text: The Washington Metro's L'Enfant Plaza station opened on July 1, 1977. The initial entrances were in the courtyard of 400 7th Street SW and at 7th Street SW at Maryland Avenue SW. The entrance inside L'Enfant Plaza, which connects with the "La Promenade" underground shopping mall, opened in October 1977. In June 1992, Virginia Railway Express opened its new $1.1 million L'Enfant Station on Virginia Avenue.
  L'Enfant Plaza also has a 1,622-space parking garage underneath the plaza's northern section, the second largest in the city.
  Street grid
  L'Enfant Promenade descends on either side of Banneker Overlook to form Banneker Circle SW. G Street SW runs southeast from the circle to 9th Street SW, although when Washington Nationals baseball games are held at Nationals Park a traffic restriction is put into place restricting traffic to residents. A pedestrian walkway and bridge leads northwest from the park to I-395, which crosses the Washington Channel just west of the park and eventually leads to East Potomac Park.
  Late 20th century
  Movie theater
  L'Enfant Plaza originally housed an 822-seat motion picture theater, which suffered financial trouble, until it closed permanently in the 1980s. The space is now used by the National Transportation Safety Board as a conference center.
  Purchase by Eastern Realty
  In 1981, Eastern Realty Investment Corp., the real estate investment arm of the Electric Supply Pension Scheme, a pension plan based in the United Kingdom, purchased L'Enfant Plaza itself, La Promenade, the North Building, the South Building, and the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel building.