Sep 24, 2004  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

Plans disclosed this week by D.C. government officials to build a $400 million baseball stadium on the Anacostia River waterfront call for the displacement of the entire Southeast gay nightclub zone stretching from O Street to K Street, SE, according to a report in the Washington Post.

A map of the city’s plans for the stadium location published in Wednesday’s Post shows that, if Major League Baseball approves D.C. as the new home of the Montreal Expos, a stadium would be built within a site bounded by South Capitol Street and First Streets, SE and P Street and N Streets, SE.

If approved by the D.C. Council, the stadium would eliminate the O Street, SE, strip of gay clubs, which includes the nightclubs Ziegfeld’s and Secrets, the Follies Theater, the Glorious Health & Amusements, and the Club Bath. Also slated to be displaced would be La Cage Aux Follies bar and nightclub, which closed last year but was slated to reopen under new owners later this year.

The site map published by the Post also calls for the removal of all existing structures bounded by N Street, South Capitol Street, K Street, and First Streets, SE, to make way for new commercial development and parking facilities associated with the baseball stadium.

If approved by the Council, extending the site to this area would result in the displacement of the popular nightclub Nation, which features Velvet Nation every Saturday night, and the gay nightclubs Wet and Edge, which are located at Half and L Streets, SE.

“It’s important to remember that there has been no decision on a site yet,” said Christopher Bender, a spokesperson for Deputy Mayor Eric Price, who is coordinating Mayor Anthony Williams’s effort to bring Major League Baseball back to D.C. “It’s up to the baseball owners and the team owners to make the final decision on a site,” he said.

But the Post reported that city officials as well as key members of the Council prefer the Southeast waterfront site because its current status as a warehouse zone makes it the easiest to convert into a stadium-redevelopment complex.

The site would also provide dramatic views of both the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers and the U.S. Capitol dome, making it an attractive place for a stadium, officials have said.

Bender and D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), who has been among the lead advocates for a baseball team in D.C., said they would take steps to insure that the city helps in the relocation of existing businesses, including gay businesses, in the path of the new baseball complex.

Among those favoring the waterfront site is D.C. Councilmember Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6), whose ward would be home to the stadium. Asked by the Post to describe the area that would be displaced by the stadium, Ambrose made no mention of the plethora of gay nightclubs and bars.

“The businesses are largely industrial,” Ambrose told the Post, “and it is the kind of use that we would like to move farther away from the waterfront.”

Lou Chibbaro Jr. can be reached at lchibbaro@washblade.com.