The Commanders Are Coming Back to DC, But For Who, Really?
The Commanders Are Coming Back To DC, But East Of The River, Residents Are Asking Who It’s Really For
New stadium. New investment. New promises.
The Washington Commanders are set to return to D.C. by 2030 as part of a massive redevelopment of the RFK Stadium site along the Anacostia River. The project, valued at roughly $3.7 to $3.8 billion, includes a 65,000-seat domed stadium, housing, retail, green space, and entertainment districts spanning nearly 180 acres.
Framed as the largest development investment in the city’s history, the project has been celebrated as both an economic engine and a symbolic homecoming for the franchise. But across the Anacostia River, in one of the city’s most historically Black communities, the reaction is more cautious than celebratory.
“With the patterns of gentrification and new buildings in D.C., development is like a double-edged sword,” said Jacob Johnson, a 35-year-old Anacostia resident.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Commanders will contribute about $2.7 billion toward the stadium itself, while the District is expected to invest more than $1 billion in infrastructure, utilities, and surrounding development.
The planned stadium campus will span 179 acres and include not just a new arena, but a broader redevelopment effort featuring housing, restaurants, retail space, and a multisport facility. Its design, which includes a glass dome oriented toward the Anacostia River, is intended to integrate into the city’s skyline and signal a new era for the team.
The project has already cleared a major political hurdle. The D.C. Council approved the deal in an 11–2 vote, signaling strong institutional support despite ongoing debate over public spending and community impact.
City officials have emphasized the economic potential of the project, pointing to job creation and long-term revenue. In a public statement, Mayor Muriel Bowser described the development as a transformative opportunity for the city and for Ward 7.
But while the scale of the investment is clear, many details about how its benefits will be distributed remain less defined. And for residents east of the river, that uncertainty feels familiar.
“Those jobs are already promised. It’s not for the Black community,” said Jonathan Harris, another Anacostia resident.
That skepticism is rooted in history, and in patterns that residents say are hard to ignore.
This is not the first time Anacostia has been targeted for revitalization. Efforts dating back to the early 2000s, including the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, promised sweeping changes—new housing, retail, infrastructure, and improved access to the river.
Large-scale initiatives such as the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative and the city’s “Year of Anacostia” campaign were designed to bring sustained investment to the area. At the same time, major redevelopment projects across the river, most notably the Wharf, have transformed entire sections of the city into thriving commercial and residential districts.
But many residents say that level of transformation has not reached Anacostia in the same way.
“At one time, Anacostia was looked at as the place… then the development stopped,” said La Wonda Violet, president of The House D.C., a nonprofit organization serving youth in Southeast Washington.
She remembers visiting the Wharf before its redevelopment and watching its transformation over time. “It’s night and day now,” she said. “So with the Commanders coming, it will be interesting to see if they really come back and look at Anacostia.”
Plans include up to 6,000 new housing units, with roughly 30% designated as affordable housing, along with multiple mixed-use districts that could reshape the area over the next two decades.
But even those commitments have left some residents cautious, particularly as details around implementation and access continue to emerge.
Rev. Tony Lowry, a longtime community leader and pastor of the Guildfield Baptist Church, describes a pattern he calls “pocketed poverty,” where new development appears in isolated clusters but does not translate into broader community change.
“They build things right in an area, and then they police it,” Lowrey said, pointing to newer developments along Marion Barry Avenue. “But if you look across the street, it’s like night and day.”
Some say that in recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in law enforcement and federal presence in Wards 7 and 8 without a corresponding level of investment in infrastructure, food access, or long-term economic opportunity.
“There’s a lot of hopelessness just in general in this community,” Violet said.
That sense of uncertainty extends to local institutions as well. Violet noted a steady decline in enrollment at Anacostia High School over the past several years, raising concerns about whether families are staying in the neighborhood or being pushed out.
“No one is talking about it,” she said.
For longtime residents, these shifts feel connected. Investment, they say, often arrives by bringing new resources to some areas while leaving others behind, or changing neighborhoods in ways that make it harder for existing residents to remain.
Still, not everyone sees the stadium project as purely negative. Some residents acknowledge the potential for economic growth, particularly if development expands beyond the immediate stadium footprint and into surrounding communities.
“Across the river, I think it will do a lot for business,” one resident said. “What I’d love to see is for the Commanders to embrace all of Southeast—not just the parts with the most resources, but the areas that need it most.”
That tension, between possibility and skepticism, runs through nearly every conversation about the project. On paper, the Commanders’ return represents one of the largest and most ambitious development efforts in the city’s history. It has the potential to generate billions in economic activity and reshape a major corridor along the Anacostia River.
But for communities east of the river, the stakes are immediate, personal, and rooted in lived experience. Because in Washington, development has never been just about buildings. It has always been about power, who has it, who benefits from it, and who is asked to adapt when it shifts.
The Commanders are coming home.
Whether that return will bring meaningful, inclusive change to Anacostia, or repeat patterns residents say they’ve seen before, remains an open question.
And for many who live there, that question matters far more than the stadium itself.
Taylor Kellum is a fourth-year student at Howard University studying Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on International Relations and a minor in Media, Journalism, and Film. She aims to amplify underrepresented global perspectives and pursue a Ph.D. in media studies or history. You can follow her on Instagram @_taylorkellum
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The Commanders Are Coming Back To DC, But East Of The River, Residents Are Asking Who It’s Really For was originally published on newsone.com
