City Council OKs Plans for Eisenhower East Development

City Council voted 7-0 on Saturday for the go-ahead on a plan crafted by Alexandria Renew Enterprises and Carlyle Plaza for the Eisenhower East area of the city.

“The plan is transformational on many different levels,” said Alexandria Renew Enterprises CEO Karen Pallansch.

Pallansch explained that the project takes an industrial tract "that is little more than an eyesore" and aims to create an attractive block between Renew and the Carlyle Plaza development that will feature about five acres of public greenspace.

"Second, this is the first time that we have been able to get in on the ground floor with a major developer and incorporate sustainable practices into a design of this scope," she said.

The project brings a new color to the city’s Green Building policy—purple. The plan calls for the installation of a reclaimed water line—the so-called “purple pipe”—from Alexandria Renew’s water cleaning facility right to the new development.

Carlyle intends to use this clean, odorless reclaimed water to irrigate open spaces, fill water features and water a bio-wall that will use vegetation as a natural filter for runoff. The plan also includes landscaping areas along Eisenhower Avenue designed to treat potential pollutant runoff from the street and filter rainwater before it reaches a storm drain, the Potomac River and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay.