The Crystal City Underground has been a foundation of Crystal City since the city was built by Charles E. Smith Company in the 1960s. The Underground was innovative when created in 1976 and remains near and dear to the heart of residents. Thus, the announcement on April 30, 2024, that JBG Smith, the current owner which took over the property from Vornado in 2016, will close all remaining retail stores and restaurants in the Crystal City Underground comes as really bad news. This comes after years of effort by the community to work with JBGS to create innovative solutions to the occupancy problem in the Underground. We are dismayed they did not take up any of our recommendations and now have decided to close the retail stores.
We recognize that this is a business decision on the part of JBG which has determined “that the Underground retail concept is no longer financially sustainable.” Unfortunately, it is our opinion that JBGS has strangled, ignored and trashed what was once a great feature of the area. Retail is not the only element of a vibrant, functioning area. For several years, especially from 2019 to the present, Livability22202 and the Crystal City Civic Association provided extensive creative ideas to JBGS for occupancy by both retail and non-retail tenants. The Livability22202 Action Plan of November 2019 called for transforming “the Underground as a unique linear chain of art galleries, performance and creative spaces linked by a pedestrian corridor.” The Crystal City Sector Plan calls for a continuous underground passageway from 12th to 23rd Streets. At least we understand that JBG plans to keep it open for pedestrians (as it should under the Sector Plan) and provide security.
We are preparing a letter of protest, but it’s hard not to see this as a betrayal of JBG’s insistence since 2016 on being a “good neighbor.”