Almost a year after officials completed construction on the I Street Mall aimed at improving visibility into the area by lowering plants and adding permanent lighting, vendors and customers said the renovations have boosted the area’s atmosphere and encouraged customers to stay longer. 

Officials wrapped up renovations on the I Street Mall outside the Foggy Bottom Metro last November and said the work improved pedestrian conditions and reduced the area’s rat population, which vendors at the mall’s weekly farmers market agreed with. Vendors and customers at the farmers market said the area feels cleaner and less crowded without construction fencing, and the rat population in the area has decreased, though some said the market still struggles with crowding.

Vendors last year during construction said the reduced width of the walkway through the market due to construction fencing caused a drop in sales and foot traffic, and students said they noticed people walking quickly through the tightly packed market rather than shopping. 

University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said last year’s renovations included lowering plant beds to sidewalk level to improve pedestrian visibility and installation of Xcluder anti-rodent mesh, Bigbelly anti-rat trash cans, additional lighting and increased seating options. 

McClendon said officials’ goals for the project included reducing the rat population — which vendors and customers complained of when construction started — and improving pedestrian safety, both of which she said they made progress toward achieving. She said since the renovations wrapped up, officials have received “anecdotal evidence” of a reduction in the rat population from groundskeepers and other staff.

McClendon also said officials have coordinated with FRESHFARM, which operates a weekly farmers market in the mall, since the project’s conception in 2005, and they have not received any requests from community members or vendors for more infrastructure upgrades since construction concluded.

FRESHFARM is the D.C. nonprofit operating farmers markets at the I Street Mall and throughout the District, Maryland and Virginia. Foggy Bottom’s market runs Wednesday from 3 to 7 p.m. for most of the year and 2 to 6 p.m. during the winter.

FRESHFARM Market Operations Manager Evan Paramore said the renovations achieved their main goal of turning the space into a place students could hang out rather than just pass through, especially in the fall and winter when the market is still open after sunset as the day shortens.

“I think the improvement in community space has been really significant,” Paramore said.

He said the permanent lights in the mall have been critical to maintaining foot traffic later in the day, allowing vendors to take advantage of the market’s later hours when traffic used to drop as night fell.

“People are still visiting the market, purchasing products and eating even after dark,” Paramore said. “So it’s really kept that last bit of time pretty busy with crowds when it used to kind of trickle off when it got dark out.”

Paramore said sales at farmers markets across the District have dropped compared to last year, which he said was because of the broader economic malaise throughout the city and country rather than any issue specific to Foggy Bottom, like last year’s renovations. He said rat infestations, also a city-wide issue, have persisted at the market despite the University installing anti-rat trash cans and lining.

Kaydee Hall, who works for Roggenart Bakery, a vendor at the farmers market, said the biggest shift since officials completed renovations has been a noticeable reduction in rats since crews removed bushes so passersby can access the market from the sidewalk.

“I did notice that there was less rodents and things that were running around,” Hall said. 

Hall said the market feels more active now, with people passing through the area being better able to see the vendors’ stalls, which she said has driven up sales for the bakery. Officials swapped dense bushes in the gardens located in the middle of the mall that reached eye level in some areas for low-rising, more sparsely planted flowering shrubs.

She also said more people are spending time in the market, contrasting with last year, when students said people hurried down the narrow pathway without stopping to shop.

“It does seem to be that more people are seeing us,” she said. “It does seem busier this year.”

George Barajas, who manages the Barajas Produce stall at the market, said removing bushes lining the market decreased the number of rats in and around the mall, and increased lighting has attracted more shoppers for longer periods of time. 

“There was a huge rodent problem,” Barajas said. “It didn’t look as appealing as it is right now. I feel like it was greatly beneficial for the market.”

Still, he said the rat problem hasn’t been fully resolved, and instead it has moved to other areas, like the bushes lining Ross Hall across the mall from the Metro station, which the renovations did not address. He said officials should extend their construction efforts to rat proof that side as well.

Amina Wague, a student at Howard University who works at D.C. Tutoring and Mentoring’s stall at the market, said the rat infestation has worsened since GW’s renovations. She said efforts to rid the I Street Mall of rats may have displaced rats to a nearby GW GroW community garden.

“I believe that the rat problem was exacerbated,” Wague said.

Sophomore Daniel Millan, who shops at the market, said he hasn’t spotted a single rat over his past three visits in the last month but said he still thought the space is too cramped to be comfortable and didn’t allow for FRESHFARM to host more vendors, which he said he would have liked to see.

“It is a little cramped up in the space,” Milan said. “I feel like a lot more vendors could possibly be here if there is, like, a more allotted space for them.”

Milan said the I Street Mall’s status as the host of neighborhood programs, like FRESHFARM and the Saturday Elevate Flea Market, a student-run market, and a busy pathway, poses an inherent challenge for allocating space efficiently.

Julia Paula, a senior, said the mall is cleaner and more attractive as a place to stay now that construction fencing is gone, though she said the amount of traffic through the market is comparable to the year before.

“I feel like it’s more open,” Paula said. “Especially when you’re getting food, you want a clean space to buy from.”