Jonathan O’Connell’s article “Inside the Wild Ride that Landed the Washington Post on K Street” took me back to time I spent with the Washington Post team during their real estate search. Staff and leadership sentiment in favor of NoMa was clear. “We love NoMa” was in the note I received from one senior team member.
What did Seattle-based Jeff Bezos miss that the Post staff knew? First, they knew how much workers in NoMa, including their peers at media companies like NPR and CNN, love working here. They knew that NoMa, with proximity to Capitol Hill and Union Station couldn’t be beat. They knew that commutes, for those living in the District and the suburbs would get easier with all the transit options. They knew that by the time the Post moved in NoMa’s rapid growth would bring even more amenities to the neighborhood.
In the brief time since Bezos visited, NoMa has five new projects under construction including REI’s East Coast flagship store, 967 apartments, a new office building and soon, a seven-screen Landmark Theatre. Ironically, much of this activity is on M Street where the Post would have been.
Instead of a new, sustainable headquarters in a vibrant and growing neighborhood, the Post got a 1980’s vintage building with the typical age-related problems. Had they joined the more than 50,000 employees enjoying NoMa today, I am sure their love affair with NoMa would have continued.
Robin-Eve Jasper
NoMa BID President