Washington Harbour Informations

Washington Harbour is a Class-Amixed-use development located at 3000 and 3050 K Street, N.W., in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The southern edge of the development borders the Potomac River on the Georgetown waterfront. Designed by Arthur Cotton Moore, the complex consists of two curved towers and three other buildings attached to them, all of which are in the Postmodern architectural style. The complex contains luxury condominia, offices, retail space, restaurants, and underground parking.

Construction of the complex was preceded by a seven-year zoning and legal battle over the future of the Georgetown waterfront. This dispute led to the designation and development of a new national park, the Georgetown Waterfront Park. A two-year controversy over the design of the complex, which included accusations of malfeasance by a D.C. agency, followed. Construction began in November 1981, and was complete in June 1986. Critical reception of Washington Harbour was mixed, but the public quickly embraced it.

Washington Harbour suffered significant management problems in its first two years, which led to the removal of one of its developers as property manager. The complex was sold to local real estate magnate Conrad Cafritz in 1988 in a controversial purchase-like lease agreement. Cafritz subsequently sold the property, which has had six different owners between 1990 and 2013. It was put up for sale again in 2013.

Washington Harbour has a first-of-its kind set of floodgates designed to help protect it against Potomac River floods. However, failure to use the floodgates properly caused a major flood in 2011, which led to a lawsuit and a $30 million renovation.

During the 1800s, the Georgetown waterfront was largely a commercial harbor. Most of the land was occupied by warehouses. Between 1900 and 1960, the harbor largely closed as commercial river traffic declined sharply. The warehouses were demolished and a number of coal gas, cement, steel, and other medium and light industrial manufacturing plants were erected in their place. By 1960, many of these plants closed, and the waterfront fell into disuse. A city-owned waste incineration plant, a waste sorting facility, and construction materials depot occupied portions of the site.

Between 1960 and 1970, development of the Georgetown waterfront was studied five times. But none of the recommendations made by these studies were acted upon. Many D.C. residents, including those in Georgetown, strongly opposed plans to build a series of superhighways throughout the city — including along the Potomac River on the Georgetown waterfront. Each of the five different studies proposed the construction of superhighways in and around the area, and each time the controversy surrounding the recommendation made the study politically unpalatable. A sixth study was made in 1970. Commissioned by the National Capitol Planning Commission (NCPC) and the Georgetown Citizens' Association (GCA), the report made no recommendation to build a superhighway. Instead, it called for the demolition of the existing Whitehurst Freeway. The study's authors said the freeway blocked vistas, inhibited development of the waterfront, was poorly engineered, and caused traffic back-ups at both of its ends. The report urged the city to bury the freeway in an enclosed trench and sell the air rights above it to developers or use it as parkland.

The 1970 study was received favorably by President Richard M. Nixon, who in April 1971 issued a message to Congress on the District of Columbia in which he called for "an overall preservation and development plan for the Georgetown waterfront" lest Georgetown's historic character be lost forever. Nixon's message provided a new impetus for planning in Georgetown, and in January 1972 the federal government funded a $250,000 study intended to spur zoning changes which would permit large-scale redevelopment of the waterfront. Members of the study committee included the NCPC, GCA, the District of Columbia Highway and Traffic Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Transportation, and the United States Commission of Fine Arts (CFA).

Some developers attempted to move ahead with construction before the federal study was finished. These plans created disputes which had a direct impact on the eventual construction of Washington Harbour. In April 1972, Georgetown Inland, a subsidiary of the Inland Steel Company, commissioned architect Arthur Cotton Moore to design an eight-story office building on company-owned land at 1055 Thomas Jefferson Street NW. But the CFA, which had statutory authority to approve the design and height of structures in the area, recommended against its construction for being too tall. On June 29, the D.C. Zoning Commission issued, without comment, a 120-day ban on all construction on the waterfront. The GCA argued for a ban on all construction in the area until the federal study was complete, but in August 1972 Georgetown Inland unveiled a plan to construct an $80 million complex of restaurants, hotels, office buildings, retail space, and a small harbor. Georgetown Inland argued that a construction ban, however temporary, would drive developers permanently away from the waterfront. The GCA sued to stop construction of the building, but the United States District Court for the District of Columbia refused its request on October 12. On September 29, the D.C. Zoning Commission lifted its June 29 ban and said that construction on the 100-acre (400,000 m2) Georgetown waterfront could proceed.

The GCA appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court of appeals issued a temporary injunction banning construction, pending resolution of additional issues by the district court.

A preliminary version of the federal study was issued on November 2, 1972. Even though Georgetown Inland was proceeding with its plans (it now intended to construct two nine-story office towers), the federal study recommended that only mixed-use developments should be permitted on the waterfront. The report also recommended limiting structures to 40 feet (12 m) in height, although buildings of 60 feet (18 m) could be constructed in some places. This generated a second lawsuit by the GCA. The U.S. district court issued a second ruling in the construction case on November 18, and again allowed Georgetown Inland to proceed. GCA appealed, and the U.S. court of appeals reimposed its temporary injunction eight days later. The appellate court delayed a final ruling in the matter until February 1, 1973.

