Alexandria advances planning for former Potomac River power plant site
Alexandria is moving forward with the planning framework that will guide growth around the former Potomac River Generating Station, a major waterfront site where redevelopment is planned for a mix of housing, commercial space and public areas.
The City Council approved the Housing 2040 Plan on June 13, 2026. A July 1 council record addressed implementation of that plan in Alexandria’s Master Plan, the city’s framework for land use and development decisions.
The action advances citywide housing and planning policy, but it should not be read as final approval of every element of the former power-plant redevelopment. The planning record does not set the project’s final private financing package, construction completion date or final number of housing units.
A large waterfront redevelopment
The former Potomac River Generating Station site is planned as a mixed-use waterfront project in Alexandria’s Old Town North area. The broader development is described as including up to approximately 2.5 million square feet of new development.
Project planning also includes public open space and improvements along the rail corridor. Those elements would make the site more than a private real-estate project: redevelopment decisions will affect the amount and design of public space, the connection between the waterfront and nearby neighborhoods, and the infrastructure needed to support new activity.
The site’s redevelopment will also involve environmental remediation decisions. The former industrial use, the scale of the proposed development and its location along the Potomac River make the project significant for Alexandria’s long-term waterfront planning.
For residents, the city’s planning decisions will help shape where housing and commercial space can be built and how public infrastructure is coordinated with private development. The eventual project schedule and development program remain separate questions from the city’s approval of the Housing 2040 Plan.
RiverRenew follows a separate infrastructure schedule
At the same time, Alexandria is approaching a major milestone on RiverRenew, the city’s largest infrastructure project. AlexRenew says the program entered its final year of construction in 2026.
AlexRenew has cited July 1, 2026, as a statutory deadline for the infrastructure program. RiverRenew’s schedule is tied to Alexandria’s public infrastructure work and should not be treated as the construction schedule for the private waterfront redevelopment.
The two efforts are linked by the broader infrastructure needs of a growing city, but they are not the same project. RiverRenew addresses major public infrastructure, while the former generating-station site involves a separate redevelopment program with housing, commercial uses, open space and rail-corridor improvements.
What comes next
The next known step in the planning record is continued implementation of the Housing 2040 Plan through Alexandria’s Master Plan. That framework will provide the policy context for future land-use and development decisions affecting the waterfront site.
Further project-specific decisions will be needed before the full redevelopment can be treated as a completed or fully scheduled construction project. Those decisions include the private financing structure, the final mix and number of housing units, and the timing of construction. None of those details is established by the council’s Housing 2040 action or by RiverRenew’s separate infrastructure deadline.
Sources
- Alexandria City Council Public Hearing, City of Alexandria
- AlexRenew’s Pumping Station and Superstructure, AlexRenew
- Landmark/Van Dorn, City of Alexandria
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