The Alexandria City Council on Saturday unanimously greenlit construction and financing plans to redevelop the shuttered Potomac River Generating Station in Old Town North.
City Council approved property owner HRP Group’s plan to develop the first phase (Blocks B and C) of the six-block, 19-acre project with mixed-use apartment and retail buildings, create more than 10 acres of public open space and convert an old pump house into a community amenity. City Council also approved a $135 million financing deal for the project, which HRP Group says will catalyze more than $2 billion in private investment into the site. Deconstruction of the former power plant could begin as early as next year and is expected to take up to 20 months.
“This is a significant development, and I cannot wait to see a lot more activity in Old Town North and in the parcel,” Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley said.
City Manager Jim Parajon proposed the 30-year, $135 million tax increment financing agreement in April. The funds would come from projected future tax revenues with the creation of a Community Development Agency, and Parajon said the investment could generate more than $770 million in tax revenues over 30 years.
“We expect, frankly, $2 billion in private investment from HRP for this project over time,” Parajon told Council. “The $770 million would be the tax revenue over the bonding period for that 30 years, based on the investment, and when you take out the expenses, pay the services that the city pays, the net return on the city’s investment would be really between $250 and $300 million over that period of time.”
Per the plan, 1300 N. Royal Street will be converted into three large lots, with 70-foot-tall arts and cultural center with retail and office uses, with a riverside view of the Potomac River in Block A (65,000 square feet). The plan for Block B (415,000 square feet) includes two large condo and apartment buildings with rooftop open space, 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.
Plans for Block B include:
- 321 dwelling units, including 8 on-site affordable units
- Open Space – 49% of lot area (above grade)
- Approximately 60,000 square feet of commercial space
Plans for Block C include:
- 494 dwelling units, including 11 on-site affordable units
- Open Space – 39% of lot area (above grade)
- Approximately 25,000 square feet of commercial space
- Two-level underground parking connecting both blocks (more than 900 spaces, plus 136 tandem spaces)
The power plant closed in 2012, and HRP Group bought it in 2020. The site requires extensive remediation after leaky storage tanks bled pollutants into the soil. The city approved a vision to redevelop the site into a mixed-use property starting in 2017, and preliminary development plans were submitted to the city last summer.
Melissa B. Kuennen, vice president of the North Old Town Independent Citizens Association, told Council that her organization wants the site to have a clean bill of health.
“The PRGS is a highly contaminated site,” Kuennen said. “We’re concerned about the complex process of taking the plant down and cleaning the site that poses health safety risks for both workers and neighbors who live close by. If not done accurately and safely, it poses risk to future neighbors and visitors.”
HRP Group expects to break ground in 2027.
“We thank the City of Alexandria for their collaboration and support of a public-private partnership that will play a vital role in making this project possible as envisioned and delivering generational community benefits,” HRP CEO Roberto E. Perez said in a release. “We can’t wait to break ground on this transformational redevelopment.”