On February 6, the court of appeals extended its temporary injunction for 45 more days. It held that the D.C. Zoning Commission had improperly lifted its construction ban without providing a written justification. The court ordered the zoning board to issue that justification within 45 days. The zoning board provided its justification, and on May 8 the court of appeals lifted its injunction. In accepting the zoning commission's justification, the appellate court required that, going forward, the zoning commission must take sworn testimony and permit cross-examination of witnesses prior to making zoning decisions, and issue quasi-judicial written opinions outlining the reasons for its decisions. (The court ruling proved to be a watershed in improving city zoning decisions.)

The preliminary federal study recommended extensive zoning changes for the Georgetown waterfront, and the D.C. Zoning Commission acted immediately to implement these proposals. After public hearings on May 9, the zoning commission proposed new regulations on June 29. These rules permitted much more dense development, and established three sub-zones. In the W-1 area bounded by the Potomac River, 31st Street NW, Key Bridge, and K Street NW, buildings were restricted to six stories in height. The W-2 area bounded by 31st Street NW, K Street NW, Key Bridge, and the CandO Canal generally held buildings to six-stories as well. However, developers could seek exemptions allowing construction up to nine stories for mixed-use developments. In the W-3 area bounded by 30th and 31st Streets NW, the Potomac River, and the CandO Canal, buildings were permitted to reach nine stories. The square footage of a single building was also restricted in all three sub-zones, although this could be exceeded if the structure included more residential units.

The zoning plan was slightly changed in August. The W-1 area expanded a block and a half north of K Street NW and a block and a half west of 31st Street NW. The W-2 area expanded north to M Street NW as well as east to include a section bounded by the Potomac River, 30th Street NW, M Street NW, Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and 29th Street NW. The W-3 area above the CandO Canal was converted into W-1 zoned space. Public hearings on the revised plan began on August 6. The NCPC opposed the proposed regulations, arguing that it permitted buildings that were too high, did not regulate rooftop structures (such as penthouses or towers), provided too many exceptions for industrial use, and did not adequately protect historic structures. A group of local citizens and consultants known as the Georgetown Planning Group argued that the proposed rules permitted development that was too dense and too tall, and which would draw too much automobile and pedestrian traffic to the area. On November 15, the zoning board postponed action on the rezoning plan until the NCPC finished its regional planning exercise for the same area.

Zoning of the Georgetown waterfront took a new direction with the establishment of home rule in the District of Columbia.

The zoning commission was governed by 1920 legislation, and its membership modified slightly by the 1967 reorganization of the city government into a mayor-council format. In 1974, its members were the District mayor, the chair and vice chair of the District of Columbia City Council, the Architect of the Capitol, and the director of the National Park Service. Under home rule legislation, however, the zoning commission membership would be a chair, vice-chair, and public member appointed by the mayor and subject to approval by the D.C. City Council; the Architect of the Capitol; and the director of the National Park Service. The District of Columbia Home Rule Act was due to come into effect on January 1, 1975.

In a surprise move, the lame duck zoning commission reversed course in late November 1974 and approved the proposed revised zoning rules for the Georgetown waterfront. The Washington Post reported that the rezoning process would have to begin again under the home-rule zoning commission, and there was little chance that the new commission would be able to approve anything like the proposed regulations. The existing zoning commission acted, the newspaper suggested, because it would suffer no political retaliation (having gone out of business), its actions could give the home-rule zoning commission political cover to retain the rules, and because its members believed there had been enough delay and consideration of the rules. Development, the old commission felt, had to proceed now or it never would. The GCA immediately sued to have the new zoning regulations overturned, and the D.C. Superior Court blocked all development in the area while the suit was pending.

On February 6, 1975, the final version of the federally funded consultant's study was issued. It recommended only low- and medium-rise buildings on the waterfront (40 feet (12 m) to 60 feet (18 m) high), rather than the high-rise structures (90 feet (27 m) high) approved by the D.C. Zoning Commission in November. It also recommended buildings with a smaller square-foot footprint. Although the NCPC did not immediately incorporate the report into its plans, it made it clear that it favored the report's conclusions.

With the zoning commission seemingly at odds with the NCPC, in early January 1978 the CFA proposed a resolution: The construction of two waterside parks and a large underground parking garage on the Georgetown waterfront. The city said it would try to implement the CFA's proposals, even though some city officials were reluctant to address the waterfront in such a piecemeal fashion.

With the GCA suit against the approved zoning changes still pending in April 1977, Papermill Associates (a partnership between the real estate firm of Holland and Lyons and rental car magnate Warren Avis) purchased the site of an unused waterfront paper mill (bounded by Cecil Alley NW, Grace Street NW, K Street NW, and Potomac Street NW) and began planning a $20 million townhouse condominium development. Meanwhile, Weissberg Development Corp. purchased the Wilkins-Rogers Company Flour Mill site (bounded by K Street NW, Potomac Street NW, 33rd Street NW, and the CandO Canal) for redevelopment into an $18 million mixed-use office and luxury apartment building. Both projects received CFA approval, even though construction could not yet proceed.

On November 2, 1977, the D.C. Superior Court ruled that the November 1974 zoning regulations had been properly adopted, even though they did not fit with the NCPC's master plan for the city. The GCA asked the court to issue a temporary injunction on construction in the area while they appealed the ruling. Then, in an unrelated case, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals issued a ruling on December 2 regarding zoning on Capitol Hill. The D.C. appellate court held that the D.C. Zoning Commission could not adopt decisions inconsistent with the NCPC's master plan. The GCA immediately refiled with the superior court, citing the Capitol Hill case and seeking to overturn the November 1974 zoning regulations.

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