Florida Rock’s Green Gateway
9 10 2008
This week Mayor Fenty and Florida Rock executives unveiled their plans for the old concrete plant property that sits between Nationals Park and the Anacostia river. We already have been getting excited ever since we saw some great renderings of the development earlier this year. The “Riverfront on the Anacostia” will include over a million square feet of development including restaurants, offices, a hotel, and a large waterfront plaza and promenade.
As a condition of the zoning approval, Florida Rock agreed to donate $800,000 to the District to help pay for the construction of a park which will be built alongside the concrete plant site, providing a green gateway between Nationals Park and the Anacostia River. The park should be finished up and open to the public by next spring.
The only problem with getting excited about the rest of this project is that they aren’t going to be finished with it until 2011. We have no idea why… this is a prime site with tremendous potential. Hurry up already, we want waterfront dinning after our Nats games! [Rendering: Davis Buckley Architects]
Actually, it’s not even going to BEGIN until 2011. The company that owns it is perfectly happy pouring concrete there. They have absolutely no business sense and don’t realize the opportunity cost of leaving it sit… I think and hope they will sell it to a real developer.
They have no intention right now of selling it to a developer. They need help (as evidenced by the years it took them to get this far), but are determined to go it alone at this point. It’s probably better for them to be producing concrete right now than having an empty office or condo building.
well as you prolly know.. half this project will be where sits the Douglass bridge right now.. once the “new bridge” opens and the old gone.. the land will be much bigger…