County leaders appear optimistic that plans for an Arlington boathouse on the Potomac River will stay on track to open by the end of the decade.
“I think we’re through the hardest parts,” County Board member Susan Cunningham said at the April 14 meeting of the Park and Recreation Commission, where the topic was discussed.
The county government is partnering with the National Park Service on the proposed boat-storage facility, floating docks and launching site south of Key Bridge, near Roosevelt Island.
The federal government owns the majority of the planned riverfront site, which will link to a county-owned parcel of land near Rosslyn.
Estimated project costs range from $20 million to more than $30 million. The county government’s existing capital improvement program (CIP) includes some construction funding, and more details will be fleshed out before the County Board adopts its fiscal 2027-36 CIP over the summer.
At the Park and Recreation Commission meeting, county staffer Marco Rivera said efforts continue to find a design firm to lead the master-planning effort.
The next round of community engagement likely will take place in “either fall or late 2026,” Rivera said.
A boathouse facility has long been sought to support both recreation use and scholastic rowing teams, with initial conceptual planning occurring in the early 1990s and discussion moving forward intermittently in subsequent decades.
The latest planning effort has been underway since 2022, and concerns about the pace of progress were raised at the commission meeting.
“It seems to have been in [this planning] phase for quite a while,” commission member David Earley said.
Commission chair Jill Barker was wary of the pace moving forward.
“It seems like a long time,” she said.
Paul Holland, who chairs the nonprofit Arlington Boathouse Foundation, said he is optimistic that the process is moving forward steadily and incrementally.
The foundation “is grateful for the Department of Parks and Recreation’s leadership in advancing the boathouse project,” he told ARLnow.
“2026 is an exciting year for the future Arlington Boathouse and for increasing Arlington’s access to the Potomac River and the recreational opportunities it provides,” Holland said.
Photo via Jenn Vogel/Flickr
