Dupont Underground, This Time With Art, Not Burgers

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Dupont Underground, This Time With Art, Not Burgers
In the annals of bad ideas, the transformation of the abandoned old trolley station beneath Dupont Circle into a fast-food court back in 1995 was a championship Washingtonentry. The notion was that downtown workers might feel a deep needto leave the park and the surrounding blocks of eateries and shopsto get their lunch instead in a dark tunnel.
To the surprise of no one except perhaps the developer and the citybureaucrats he managed to draw into his hare-brained scheme, Dupont Down Under died a quick and expensive death, followed by many years of litigation . Ever since, there have been occasional efforts to capitalize on the investment that developerGeary Simon made in transforming a trolley station that hadn't been used since 1962into a food court. A 2003 notion to turn the site into a healthclub didn't work out. Nor did council member Jim Graham's proposal to use the space for the city's gay clubs that were put out of business when the District cleared out theirSoutheast neighborhood to build Nationals Park.
But now a group of architects and art gallery owners have cometogether to propose Dupont Underground , using the space for art installations, performances and artmarkets. The organizers seek a lease from the District and hope toraise the "relatively minor" investment they say would be necessaryto put the plan into effect.
One of the organizers of the effort, Julian Hunt, is the District architect who has proposed building a deck over the portion of ConnecticutAvenue that slopes down toward the Dupont Circle tunnel, instantlycreating a grand pedestrian plaza and space for public amenities.The project is also supported by Warehouse Theater founder PaulRuppert and Kim Ward, who runs the Washington Project for the Arts,as well as several other art scene figures.
Making some use of that big old space makes a lot of sense, andcertainly Dupont has the foot traffic to justify an arts use. Aprogram of events available to passersby without charge obviouslyhas potential to actually draw people underground, but it's hard toimagine, especially in this economic climate, that many investors,or even the city, would want to pump any more money into that darkhole.
The main problem, as Dupont Down Under discovered, is that very fewpeople see much reason to escape from the pleasant atmosphere ofthe circle itself, and the surrounding neighborhood is alreadychockablock with interesting food spots, galleries, bookstores andthe like. Dupont is not as eclectic or alluring a neighborhood asit was before the virus of national chain stores infected the area,but it's still enough of a people magnet that the offerings hadbetter be pretty terrific if you're going to lure peopleunderground.
Would an arts space work down there? Would you go? Should the cityjust let the rats have the place and be done with it? Or is theresome use of the space that really would draw a crowd?


By Marc Fisher | October 8, 2008; 8:13 AM ET
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