Potomac Waterfront Wharf Project

Published by on February 16, 2017 10:11 am

The Southwest Waterfront Wharf, dubbed the “Maritime Front Porch to the Nation’s Capital,” has a long and rich history since its inception. Once used by Native Americans for generations, followed by colonial Europeans and later the United States military, the wharf has served as a historical epicenter of trade and settlement. Following this foundational history, The Wharf became the largest fish market in the United States, even more so than the famous New York Fulton Fish Market by 17 years. Over time, however, the landscape changed and the once bustling Wharf fell silent. That is, until the Hoffman-Madison Waterfront team decided to head the long-awaited resurgence.

Featuring a brand-new apartment complex, hotel, eateries, and storefronts, the new and improved $2 billion Southwest Waterfront Wharf will be comprised of state of the art materials and a textbook example of collaboration to achieve complex construction.

Steel, LLC’s Impact:

In spring of 2016, Steel, LLC teamed up with Clark Construction Group and their design team to fabricate and erect over 1,500 tons of steel for the new project. The scope of Steel’s involvement included the structural steel system that is to frame the Concert Hall, as well as a truss in one of the new apartment buildings (Parcels 2 and 3A, respectively). Countless hours of design and logistical planning have gone into bringing this $6.5 million steel idea to fruition, and the idea is almost fully realized.

Teaming Up with Clark Construction

Although this is not Steel’s largest project to date, it is just one of a couple notable projects they have worked on with Clark Construction Group that featured a uniquely constrained job site and a schedule with no margin for error. Other collaborative projects include the Museum of the Bible, which is still under construction in Washington, D.C., the CATO Institute and The Social Security Administration Building in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Museum of the Bible began in 2015 with the site’s demolition to ready it for construction. Moving into 2016 and 2017 construction will continue with the fabrication of the architecturally exposed structural steel for the “Biblical Garden” roof terrace trellis and galvanized roof framing. Steel’s work will also include adding brand new floor framing into an existing, connecting structure that was built in 1923.

Together, Steel, LLC and Clark Construction are able to create a collection of nationally renowned architectural masterpieces.

The Future of the Wharf

With many projects moving steadily forward thanks to the partnership with contractors within the industry, Steel is enjoying watching the plans for the Wharf in D.C. unfold presently.

With Phase I nearing completion and soon becoming available to the public, the apartments and Concert Hall erected by Steel will be enjoyed by the end of 2017. The entire Wharf project, set to be finally completed by 2021, is comprised of over 24 acres of land and over 50 acres of water adjacent to the National Mall, which will be enjoyed by future generations to come