Fenty Announces Tax Incentives for 'Great Streets'

D.C. MAYOR ADRIAN FENTY stopped by Looking Glass Lounge on Georgia Avenue on Tuesday to announce that the slowly revitalizing commercial corridor in Petworth is eligible for new tax incentives to encourage neighborhood development as part of D.C.'s Great Streets program.

Petworth is one of six areas in the District that's poised to benefit from $95 million in new special financing. As The Post's David Nakamura writes, the D.C. government "will finance development bonds using tax increment financing, a process by which the debt service is paid off with increased tax revenue that results from the growth of new businesses."

Here's how the money's expected to be parceled out: $10 million for Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE/South Capitol Street; $25 million for H Street NE; $25 million for Seventh Street/Georgia Avenue NW; $10 million for Petworth; $15 million for Minnesota Avenue/Benning Road; and $10 million for Pennsylvania Avenue SE.

In related Great Streets corridor news, Fenty and other D.C. officials are scheduled to be on hand on Thursday morning at the intersection of H Street NE and Benning Road to detail plans for improvements to the two Great Streets roadways. According to the D.C. Department of Transportation, the section of H Street NE and Benning Road between 3rd Street NE and Oklahoma Avenue, pictured below on this map, will see $50 million in streetscape, safety and transit improvements. The corridor has also been slated for a future streetcar route.

» "$95 Million in Tax Incentives Offered to 6 Areas" [WaPo]
» "Fenty Announces Availability of $95 Million to Support Neighborhood Development" [DC.gov]
» "Fenty at Looking Glass Lounge" [Petworth News]

Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post; Map by Michael Grass/Express