The Wharf Will Begin Construction in March

• February 11, 2014

by Lark Turner

Rendering of The Wharf.

Developers left the ANC 6D meeting on Monday night with a palpable sense of relief: The Wharf is really, truly getting built.

The massive 3.2 million square-foot, $2 billion dollar Southwest Waterfront project will include extensive pedestrian waterfront development, 650 apartments, 225 condos, a 280-room hotel, 140,000 square feet of retail, 220,000 square feet of office space, 135,000 square feet of cultural space and 1,325 underground parking spaces, when all is said and done.

Getting the project off the ground, however, has been a long process. Last night, the developers unveiled the following timeline:

The Wharf’s proposed schedule for Phase 1, courtesy of The Wharf DC. Click to enlarge.

The Wharf DC team plans to hold a groundbreaking ceremony in late March (it was originally scheduled for January, but delayed due to permitting and other issues). Locals might not notice construction has commenced until June, when the project will “pick up steam pretty rapidly,” said The Wharf DC’s Gary Ball. Construction on the first phase of the project is expected to finish up by late summer 2017.

ANC attendees seemed most concerned about the shuttering of the Channel Inn and its Pier 7 Restaurant, which will be the new headquarters for the The Wharf’s construction and development team. Both Channel Inn and Phillips Seafood on Water Street have been given notice and will have to vacate by sometime in May. (Cantina Marina will continue to do business during construction.) Developers said Phillips has signed a lease elsewhere in the city, and Jenny’s may live on in a smaller space in the Channel Inn.

But more people will likely be affected by traffic changes resulting from the impending closure of Water Street and other closures coming later this year and next. The development team said they’d been in three meetings with DDOT discussing the traffic flow issues in the last week alone.

More coverage of The Wharf below:

• The Design of DC’s Tiny Homes on The Wharf
• ANC Votes Against Current Plans for The Wharf

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/construction_to_start_on_the_wharf_in_march/8112