, or any that were particularly challenging that in the end worked out well?

Bowser: Well, I think that all of the big projects, the life of these deals is long, and I think the fact that I've been blessed with longevity, I can see some from start to finish, and some others that we've unstuck and got going. And the list is long. We could start with Walter Reed and really going down to Texas to lure the Whole Foods. And finally, seeing that come to fruition was, and it still is, something that we're very proud of. But we're not finished. There's still a lot of work to do there.

We look at the McMillan Reservoir that had been talked about probably for 30 years, and it was very complicated. A lot of what I thought was unreasonable and unwarranted interventions, disruptions from every part of the legal process. And now, when you go past there, you see new homes coming up. So that's very exciting for us. Skip over to Congress Heights, and that community was promised a major employer when I got into office, that was what was out there. And we decided that we would go in first and build the Entertainment and Sports Arena. So they all have had a lot of ebbs and flows, but I think at the end of the day, in each case, you'll see new housing, more opportunities, more local businesses involved in development happening.

Bisnow: At the beginning, you come in and you inherit The Wharf, which is this massive redevelopment of the Southwest Waterfront that had been underway for years, in planning and then under construction. Thinking back to your work on The Wharf, what kind of steps did you take, what actions did you take to make sure that The Wharf would be successful? Did you make any changes to the plan or to the implementation of that huge waterfront development?

Bowser: Well, most people associate my earliest development projects with Fort Totten. I worked on the Fort Totten project as an ANC commissioner, and Fort Totten is almost completely done. And where we attracted a Walmart, we closed off a road. There's hundreds of units of housing. There's more grocery. So I think people most closely associate that front bookend with the total transformation of Riggs Road and South Dakota Avenue.

Bisnow: That's fair. Can you talk about The Wharf at all, though? What stands out in your memory, looking back at that?

Bowser: I also worked on The Wharf since I was a council member, and the biggest things that we're proudest of about The Wharf is the amount of affordable housing there, and the fact that we brought a river back to life, and that we claim more space in that river with those with the various piers that go into the river, that has been hugely positive. I think focusing on making sure we have an environment where they can attract restaurants will remain critical to The Wharf and attracting special events. They've done a really good job in doing that. So I think Congresswoman [Eleanor Holmes] Norton deserves a lot of credit for the many, many actions that had to be taken for The Wharf to come to be, and as a city, we have been steadfast in supporting the affordable housing goals.

Bisnow: That was a big project that had been underway that you inherited from your predecessors, and the bookend of it is now you got RFK going. You got the Commanders to come back to the city. You initiated that project, and now you're going to hand it off to your successors. And so I'm curious how you think about that: The next person who sits in this seat, how should they approach delivering on that project? 

Bowser: Well, our hope, obviously, is that we secured the land, secured the deal, and at the execution part, you have to have great people to execute it, and we funded our end. And we have really great partners in the Commanders. And making sure that we, the city, has a team, and we have carved out our project management team inside the government, and making sure that that team has what they need to execute for 2030 is going to be important.

Bisnow: And you also have this whole surrounding district of development that's going to take place. And you talk about affordable housing at The Wharf, that's obviously a priority there, right? Are there any steps that the next mayor should focus on to make sure that happens?

Bowser: Well, all of the requirements are outlined in the law. And I think, as it relates to development, keeping it on track, you know, it's the hottest development on the East Coast. Anytime you're reading about any sports development, they're pointing to RFK as the model of the future, where you won't see arenas on an island, but you'll see them surrounded by development and opportunity. The leagues are looking to this as an example of how in-city sports stadiums can work.

And so, as it relates to affordable housing, just making sure that our ecosystem for housing is healthy. And I think we have some work to do to recover from some of the policies that have been in place post-Covid, some of the laws that the council put in place, and making sure we have a healthy environment for investment. But with the type of team that the Commanders has and the people that they have put in place on their side, I'm really confident that it can happen.

