A sweeping plan to redevelop two popular parks on the Alexandria waterfront is heading into the city review process.
Waterfront Park (1 Prince Street) and Point Lumley Park (1 Duke Street) in Old Town flood frequently. The city wants to close both parks from the fall of 2026 until the fall of 2028 to rebuild segments of the sea wall and install a pumping station to recirculate floodwaters back to the Potomac River.
It’s no good to raise the elevation of Alexandria’s waterfront along the Potomac if it means the flood water that does get over the top just gets stuck inside that barrier. The solution: a new pumping station that city staff would help “drain the bathtub.”
The proposed pumping station is part of an extensive plan to fix flooding at the end of King Street, where high tides regularly turn the area around the Torpedo Factory into a Venetian canal system (complete with boats).
It was quite a weekend in Alexandria.
Alexandria’s Scottish Christmas Walk weekend started Friday (Dec. 6), where hundreds attended the decadent annual Taste of Scotland fundraiser for the Campagna Center at The Atrium building in Old Town.
Two popular Alexandria parks on the waterfront are about to close for a while, and the city is soliciting feedback on their redevelopment.
Waterfront Park (1 Prince Street) and Point Lumley Park (1 Duke Street) in Old Town are prone to frequent flooding. Both will be redeveloped as the city plans on rebuilding segments of sea wall and installing a pumping station at Waterfront Park to move floodwaters back out to the Potomac River.
Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon is recommending that City Council not sell a tiny parcel of land at 2 King Street on the Alexandria waterfront.
Last year, the city issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the 1,825-square-foot property between Waterfront Park and The Strand Street. The city received two responses from the RFP, and since then Parajon’s office and the city’s Real Estate Committee came to the conclusion that it should cancel solicitation of the project until the waterfront mitigation project is completed.
Good Friday morning, Alexandria!
🌦️ Today’s weather: Expect a slight chance of showers after 2pm with a partly sunny sky and a high near 75. The east wind will blow at 3 to 7 mph, with a 20 percent chance of precipitation. Friday night, showers will be mainly after 2am with a low around 59 and a southeast wind at 5 to 7 mph. There’s an 80 percent chance of precipitation and new precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch are possible.
(Updated 2:40 p.m.) The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded a grant to Alexandria to keep some of the city’s most high-profile art projects going.
The grant funding goes to the Artist Residency Program, part of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts, which supports projects like the Waterfront Park art initiative and the art lab. Diane Ruggiero, who leads of Office of the Arts, said the grant was for $45,000.
Alexandria’s summer will kick off this weekend with the Portside in Old Town Summer Festival. Here’s what you need to know.
The free event, which includes the 45th annual Alexandria Jazz Fest, will be held at Waterfront Park (1A Prince Street) on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 1 to 9 p.m.
The Tall Ship Providence sailed up the Potomac River to its new permanent home at Waterfront Park in Alexandria on Tuesday, and the floating Senator John Warner Maritime Heritage Center will start offering interactive tours for the public starting this Saturday, June 17.
The effort to build the maritime center goes back to 2018, and construction started last year. In April, the center was floated up from Baltimore and final touches have been added to the two cottages housing an education center where visitors will get an immersive lesson about sailing during the Revolutionary War.
Get your lawn chairs and picnic blankets ready for fireworks, because Alexandria’s 274th birthday celebration is happening in Old Town on Saturday, July 8.
The event at Oronoco Bay Park (100 Madison Street) draws thousands of people every year. It’s always held the first Saturday after July 4, and features performances from the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, a declaration from Town Crier Ben Fiore-Walker, a poem from Alexandria’s Poet Laureate Zeina Azzam and brief speeches by city leaders.
(Updated 4:55 p.m.) A new art exhibit meant to evoke the hull of a ship is being unveiled tomorrow in Old Town’s Waterfront Park (1 Prince Street).
The installation is the latest in a series of temporary art exhibits at the foot of King Street, replacing the kitschy I Love You display. The new artwork is called “Two Boxes of Oranges and Admonia Jackson,” named from text in a ship’s manifest found in an archeological dig.
