$800M Plan Brewing for 47 Waterfront Acres

WASHINGTON, DC-After a grueling multi-stage bidding process, Washington-Baltimore team Hoffman-Struever Waterfront LLC last night was selected by Anacostia Waterfront Corp. [AWC] to develop the 47-acre stretch of public waterfront along the Washington Channel.

Steve Earle, president of Washington developer PN Hoffman, tells GlobeSt.com that the redevelopment cost will be close to $800 million. Predevelopment activities are expected to last about 30 months, according to AWC.

In August, PN Hoffman/Struever Brothers Eccles & Rouse and Madison/KSI Waterfront Partners made the short list of bidders, out of a list of five teams that had been selected in June. Initially, there were 17 respondents to AWC’s “request for expressions of interest” issued March 1. Thursday evening, AWC’s board selected Hoffman-Struever, a decision that now goes to the city council for ratification.

AWC’s vision of the project, called the Southwest Waterfront Small Area Plan, has been of a bustling urban, mixed-use neighborhood with affordable residential housing, restaurants and shops, new hotel, cultural anchor, marinas, several acres of parks and open space and an expanded riverfront promenade. “There has been a lot of discussion on how to achieve the best mix of uses,” Earle says.

There was a large residential component in Hoffman-Struever’s bid featuring both for-sale condos and apartment housing. Its proposal included roughly 940 residential units, Earle says. There also is nearly 150,000 sf of office space, 230,000 sf of retail and 150,000-sf cultural center, the actual use of which has yet to be determined, he says. It will be right by the waterfront with tall ships berthing behind it to serve as tourist attractions, according to Earle.

The retail component will have a sizable neighborhood commitment, offering goods and services that local residents would want, including a small grocery store. “We are implementing a program to bring existing neighborhood retailers into the project. There will also be substantial, national presence of retailers on the northern portion of the site,” Earle says.

PN Hoffman has been involved in several of the city’s major condominium projects, including Union Row, 14th & V Street, Chase Point and Mid-City Lofts. The Baltimore-based Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse specializes in creating waterfront and historic adaptive reuse developments. Its projects are Tide Point in Baltimore, Rising Sun Mills in Providence, RI and American Tobacco in Durham, NC.

Hoffman-Struever Waterfront LLC also includes development partners McCormack Baron Salazar, which has developed more than 12,000 mixed-income units in 25 cities and Stonebridge Associates. The team’s minority enterprise partners are Acresh, MacFarlane Properties Co., SW Waterfront Capital LLC, ER Bacon Development, Gotham Development and Triden Development Group, which will provide at least 50% of the equity pool.

“Hoffman-Struever Waterfront LLC is an impressive team with significant local and national expertise and a commitment and passion for revitalizing neighborhoods,” Adrian Washington, AWC’s president and CEO, says in a press release.