The new complex on the Potomac adds a slew of restaurants, shopping, and recreation spaces.
Despite Washington, D.C. thrumming at the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers, most visitors limit their waterfront experiences to walking along the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, paddle boating in the Tidal Basin, or reclining by a hotel swimming pool.
The Wharf changes that. Debuting October 12, the eventual 3.2 million square feet of new restaurants, hotels, shopping, residences, and cultural and recreation spaces (its second phase won’t be completed until 2022) will open up a mile-long promenade of D.C.’s Potomac River waterfront in the city’s Southwest quadrant. Previously, you knew the little sliver that is Southwest D.C. as home to the Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorials—but not much else. (“You mean we need to go back across The Mall to get something to eat?” ”Yes, now stop whining.”)
