Waves Across the River From National Harbor

With a Water Taxi and Metro Access, Alexandria Hopes to Attract Visitors

The view of the future is clear from Alexandria's waterfront. If finished as planned, National Harbor will include a convention center, 4,000 hotel rooms, shopping, restaurants and entertainment. (By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)

The massive National Harbor waterfront development under construction across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Maryland presents a unique set of challenges to Alexandria officials.

When completed, the $2 billion project will include 4,000 hotel rooms -- equivalent to Alexandria's entire stock -- along with 1 million square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space and the largest non-gaming hotel and convention center on the Eastern Seaboard.

The dilemma for Alexandria officials: Do they view this as a battle between the states or try to get their piece of the tourism action?

"This could either be a great opportunity or a huge competitive challenge, and I think it's to the city's credit that they stood up and said, 'Okay, how can we make this work for us?' " said Jo Anne Mitchell, president and chief executive of the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association.

City officials, choosing the collaborative approach, are busy getting ready for the spring 2008 opening of the long-debated and much-anticipated National Harbor. Alexandria hotels are already getting overflow bookings from National Harbor conventioneers, and the city expects the development will bring an additional 500 to 1,000 people a day into Old Town to eat, shop and sightsee.

To prepare, the City Council recently approved a plan for a water taxi to ferry people from National Harbor in Oxon Hill to the city dock behind the Torpedo Factory Art Center. Starting in spring 2008, the taxi is to run every half-hour, 12 hours a day. The service will be run by Potomac Riverboat Co., which operates water taxis to Georgetown and Mount Vernon. It's not known how much the 20-minute ride to National Harbor will cost, but the adult round-trip fare between Alexandria and Georgetown is $22.

"To us, this is a whole new gateway to Alexandria," said Charlotte Hall, the riverboat company's vice president and a past president of the Old Town Business Association. "Think about all the people who will now be coming here by water. It's a great opportunity."

The city is encouraging Old Town business owners to greet the visitors with improved facilities, signs and entryways. "Company is coming, and just like at home, when company comes, you spruce up the house a little bit better," said Deputy City Manager Mark Jinks.

Jinks and other city officials recently walked the length of King Street in the Old Town area, identifying buildings that need improvements such as fresh paint, and notified the owners. The city's proposed fiscal 2008 budget contains $100,000 for National Harbor-related improvements such as increased sidewalk cleaning near the waterfront and the installation of planters, decorative banners and more lighting.

An additional $200,000 in the budget is expected to go toward creating a shuttle to transport visitors to National Harbor and others between the waterfront and the King Street Metro station, with stops in between. Jinks said that the shuttle is likely to be free but that details are being worked out.

The convention and visitors association is working with National Harbor officials, who have agreed to display Alexandria promotional materials in their sales office, which is due to open next month. The association also is considering other proposals, such as providing more public restrooms near the waterfront and expanding the hours of the visitors center at King and Fairfax streets.

The city's preparations have won approval even from skeptics of the National Harbor project, including City Council member Andrew H. Macdonald (D). He said that the shoreline should be reserved for recreation and other natural uses and that National Harbor "is a terrible misuse of the waterfront. Every time I see it, I'm horrified."