On Wednesday, Oct. 12, students from Amidon-Bowen Elementary (401 I St. SW) kicked off celebrations at The Wharf with song.
The event marked two occasions: the five-year anniversary of the grand opening of the newly developed waterfront neighborhood and the completion of the waterfront development that extends from the Municipal Fish Market to Fort McNair.
The first phase was officially opened on Oct. 12, 2017 with more than two million square feet of residences, offices, hotels, shops and restaurants as well as public areas including waterfront parks, promenades, piers, and docks. Phase 2 delivers the neighborhood’s remaining 1.25 million square feet of mixed-use development, including new office, residential, hotel, marina, and retail space, as well as parks and public places, across a half mile of redeveloped waterfront.
At full build-out, the $3.6 billion, world-class, mixed-use neighborhood will feature more than 3.2 million square feet of development along a mile of Washington, DC’s waterfront from the Municipal Fish Market to Fort McNair The second phase of the development consists of 1.25 million square feet, including office, residential, retail and recreational space. That brings the total square footage of The Wharf up to 3.25 million square feet (that’s about three times the size of Ellis Island).
Partnership Hoffman-Madison Waterfront (HMW) developed the mile-long neighborhood along the waterfront in a joint venture between Hoffman & Associates and Madison Marquette, in partnership with ER Bacon Development, City Partners, Paramount Development and Triden Development.
Hoffman & Asssociates Founder Monty Hoffman said The Wharf would have been impossible without a champion in Congress. That person, he said, was Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-D), who introduced at least two bills that made the project possible.
However, her contribution is more apparent than that. Hoffman told the crowd. Prior to the opening of Phase 1, he was feeling proud of names that marketers came up with for the new waterfront neighborhood. Until he showed the list to Congresswoman Norton.
Hoffman said she shifted uncomfortably as she read the list, controlling her reaction. “She said, “you know, before the federal government moved in, we used to just call it “The Wharf”,” he remembered. “The next day we were painting signs,” he said.
“A decade after my bill was signed into law setting us on this path, The Wharf has become a vibrant waterfront community, home to residents, workers, and visitors alike,” said Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC).
It has brought them together in some quirky ways. Hoffman said The Wharf bought a 12-foot trailer “to sell things out of”. The first year they sold 38,000 S’mores there. “No one can be unhappy while they’re eating a S’more,” Hoffmann said.
Phase two of The Wharf includes a new hotel, Pendry at The Wharf (655 Water St. SW), set to open Oct. 26; two residential buildings, The Tides (35 Parker Row SW), with residents already moved in and Amaris (760 Maine Ave SW), set for occupation in November; early childhood educator Goddard School (652 Maine Avenue).
Phase two also welcomes a long list of restaurants, including the first Limani (670 Wharf St. SW) to open outside of New York; Milk & Honey Café (676 Maine Ave SW), offering New Orleans-style soul food; all-day al fresco European breakfast at Wharf Morning DC (630 Wharf St. SW) and two by Gordan Ramsay, his Fish and Chips (665 Wharf St. SW) and Hell’s Kitchen (652 Wharf St. SW).
More information about The Wharf is available at wharfdc.com.
