Washington, DC – Mayor Adrian M. Fenty joined the Ward 6 community to celebrate the anticipated opening of the nearly 6-acre Yards Park, a unique waterfront park and marina situated alongside the Anacostia River in Southeast.

“My administration has worked hard to harness the commercial and recreational potential of the District’s vital waterfront,” said Mayor Fenty. “The completion of The Yards is just one more exciting step toward making the Anacostia Waterfront an even more amazing part of the city.”

Nestled between Nationals Park and the historic Navy Yard, The Yards provides residents with additional outdoor green space along the water to visit and enjoy. The new park includes a public marina, a terraced riverfront performance venue, a quarter-mile long boardwalk with shops and eateries and a biking and jogging trail.

The Yards is one of several projects that are part of the Fenty Administration’s efforts to promote public use and investment in the waterfront. In recent months, Fenty celebrated the openings of Diamond Teague Park at First Street and Potomac Avenue, SE and the 1.2 million square foot mixed-use Waterfront Station development at 4th and M Streets, SW. Last month, the District also launched the beginning of a massive $1 billion mixed-use redevelopment plan headed for the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood.

Funding for the Yards Park was provided by a $42 million Department of Transportation (DOT) payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT), which also includes a significant amount of public space improvements and public infrastructure for the entire site.

"The Park at the Yards is one of the key pieces in demonstrating the District's commitment to the work of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative,” said Deputy Mayor Santos. “It re-affirms Washington, D.C.'s place on the world's stage of the best waterfront cities and will expand the ability of all District residents to partake in the beauty and vitality of the Anacostia River."

The new waterfront park is just one part of The Yards, the largest economic development project currently under construction in the District. The $1.5 billion plan calls for 5.5 million square feet of retail, housing, office and civic space on 42 acres of land along the Anacostia River. With the participation of the District, the U.S. federal government, Forest City Washington and MacFarlane Partners, The Yards will include 2,800 units of residential and affordable housing, 1.8 million square feet of office space and 400,000 square feet of retail space. Phase 1 of The Yards is slated for completion in 2013.

Media Contacts

• Kate Stanton, (202) 727-2823