• By Stephen Staudigl
• June 06, 2025

NCPC Approves Final Texas Legation Memorial Plans

At its Thursday, June 5 meeting the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) approved final site development plans submitted by the National Park Service, on behalf of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, for the Texas Legation Memorial. The memorial will honor the Republic of Texas representatives who served in Washington as diplomats to the United States and made possible Texas becoming the twenty-eighth state.

The memorial will be located in an existing raised planter bed located on the 600 block of Indiana Avenue, NW. The design includes a star shaped base with a five-sided white granite plinth with a Daughters of the Republic of Texas medallion on top. The front three sides of the plinth pentagon will include the story of the Texas Legation, a map of the Republic of Texas and the names of the Republic of Texas delegates that came to Washington to negotiate the addition of Texas as a state. It also includes plants native to both Washington and Texas.

Commissioners approved preliminary site and building plans submitted by the District of Columbia Department of General Services for a new 407 bed Heritage Men's Emergency Shelter to be located at 1201 New York Avenue, NE. The new shelter will replace an existing 225-bed shelter and will include a multi-purpose room, lobby, administrative offices, medical services, and intake and client services.

The property is owned by the federal government but is under District of Columbia control pursuant to a 2010 transfer of jurisdiction from the National Park Service. An amendment, which NCPC must approve, will allow for the shelter construction and expansion of an adjacent forest conservation area. The Commission recommended that the applicant consider adding more trees on the New York Avenue frontage to help enhance the corridor as an important gateway to central Washington.

NCPC then approved final site and building plans submitted by the United States Army Corps of Engineers for two new Unaccompanied Enlisted Personnel Barracks at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Ft. Myer, Virginia. The new 100-unit barracks will replace existing housing on the 272-acre facility that houses the Joint Base HQ, 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), the U.S. Army Band (Pershing’s Own), and other military groups.

In its approval Commissioners commended the Army Corps on the building’s design that complements the historic base’s architecture, and for its extensive coordination with NCPC staff on the project.

Before adjourning, the Commission heard two information presentations. No action is taken on information presentations. In the first, NCPC staff and a Land Collective consultant provided an update on the Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative which is developing a New Pennsylvania Avenue Plan to beautify public spaces, upgrade aging infrastructure, and create efficient stewardship of the Avenue between the White House and the U.S. Capitol. The vision is the Avenue as a beautiful street designed for people and elevated as America’s stage for signature events of regional and national significance.

The design team is currently exploring ideas and working towards developing preliminary design alternatives for public comment this fall. The work builds upon previous studies, early public feedback on three vision concepts released in 2022, and input from agency and adjacent property stakeholder representatives. Findings to date include:

• Designing the Avenue for multimodal uses as a complete street and urban park that complements the National Mall, not as a linear park that extends the National Mall.
• Prioritizing U.S. Capitol views and the pedestrian experience along the Avenue’s north and south sides, not within an island between traffic lanes.
• Improving pedestrian circulation at Constitution Avenue and 4th Street, NW without the use of a traffic tunnel or reverting the intersection to its original alignment.

Ideas under consideration include:

• Expanding the northern sidewalk; realigning the street; and increasing seating and plantings to beautify and enhance street level activity, improve safety, and provide an incredible view of the iconic U.S. Capitol.
• At the Avenue’s western end, ideas include linking public spaces to the Wilson Building and National Theatre, providing more comfortable daily use, and offering accessible flexible space to better support events and activities.
• At the Avenue’s eastern end, ideas include improving public spaces and programming to better connect John Marshall Park, Indiana Avenue, NW and Market Square to adjacent neighborhoods and provide a more elegant entry to downtown. This would also transform the U.S. Navy Memorial and the National Archives into a cohesive “urban room.”

It is anticipated that a preferred design alternative will be available for public input in late fall/early winter. The goal is to develop a preferred master plan by America’s 250th birthday in 2026 and get Commission approval of a final plan in early 2027.

In the second, NCPC staff provided an update on the Changing the Federal Footprint Project, a partnership with the Public Buildings Reform Board (PBRB) to jointly study the opportunities and impacts for how to improve the use of federal buildings, right size the federal real estate footprint to reduce costs, and promote a beautiful capital city, particularly in the monumental core. NCPC has long advocated for dramatic changes to the area south of the National Mall. The lynchpin for implementing a vision to transform this area is redevelopment of the James V. Forrestal Building, current U.S. Department of Energy home.

To further this goal, in February 2025 NCPC and PBRB hired the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Washington to conduct a Technical Assistance Program to develop a roadmap for redevelopment of the Forrestal Building, which could be a guide for how to redevelop other underutilized federal properties, particularly in Southwest Washington. The TAP’s goals were to identify strategies to advance Forrestal as a catalyst to unlock additional redevelopment opportunities; identify financial structures/models; establish a flexible timeline; and identify a working model with key stakeholders.

The panel recognized that the study area presented a unique and timely opportunity to become an important gateway between the National Mall and the Southwest Waterfront and that realization of this hinges upon the redevelopment of the Forrestal Building. It created a roadmap of five major activities that would be required to fully maximize the redevelopment potential of the Forrestal Building and its surrounding submarket. These include where to locate the Department of Energy headquarters; the potential of the site to become a gateway to the waterfront; transaction and redevelopment procedures; potential financing; and the potential catalytic impact. The panel recommended developing an updated vision plan for the Southwest study area that builds upon NCPC’s 2013 SW Ecodistrict Plan and ensuring that not all underutilized federal properties in the area be put on the market at once.

Additional details about the ULI Washington Forrestal TAP, as well as a copy of the report, are available online.

Commission actions and related materials are available online. 

The Chair approved one item under authority delegated by the Commission. The project is in Washington, DC.

1. Transfer of Jurisdiction for a Portion of Reservation 360 at Francis Field, 2435 N Street NW. (8660)

The Executive Director approved four items under authority delegated by the Commission. Unless otherwise noted, the projects are in Washington, DC.

1. Preliminary and final site development plans for the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse Security Barrier Replacement, 333 Constitution Avenue, NW. (8659)
2. Preliminary and final building plans for the EPA West T-Mobile Antenna Replacement and Renewal, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW. (8236)
3. Preliminary and final building plans for the Fort McNair Roosevelt Hall Antenna, 300 D Street, SW. (8664)
4. Preliminary and final site development plans for the FDA White Oak Building 1 Security Barriers, 10903 New Hampshire Avenue, White Oak, Maryland. (8663)