INDUSTRIAL LAND IN A POST-INDUSTRIAL CITY District of ...

District of Columbia Industrial Areas Study DC Office of Planning
Prepared by Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates, Inc.
suppliers, for example, must be within close proximity of building sites, generally 30 minutes and
no more than 60 minutes for asphalt (asphalt must be in place and worked within 90 minutes). 9
PDR uses may also require special utility infrastructure, such as minimum 6-inch water lines
and 440-volt power.
Parcel and building size is also critical. A majority of PDR uses require parcels large enough to
accommodate truck staging and maneuvering, employee parking, and materials storage. Large
and open building floorplates are critical for shipping and warehousing businesses, many of
whom prefer larger loading bays and higher ceilings that ever before.
In addition to accessibility and special infrastructure, PDR businesses seek areas where they
can operate without negative external effects on neighboring properties, particularly residences
and schools. Constant truck traffic, noise, dust, odors, hazardous materials, and outdoor
storage areas increase the likelihood of nuisance complaints, land use and traffic conflicts, and
additional rezoning requests. Any combination of these factors can hinder their operations and
force them to move in response to such complaints.
A lack of any of these characteristics would most likely increase the cost of doing business for
these firms and possibly necessitate a change in business location.
2.6.2 SUPPLY OF INDUSTRIAL LAND
Considering the factors above, one can imagine that there are few places in a dense global city
such as Washington, DC that PDR businesses can operate efficiently. Indeed, the District has a
constrained supply of industrially-zoned land.
The Study Areas Map shows how the District’s industrially-zoned land is concentrated in a few
specific areas, primarily concentrated along several historic rail corridors:
The B&O branches in Northeast
o one route running approximately north from Union Station through Fort Totten to
Takoma at the Maryland border (today this is an active CSX freight and Metro
corridor);
o another route branching off and running approximately east paralleling New York
Avenue to the Maryland border (today this is a CSX freight and Amtrak corridor);
o a final route which branches off the New York corridor to roughly parallel
Bladensburg Road northeast into Maryland (today is this a CSX freight corridor);
9 Though normal asphalt is time-dependent, “hot mix asphalt” is maintained at working temperature during
transport. However, hot mix is often not feasible, as it is almost double the cost of normal asphalt.
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