This satellite image shows how the Walter Reed Campus will be divided between the District of Columbia (purple) and the State Department (yellow). The District's 67-acre portion includes both the old and new hospital buildings. (Image courtesy of DC Planning and Economic Development Office)
(Sabri Ben-Achour, Washington, DC – WAMU) The Walter Reed Army Medical Center has a storied past. It has been the country’s leading Army hospital for more than 100 years, sitting on a complex that includes a Civil War battlefield. There was a time when 16,000 patients a year sought treatment for wounds of war or illness.
By the end of August, all of the patients and doctors will have left, moved to Bethesda and Fort Belvoir as the Army consolidates its bases. And as one era closes, another opens: Washington, D.C., may be left with nearly 70 acres of prime real estate. Says one official: “There’s a chance now to revive a Main Street, which is Georgia Avenue, which has for years been suffering from decay.” All eyes are on this space, to see whether the disappearance of a 100-year-old place of healing will usher in an urban rebirth — or leave a scar.
