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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Alexandria City Council voted unanimously Saturday to approve the first phase of HRP Group's redevelopment of the former Potomac River Generating Station, clearing the Development Special Use Permits for the project's opening blocks and a $135 million tax increment financing package the developer says will underwrite the public infrastructure needed to bring the long-fenced waterfront site back into use.
The vote caps a roughly six-week approval process that began with City Manager James Parajon's late-April presentation of the financing framework and ran through a unanimous June 2 recommendation from the Planning Commission. According to HRP, groundbreaking is anticipated in 2027.
The approved permits cover Block B, Block C, a Waterfront Park and a Rail Corridor Park — the first two blocks of vertical construction plus two publicly accessible open spaces. HRP has described the blocks as a mix of rental and condominium buildings with ground-floor retail. The permits establish the framework for converting the roughly 19-acre site into what the developer characterizes as a mixed-use neighborhood with residential buildings, retail, affordable housing, public open space, improvements to the Mount Vernon Trail, and new pedestrian and bicycle connections.
The financing
The TIF package provides $135 million in bonds, split across two phases and backed by future tax revenue the project is projected to generate, to cover public infrastructure and associated costs — including deconstruction of the power plant, environmental remediation, new public roads, and open space. A tax increment financing arrangement captures a portion of the new tax revenue a project produces — revenue the city says would not exist without the development — to repay a bond issuance, rather than drawing on existing city revenue.
HRP says the redevelopment is projected to generate roughly $770 million in net new revenue for the city over the life of the TIF. The city has posted its analysis and the terms of the structure at alexandriava.gov/PRGS.
As tracked through the spring, the deal pairs the TIF with a new Community Development Authority — the second time the city has used the TIF-and-CDA structure for a major redevelopment, after the Landmark Mall project on the West End.
The site
HRP acquired the property in 2020 with plans to transform the Old Town North site into a waterfront mixed-use development. The coal-fired plant operated from the mid-20th century until 2012, when it closed following more than a decade of advocacy by residents and city officials over air quality and public health. The site has sat fenced and inaccessible to the public since.
The approvals follow the city's 2022 sign-off on the Coordinated Development District Concept Design Plan and its June 2023 approval of the Infrastructure Development Site Plan and Coordinated Sustainability Strategy. HRP says the project aligns with the Old Town North Small Area Plan the city adopted in 2017.
At full buildout, the developer projects up to 2.5 million square feet of residential and commercial space, about 160 affordable housing units, more than 10 acres of publicly accessible open space with waterfront access, and a projected 3,100 permanent and construction jobs. Coordination with the National Park Service through the NEPA review process is ongoing for improvements to Park Service–managed land along the Mount Vernon Trail and George Washington Memorial Parkway corridor.
The project drew endorsements during the review process from the city's Planning Commission, Housing Affordability Advisory Committee, Waterfront Commission, Park and Recreation Commission and Urban Design Advisory Committee. HRP says its team held 20 community meetings and hosted site tours for more than 600 residents over the course of the process.
"Today's milestone reflects what can be accomplished when a community comes together around a shared vision to transform a legacy industrial site into a vibrant new place," HRP CEO Roberto E. Perez said in a statement, thanking the city for its support of the public-private partnership.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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