Developer Milton Peterson joined elected officials from across Maryland yesterday to mark the culmination of an eight-year political fight to begin transforming 220 acres of shrubs and dirt on the banks of the Potomac River into National Harbor, a $2 billion complex of hotels, shops and restaurants.
The groundbreaking ceremony also signaled the beginning for construction crews preparing to build the project's centerpiece, Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, which alone is expected to cost $565 million.
Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, left foreground, Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski and Rep. Steny H. Hoyer are among the officials celebrating the groundbreaking.
(Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)
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Described by some as the largest single commercial venture in state history, National Harbor is expected to roll out in phases over 10 years. The convention center, its first phase, is scheduled to open in March 2008.
"We've made it," a giddy Peterson said to a cheering crowd of business executives, community activists and lawmakers, including Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D), Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D), Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D) and Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D).
Peterson purchased the property in 1996, after other developers failed to achieve their vision for the site, which at various stages included building a world trade center, luxury condominiums and a marina.
Peterson said yesterday that the project was a symbol of what happens when the "private and public sector come together in unison."
The state has provided more than $200 million in upgrading roadway interchanges near the development, and Prince George's County dedicated $160 million toward the project.
Ehrlich called it the "latest jewel" in Maryland's profitable tourism industry. Mikulski, who likened the development to the transformation of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, said Peterson was "breaking ground on a new attitude towards Prince George's County."
When the project is completed, Peterson envisions a promenade filled with tourists, conventioneers and shoppers, with boats shuttling visitors across the Potomac.
Colin V. Reed, president and chief executive of Gaylord Entertainment Co., operators of the Opryland Hotel in Nashville and of the proposed Gaylord convention center, described his vision for the center: a hotel and convention facility featuring indoor gardens, waterways and falls crowned by vaulted glass.
County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) said the long-awaited project will help remake Prince George's, whose leaders for years have sought high-quality, upscale development.
"This will not only change the way people see Prince George's County, it will also change the way people who live in Prince George's County feel about Prince George's," Johnson said.
"For many years, people did not focus on investing in Prince George's County," he added. "There was talk about whether this was the right place [to do business], and all of that has changed. It's the beginning of a paradigm shift in how the business community will view us."
Reed said the convention center, with its 1,500 hotel rooms and 400,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space, is the largest hospitality project to break ground in the country this year outside Las Vegas. The price tag, he said, is higher than the proposed baseball stadium for the Washington Nationals on the Southeast waterfront.
Donna Edwards, a staunch opponent of the National Harbor development for years, said she was surprised to find herself among those celebrating yesterday.
"A year ago, I figured I would have been outside with a sign," Edwards said after the festivities. "Now I can say this is a community as well as a private-sector project."
