Shaw District — Washington, D.C. © Shaw Main Streets
Shaw Main Streets, located in Washington, D.C., is one of the three winners of the 2016 Great American Main Street Award (GAMSA). Selected by a national jury of community development professionals and leaders in the fields of economic development and historic preservation, the award winners serve as exceptional models for comprehensive, preservation-based commercial district revitalization. Shaw Main Streets was recognized for actively involving its multicultural community, cultivating tech businesses, and supporting the arts.
Main Street America Program: Shaw Main Streets
Coordinating Program: DC Main Streets
Year Organization Founded: 2003
Population: 9,842
Public and Private Reinvestment: $2,615,535,000
Net New Businesses: 173
Buildings/Structures Rehabilitated: 317
Innovation on Main Street Award Presentation in Atlanta, Georgia. © Main Street America
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“Shaw’s transformation in the last 13 years has been truly remarkable,” said Patrice Frey, President and CEO of Main Street America. “To bring the neighborhood back from the devastating 1968 riots and the decades of disinvestment that followed while infusing the district’s historic character with new energy and resources, is a tremendous testament to Shaw Main Street’s effective leadership.”
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City Market at O Development incorporates the historic Public Market Building (b. 1881). © Shaw Main Streets
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Ribbon cutting for one of the district’s newest restaurants, Baby Wale. © Shaw Main Streets
By actively involving its multicultural community, cultivating tech businesses, and supporting the arts, since its founding in 2003 Shaw Main Streets has reduced the retail vacancy rate from 20 percent to 1 percent, helped over 200 new businesses open, and attracted approximately $3 billion in private and public investment. Under Shaw Main Streets’ leadership, Shaw has earned nationwide attention as a fast-rising arts, cultural, and dining destination while maintaining affordability and ties to its proud past as an African-American entertainment district.
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Batala Washington drummers draw a crowd to Watha T. Daniel Shaw Library during the 2013 Art All Night DC event. © Shaw Main Streets
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Shaw’s Clean and Safe Team removes snow from sidewalks after a major storm. © Shaw Main Streets
“I’m proud that the District of the Columbia is the first urban Main Street program to include three Great American Main Street Award winners,” said Muriel E. Bowser, Mayor of the District of Columbia. “As a fifth generation Washingtonian, I have witnessed the Shaw neighborhood’s growth and progress – of which Shaw Main Streets has played an important role. Shaw is one of our treasured communities, with a rich cultural history that reflects the diversity and vibrancy of Washington, D.C. I congratulate Shaw Main Streets’ board of directors, including Chair Gretchen Wharton, Executive Director Alexander Padro, and hundreds of local volunteers for a job well done.”
Highlights of Shaw Main Street’s 13-year efforts include the rehabilitation of the Howard Theatre, once the largest venue in Washington’s segregation-era “Black Broadway,” the creation of flexible work space for 400 start-up tech businesses in a former Wonder Bread factory, maintenance of the district’s affordable housing, and the creation of Art All Night DC, a popular overnight arts festival that won an Innovation on Main Street Award in 2015.