HRP Group wants to keep the pump house at the former coal-fired Potomac River Generating Station property in Old Town North, representatives said during meeting last night (Monday).
The developer rolled out the plan for Blocks B and C of the sprawling project in an hour-and-a-half-long Zoom meeting. The development is spread across six blocks, and entails the full deconstruction of the former power plant, replacing it with more than 10 acres of public open space, as well as mixed-use apartment and retail buildings.
Simon Beer, with landscape architect OJB, said the HRP Group will work with the National Park Service to keep the pump house where it is on the site.
“The existing pump house is a historically significant structure on this site, and rather than demolishing it, we are proposing to activate it as a public amenity, a viewpoint with potential for food and retail also along this water’s edge,” Beer said. “At the top of the pump house is a rooftop [with] unobstructed views to the Potomac River.”
The proposal follows NPS’s denial of a pump station at Waterfront Park to mitigate flooding.
“This is a remarkable amenity, and very few places in Old Town offer this kind of elevated river view and make publicly accessible,” Beer said. “We’re designing this in conjunction with the National Park Service and subject to their approval and review process, but are committed to working collaboratively with them to realize this vision.”
The power plant at 1300 N. Royal Street closed in 2012, and HRP Group bought it in 2020. The developer plans to convert Block A (65,000 square feet) into a 70-foot-tall arts and cultural center with retail and office uses, all with a riverside view of the Potomac.
With building heights capped at 17 stories, two large condo and apartment buildings with rooftop open space are proposed for Block B (415,000 square feet), with designs inspired by the Flatiron Building in New York City.
Retail and condos in Block C (635,000 square feet) are also capped at 17 stories, with rooftop open space proposed as well.
The site needs extensive remediation after leaky storage tanks bled pollutants into the soil. The city approved plans to redevelop the site into a mixed-use property starting in 2017, and with preliminary plans submitted to the city last summer.
Deconstruction could start as early as next year and is expected to take up to 20 months.
“We’ll be undertaking the abatement and deconstruction of the plant itself and environmental remediation of the site to enable redevelopment, and that’s going to start as soon as next year,” said Melissa Shrock, HRP’s executive vice president of mixed-use development. “The project is anticipated to generate about $770 million in new tax revenue for the city, and all told that this project represents about a $2 billion private investment into the site.”
The Planning Commission and City Council will be presented with a $135 million financing deal for the project next month.
