Southwest is finally getting its due

By Ericka Blount Danois

Nwenna Randall, a lifetime District resident and an executive at PBS, bought an apartment in the Southwest Waterfront area a little over 10 years ago and says it was one of the best decisions she has made. If she’s happy with the decision now, she ought to be ecstatic by 2014.

The Southwest Waterfront project, scheduled to begin Phase I construction in 2011, will transform an underutilized section of the city into a waterfront destination area—much like what Georgetown has done for Northwest, and what waterfront development has done for cities on the West Coast like San Diego and San Francisco, and abroad like Sydney, Australia.

When urban renewal transformed the Southwest area in the 1960s, it caused widespread displacement of residents as housing units were razed. Now, the area is mostly known for its restaurant district along the water.

What urban planners want to do differently this time, according to Nina Albert, a project manager in the Deputy Mayor’s Office, is to redevelop the land for mixed use. “The vision for the entire development is to have a vibrant, first-class, mixed-use community—hotels, offices, residential, retail,” says Albert. “And 30 percent of all of the units must be affordable housing. The concept behind urban planning in the 1960s was that you would have this big retail mall in the middle, and all around it would be residential with restaurants and offices in these isolated pockets. We are going to have a more organic growth model where mixed-use development will create successful spaces.”

The project, headed by the development cooperative Hoffman-Struever Waterfront, LLC, is looking to turn 200,000 square feet of space into 2 million. The first phase of construction—estimated to be complete by 2014—will be a combination of retail, residential, and office space, and will take up three city blocks.

“The Southwest Waterfront is a historic project,” says Kwame Brown, an at-large council member and chair of the economic development committee in charge of the project. “It will bring desperately needed affordable housing, jobs, and recreational and entertainment amenities to the city.”

The waterfront district is close to East Potomac Park, which houses tennis courts, a miniature golf course, an outdoor pool, walking paths along the water, and two Metro stations. In the surrounding area, Arena Stage is also building a multimillion dollar facility. Developers are planning to build restaurants out on piers, a marina, and a Maritime Center that will be open to the public.

“We are hoping the area will be a cultural destination,” says Albert. “We hope it will position D.C. as a waterfront city, a city with lots of unique neighborhoods. It’s becoming a place with a lot of depth in terms of its offerings.”

For more information, visit swdcwaterfront.com.