ABSTRACT
An April 2014 New York Times article describes Washington, DC’s H Street, NE corridor as once a predominantly low-income, Black neighborhood that is now “increasingly mixed, racially and economically, as row houses within a block or two of the corridor undergo upscale renovations, property values rise and ethnic restaurants and fashionable pubs proliferate” (Meyer, 2014). The location of the H Street corridor is a particularly attractive space for commercial and residential development because of its proximity to Union Station (where the closest Metro stop resides) and because it is within commuting distance from Penn Quarter, Downtown, and other popular neighborhoods. The corridor is a hub of transition and transference as the Metro buses that ride along H Street and those that stop at the high-traffic corner of 8th and H Streets connect the H Street corridor with other destinations in the District as well as other cities in the region. Known as one of three neighborhoods devastated by riots following the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in 2011 H Street was named USA Today’s top “up and coming” neighborhood. In recent years, community organizations and government agencies have placed significant efforts into the rebuilding and rebranding of the H Street corridor-now called the Atlas District-privileging “diversity” and the possibility of a global community.
