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This was covered in the City Paper by @AnnysWaPo in a different life. But where does Jemal's preferred name come from? It comes from a guy named Ted Mariani. https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/article/13027677/buzzard-kill https://twitter.com/Zuk_DC/status/1291364323806318594
Mariani was an architect who became an operator in the 80s development scene, particularly able to work with both the Barry administration and being "that guy the Federal City Council went to" per a source
When I interviewed him, he mostly wanted to talk about his work for the Fed City Council on the "International Village," which eventually became the Reagan Building. The original idea, near L'Enfant Plaza, was basically EPCOT.
"What if L'Enfant's vision for the National Mall, but an actual mall."
In 1985 or so, Mariani put together a PUD with Manuel Fernandez of the Channel Inn and Wes Foster of Long and Foster. They tried to rename the area "Capitol Point" and incorporated as "Riverside Associates."
Mariani would be making the first move in Buzzard Point. As part of the amenities, they agreed to pay M.U.S.C.L.E. $250,000 ($570,000 now) to rehab existing housing nearby.
In the PUD, it was assumed that all of the residential would come 12 years later and be subsidized by the commercial office rents. And as Mariani found, being first was a risk in a bad economy, with the PUD renewed 5 times between 1992 and 2004.
By 2000, he had made a deal with Akridge, who were looking around the Buzzard Point area as the market returned. After pressure from OP, they redesigned and resubmitted in 2004, with the project renamed "Riverside."
It was not to be. Riverside's property was surrounded on three sides by Fort McNair. Even in 89, the Army disliked the idea of people looking at them from 11 stories up. Since then a little thing called 9/11 had happened.
The Army seized the property in September 2004. But Akridge is still very invested in the area. Unfortunate that I had to cut this connection from the article. https://washingtoncitypaper.atavist.com/inflection-point