Bisnow: As you think about planning and designing the RFK district, we have a comparable at Nationals Park, with the stadium-anchored mixed-use area. What kind of lessons learned from Nats Park and Half Street and that area do you imagine will be most helpful as you and your successor and the Commanders think about RFK?

Bowser: Well, Nats Park, it is a blueprint for how a publicly funded stadium can kick off a neighborhood, a new neighborhood, and that's what happened at the Capitol Riverfront. It's a stadium that we own, that we invested $600M in, and there are various owners around Nats Park. And especially when it hit, it hit at the perfect right time for development to take off, and paid off its bonds early, and really attracted more residents and businesses to the area. So it's just a great example of what professional sports can do to an area.

Now RFK is different because it is a campus, and there are two owners. Well, it's us, and we're going to have long-term leases with the Commanders and going to be responsible for all the development. So in some ways, at least the pace of it should be more predictable.

Bisnow: I want to step back and talk about construction broadly and housing development. The last 10 years, for most of the time, D.C. was booming in terms of construction. You saw cranes throughout the skyline, and that has slowed down over the last couple of years. It's partially due to macroeconomic issues and interest rates and everything. But some of it, people have pointed to D.C. policies that you alluded to as discouraging investment. So how do you think about jump-starting construction and getting back to that booming era? Is that something you're trying to do?

Bowser: I think that, in terms of our projects, we are always going to be partnering with the development community. That's why we're leading the nation in office-to-residential conversions. So early on, we looked at the mix of uses in our downtown, which are out of whack for thriving neighborhoods. So instead of being 90% commercial and 10% residential, we need a healthier mix. And that was made very clear during Covid. Communities that had more housing fared better in Covid when we went through the shutdown. D.C., probably more than any other CBD, has more teleworkable jobs than just about any place. So the tales of remote work are hastening that transition as well, and the shifts in the federal government are going to hasten that transition. So I think how that translates is there's a lot of opportunity in downtown Washington now, and I think that people who are ready to invest will see D.C. as a place to invest.

Bisnow: Yeah, it is interesting. I guess the development has shifted in a way from like five, six years ago, it was in a lot of the neighborhoods, and now a lot of the activity is happening downtown. I do have a question on the conversion trend. We've seen D.C. is one of the leaders in these conversions.

Bowser: Who's beating us?

Bisnow: We were just talking about this. I think New York technically leads by number of projects, but D.C. is way ahead per capita, and they have a lot more people and more office space. So this is an ongoing trend, and I'm curious how far you think we are into this trend? It is Opening Day today: What inning are we in of the downtown office conversion trend?

Bowser: I think the first inning. We think about it, and that's kind of a misleading way to talk about it, because it's not in its infancy, but it's going apace, I think for 10 years. I think there's a lot of opportunity. Even we have a whole section that we're master-planning in Southwest that is federal now that is going to be a whole new neighborhood.

Bisnow: Yeah, so there was a big building that just sold, and there are many more that are expected to be sold in the coming months and years. So what are you doing to plan that and make that a cohesive area as the federal government starts to offload these buildings?

Bowser: There would be a master plan for the area, yeah.

Bisnow: Is that in the works right now?

Bowser: Yes.

Bisnow: One of the pieces that you need for those types of areas as we're adding more residential is to get more grocery stores in these downtown areas. And I know you've said that that's something that you want, and that you're working on. So where do those efforts stand?

Bowser: I feel positive about the feedback that's out there about grocery.

Bisnow: Are you in talks with any specific companies?

Bowser: Yes.

Bisnow: Any deals coming this year?

Bowser: Yes, but we won't be talking about them.

Bisnow: No news to break?

Bowser: No news to break.

Bisnow: Jumping across the river, I'm curious about Poplar Point, because last year at March Madness, you released that you'd chosen Therme to anchor the new development there. I haven't heard anything about that project. Tell me about where the Therme project stands.

Bowser: Well, it is a very complicated real estate transaction among the federal government and us. And so Therme and the District continue to be exclusively talking about how they can build there.

Bisnow: Any kind of timeline or what we might see as a next step?

