DC Introduces The Yards

(All Images above from The Yards website)

The Capital Riverfront district is a 500 acre area south of the United States Capitol on the Anacostia River that includes the Nationals Park (baseball) and the Washington Navy Yard.  Forty-Two acres of these post industrial parcels will be transformed into a mixed-use waterfront development called The Yards in the coming months and years.

The area The Yards inhabits was formerly known as the Navy Yard Annex as it sits adjacent to the Washington Navy Yard.  It has had many uses since its founding in 1799 including the original port of the U.S. Navy, a wharf where many ships delivered raw materials, light industrial business, as well as playing key roles in the British, Spanish-American, and both World Wars.  The multitude of buildings including warehouses, manufacturing, as well as many other buildings that have historic significance will be renovated for housing, retail, office, and entertainment venues.

The Yards is being developed through a public-private partnership between the GSA, Washington DC, and Forest City Washington.  The total project will include 5.5 million sf of which 1.8 million sf will be office; 2,800 residential units; 400,000 sf of retail; and a riverfront park (part of a 16 mile river walk).  The second phase of the project will also include a marina.  Key to the project will be the renovation of several historic structures in addition to five ground-up office buildings.  A Harris Teeter grocery store has committed to the project and expects to be open in 2013.

The Yards is another redevelopment project that is a result of consolidated military operations in the US.  Other recent projects that I have reported on include the South Weymouth Naval Station in Massachusetts and the Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco.

Here is a video of what The Yards will look like when completed:

And for other images or The Yards, visit their Gallery. And below are maps that show the area of The Yards.

(Image from The Yards website)

(Image from Google Maps)

This will be another great project to watch develop.  It's great to see vibrant neighborhoods filling in the proverbial holes in our urban core.  Let me know what you think.