The next step is for city Council to approve the LDA. The Council's Committee on Economic Development will hold hearings on the matter on Oct. 6. Already, the Workforce Development and Government Operations Committee has considered the disposition. The full District Council is expected to move on the measure by early November. A call to the Mayor Adrian Fenty's office was not returned to GlobeSt.com in time for publication.

This billion-dollar-plus project has been more than two years in the making; indeed the District revealed its selection of the Washington-Baltimore team Hoffman-Struever Waterfront LLC team almost two years ago to the day. Initially, there were 17 respondents to the Request for Expressions of Interest issued by the now defunct Anacostia Waterfront Corp. The choice eventually narrowed to PN Hoffman/Struever Brothers Eccles & Rouse and Madison/KSI Waterfront Partners out of a short list of five teams.

Hoffman-Struever is planning to turn the 26-acre waterfront into a two-million-sf-plus mixed-use complex that includes public parks, plazas and open green space. Earlier this year, the DC Council approved $198 million in public financing to help pay for infrastructure improvements including utilities, roads, parks, promenades and public piers. Site plans include 767 units of condo and apartment housing, including 231 affordable units, 400,000 sf of office, 280,000 sf of retail, 476,000 sf of hotel and 150,000 sf of cultural development. Assuming all legislative milestones are met, construction is slated to begin in early 2010 and phase one delivered in 2014.