The Alexandria City Council is scheduled to weigh in this weekend on a plan to turn an old power plant in Old Town North into a 2.5 million square foot mixed-use development featuring housing, restaurants and new parks.
The council was briefed on a proposed $135 million, 30-year financing plan for the project Tuesday. A vote could come Saturday.
The old Potomac River Generating Station closed over a decade ago, and HRP Group purchased the property in late 2020.
During a Planning Commission meeting last week, the developer described plans for a multiphase project that would transform the area along the Potomac River.
“This is a big moment for our city,” Ken Wire, an attorney representing HRP Group, said during the meeting.
鈥淚’ve been here 20 years. I have an office, a small business in Old Town North, about six blocks away from here, and I’ve been watching this project for the past 14 years.”
The proposal would divide the nearly 19-acre site into several sections. One would feature an arts and cultural center, which would also have offices and retail space. Another would have condos and apartment buildings, and the third would also have condo and rental towers.
Some of the housing in the project will meet the city鈥檚 affordable housing threshold, Wire said.
There would be a two-level underground parking garage connecting two of the sections, with over 900 spaces and 136 tandem parking spots, according to city documents.
Through the use of solar panels, the area has set a 3% goal for on-site energy generation. It would also include EV charging stations and a Capital Bikeshare access.
The plan calls for the creation of a waterfront park, which would have about three acres of new park space and upgrades to nearby land that the National Park Service oversees.
Another park would feature athletic fields, playgrounds and a renovated guard house with public bathrooms. The concept also calls for dog parks.
If the council approves the funding plan, work on the first phase of the project could start next year. HRP Group has submitted a plan that would allow the power plant to be demolished while construction begins on another part of the parcel.
“The process will start, of course, with the painstaking abatement and deconstruction of the power plant, which 14 years after shuttering still looms over our waterfront and the Mount Vernon Trail,鈥� said Melissa Schrock, executive vice president of mixed-use development at HRP Group.
Some residents have expressed concern about the demolition process and the impact it could have on the surrounding neighborhood.
Bill DePew, an Old Town North resident, said it鈥檚 a 鈥渉eavily contaminated site with significant unknowns about what lies in and under the power plant, or in those areas not already sampled.鈥�
William Hamm, meanwhile, said the traffic study conducted as part of project planning uses data from 2022, which still reflected traffic patterns in the aftermath of the pandemic.
鈥淚t is essential for this commission to understand the impact that the proposed redevelopment project will have on traffic flows on the George Washington Memorial Parkway and the city streets that feed into it,鈥� Hamm said.
Martha Harris questioned the project鈥檚 timeline, suggesting 鈥渢he next few years will see two 17-story buildings constructed with no clarity about 鈥� an anchor arts tenant, who it might be and where it will be located.鈥�
Harris also pushed back on the number of affordable housing units that will be available, adding 鈥渙nly 19 units, all rentals, will be provided in these two high-rise buildings that will be constructed in this first stage of development.鈥�
According to city documents, the project鈥檚 first phase, which includes deconstruction of the power plant, environmental abatement and condo and apartment construction, has to start by Dec. 31, 2027, and be done by Dec. 31, 2030.
Construction on the second phase, which features the arts and cultural anchor spaces, has to start by 2030 and be done by Dec. 31, 2034. The city manager can extend those deadlines for up to two years.
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