Living in Navy Yard, Washington DC

Nationals Park opened in 2008 on a stretch of Anacostia River waterfront that had spent the preceding half-century as underused industrial land, and the ballpark's arrival helped kick off the rebuilding of the surrounding blocks now branded the Capitol Riverfront. The historic Washington Navy Yard, the Navy's oldest shore establishment, still operates just north of the ballpark behind its own gates, a working reminder of the industrial waterfront that gave the neighborhood its name. The Yards, a 42-acre redevelopment of the Navy Yard's old annex, added a public riverwalk and Yards Park's boardwalk and lawn in 2010, turning a fenced-off shipyard into open waterfront within a few blocks of the stadium. Mid-rise apartment buildings have filled in the surrounding grid over the past fifteen years, built up around the Navy Yard-Ballpark Metro station, which puts the Green Line at the neighborhood's center.

Game days flood the neighborhood's sidewalks and restaurants with crowds that can turn a five-minute walk into twenty, and rents here already rank among the highest south of the Mall.

The gates of the historic Navy Yard and the turnstiles of Nationals Park sit only a few blocks apart, and this stretch of waterfront still swings between a working military installation and a stadium crowd depending on which direction you walk.