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 south, a boutique hotel, the Indigo, is under construction; groundbreaking is expected soon for a town house and condo complex next door.
The changes, coming fast after years of wrangling, are part of a city plan to revitalise about 16 city blocks on and around the waterfront, around 13 km south of Washington.
Some residents remain wary. The plans were first approved four years ago by the City Council and then approved again despite residents' complaints that the projects were too modern and too dense for such a historic area. The town house and condo project still faces a lawsuit, and plans for another mixed-use project are being reassessed.
"We love Old Town and see it as a place to be for the long term," said Austin Flajser, president of Carr Hospitality, the company behind the Indigo Hotel. "I think the history of Old Town is critical. That is what makes it a rich environment."
Next to the hotel, at Robinson Landing, developer EYA plans to replace one of two former Washington Post newsprint warehouse sites with housing and retail space. It plans to build 26 upscale town houses of 2,000 to 2,800 square feet each, most with elevators; 70 apartment-style condominiums with 1,300 to 3,500 square feet and water views; and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
About six blocks to the north, along the waterfront, CityInterests and Rooney Properties, development companies in the Washington metropolitan area, planned to build a hotel, condos and 25,000 square feet of commercial space, including up to four restaurants with outdoor seating, at Robinson Terminal North, now vacant.
Plans for the hotel were scuttled late last month; projects for that site are being reassessed after a lack of interest from hoteliers.
"We got caught in a hotel downdraught," said James Jay Lee, president of Rooney Properties in Arlington, Virginia. "We will retune the mix."
Mr Lee said that the area's parks and access to the river made it appealing to developers, and noted that the north terminal is just a few blocks' walk to King Street, the centre of Old Town, and close to a Harris Teeter supermarket and a Trader Joe's.
Despite the years of controversy and lawsuits surrounding the projects, Karl W Moritz, the city's planning director, is optimistic that the new developments would enhance the city and help pay for needed infrastructure improvements.
The expanded open space, he added, would benefit more than the immediate neighbourhood. "By replacing industrial buildings and parking lots with new parks, Alexandria can celebrate our history, reconnect our city to the river, significantly reduce flooding and provide residents and visitors new opportunities to enjoy themselves."
The city expects to build a US$33 million flood control system topped by a 518-metre two-level walkway that will hug the shoreline and, officials hope, end frequent flooding from the Potomac. A US$120 million landscape plan by Olin Studios will help unify the waterfront, though the city still must allocate about half the funds in its capital budget.
The public works projects are expected to take about 10 years to complete; the commercial and residential development is expected to be completed in the next few years.
Plans for the waterfront also include a public pier and park on the site of the private Old Dominion Boat Club, which has occupied prime waterfront property since the early 20th century.
The city has agreed to pay the club about US$5 million to move a few blocks south. There, it will build a new clubhouse, a private pier and private parking, a valued commodity in Old Town's narrow and congested streets.
A water taxi service, already in operation at a pier to the north, hopes to capitalise on business from National Harbor, a new development across the river in Maryland where a US$1.3 billion MGM casino is expected to open by year's end.
Robert Youngentob, president and a founder of EYA, based in Bethesda, Maryland, has been building in Alexandria for two decades. He said that the city fits the company's "life within walking distance" philosophy.
The waterfront neighbourhood is about 2.4 km from the closest Metro subway stop, but a free shuttle bus, which looks like an early 20th-century trolley, runs along King Street, one of two main commercial streets that traverse the city.
Mr Youngentob said that the new residences would be priced similarly to homes in the surrounding area, where houses and condos can sell for more than US$2 million. Commercial space in the area is about US$25 to US$50 a square foot; office space is around US$35 a square foot, according to Tom Hulfish at McEnearney Associates.
Frank Poland, owner of Old Town Coffee, Tea and Spice, has been a mainstay in Old Town for 20 years. But a rent increase last winter forced him to consider going out of business. At the eleventh hour, neighbours helped him find new space nearby, and he has signed a two-year lease.
"I am glad to see some of the empty old warehouses cleaned up," he said. But he is worried about the potential displacement of small, local businesses. The most recent to leave was the quirky Why Not shop - a toy, book and craft emporium - which was an anchor on King Street for more than 40 years.
"We used to have a very strong identity," Mr Poland added. "This is a very historic town. But now, some people say that that is being abandoned to be trendy." NYT
