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National Harbor shouldn't even be considered a harbor. Its not even in DC. It doesn't even have transportation besides the water taxi. Those Developers think building Condos on water resembling a Northern Virginia Towne center with a statue of a man sinking in sand is "State of the Art". They just tried to make DC have a harbor that could compete with the Inner harbor but failed. Maybe those outlets will bring some vibrancy into this place.
Haha. It is pretty tight though. It's a really nice place during the summer months. They have these long piers with the colored lights surrounding them and all. Really good place to grab an ice cream cone with a date and walk around.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmoreboy25
National Harbor shouldn't even be considered a harbor. Its not even in DC. It doesn't even have transportation besides the water taxi. Those Developers think building Condos on water resembling a Northern Virginia Towne center with a statue of a man sinking in sand is "State of the Art". They just tried to make DC have a harbor that could compete with the Inner harbor but failed. Maybe those outlets will bring some vibrancy into this place.
Well, I will say that the usual DC posters were mad at some of us for bringing up the DC burbs last week (when comparing it to Atlanta). We were told to stick to the city propers. This is an example of choosing the suburbs when it suits your agenda. In another thread, I'm sure the suburbs won't count.
To be honest, however, I do enjoy the National Harbor more than the Baltimore Harbor. No knock on B-more. It just looks nicer to me. And I think there's more to do there. The Gaylord alone has a lot of stuff to do.
I live in Alexandria, Va., right across the river fron National Harbor. From the Va. shoreline National Harbor looks like a boring generic shopping mall. I rode my bike over there one day and it doesn't look any better up close. Nothing of interest that I could see. It would have been much better had it been left in its' natural state (such as it was).
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,560,868 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmoreboy25
National Harbor shouldn't even be considered a harbor. Its not even in DC. It doesn't even have transportation besides the water taxi. Those Developers think building Condos on water resembling a Northern Virginia Towne center with a statue of a man sinking in sand is "State of the Art". They just tried to make DC have a harbor that could compete with the Inner harbor but failed. Maybe those outlets will bring some vibrancy into this place.
National Harbor is far from a failure, if you look at the renderings from back in 2005 it pretty much looks exactly like it. Peterson executed what he envisioned decades ago for that development. It was never supposed to rival Baltimore harbor, but instead there to compliment the other multiple waterfront developments along the Potomac and some what be that last anchoring leg of a string of waterfront developments in DC. NH is already in the suburbs outside of the Beltway. This is why as Bajan said that "cookie cutter" look of the harbor does not bother me that much at all. Could you imagine if it was put in Downtown DC somewhere or therefore the equivalent to where Atlantic Station is located in Atlanta? Then I would complain a lot more. It's an addition to PG County like no other.
Atlantic Station is really not comparable to NH in any way. Atlantic Station is home to multiple big box retailers Target, Ikea, Dillards. Which is the opposite of the original vision of National Harbor. Peterson intentionally gated off the harbor from surrounding areas and for the most part held true to not bringing big box stores to NH. Atlantic Station has a Publix, NH has no major grocery store. Condo/apartments are about equal at both. NH has the largest non-gaming hotel/ convention center on the east coast, not to mention the Westin, Wyndham Vacation Resort, Aloft among others (I'm not even bringing MGM to the conversation for obvious reasons). I used to prefer the dining options at Atlantic Station more than NH but due to the fact they share some of the same restaurants and my thinking about it, I would say maybe it's a draw if not slight edge to NH.
As far as retail is concerned, i really look at NH as divided into two sides and although that area where the Tanger Outlets are now located i truly don't see as a connected part of the National Harbor. Therefore it's hard for me to add this to the argument, but it technically is a part of NH, and with that addition the retail at National Harbor currently crushes Atlantic Station.
All of this said, and I'm not even bringing MGM into the equation like i said for obvious reasons, that wouldn't even make sense to compare.
These both suck, IMO. Both are generic, car-oriented "new urbanist" type outdoor mall places. They're basically the modern-day version of malls.
If I have to pick, I go with Atlantic Station, as at least it's in the city proper, and close to transit. Washington Harbor is in the middle of nowhere in PG County.
I attended a convention in Washington Harbor, and you might as well be visiting the Moon. You are nowhere close to anything, and there is no way to get to anything unless you take the shuttle vans. The restaurants are all those mall-oriented chain-type places.
Its National Harbor, not Washington Harbor. Washington Harbor is located in Georgetown. And how the hell is it in "the middle of nowhere" when central DC is just less than a 12 minute drive and Alexandria, VA is just across the Potomac, and it lies close to fairly wealthy and diverse Fort Washington? Not to mention that it's connected by Metro Bus and shuttle buses that are linked to the Branch Ave MetroRail station. Hardly what I'd call "the middle of nowhere".
National Harbor is far from a failure, if you look at the renderings from back in 2005 it pretty much looks exactly like it. Peterson executed what he envisioned decades ago for that development. It was never supposed to rival Baltimore harbor, but instead there to compliment the other multiple waterfront developments along the Potomac and some what be that last anchoring leg of a string of waterfront developments in DC. NH is already in the suburbs outside of the Beltway. This is why as Bajan said that "cookie cutter" look of the harbor does not bother me that much at all. Could you imagine if it was put in Downtown DC somewhere or therefore the equivalent to where Atlantic Station is located in Atlanta? Then I would complain a lot more. It's an addition to PG County like no other.
Atlantic Station is really not comparable to NH in any way. Atlantic Station is home to multiple big box retailers Target, Ikea, Dillards. Which is the opposite of the original vision of National Harbor. Peterson intentionally gated off the harbor from surrounding areas and for the most part held true to not bringing big box stores to NH. Atlantic Station has a Publix, NH has no major grocery store. Condo/apartments are about equal at both. NH has the largest non-gaming hotel/ convention center on the east coast, not to mention the Westin, Wyndham Vacation Resort, Aloft among others (I'm not even bringing MGM to the conversation for obvious reasons). I used to prefer the dining options at Atlantic Station more than NH but due to the fact they share some of the same restaurants and my thinking about it, I would say maybe it's a draw if not slight edge to NH.
As far as retail is concerned, i really look at NH as divided into two sides and although that area where the Tanger Outlets are now located i truly don't see as a connected part of the National Harbor. Therefore it's hard for me to add this to the argument, but it technically is a part of NH, and with that addition the retail at National Harbor currently crushes Atlantic Station.
All of this said, and I'm not even bringing MGM into the equation like i said for obvious reasons, that wouldn't even make sense to compare.
I hate Atlantic Station, if National Harbor is anything like it, I'm sure I'd hate it also. You also have to walk over a freeway or take a bus to get there.
Its National Harbor, not Washington Harbor. Washington Harbor is located in Georgetown. And how the hell is it in "the middle of nowhere" when central DC is just less than a 12 minute drive and Alexandria, VA is just across the Potomac, and it lies close to fairly wealthy and diverse Fort Washington? Not to mention that it's connected by Metro Bus and shuttle buses that are linked to the Branch Ave MetroRail station. Hardly what I'd call "the middle of nowhere".
It's in the poorest suburban county in the DC area, and surrounded by fields, empty spaces and crap suburbs. There's no rail, no urbanity, no desirable nearby suburbs.
That's why it's "the middle of nowhere". It's basically the least desirable possible location in the entire DC Metro (South PG county).
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