Walter Reed's Closure Leaves Significant Development Possibilities

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center is closing it's doors as the Army works to consolidate its bases. It will leave behind approximately 70 acres that Washington D.C. will have the opportunity to redevelop. NPR talks with Lisa Benton-Short, a professor of geography at George Washington University, about the move:

"I think for much of the 20th century, planners were quite top-down in their planning," she says. "They told us what we needed in our spaces. Sometimes they were right, and sometimes they weren't. In the last 25 years or so, the planning profession has really changed. And one of the most important ways it's changed is to bring in public participation and planning."

"There will have to be services for the homeless, there will have to be organizations that serve the community, such as schools. And there's an entire bureaucratic process that will probably take two years before a deal is finalized, let alone anything getting built."