Inside The $1.5B Project Reshaping Part Of Anacostia's Waterfront
Sitting directly across the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge from the Navy Yard and Buzzard Point neighborhoods, the Bridge District has a lot of competition for apartment residents.
But as Redbrick LMD prepares to welcome residents next month to the three connected buildings totaling 757 units that represent its first phase, it is leaning into an advantage it has over its more-developed neighbors: nature.

The Bridge District, planned to total 2.5M SF at full buildout, sits next to 120 acres of wilderness and is along the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail, where cyclists, joggers and walkers enjoy the more natural side of the river.
“We've got all the basic needs that someone would have here, but you also have a park,” RedBrick LMD Managing Partner Louis Dubin said Wednesday before the developer gave Bisnow a tour of the new project.
“Navy Yard is amazing, but Navy Yard has a hard edge,” he added. “They've got boardwalks and docks ... you go walk from here right onto the water. It's a soft edge.”
Two of the three buildings, Stratos and Alula, are welcoming their first residents next month. The third, Poplar House, is poised to host short-term rentals for its first two years from a yet-to-be-named operator. That component is expected to open in the second quarter of the year.

The three buildings together represent the largest multifamily property in the world to pursue the International Living Future Institute's zero-carbon certification, according to the development team.
Eighty percent of the 757 apartments have balconies, and the rooftop has a 360-degree view of Poplar Point, Navy Yard, Buzzard Point, the Washington Monument, the Capitol and Arlington.
Future plans call for more retail and multifamily apartment buildings, one of them built with mass timber, and a cyber security campus.

At the moment, no retail is open at the development and the closest major grocery store is the Harris Teeter across the river. But Redbrick has plans to change that.
Stratos, Alula and Poplar House are set to deliver 40K SF of ground-floor retail. Redbrick found an anchor for the properties in Atlas Brew Works, which will house a solar-powered brewery and taproom featuring Andy’s Pizza and is expected to open next quarter.
It is also expecting a new restaurant from the chef behind D.C.’s now-closed Melange. Elias Taddesse’s yet-to-be-named establishment serving burgers and oysters is slated to include a local butcher component and is projected to open in the fall.

Redbrick is in negotiations with a coffee shop and wine bar concept as well as a juice bar, the company's vice president of development, Ayisha Swann, told Bisnow. Redbrick is also talking to groups interested in opening a small-format grocery store of about 3K SF.
“It’s a very critical sort of use that is lacking on this side of the river,” Swann said. “And we really find it's critical to have as a use for the future residents and existing neighbors alike.”
Redbrick is bringing in all local vendors for its retail, which is planned to total 90K SF including future phases.
“We see the Bridge District as a destination for strengthening our small and local business development here in the city, but we also know that these are going to be employers of great local talent,” Redbrick Vice President of Community Engagement and Corporate Impact Lindsay Morton said.

The three apartment buildings share amenities, including a gym, a children’s play room, a rooftop pool, an outdoor exercise green and multiple outdoor terraces.
Conference rooms and offices are available for remote workers on each floor of the connected buildings, with desks made from reclaimed wood from the project site.
The apartments range from studios to three bedrooms, and monthly rent prices range from $1,800 to $5,000. The affordability rate is above D.C.’s required 8% to 12.5% of the units are set aside as affordable.
At completion, the Bridge District is planned to total nearly 2,000 units. One of the coming multifamily buildings will be a 130-foot mass timber tower. It is also planned to house The National Campus for Cyber Leadership, a 225K SF development, which will partner with a university that has yet to be announced.
“That will be a building that will both have a classroom auditorium, secured space for research and development, and it'll be in all the different disciplines around cyber,” Dubin said.

Before the next phases are constructed, Redbrick is activating the development parcels with Sandlot, an outdoor eating and entertainment concept, and with sports league programmer DC Fray.
The Bridge District bumps right up against the Poplar Point natural preserve owned by the federal government, which is in the process of handing the land over to D.C. for a new development project.
The Redbrick executives declined to say if the company would be angling to develop that site.
“We know people are really curious about being able to continue to access nature and the ways that they did historically, two and three or four generations ago,” Morton said. “And we're delivering on, at the Bridge District, an opportunity that sort of leads us into what will be the future of Poplar Point with a very biophilic, green, accessible, vibrant Bridge District community.”
CORRECTION, JAN. 30, 7:10 P.M. ET: A previous version of this story misstated the total projected investment of the development due to an incorrect fact sheet provided by the development team. This story has been updated.