Bowser: The next step is us having control of the land, and I wish I could tell you that's been easy. It's a lot of moving parts, but it's always easier to work on the complicated moving parts when you have a partner, and that's why we have worked so hard with Therme to bring that destination, like a national destination, to Poplar Point that's going to serve D.C. residents, but it's also going to attract a lot of visitors.

Bisnow: RFK you got control of from the federal government. So you have a precedent for how you deal with those land transactions.

Bowser: Oh, we do for sure, for sure.

Bisnow: I want to talk about Wards 7 and 8 more broadly. And there was also news about St Elizabeths East at March Madness, that continues to move forward with more developments there, and you've championed the Skyland Town Center development. Over your tenure, you've made an initiative of moving agencies to Wards 7 and 8. So looking back at what your expectations were for those neighborhoods 10 years ago, do you think that we've achieved the type of economic growth and success that you had hoped for? Has it been slower than you might have hoped in terms of getting more investment?

Bowser: For Ward 8, the fact that we have invested $1B in the one campus exceeds my expectations, that we have been able to open the hospital, build housing, have entertainment and sports, we have a library on the way, new homeowners, new people who are renting their home, so the amount of investment has exceeded our expectations. Sycamore and Oak, I think, has their preliminary approval, so that project will start moving as well. So that's the one campus.

And the other thing that's been very encouraging is how the food access grants have worked well in Wards 7 and 8 to attract new operators. One of the biggest things that you will hear from residents is they just want more food options — that's in restaurants, that's in grocery, and I think that that continues to happen. We have moved quite a number of our agencies there. Department of Health is in historic Anacostia. DGS is in Ward 7. We're looking forward to investing in what I guess they call downtown Ward 7 at Minnesota and Benning. So we're hopeful that that project will come along. We remain focused on that Gateway project that's been harder to attract a retailer to, but we have some skin in the game, and when the time when everything aligns, it'll happen.

Bisnow: Are you seeing the private sector investment follow? 

Bowser: I think we always would like the retail commitments to be faster, and that frequently follows a lot of residential development. And so when we're able to put a good mix of new residential, frequently, the retail follows.

Bisnow: We talk to a lot of developers, and they see you as as an ally, as someone who has been great for development in the city. And on the other hand, there are people who aren't in the development community who see that as a negative, who say that you've been too friendly with developers. And I'm curious how you think about your relationship to that industry and how you respond to some of the criticisms around that.

Bowser: I am pro-development. I always have been. I was a pro-development ANC commissioner, and I'm a pro-growth mayor. And I think focusing on growth is more important than it ever was in D.C. and more important than it ever was sitting in this chair. So for all the things we love about our city — our great schools, parks, transportation, arts, culture, restaurants — they all require us to have robust revenues to make robust investments. So how we grow is important.

We don't build housing. We partner with homebuilders and apartment builders to build housing. We don't create grocery stores. We partner with retailers to make grocery stores. We don't create jobs in that way. We partner with the private sector to do that. So it's no way that you can run a city that has high-level services and great programs if you don't have a growing economy. So I reject this notion that you're either for the community or for developers. We want the same things. People want housing, retail and great parks and great transportation in the private sector, and nonprofit developers want to offer good products that people enjoy.

Bisnow: We're coming up to the end of your term here. Have you thought at all about your next steps? I mean, you've been in this role for so long, are there other ways you can think of that you might continue that kind of work, continue doing things to help D.C.? Have you thought about your next phase at all?

Bowser: Well, I will always help D.C. no matter where I sit, but our focus now is finishing strong. I'll be mayor until Jan. 2. We have budgets to get through. We have programs to implement. That's my focus right now.

Bisnow: Have you thought about who you want to be the next mayor? Are you going to make an endorsement?

Bowser: Well, I'll be voting.

Bisnow: Are you going to announce that?

Bowser: Well, I think D.C. residents know what the city needs. We need a mayor that is going to focus on how we grow, make sure we have great schools, that we have safe streets, that we're fiscally sound. And I think that we live in a complex world, so we need a mayor with good experience, who's mature and is going to deliver for all of D.C.