A core area consisting of all the blocks bounded by North Capitol Street on the west, Q Street NE on the north, the Amtrak/MARC railroad on the east and K Street NE on the south,
To the south of the core area, one to two blocks west of the railroad tracks/Union Station from K Street south to Massachusetts Avenue,
To the northeast of the core area, one to two blocks east of the railroad tracks from K Street north to Florida Avenue, and
To the north of the core area, the blocks between First Street NE and the railroad tracks from Q to R streets
According to the NoMa Business Improvement District, the neighborhood was home to 13,000 residents as of January 2023, with a total of 50,000 employees working in the area.[2]2020 Census data showed that Ward 6 which includes parts of NoMa, Navy Yard and Southwest, was responsible for a third of D.C.'s 15% population growth over the previous decade.[3]
History
After much planning for the area in the late 1990s, the 2004 opening of the New York Ave–Florida Ave Metro, now NoMa-Gallaudet U station, sparked development in the neighborhood. Its name was reportedly chosen to nickname the nomenclature of New York City neighborhoods such as SoHo and TriBeCa.[4]
By 2016, NoMa had emerged as a rapidly-growing neighborhood in D.C. The New York Times summarized the shift, stating "NoMa now has about 6,400 people living in about 3,800 apartments; there were none in 2010". REI opened one of its outdoor supply big box stores in the renovated Washington Coliseum, where the N.B.A.’sCapitols had played in the 1940s.[4]
A longstanding homeless encampment under the K Street underpass was cleared in 2020, with similar encampments under the L Street and M Street underpasses cleared in 2021. Most of the unhoused people agreed to move into apartments as part of a city program. The underpasses had previously been cleared around 100 times, but people returned soon thereafter. The city's removal of the encampments drew criticism after a bulldozer operator accidentally began to clear a tent with a man inside, and who was hospitalized as a result.[5][6]
Landmarks
An aerial view of the historic Uline Arena, now a renovated REI store.A portion of NoMa in 2017.
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