There’s more than one reason to stay up late — the Woodrow Wilson Bridge will be opening twice in the early hours of Tuesday morning (June 16).
The bridge will first open at 12:01 a.m. for the passing of the Gazela, a 19th-century fishing vessel docked in Alexandria over the weekend as part of the city’s America250 celebration. The opening will last 15 to 20 minutes, according to DC Police Traffic on X.
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.
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.
Surrounded by friends, family and regional leaders, a memorial was dedicated Monday at Rivergate City Park in Old Town North to the 67 victims of the mid-air collision near Reagan National Airport on Jan. 29, 2025.
To an audience of victim families, American Airlines staff and regional officials, Audrey Patel played an old happy birthday message from her husband, Vikesh Patel, who was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 5342. Behind Patel at the waterfront stands the memorial, a simple bench with the inscription, “May the 67 lives lost over these waters on January 29, 2025 be forever remembered.”
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.
After pool drownings of children 5 and under reached a five-year high last year in Virginia, state health officials are urging families to take a “safe swimming pledge” as pools open for the season.
In 2025, there were 12 accidental drownings of children aged 5 and under in Virginia — more than the nine reported over the prior three years: three in 2024, two in 2023 and four in 2022. Virginia reported 473 drownings in all bodies of water between 2020 and 2024.
As Alexandria prepares for a major waterfront festival next month, the Office of Historic Alexandria is seeking hundreds of volunteers to assist with four tall ship tours.
The city put out a call for volunteers to take shifts at the Sails on the Potomac waterfront festival from June 12-14, one of the city’s America250 events celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. A highlight of the three-day festival will be free timed tours of four tall ships — Swedish Navy warship replica Kalmar Nyckel, Royal Navy schooner replica Sultana, historic fishing vessel Gazela and Alexandria’s own Continental Navy ship replica Providence.
Alexandria leaders will install a memorial bench next month at Rivergate City Park honoring the 67 people who died in last year’s mid-air collision over the Potomac River.
The City, in partnership with U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8), will install the memorial from 5:30-7 p.m. Monday, June 1, in the northeastern area of the park at 2 Montgomery Street in Old Town North. The memorial includes the bench, newly planted trees and a plaque with the names of the 67 victims from American Airlines Flight 5342 and the PAT 25 U.S. Army helicopter.
The owner of the dilapidated former Potomac River Generating Station in Old Town is hosting a community meeting next month on mixed-use redevelopment plans for part of the site.
HRP Group‘s virtual community meeting will be held via Zoom on Monday, May 4 from 6-7 p.m. Under discussion will be the special use permits for Block B and Block C (both submitted in July 2025), as well as open space along the waterfront and Norfolk Southern rail corridor.
The Alexandria Clerk’s Office is expanding its wedding offerings yet again.
After a successful run last fall with its costumed “Halloweddings,” Clerk of Court Greg Parks will officiate 18 weddings aboard the Tall Ship Providence on Friday, May 15, at Waterfront Park in Old Town.
A new kayak launch now open at Four Mile Run Park in Alexandria is one of 11 projects that earned a Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award from Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
The Four Mile Run Conservancy, in partnership with the city, completed the public kayak and canoe launch with a 187-foot raised boardwalk ramp, 775-square-foot floating dock, a roller-entry launch, wheelchair transfer platform and 30-foot gangway. It is the city and region’s first ADA-accessible paddling access to the Potomac River.
