After 6 Years of Planning, Ellington Field Work to Begin in Nov.

Six years ago, in 2018, neighborhood activists around the Ellington field, track and historic field houses on 1600 38th St. NW began formally advocating for vital improvements needed at the popular exercise area — once part of the Duke Ellington, former Western High School complex on 35th Street NW.

Set at the edge of Burleith and across the street from Georgetown University and its medical center, Ellington Field increasingly became a popular place for neighborhood families, university recreational athletes and staff  to gather for informal sports games and exercise, as well as hosting increasing number of sports teams (often arriving in big busses) to have a match and even an alumni event.

But the stadium seating was deteriorating. The sanitary facilities, drinking fountains, storage and dressing areas in the two historic landmark field houses, were largely unusable. Ellington Field was managed under a somewhat scattered supervision of the city’s public schools and the parks and recreational departments.

A number of neighborhood formal and informal advisory organizations began to make Ellington Field improvements their cause. … for the next six years.

On Sept. 12 at a full Ellington Field Town Hall meeting held at the Georgetown Public Library, the actual beginning of a construction timeline was announced: November 2024.

“The builder has been contracted and construction should start late fall, ending this spring, hopefully in time for spring sports. barring delays (weather-related and other) which often come up,” said Georgetown Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Kishan Putta.

“I started advocating to improve this field back when I first ran for ANC in 2018,” Putta told The Georgetowner. “After over five years of listening, advocating, and planning — and seven public meetings — we are excited for new amenities like bathrooms, water bottle filling stations, indoor public spaces, and public outdoor exercise equipment at Ellington to be on the city’s construction timeline.”

At the allegedly final town hall meeting on Sept.12, some of the long-time issues were raised. One was how to make the brand new top-of-the-line stadium night lights to be installed, as targeted on the field as possible? How was lights-on scheduling to be managed so as to be as unobtrusive as possible into the surrounding residences.

“A flexible deadline for shut-off is needed. After eight o’clock on a weeknight, the children should be home doing their homework,” said one senior neighbor, shaking a finger at the planners with a twinkle in her eye and chuckles from the audience.

But almost everyone at the meeting — planners, administrators and neighbors alike — seem to agree: Most of the neighborhood concerns had been addressed previously and most often met with fixes or at least acceptable compromises. The issues that remain: Parking and number of competitions and if and when the gates should be locked – and what can happen after the field is done and open.

It’s time to move on to the construction stage, agreed Putta and Department of Parks and Recreations Communications Director Tommie Jones.

“But we will not stop pushing to minimize disruptions for neighbors,” Putta added. “We will continue to ask that DPR and DCPS to focus on practices not competitions at this field (competitions are better suited at the Jelleff Recreation Center field on S Street ). And to keep loud competitions to a minimum, ending as early as possible so that lights can also be turned off earlier whenever possible.”

“Hopefully, the field should be ready for spring sports in 2025,” Jones announced with some confidence.

tagsBurleithcommunity activitiesD.C. Department of Parks and RecreationDC Pubic SchoolsDuke Ellington Field ProjectDuke Ellington High School for the ArtsKishan Putta ANC2ETommie Jones