On the Potomac, change comes to Alexandria's Old Town

Alexandria

NEAR the Potomac River, blocks of Federal-style town houses and commercial buildings still stand in this 267-year-old city. Alexandria's Old Town district looks much as it did in the 19th century, though some modern touches have come gradually.

Fitzgerald's Warehouse, which recalls the city's seaport history and survived an 1827 fire that ravaged buildings nearby, has housed a Starbucks since 2003. The Torpedo Factory, built along the river and where armaments were made after World War I, is a city-owned artists' centre and popular tourist attraction.

Now, to the sou…