News

Alexandria intends to open a long-awaited spray park in Del Ray early next month.

The Del Ray Gateway/Colasanto Interactive Fountain will open the week of Sept. 7, with operations continuing through October, the city told ALXnow in an email. The park is located at the triangle-shaped park at the corners of Mount Vernon and Commonwealth Avenues.


News

Residents from eight ZIP codes packed a room in Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library Saturday (Aug. 15) to discuss concerns with the Plaza 500 data center plans just outside Alexandria city limits.

The Alexandria People’s Assembly, an advocacy group formerly known as PLTI of Alexandria that seeks to support marginalized people, organized the community forum.


News

Fairfax-based Van Metre Companies announced today (Aug. 18) the acquisition of a 110-townhome development site at Alexandria’s sprawling WestEnd development.

Van Metre bought the property last month for an undisclosed amount. On blocks L and M of the development at 5801 Duke Street, the three-level townhomes will feature front and rear terraces with private parking garages.


News

Alexandria City Council has joined a growing number of local residents asking Fairfax County to deny a substation associated with data center development just outside city limits.

In a letter to the Fairfax County Planning Commission, City Council cited “the incompatibility of heavy industrial use” near densely populated Alexandria. The letter was sent by Mayor Alyia Gaskins on behalf of the entire City Council.


News

Data center plans just outside Alexandria city limits has raised concerns among residents and officials.

Starwood Capital Group filed the permit application and building plans to Fairfax County for the 34-acre Plaza 500 site at 6299 Edsall Road in Lincolnia. The application is for Plaza 500 South, the first of two data center buildings it is seeking.


News

Alexandria leaders cut the ribbon today (Wednesday) on RiverRenew, the city’s largest infrastructure project in history.

The project replaces Old Town’s 19th-century combined sewer system with a 12-foot-wide, two-mile-long waterfront tunnel system and sewer infrastructure to divert approximately 120 million gallons of raw sewage from flowing into the Potomac River every year.


News

With minimal discussion on Saturday (June 13), Alexandria City Council voted to move forward with an “enhanced gravity storm sewer system” to combat flooding along the waterfront in Old Town.

The City Council action was taken four months after the National Park Service denied the city’s plan to build a pump station at Waterfront Park (1 Prince Street). The city’s previously approved proposal would have closed Waterfront Park and Point Lumley Park from the fall of 2026 until the fall of 2028 to rebuild segments of the sea wall and to install the pump station to recirculate water in flood-prone areas back to the Potomac River. The denial by NPS forced the city to make “significant modifications” to the plan, project manager Matt Landis told Council.


News

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.


News

Four years after the demolition of Landmark Mall, Alexandria officials and developers broke ground today (June 8) on the first residential building project for the 52-acre WestEnd site.

Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins was joined by many City Council members, as well as leaders from Foulger Pratt, Howard Hughes Communities and Silverstein Properties for the groundbreaking of the Aspect buildings at 5801 Duke Street. The seven-story Aspect will be connected by a sky bridge, which will also be used for the property’s fitness center, Foulger Pratt says.


News

A funding plan to facilitate the redevelopment of the former Potomac River Generating Station site in Old Town North will be on Alexandria City Council’s agenda this week.

City Council will receive a briefing on the funding plan Tuesday (June 9), then hold a public hearing and consider approval of the agreement on Saturday (June 13).


Around Town

A new art installation near the Potomac River in Old Town North was quietly installed over the weekend.

Sculptor Christian Benefiel, on Saturday, installed and put the finishing touches on Beacon 3, a commissioned piece at the TideLock office-to-residential development (1033 N. Fairfax Street) in Old Town North. The piece was constructed over the last year from welded steel and resembles a nautical beacon and satellite with jet engine parts.


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