Updates on Riverfront on the Anacostia, Canal Park

• May 15th 2012

by Shilpi Paul

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The team behind RiverFront on the Anacostia, a large mixed-used development on the boards for just south of Nationals Park along the Anacostia River (map), stopped by ANC 6D’s meeting Monday night to update the community on the latest plans.

The development team, represented by John Begert of MRP Realty, hope to start construction on Phase 1 of the Planned Unit Development (PUD), a 9-story, 325-unit residential building, in the next 18 months. The whole project will total 1.1 million square feet of residential, retail and commercial space.

In response to comments on the 2008 plans, which JDLand has outlined here, more retail has been added to all four project phases, the total of which will now be 18,650 square feet.

The waterfront will be lined with restaurants and there will be several public spaces, including RiverFront Plaza, a collection of park-like areas with seating, River Garden, a terraced garden leading to the water, and a sandy beach-like area (with a beach volleyball court). A boardwalk will span the waterfront, and a marina will be accessible from the complex. The developers are planning on creating a “biofilter” — what looks like a reed-y, mini wetland — on certain sections of the waterfront to cleanse rainwater.

Marius Radulescu from architecture firm SK&I told the crowd that the architecture of RiverFront on the Anacostia will be lofty and industrial in keeping with the Navy Yard-feel. Balconies and windows dominate the facades (which also has the floating facade element that keeps popping up around DC), and the water-facing side is almost entirely made of windows to maximize the view.

The development team will return to the ANC this summer to seek approval for the plan before a hearing in the fall.

In other news from the meeting, Canal Park is scheduled to deliver in October/November. Some unexpected utilities found under the site — a former canal — necessitated a rewrite of the plan. The park will have a figure-eight shaped ice skating rink, a giant illuminated cube that will be used as an outdoor movie screen, electric car charging stations, a rain garden that will collect water to be used in the fountains, the skating rink and the toilets, and a green roof that visitors can walk up to.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/riverfront_on_the_anacostia_moving_forward/5537.