Exclusive: A New Look for Phase Two of The Wharf

• October 17th 2017

by Nena Perry-Brown

Last week, the first phase of The Wharf debuted to the public with a massive amount of fanfare. Now, UrbanTurf has received new images of what the second phase of this massive waterfront project will look like.

The second phase of The Wharf is almost as ambitious as the first. The project will deliver two office buildings designed by SHoP Architects with ground-floor retail on Parcels 6 and 7; 235 rental apartments and 116 hotel rooms atop 26,000 square feet of retail in an ODA-designed building on Parcel 8; 82 condos over 16,000 square feet of retail in a building designed by Rafael Vinoly Architects on Parcel 9; a Morris Adjmi Architects-designed office building with street-level retail on Parcel 10; three water buildings containing maritime, retail and dining services; and open spaces including the M Street Landing, the Grove, and the completed Marina. UrbanTurf first reported on these plans back in May.

Since the Zoning Commission considered and setdown the plans this summer, the development team has tweaked the design and arrangement of some of the elements in the second phase. See the new renderings below. The development goes back before the Zoning Commission in early November.

Based on feedback from the Office of Planning, the Parcel 8 building now has 14 additional balcony terraces and more simplified massing on the side containing the hotel rooms.

Upon setdown, the commission questioned whether the 20 foot-tall penthouse on the Parcel 8 building complies with the Height Act, a charge which the applicant has since addressed by stating that the restrictions are different for mechanical penthouses vs. habitable penthouses. The applicant is requesting flexibility to incorporate a bar, restaurant or lounge on the rooftop of the Parcel 8 building.

The design of the seat steps on the Parcel 10 building was amended to integrate into the M Street Landing below. The Grove was also redesigned to be a more intimate outdoor space.

While the design of Water Building 1 was refined further, Water Building 3 was repositioned and shortened and Water Building 2 was shifted westward to enhance the viewshed toward the Washington Channel.

The developers expect to receive an exemption so that the penthouses on Parcels 8 and 9 don’t count toward inclusionary zoning requirement calculations, as was granted for the Parcel 2 and 4 residential buildings in the first phase. ZC had also requested that the upper-level building signage be considered further. More new renderings below.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/exclusive_a_new_look_for_phase_two_of_the_wharf/13138.