As NCAA basketball teams tipped off for March Madness on Thursday, so, too, did the Bowser administration — holding its 12th annual economic development event of the same name.

At the event, hosted by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development at Nationals Park, officials released the latest opportunities for real estate developers, construction firms and others to do business with the city.

“When most people hear March Madness, they think brackets, buzzer-beaters and fierce competition,” DMPED Director of Real Estate Latrena Owens said at the event. “But here at DMPED, March Madness means something a little different. It means bold ideas, big opportunities and a room full of people like you ready to help shape the future of Washington, D.C.”

Two requests for proposals to develop certain sites owned by the District went live Thursday: one for a 6.6-acre site at the St. Elizabeths East campus in Ward 8 and another for an assemblage of parcels near Brightwood in northwest.

The larger of the two, Parcel 1 at St. Elizabeths East, is one of the last remaining development sites on the 183-acre campus that has been planned for over two decades. The section is on the northern edge of the campus, directly across from a gate to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security campus at St. Elizabeths West, the solicitation says.

The RFP requires that proposals include “a combination of residential, retail, office, or community spaces that enhance the area’s vibrancy,” and it says the site can support uses like education, workforce training, small business incubation, neighborhood-serving retail and community gathering spaces.

Parcel 1 currently houses a barn and two staff cottages, which the RFP says are “the oldest remaining structures on the campus and the last physical reminders of its agricultural origins and historic hospital operations.”

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