The Black CEO Leading Downtown DC's Once in a Century Comeback

Every city has a heart, and for years the heart of Washington has been fighting to beat the way it used to. The pandemic emptied downtown offices, quieted its streets, and left the District's commercial core searching for a second life. The person leading the charge to bring it back is a Black leader named Gerren Price, and the organization behind him has been quietly shaping the city for nearly three decades.

That organization is the DowntownDC Business Improvement District. Founded in 1997 as the District's first and largest place management nonprofit, the BID is funded by downtown property owners who agree to tax themselves to invest in the area's success. Across more than 500 properties, stretching from the convention center down to Constitution Avenue, the BID runs the services that keep downtown moving, from its red uniformed safety, hospitality, and maintenance teams to homeless services, transportation, marketing, special events, and long term economic planning.

Price has been part of that work since 2018, when he joined as Director of Public Space Operations, and his path to the top says a lot about who he is. Before the BID, he built his career in youth development, workforce training, and education, including work with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the National Organization of Concerned Black Men. He stepped in as acting president and CEO in late 2021, when downtown was reeling from the pandemic and the organization faced a leadership crisis, and in 2025 the board made it official, naming him only the third permanent leader in the BID's history.

The mission in front of him is enormous. Price and the BID are leading the Downtown Action Plan, a partnership with the Golden Triangle BID and the Federal City Council, backed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, that leaders have called a once in a century effort. The plan calls for a roughly 400 million dollar, five year investment in public safety, transportation, and the conversion of empty office towers into housing, all aimed at reimagining downtown into a place that is not just a nine to five destination but somewhere people live, gather, and stay.

What makes Price's leadership notable is the lens he brings to it. He has been open about wanting to build inclusive, culturally rich experiences, and about using that vision to shape the BID's arts, culture, and entertainment strategy. The organization has been standing up new leadership focused specifically on positioning downtown as the region's premier destination for arts, culture, sports, and entertainment, with a stated commitment to making those offerings more visible, affordable, and inclusive. In a downtown that has always been the seat of federal power, that is a deliberate push to make the cultural center reflect the people who actually live in the city.

For the DMV, this is a story worth watching. The revival of downtown Washington will shape jobs, housing, small business, and culture for a generation, and a Black leader with roots in youth and community work is holding the pen. Gerren Price did not inherit downtown at its peak. He took the helm at its lowest point and bet on bringing it back better, more livable, and more inclusive than before. If the plan works, the comeback of the nation's capital will carry his fingerprints, and the culture will have had a real seat in building it.